Criminal Profiling

When your best asset is your lie ability

By the end of this chapter you can:

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• Appreciate the value of criminal profiling in criminal investigations
• Outline the types of crimes for which a criminal profile is necessary
• Understand the five main steps involved with generating a criminal profile
• Compare the traits of an organized offender with those of a disorganized offender
• Identify a given criminal suspect as an organized, disorganized, or combination offender
• Outline the contents of a criminal profile report and explain the characteristics included in the report
• Analyze or create a criminal profile of a criminal suspect using mock crime scene data
• Explain the use and purpose of a subset of criminal profiling: geographic profiling
• Analyze or create a geographic profile of a criminal suspect using mock crime scene data
• Discuss a historical crime case(s) that involved the use of a criminal profiling and/or geographic profiling

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Evaluation

Creating a profile

01

And I don’t mean a facebook account

Serial Murderer

01

Mass Murderers

02

Vulnerable

03

Illegitimate

04

Key Vocabulary

A person who attacks and kills victims one by one in a series of incidents

A person who kills several or numerous victims in a single incident

Susceptible to physical or emotional injury

A child whose parent were not married to each other at the time of their birth

Conglomerate

05

Indignation

06

Dubious

07

Phallic

08

Key Vocabulary

A corporation made of numerous companies that operate in diversified fields

A strong feeling of displeasure or hostility

Undecided; filled with uncertainty or doubt

Relating to a representation of male genitalia

Overview

Criminal Profiling helps law enforcement officers in their pursuit of unknown suspects. ��In criminal profiling, a criminal suspect is analyzed based on the nature of the offence and the manner in which it was committed. Various aspects of the criminal’s personality may be determined from his or her choices before, during. Or after the crime.

Profiling Tools Include

Offender Profiling

Psychological Profiling

Behavioural Profiling

Criminal Personality profiling

Criminal Investigative Analysis

In addition, a comparison with the characteristic of known personality types, mental abnormalities , and criminal profiles, further helps to identify traits the culprit may possess. This information in combination with the physical evidence helps to develop a practical working profile of the offender.

Geographic profiling is a subtype of criminal profiling. This criminal Investigative technique analyzes the locations of a connected series of crimes to determine the most probable area where the suspect may be found. This is used in serious criminal cases of serial homicide, rape, serial arson, bombing, and robbery. �

Creating a Profile

In the investigation of a serious crime, the first step has always been to study the clues, the second is to study the crime, and the third is to study the criminal. ��This is where criminal profiling comes, wherein we study the abnormal psyche of the criminal. �

A criminal Profile identifies some of the major personality, and behavioural characteristics of an unknown offender based on an analysis of the crime(s) committed. ��The final product of a criminal profile is a list of potential characteristics that can help investigators shorten their list of suspects. �

Profiling

Historically, profiling was simply professional advice about criminal behaviour given to police investigators by individual psycho;pgists or psychiatrists. Their interpretations about criminal behaviour were the result of their knowledge of human personality and various psychological disorders.

History of Criminal Profiling

The first early use of criminal profiling occured in the 1880’s when Dr. Thomas Bond was involved in the investigation of a series of grisly murders by a killer known as Jack the Ripper.

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Dr. Bond performed an autopsy of one of the victims and reconstructed the crime scene to interpret the behaviours and possible personality of the killer. ��In his profile of Jack the Ripper, Bond proposed that aoo of the murders had been committed by one person who was physically strong, composed, and daring; appearing harmless and quiet to victims. He believed that Jack was likely middle aged, clean cut, wearing clothes that could hide blood from attacks.

Jack the Ripper Profile

Bond also included in his criminal profile was that Jack the Ripper was likely mentally unstable, a loner, and eccentric. ��He also believed that Jack the Ripper did not have anatomical knowledge or medical training; as that is a common myth. ��Bonds process of profiling is considered to be groundbreaking and made him a pioneer that could open the way for future profiling work to be complete.

Flash Forward - WWII

The next use of criminal profiling happened in World War II. When Dr. Walter Langer was asked to create a profile of Germany’s Leader - Adolf Hitler

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The Allied forces were looking to Dr. Langer to explain Hitler’s Mindset, suggest motives, and predict actions. ��Langer produced a 135 page profile outlining Hitler’s behavioural trait and correctly predicting that Hitler would commit suicide if Germany lost the war. Langer also noted that Hitler always marched diagonally when crossing rooms, feared syphilis, germs, and moonlight. He also loved seeing severed heads during circus acts (weird)

Going even more modern.

The individual who single-handedly managed to demonstrate the value of criminal profiling in modern law enforcement was Dr. James Brussel. ��In 1956, Dr. Brussels’ profile of the Mad Bomber of New York City led to the arrest of the culprit. ��Dr. Brussels report was so accurate that it detailed correctly the clothing the bomber would be wearing when arrested. (double breasted business suit) ��Dr. Brussel was later invited to work on the Boston Strangler case in 1964. He convinced investigators that there was only one strangler, not two as original thought. He was once again completely correct.

The 1970’s

The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) created the first behavioural science unit. Two FBI agents within this new unit, patrick J. Mullany, and Howard D. Teten, created a method that identified at crime scene indications of certain personality traits or mental disorders of the suspect. ��The systematic technique is known as the Criminal Investigative Analysis program.

Simultaneously

Also during the early 1970s, Dr. Robert D Keppel and Dr. Richard Walter published a groundbreaking article that grouped sexual murderers into four distinct subtypes: power assertion, power reassurance, anger-retaliatory, and anger-excitation. ��They also created HITS, a database that lists characteristics of violent crimes so that common threads could be investigated. Keppel was a police detective who earned his Ph.D. in criminology, and Walter was a prison psychologist who had interviewed more than 2000 murderers. Sex offenders, and serial Killers.

