Jeremy Bamber is the name you think of when you remember the White House Farm murders of 1985. Adoptees are much more likely to become serial killers and to murder entire families, even Ted Bundy—one of America’s most notorious criminals and serial killers who kidnapped and sexually abused his victims—was adopted. This may leave you wondering if Jeremy Bamber, the alleged White House Farm murderer, was adopted.
Jeremy Bamber was adopted. He was the brother of his adoptive parent’s other adopted child Sheila Caffell.
Interested in learning more about the White House Farm murders which were supposedly committed by Jeremy Bamber? Curious about learning the link between being adopted and turning into a serial killer? This article was written for you.
Adoption and Crime
It might come as a surprise that if someone is adopted they’re more likely to murder due to various factors, including personal identity struggles and having biological parents who are criminals or are incarcerated. Let’s take a look at some of the statistics.
Research conducted by SA Mednick, WF Gabrielli Jr and B Hutchings in 1984 indicates that if neither the biological parents nor the adoptive parents are criminal 13.5% of adopted sons turn out to be criminals. If the adoptee is adopted by parents who are or have been criminals but their biological parents are not criminals then 14.7% will become criminals. The figure increases substantially if the adoptee has biological parents who are criminals but doesn’t have criminal adoptive parents, with their research showing that 20% will become criminals.
In contrast, according to the National Criminal Justice Reference service, the event of an adoptee murdering their adoptive parents is in fact a pretty rare occurrence. Be that as it may, in his research article, David Kirschner mentions that when an adopted child experiences loss or rejection “the dissociated part of the self may erupt in murderous violence against the adoptive parents and others.”
From the above, we can safely deduct that while researchers are hesitant to link adoption and crime figures together, they do recognize that adoptees are at an increased risk of struggling with erratic behaviors and having violent outbursts which could potentially result in murders and homicides.
The White House Farm Murders
Now, let’s rewind to the night of August 6, 1985, on the White House Farm, Essex. Unbeknownst to Bamber’s family, this would be their last night as living and breathing beings. This would be the night that Bamber would allegedly massacre his entire family—including his adoptive parents, his adopted sister, and her biological twins—by shooting them all.
Carol Ann Lee, the author of The Murders At White House Farm, revealed to The Independent in 2020, “This was a wealthy family living what appeared to be an idyllic life in the countryside, and that ended in what was essentially a blood bath.”
It is alleged that Jeremy Bamber had fired seven shots at his adoptive mother after firing eight shots at his adoptive father. In the same attempt to brutally kill his sister, Bamber had shot her in the same room as her two twin sons, who were found dead after being murdered in their sleep.
Grasping at straws, Bamber had then placed the gun in his sister’s hand which led the police to declare it a murder-suicide committed by his schizophrenic sister who had gone crazy. It was only after the event that everyone started doubting Jeremy’s facade after his late sister’s ex-husband wrote in his book In Search of the Rainbow’s End that Jeremy was “cracking jokes and laughing” right after the funerals of those who he had allegedly murdered in cold blood.
Further doubt was cast after Bamber’s then-girlfriend contacted the police indicating that Bamber had previously spoken of murdering his family so he could inherit the family’s farmhouse. Bamber was indicted for five counts of murder in 1986. He has since made several appeal attempts which have all been declined.