The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.

Making sense of tragedy isn't easy, especially when it's enacted by brutal serial killers. However, Dr. Rachel Toles has a different approach.

The clever, clinical psychologist and criminal expert humanizes such menacing mass murderers as Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez Brothers.

"Jeffrey Dahmer was a unique guy," Toles said while calling from Greenville, South Carolina. "He was an outlier. A lot of guys like him have suffered from trauma as children. Were they sexually abused? Was there a particularly traumatic event from their childhood that haunted them for much of their lives? We learn so much about them through their childhood."

The same can be said for Toles, who had a fascinating upbringing along the prairies of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Toles' father, George Toles, co-wrote screenplays with the David Lynch of Canada, Guy Maddin.

"When I was five years old, I was obsessed with death," Toles said. "But I was a kid that had a father, who made a film called 'Dead Father.' My mom had a really rough childhood. So she took pity on troubled women. My mother would be caring for these psychopathic women. I was in a corner trying to make sense of all of this"

Toles broke it down while watching Alfred Hitchcock films at too young of an age while her father wrote screenplays and taught film at the University of Manitoba.

"I wanted to know at an early age, who are these people that kill?" Toles said. "What makes them lose their mind and snap and commit these violent acts?"

Toles became a forensic psychologist and a part-time actor. When Toles hits the stage Friday at the Englert Theatre, she'll discuss the aforementioned Dahmer and Lyle and Erik Menendez, along with Aaron Hernandez, Chris Watts and the kids known as the Columbine killers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris.

Toles will look at the combination of trauma, mental health and environment that can propel people to cross the line and commit murder. What separates Toles from her peers who discuss lurid acts on tour is that she doesn't have a podcast and isn't thinking about adding one to her resume at this point.

"That's not what I'm interested in right now," Toles said.

Toles delivers more than the black and white. The quick-witted host explores the gray. "I go back to the formative years," Toles said. "Most people (her peers) look at the act of murder and just see an evil monster. I show the murderers as human."

Toles believes anyone is capable of murder, and she points out that sensitivity is ironically a common denominator of those who commit such heinous crimes. Toles looks at the pivotal years many of her peers pass over.

"I'll talk about the middle school period, which tends to be skipped over all of the time," Toles said. "Watch movies and it's all about the other years of school. What about the middle school years with Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris? What happened to them during that time?"

Curiosity has always driven the cerebral Toles, and the macabre was of interest since she can remember. "I was like the Beetlejuice character (Lydia Deetz)," Toles said. "I've always been drawn to death and murder. What were the murderers' early years like? Were they victims of shaken baby syndrome? Did they have to deal with betrayal at an early point in their life?"

True crime fans will have the opportunity to take part in a Q&A session with Toles, who will discuss motivation, common traits and how they choose their victims.

"This tour is as much about the psychology of murder than anything else," Toles said. "What I discuss and explore is fascinating to me and for those interested in true crime."