During the late 1970’s, FBI agents John Douglas and Robert Ressler created a method of classifying criminals who had committed serious crimes. They created an organized or disorganized methodology after studying and interviewing convicted sex murderers. Their method provided more information about the behavioural patterns and personality characteristics of criminal. It is used extensively by law �enforcement agencies today.�

Since the 1980s criminal profiling has become a widely used and officially sanctioned investigative technique in the investigation of serious crimes. ��Some major police departments either have a criminal profiling unit or regularly consult criminal profiling expert.

The FBI Criminal Profiling method

Criminal profiling was first used officially in criminal investigations by the FBI in the U.S. The most common method was developed by the FBI and involves comparing the behaviour of the unknown offender to the behaviour of those offenders that profiled has encountered and to a broad offender groups developed through the study of similar crimes and criminals.

A criminal investigative Analyst

The official title of a profiler is criminal investigative analyst. The use do this tool remains relatively limited since its inception over thirty years ago. Only a small number of personnel are qualified, and trained in the highly niche methodology of criminal profiling. ��This limits its use to only the most serious criminal investifations, typically those involving serial cases of murder, multiple muders, or sexual assault. ��Although it is used in some cases of bombing, arson, stalking, espionage, extortion, kidnapping, terrorism, or product tampering.

A few fun stats

Most criminal investigative analysts in North America, are veteran FBI agents who are strong investigators

Currently there are about 30 investigative analysts

They work on more than 1000 cases yearly from law enforcement agencies.

Steps involved in Criminal Profiling

In general, five steps are taken in the creation on a criminal profile

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• All available information from the crime scene (such as location, state of the scene, time of day, and time of year) and physical evidence is analyzed
• ALl witness statements and, if possible, the victims account of the crime are reviewed. In a murder investigation, the autopsy results are reviewed.
• The sequence of events leading to and occurring during the crime is suggested in the profile. A detailed list of personality and behavioural characteristics of the offender are included in the profile.

Next!

• Investigators use the criminal profile to shorten their list of suspects. It no suspect fits the profile, it is reassessed. Criminal profile report does not generate a list of suspects; rather, it helps law enforcement focus their investigation upon suspects who fit the profile. If new evidence arises during the investigation, the initial profile is reviewed and possibly changed. If none of the suspects fits the criteria, the profile again is reevaluated. It may need more than one set of eyes during reassessment.

Finally. . .

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• If a suspect has been apprehended, the criminal profile created is evaluated to determine its accuracy. The profile generated is compared with the actual suspect who has been apprehended. This process helps the profiler determine and evaluate how close they were. �

This is important, because profilers do not always get it right. The case of the Washington sniper was inaccurate. A profile proposed that the killer was middle aged white and alone. The culprits were 2 young black males - one who was 17!

Personality

In a criminal profile, information from a crime scene(s), physical evidence, and statements of witnesses and/or victims helps to shed light upon certain personality and behavioural characteristics of the offender in question. To determine these personality and behavioural characteristics, criminal profilers use data from scientific research involving criminal behaviour and the personalities of criminals. ��Qualitative analysis of trends and patterns from crimes of the past are also used.

For Example

Research completed by social scientists has revealed that convicted serial murderers share several traits. Serial murderers are defined as people who kill three or more victims, each on separate occasions. ��Unlike mass murderers, serial killers usually select a certain type of victim who fulfills a role in their fantasies. Social scientists have found that serial killers are most often white males aged 25 to 34, of at least average intelligence, and often with charming personalities

In the case of Serial Murderers

Most serial murderers are illegitimate children and experienced sexual or physical abuse during their childhoods. Serial killers tend to select vulnerable victims whom they can control. They prefer to kill using hands-on methods such as strangling and stabbing. Researchers found that serial killers are impressed with police work and like to associate with police or pretend to be police officers.

Never asserting guilt. . .

Criminal profilers will state only the behavioural and personality characteristics that can be justified from the information they have gathered from the case in question. In other words, criminal profilers outline only the behavioural and personality characteristics they can explain using research data and valid trends and patterns about convicted criminals.

Included in a profile!

The following are behavioural and personality characteristics that are often found in a criminal profile:

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• Age: Usually given as a range of possible ages. For example; most serial killers are between 20 - 35 while most sexual assaults are committed by culprits less than 25�
• Gender: Often determined by the gender of the victims and nature of the crime. For example; 75% of all sexual assaults are by white males.

Included in a profile - Cont’d

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• Ancestry: Usually the same as the first victim�
• Residency Determined by using geographical profile�
• Intelligence LEvel: Higher levels of intellect, especially in carefully planned crimes�
• Occupation: Consistently employed in certain types of positions. For example; most serial arsonists are employed in subservient positions. OR recently unemployed. For example; many mass murderers have experienced recent job losses.

Included in a profile - Even More!

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• Marital Status: Varies among single, married, separated, divorced, or widowed. For example; most sex offenders and pedophiles are single�
• Motivating Factors: whether the crime was random or planned in detail. For example; little physical evidence at a crime scene that appears unaltered often indicates the crime was premeditated. The nature of a victim’s injuries may indicate whether the suspect had personal anger towards the victim.�
• Arrest Record: Often committed by a suspect with an arrest record or by someone who has committed crimes but has not been caught.

And Finally

The last part of a criminal profile includes ways to cause perpetrators to come forward. ��For example; criminal profilers often suggest methods to draw out the suspect to commit more crimes, and riskier crimes that will get them caught.

Time For a Case Study

Case Study: The Mad Bomber

As discussed earlier in this chapter one of the earliest known cases involving this method of forensic investigative analysis involved George Metesky, otherwise known as the Mad Bomber, who terrorized New York City through a carefully orchestrated bombing campaign that lasted from 1940 until 1956.

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More on Metesky

Metesky had worked for United Electric & Power Company in the early 1930s, but he was fired when he sued for compensation after being injured in a work-related accident. Metesky believed that he had developed tuberculosis because of his accident, but his court case was eventually dismissed. His indignation and outrage led to many angry letters to Consolidated Edison, a large conglomerate that had been created by the merger of several small utility companies including United Electric & Power Company in the early 1930s. Metesky’s anger and mental instability led him to place his first bomb at the Consolidated Edison building in downtown New York City in November 1940.

On the topic of bombs

Metesky designed a small pipe bomb - though the device never detonated police found a crumpled note around it bearing the words “CON EDISON CROOKS, THIS IS FOR YOU.” ��The following investigation failed to disclose further evidence, and the matter was considered closed until a year later when a similar device was found nearby. ��Side note: I would be be so rattled by a bomb threat like this, I cannot believe they closed the case, even in the 30’s

NYPD

Investigators from the New York Police Department (NYPD) recognized the construction as similar to the previous device. They were suspicious that this bomb had simply been abandoned in the street. Surprisingly, police received an anonymous letter from Metesky in December 1941 indicating that his patriotic feelings stemming from U.S. entry into World War II meant he would refrain from setting any more bombs until after the war. ��Metesky’s identity remained hidden from police during this time, and he continued to send threatening letters to Con Edison, the electricity giant in the New York area.

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Flash

Then, in March 1950, police discovered an unexploded bomb in Grand Central Station. They believed it to have been constructed by the individual who had planted bombs of similar construction almost 10 years earlier. Police and public grew increasingly concerned when two bombs detonated inside the New York Public Library and Grand Central Station. By 1956, the person known as the Mad Bomber had targeted public places such as movie theatres with more than 30 bombs. In December 1956, one bomb hidden within the seat cushion of a movie theatre seat injured six people. A wave of panic set in among the people of New York.

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Improved Bombs, bigger debacle

Metesky had improved his bomb-making skills over the years. As a result, the devices he left all over New York were impossible to trace. As the bombs grew in destructive power, so too did the public demand that the NYPD capture the Mad Bomber.

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Radical new Methods

Traditional investigation had been completely unsuccessful, so members of the NYPD crime lab decided to use a radical approach. The suggestion of a psychological profile was not an entirely new idea, but it stimulated much discussion. Acting on a recommendation from internal police sources, a Manhattan criminal psychiatrist named Dr. James Brussel was approached for assistance.

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Why Brussel?

Dr. Brussel, having once served as the Assistant Commissioner of Mental Hygiene for the State of New York, was aware of the ongoing investigation and was interested in the suspect’s personal motivation. ��His previous counterintelligence work for the FBI and professional background in neuropsychiatry during World War II prepared him for what he was about to take on.

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Straight to work

Dr. Brussel reviewed the case file and developed a psychological profile of the suspect, deducing that he suffered from mental illness, most likely paranoia. Dr. Brussel’s profile of the suspect identified him as a past employee of Consolidated Edison, approximately 50 years of age, meticulous in terms of behaviour, with language patterns indicative of foreign ancestry. Letters written by the suspect were subjected to handwriting analysis, and his writing ability and language skills supported the belief that he had likely not attended college

Straight to work

Dr. Brussel reached other conclusions as well, some of which were seen as dubious.Some of these included the assumption that the suspect was single and living with a female relative who was not his mother, based on the phallic nature of his bombs and subsequent handwriting analysis that suggested the suspect drew the letter “W” in a sexually suggestive manner. (A bit of a stretch)

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Wide Publication

Dr. Brussel suggested that, contrary to conventional wisdom, details of the profile should be widely publicized in an attempt to draw out the suspect. As all major New York papers began to publish a summary of the profile, various people began coming forward to confess to the bombings, but holdback evidence such as crime scene photos and writing samples enabled police to eliminate them quickly. Additional leads flooded in, identifying a number of people suspected of fitting the profile. During this time, Metesky continued writing letters, and even called Dr. Brussel directly, warning him to remove himself from the investigation.

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Sweating the files

Meanwhile, staff at Consolidated Edison continued to review personnel files in hope of finding a past employee who fit the profile. A clerk soon stumbled upon a personnel file for a person named George Metesky of Waterbury, Connecticut, an area north of New York which Dr. Brussel thought may be the home of the suspect.

Sweating the files

The document revealed that this individual had suffered a work-related accident in the early 1930s and blamed it for his subsequent bout with tuberculosis—a claim that was dismissed in court. After his disability claim was denied, Metesky had written several threatening letters to the company, some of which used language suspiciously similar to that used by “The Mad Bomber”.

Forcing him out!

The still unidentified bombing suspect responded to a newspaper article and disclosed details of the work-related injury that led to his sense of outrage with Consolidated Edison. This information tied him to the personnel files and identified Metesky as a prime suspect. In January 1957, Metesky was arrested, confessing his involvement almost immediately. The profile was a nearly perfect fit. Interestingly, Dr. Brussel had stated that the suspect would be wearing a double-breasted suit when he was arrested. When police requested that Metesky change into new clothes before being transported to police headquarters, he donned a double-breasted suit, buttoned up just as Dr. Brussel had predicted!

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Wrapping

Dr. Brussel’s pioneering work on the Mad Bomber investigation resulted in fame and further involvement in other criminal investigations. It served as a basis for further development of psychological profiling as a key component in the investigation of serial criminals.

George Metesky was judged not to be criminally responsible due to his state of acute paranoia, and he was committed to a mental hospital. He was released in 1973 and lived his final years at his family’s residence in Connecticut, dying at the age of 90 in 1994.

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That is the end of Chapter 1! ��Let's complete the first digital Quiz so we can start chapter 2!

In Homicide Investigations

02

When, where and why.

Mutilated

Incapacitated

Key Vocabulary

Impulsive

Remorse

An act or physical injury that degrades the appearance or function of the body, without causing death

Disabled or deprived of strength or ability

Acting without apparent forethought, prompting, or planning

Moral anguish arising from bitter regret for past misdeeds

Key Vocabulary

05

06

07

08

09

Empathy

Psychopath

Methodical

Necrophilia

Modus Operandi (MO)

Showing an understanding of another’s situation, feelings, and/or motives

A person with serious mental illness or a disorder impairing capacity to function normally and safely (tends to be antisocial)

Arranged or proceeding in a regular, systematic order

Sexual Contact with a dead body (corpse)

A method of operating or functioning; a criminal’s manner of committing a crime

On Homicides

In 2004, the homicide rate in Canada was 2.0 per 100 000 people or approximately 650 homicides per year. ��This rate has remained fairly stable for the past decade, and it is similar to homicide rates in most of the countries in the western world, with the exception of the U.S. that has almost triple the number.

Murder is the most serious and heinous of all crimes; mass murders are of particular concern to the public and police. Law enforcement agencies use numerous investigative techniques to apprehend murderers. ��Criminal profiling has become a useful and invaluable technique employed by the police.

Types of

History has proven that multiple murderers are of various types, each with distinct characteristics.

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The two flavours of multiple murders are mass murderers, and serial murderers. ��Lets take a look at each in depth.

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Mass Murderers

A mass murderer kills several people, typically at the same time, in one location. Mass murderers are sometimes divided into those who kill only members of their family and those who kill victims to whom they are not related. ��For example, a former computer programmer, Richard Farley, was fired for stalking one of his coworkers. He returned to the former workplace with a gun. Killed seven, and injured four of his ex-colleagues. The female he had stalked was one of the four people injured.

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A Spree Murderer

Kills several victims during a short time, usually in two or more locations. ��For example, spree killer Seung-Hui Cho, a student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State university better known as Virginia Tech, caused the Virginia Tech massacre. ��We will recap that massacre shortly, but what is important is that this type of mass murderer is not just one spot at one time but a close proximity of time

Virginia Tech massacre

The Virginia Tech massacre consisted of two separate shootings about two hours apart in April 2007 on the Virginia Tech campus. Cho killed 32 people and wounded 25 before committing suicide. ��The Virginia Tech massacre is the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. *��*Update: Las Vegas 2017 Route 91 music festival mass shooting is the new list topper at 60 killed 850 injured,

Serial

A serial murderer kills several victims in three or more separate events during a time that could be days, weeks, months, or even years apart. ��Many serial killers are psychopaths who are considered to have a personality disorder but appear quite normal and charming. ��Serial killers are often motivated by various psychological urges, primarily power and sexual compulsion. Serial murderers are further categorized.

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Types of Serial Killers

Visionary

Hedonistic

Missionary

The offender hears voices or sees visions that tell him or her to kill.

The offender goes on a hunting mission to rid the earth of a certain group of people.

Offenders are of four types, all of whom take pleasure in the kill: comfort-oriented, lust-oriented, thrill-oriented, and power-oriented. The latter takes pleasure in domination and manipulation, getting a rush from the victims misery.

Accidental Mass killing?

Although rare, mass killings have occurred unintentionally without premeditation. ��In 1990, Julio Gonzalez set fire to New York City nightclub after having a fight there with his girlfriend. His intention was to hurt his girlfriend. She was injured, but 87 people died in the blaze. … … Big oops.

Personality

In Criminal profiling and especially in homicide investigations, the behaviour of an offender is thought to reflect the personality of the offender. ��Profilers try to predict the personality of the offender after analyzing the suspect’s behaviour before, during, and after the crime. To try and predict the personality from the behaviour, criminal profilers often try to answer a few questions

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A few Questions

• Did the murder and body disposal occur at one scene or at multiple locations?

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• Did the murderer try to involve himself in the investigation by reacting to media reports or by contacting the investigators?

Disposal

After the murder?

A few - More - Questions

• What fantasy of plan did the murderer have before the act? �
• What triggered the murderer to act on some days and not others?

• What type of victim(s) did the murderer select? �
• What was the method of murder (shooting, stabbing, strangulation, or other?)

Before?

Method

Standard Murderer

Most serial killers are male, white, and in their twenties or thirties. ��Women rarely commit serial murders, but when they do; they tend to do so in a spree fashion, killing people they know such as patients when working in a medical or nursing home setting.

Further Breaking

In 1980, Roy Hazelwood and John Douglas made a distinction between organized and disorganized criminal behaviour. Both Hazelwood and Douglas were criminal profilers working in the FBI’s Behavioural Science unit. ��This can further help us classify and profile the nature of a murderer depending on which category they fall into.

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Organized Offenders

As the name implies, organized offenders plan and execute their crimes in organized ways because they are scheming, deliberate and methodical individuals. ��The organized offender is a self-absorbed psychopath lacking empathy and remorse. ��Most organized offenders are well spoken, outgoing, and pleasant and because of this they appear non-threatening at first.

Organized Offenders

These offenders target their victims, choosing primarily strangers whom they often capture by conning them, perhaps by offering money or asking for assistance. ��Offenders usually bring their own weapons and take them from the crime scenes.

Organization

Organized offenders are careful; they often take time to clean up or remove evidence such as fingerprints, blood, bullet cartridges, or knives from the crime scenes��Often this means organized offenders will move or conceal the body. We will explore this type more when we take a look at our chapter case study.

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Offenders

This offender type is typically a loner with poor social skills; often feeling inadequate and having difficulties maintaining friendships and loving relationships with other. ��Disorganized offenders tend to appear unkempt and often will live in messy gomes; and their crimes are committed impulsively sparked by a mental disorder, drugs, alcohol, youth, or inexperience.

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Disorganized offenders

The disorganized offender tends to attack people they know, such as family, friends, neighbours, or acquaintances. ��Their victims are incapacitated quickly without much warning and usually left badly mutilated. ��They often kill their victims with items at the crime scene, and make no effort to hide the weapons or bodies afterwards., This type of offender leaves a mess.

A list of traits of each type for quick reference

Pleading

Some criminals will plead not guilty by reason of insanity to avoid lengthy trials. ��This type of defence applies to a wide range of mental disorders, one of the most popular being psychosis caused by schizophrenia. ��Those who argue this type of defence successfully are usually sentenced to clinical treatment rather than prison, this tends to be a plead that works for disorganized offenders, not organized offenders.

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Can a murderer be both?

Some crime scenes demonstrate elements of both criminal sophistication and disorganized characteristics. ��Although criminals have one or even two characteristics that fit the opposite offender profile, they are considered a combination offender only if they have an equal number of characteristics from both categories.

Offenders

These are described as

• An offender with a short temper, but enough self control to avoid taking unnecessary risks
• An offender unable to control the victim, resulting in change of behaviour
• A young offender making the transition from disorganized to organized
• Assisted by other offenders, each fitting different behavioural category.

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A perfect crime

Some investigators believe that combination offenders are capable of committing a “perfect crime”��This is one so well committed that there is no evidence apparent and therefore no culprit to be traced. ��This requires picking a victim they do not know (organized) and having no criminal record. Nothing stolen during the crime, but no pattern to location or timing (disorganized) ��Some examples of such murders are the Black Dahlia murder, Zodiac Murders, and Chicago Tylenol poisonings.

Case Study: Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy was born in November 1946 at a facility for young unwed mothers. The identity of Bundy’s biological father was unknown to him; he grew up thinking his grandparents were actually his parents. To hide the shame of his unwed mother, he was made to believe that his mother was actually his older sister. Bundy achieved high grades in school and was known as well mannered and well dressed. When Bundy went to university for degrees in psychology and eventually law, he fell in love for the first time.

However, this relationship ended badly, and he was devastated. Soon after this break up, he discovered his parents were actually his grandparents.

Murders

Bundy's first confirmed assault was January 4 1974, we entered the basement bedroom of an 18 y/o female dancer and student of University of Washington��He sexually assaulted her, then beat her with metal from her bed frame. She survived with Brain Damage

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Washington

Later in the same month Bundy killed another student and dumped her body in a separate location. ��The next attack was in March 1974 at Evergreen State College where he kidnapped a 19 y/o female student, and a month alter a female student from Central Washington State College disappeared. ��He lured these women by wearing a cast on his arm and asking for help carrying books to his car.

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Why is any of this important?

We are building a profile, Bundy had a type of victim, young females that were strangers. ��He dumped bodies in alternate locations and moved around a lot. ��He was organized

�He was charming, and used guile to lure women in. ��What type of murderer does this sound like?

More Victims

The next victims was a female student at Oregon State University who was last seen in May 1974. In June 1974, he killed two young female university students, one after she was seen leaving a tavern at night and the other while she was walking at night from her boyfriends dorm to her sorority house. ��Witnesses report that a man with a leg cast was seen asking women to help him carry large briefcases to kis Volkswagen Beetle

Short

Bundy has a predictable profile. ��The problem was that he was smart enough to know when to leave. ��Bundy moved and repeated the steps in Utah, then Cololardo, then Idaho. This wen all the way through to the summer of 1975. �

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Catching

The problem with Bundy is he simply was too organized, he was hard to catch and worked clean. ��It was not until he failed to stop for a an officer - by chance - and his car was searched. They found burglary equipment, a ski mask a crowbar (used in murders), trashbags, handcuffs, and an ice pick that they could link him to the string of murders and disappearances.

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Escape, and escape again

Bundy escaped from the courthouse library and was recaptured, then escaped again a few months later. Taking trains, stolen cars and busses to Florida. ��This lead to a rampage in January of 1978; wherein a 30 minute period he brutally attacked 4 women in a sorority house, then broke into another home and injured another female. Killed another 12 year old in February of 1978, stole a Beetle and was caught.

Bundy was executed on January 24 1989, after confessing to murdering 35 women.

Modus Operandi

Bundy was interviewed by profilers to learn more about organized offenders and serial killers while incarcerated. ��Bundy’s modus operandi was fascinating and frightening. ��The next slides will cover his MO in detail

M.O.

• All of Bundy’s victims were white females, with straight hair between 15 and 25
• Most were from middle class families; majority college students
• Bundy drank alcohol before finding a victim
• After luring a victim to his car, Bundy would hit her on the head with a crowbar. (Every recovered skull except one shows blunt force trauma)
• Every recovered body, except for one was strangled
• At least ½ the victims were decapitated (hacksaw), and some were kept for a time before disposal
• Many victims were dumped far from the murder location
• Bundy also confessed to visiting the bodies after they were dumped to lay with them, apply makeup and sometimes even perform necrophilic acts on the corpses.

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Lets call this the end of Chapter 2! ��We have some categorization of profiles in homicides and have seen what goes into a real life profile��Let's complete the first digital Quiz so we can start chapter 3! We can explore more serial killers in time!

Profiling

03

Criminal profiling ios the who; geographical profiling is the where

Key Vocabulary

01

02

03

Cost Benefit Analysis

Familiarity

Algorithm

An approach where someone seeks to identify and quantify the benefits and the costs imposed.

04

Probability

Personal knowledge or information about someone or something

An organized procedure for performing a given type of calculation or solving a given type of mathematical problem

A measure of the likelihood some event will occur

Key Vocabulary

05

06

07

Analytical

Erratic

Retroactively

A problem solving approach that is very detailed.

08

Transient

Performing unpredictably

After the fact

A person who stays in one location for only short times; having no fixed address.

Key Vocabulary

09

Negated

Shown to be false; proven negative

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Geographic

This subtype of criminal profiling involves analyzing the location of a related series of crimes to determine the most probably location of an offender’s residence or place of work. ��This strategy is based on the assumption that criminals do not stray far from areas familiar to them, especially routes they reveal among work, home, and recreational areas.

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Geo � Pro

Geographical profiling is not intended to solve a crime by identifying immediately the name of a suspect. ��It is a methodology is based on the premise that a mathematical analysis of rime scene locations, seen through the perspective of environmental criminology can increase the efficiency of a police investigation by focussing attention on specific areas where the suspect may live or work.

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In regular English what we are saying is that most criminals stay close to home or work. ��If we can figure out that general region we can be better equipped to continue an investigation instead of looking all over the city or the province

80%

20%

Neat Stat

Of murderers in Canada are caught within a year

The other 20% is a little longer and lot more unsettling

History Time

This methodology of profiling began in the 1990’s, it has become an increasingly popular avenue of investigation in complex crimes involving serial offenders. ��It has been used in numerous investigations in North America and Europe in recent years.

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This said spatial analysis methods in policing goes back many many years - think red thread on big maps.

Formalized

The formal process we now call geographic profiling originated in research conducted at the SChool of Criminology of SImon Fraser University in British Columbia (canada Shoutout) in 1989

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Its theoretical foundation is rooted in environmental criminology, routine activity theory, and rational choice theory, and together form a predictive model of crime. ��Those theories are all really neat, and I have linked documents to them, they are not required reading.

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Research

Focussing on the theory that offenders maintain buffer zones around their homes in which they avoided committing crimes to protect their anonymity. ��A second theory, commonly referred to as distance decay, is a mathematical function that describes the path of travel taken by offenders as they search for murder opportunities. . . murdertunities if you will. This theory suggests that offenders are not interested in travelling long distances to commit crime unless the payoff is much larger

In other words. . .

�Offenders are attracted by the ‘pull’ of a potential target, but are ‘pushed’ from their own neighbourhood for fear of being identified by someone who knows them.

There must be a bubble around the home and work of the murderer that is far enough but not tooooooo far.

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Algorithms

The successful development of an algorithms that supported geographic profiling is largely the work of Dr. D. Kim Rossmo, who established its basic principles while completing his Ph.D in Criminology at Simon Fraser University. ��Rossmo was a police officer at that time, working as a foot patrol in downtown Vancouver at night and attending classes during the day. Rossmo created a mathematical formula that models the two factors of this buffer zone.

Algorithm

Prediction

Rossmo’s mathematical solution to criminal location was based on �

• Least Effort - The principle that humans pursue courses of action only after performing a cost benefit analysis in their minds�
• Criminal Opportunity - The correlation between familiarity and opportunity

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Time

A crime can occur only when a ‘motivated’ offender encounters a defenceless victim in the absence of a guardian (police, security or others). In other words, criminal behaviour results from a decision-making process based on a balance between the probability of being caught and the amount of effort that is needed to commit the crime

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Straight up Math

An algorithm is at its core math. Rossmo created an equation (seen below) that computers can interact with in the form of software. ��This equation is used in a program called Rigel and drives an analytical network that creates geographic profiles. ��This equation will be able to predict the general region a criminal will live in based on their crimes, which is nuts. ��

Finishing History

Our protagonist Dr, Rossmo completed his PhD in 1995, transferred to a full time geo-profiling unit in Vancouver P.D. The first of its kind in North America��It took awhile to catch on but now is used globally. ��Dr. Rossmo has since left the Vancouver P.D and works in research at Texas State University for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation doing more profiling

Creating Geographic Profiles

The tools at the disposal of a geographic profilers include various software systems such as Rigel, Predator, and CrimeStat. ��Input data typically consist of suspect-victim encounter sites, victim or body recovery locations, suspicious vehicle sightings, related public complaints or tipes and residential and employment locations of known suspects. ��The name of the game is collect as many data points as possible

In

All of this information is entered into a geographical information system (GIS) that creates a three-dimensional surface map, sometimes referred to as a geoprofile. ��This map depict the most likely area in which the primary suspect resides. ��Get enough data, the computer gives a general residence.

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Types of crimes we can detect

The process of geographic profiling is more than just locations but takes into account the offenders pattern of behaviours. ��We assume that the offender is a serial offender and that there is identifiable patterns. The system can incorporate all the transport, bus routes, roadmaps, even bike paths to try and recognize the realistic buffer zone that needs investigation.

Getting better over time

Geographic profiles help narrow the focus and the number of suspects that police need to interrogate, but also continue to get better over time. ��The more crimes committed the more the zone narrows, and the more accurate it becomes. ��This is what makes organized smart serial killers like Bundy difficult to catch, as the constant location changes makes it hard to pin down a geographic profile.

Three

When entering data for analyzing the geographical patterns we must consider:

• Distance: Perceptions of distance of criminal activity from home or work vary from one criminal to another, but they can be influenced by the availability of transportation, the number of barriers (such as bridges or state boundaries), the types of roads and overall familiarity

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Three

When entering data for analyzing the geographical patterns we must consider:�

• Mental Map: A cognitive image of a person’s surroundings is developed through experiences, travel routes, reference points, and centres of activity is a mental map. The places where we feel safe are taken for granted within our mental maps. ��Investigators consider that this principle is also true for offenders. As offenders grow bolder, their mental maps may change to produce an increase in the range of their criminal activity.

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Lastly Mobility

�Some criminals are geographically stable and some are more transient. Whether they tend toward stability or mobility depends much on their experience with travel, means for travel n sense of personal security and predatory motivations.

Dahmer stayed in one city, Bundy travelled, all must be considered.

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An Awareness Space

Criminals are thought to have certain awareness spaces, a place where they feel comfortable enough to seek potential victims. Investigators see these to be the offenders primary focus of activity.

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Serial Killers are thought to display highly formatted predation patterns, but those suffering from mental disorders may pose difficult challenges for a profiler because of their irrational and erratic actions .

Erratic Example

Richard Chase (left), also known as the Vampire Killer is known for his psychotic and highly aberrant behaviour that resulted in the murder of six people during a one-month period. In 1977-1978��Only because of his reckless behaviour and disregard for being captured were police able to identify him so quickly. ��But interestingly enough, when the data was retroactively added to Rigel, the algorithm was accurate to within 1.7% of Chases home.

How Police Constructing a Geographic Profile

What is needed

The construction of a geographic profile involves �

• Study of area maps
• Computerized analysis
• Examination of the crime scenes
• Complete familiarity with the case file
• Interviews with investigators and witnesses
• Analysis of neighborhood demographics for both the abduction site and body dump site. ��Which is a lot, but is also very easy to acquire as an investigation proceeds.

Okay so. .

�Let's do a case study and make a profile

This one is in Canada, and uncomfortable.

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The case of a the Missing Lower Mainland Children

Clifford Robert Olson was born on January 1, 1940, in Vancouver, British COlumbia. Despite being raised in a reportedly stable home with no signs of abuse, at a young age he showed signs of delinquency. ��Olson was known as a bully and a show-off who loved to be the center of attention. He skipped classes by Grade 4 and failed several grades in school; and it was rumoured that he tortured and killed animals.

Quick Aside

Serial Killers often all show the same signs in childhood. The included signs are as follows �

• Antisocial behaviour
• Substance abuse
• Superficial (fake) charm
• Arson
• The Macdonald Triad (bedwetting, small animal torture/killing, and fire setting)
• Lacking empathy for others
• Manipulation and Voyeurism

Early

Clifford Olson was a loner who had no close friends and who was frequently in trouble for compulsive talking. He skipped school frequently and was first arrested for theft at the age of 13

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Olson left school at age 16. From then until he was 40 years old, he was convicted of 83 criminal offences.

�As an adult, Olson lived outside of prison for only four years by the time he was 40/ Overall he spent 22 years. Now let's get to murderin!’

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The Murders

Olson owned a construction company and hired young boys and girls by promising them money. ��Some of the youngsters did actually complete work for Olson; however many became his victims. Often he picked victims in the middle of the day offering them a ride or a job. Then, he would either sexually assault and/or kill them.

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The first murder was in in November 1980. He abducted a 12 y/o girl in Surrey BC strangled her with a belt, and stabbed her repeatedly. ��The body was found Christmas Day.

Building the profile - adding data

Olson then killed a 13 y/o girl, but her body was not found for 5 months. ��Then Olson abducted a 16 y/o boy, smashin the boys head with a hammer and tossing him into a ditch. ��He was accused of molesting a 5 y/o neighbour girl, but he was never formally charged due to lack of evidence.

Even

Olson was married and had a child in May 1981. ��Just four days after Olson abducted and murdered a 16 y/o girl; the next month a 13 y/o girl��In July 1981, Olson killed seven children of various ages, the youngest at 9 y/o, and the oldest an 18 y/o German tourist.

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Modus Operandi

Olson always sexually assaulted his victims but was inconsistent with his killing method. ��4 victims were strangled, 3 were bludgeoned. Olson dumped his victims in remote locations, but always kept a souvenir. ��After killing a 14 y/o Judy Kozma, he used her address book to call her friends taunting them “you're next.”

A quick Tally

Within 9 months, Olson had killed two children and nine adolescents. Initially, the cases were not lined by authorities. ��There were both sexes represented, and various murder styles. ��Also, only 3 bodies were recovered at that time the other 7 were all tentatively considered probable runaways. ��By the end of 1981, when police realized this may be a serial killer, and the profile and investigation begins.

A prime

Clifford Olson became the prime suspect early because he lived in the Surrey Area, and had a lengthy criminal record. ��Police brought him in for questioning but lacked hard evidence, suspicions remained high, so surveillance was ordered. ��Olson was not easy to follow. He took strange U-turns, stopped randomly in the street, swapped rental cars regularly. IN 3 months he racked up 20,0000 km’s in 14 different cars.

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Attempted Abduction

In August 1981, Olson was arrested for attempting to abduct two young female hitchhikers. ��Olson picked up the girls near Nanaimo, BC, and drove up a dirt-logged road. Two RCMP surveillance cars followed him and blocked entrance to the road. ��Two officers on food then followed the car until it stopped. When Olson started yelling at the girls police moved in for the arrest.

How is this

Once a serial killer was considered police could look into the region of criminal activity. ��Cross reference the region of Surrey with known serial offenders, and then could start looking at everyone that fits that bill. ��Now that may sound like a no duh moment but this is the critical work that gets overlooked easily.

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Closing The Case

When Olson was questioned about the string of unsolved murders he offered the investigators a deal. ��He would confess to all 11 murders and even show them where the bodies were but his wife and son must receive $10,000 for each murder. ��This was super infuriating for investigators but they lacked harder evidence to convict and the deal was made. ��Olsons family received 100,000 dollars, Olson received 11 life sentences. Dark ending.

That is another episode in the books. Let's take on Digital Quiz #3, then perhaps we can take on a lab style assignment.��See you in the next one.

Using Profiling

4.1

A few more profiles before we end the unit.

Remember

Criminal Profiling is a tool that is used by the police to shorten a list of suspects, not condemn a single suspect. A profile identifies some of the major personality and behavioural characteristics of an unknown offender based on the details of the crime scene. The assumptions made by a profiling expert about the behaviour and personalities of unknown offenders have helped law enforcement in the hunt for suspects for serious crimes. ��The following are real cases with real profiles.

The railway Killers

John Duffy was a violent rapist who embarked upon a four-year crime spree in 1982, attacking lone women near railway stations throughout various neighbourhoods in London, England. It was first thought that he had committed these crimes by himself, but police eventually concluded that he had an accomplice. They would be unable to establish sufficient proof until 1997, when Duffy admitted that David Mulcahy, a childhood friend, had been involved from the very beginning.

The first attacks

The first sexual assault occurred in July 1982 when the yet to be identified Duffy and his accomplice attacked and raped a 23-year-old woman near a train station in a neighbourhood outside North London. Eighteen more attacks occurred, mainly at night, near various railway stations in the London area. Most victims were teenage girls attacked while waiting for their train to arrive.

When investigators became convinced that two individuals appeared to be responsible for the violent sexual assaults that terrorized the citizens of London, the pair became known as the Railway Rapists. It was later discovered that most of the crimes occurred as close as a five-minute walk from Duffy's house.

Operation

In July 1985, three women were raped on the same night, all within a neighbourhood in North London. The police quickly set up a Task Force, calling it Operation Hart. It was the largest multi-jurisdictional police investigation in the United Kingdom since the Yorkshire Ripper investigation was concluded successfully several years before.

In August 1985, Duffy happened to be arrested after assaulting his wife. His name was eventually added to the Operation Hart computer system as one of many thousands of local men who were being investigated as possible suspects.

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In September 1985, another vicious sexual assault occurred. Police thought the attacker’s description resembled Duffy. He was brought in for questioning and even participated in a photo line-up. The victim was unable to identify him as the assailant, perhaps due to the traumatic stress she experienced during the crime.

The First Murders

On December 29, 1985, Alison Day, aged 19, was dragged off a train at Hackney station and repeatedly raped by Duffy and Mulcahy. She was then strangled to death with a piece of rope. This was the first time the two men had killed one of their victims, and police increased the intensity of their efforts to identify the culprit. Day’s murder meant that Duffy would now be referred in the media as the Railway Killer. Yet, still no physical evidence was available to suggest that two men were carrying out the attacks.

In April 1986, a fifteen-year old female was abducted from a train station in East Surrey. The teenager’s body was set on fire after she was raped and strangled, likely to try to eradicate any physical evidence that could identify the attacker.

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Arrests

Duffy was arrested near a local train station less than a month later—this time for the illegal possession of a knife. However, he was released without charge due to a lack of evidence, only to murder another person a week later. In May 1986, Anne Locke, an employee of a local TV station, was abducted as she arrived at a train station just outside London. Her body was found two months later, and the analysis of traces of semen found in her body confirmed that the individual known as the Railway Killer was responsible.

In the meantime, police continued to interview each of the nearly 5000 men who had been added to the Operation Hart database, requesting a blood sample at the time of each interview. This voluntary process likely was offered to each individual as a means of clearing any doubts about guilt or innocence. Duffy was interviewed on July 17, 1986, but he refused to participate voluntarily in the blood test at that time. He then committed himself to a mental hospital, perhaps as a means of covering his tracks.

The use of

By July 1986, police were desperate to identify the person or persons responsible for this string of horrible crimes. Consequently, they requested the assistance of Dr. David Canter, an expert in behavioural science and professor of applied psychology at Surrey University. At this time, a new concept in criminal investigations was being introduced, referred to by Dr. Canter as “Psychological Offender Profiling” (also known as criminal profiling). This was the first murder investigation in England in which criminal profiling had a significant role. John Duffy, who would later be identified as the Railway Killer, was the first person in the history of the English justice system to be identified as a suspect as a direct result of this investigative technique.

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Dr. Canter

To help solve the case, Dr. Canter analyzed large numbers of solved crimes using a statistical technique known as multivariate analysis. In each case, the behaviour of the criminal (including the choice of victims, personal interaction with them, location and timing of each offence, and content analysis of their speech) was used as a data source. As Dr. Canter examined the details of each crime, he was able to build a profile of the attacker's personality, habits, and traits.

He then created a profile based on witness statements, crime scene reports, and geographical information. He produced a list of seventeen personality and characteristic traits including environmental clues that the offender might display. For example, he was able to infer that the killer lived in an area of northwest London and had an unhappy married life with no children

Throwback to earlier in the unit

Interestingly, Canter relied on his background in environmental psychology to develop concepts such as the cognitive map, which would prove useful in understanding offender behaviour. In fact, his research found that most British serial rapists lived within the area in which they committed their crimes.

Findings

Duffy becomes

As the process of creating an offender profile ended, a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl was raped in a park in October 1986. When the psychological profile created by Dr. Canter was cross-referenced with the police database of all possible suspects, the computer generated a match for John Duffy.

Duffy was placed under police surveillance. He was arrested on November 7, 1986, when he was seen stalking a woman in a park. He was questioned about his involvement in the numerous rapes and murders committed over the past four years. He offered a weak alibi involving tales of amnesia

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Taking Action

With sufficient forensic evidence to support a successful prosecution, Duffy was charged with three murders and seven counts of rape. Police suspected that he had not committed the offences alone, but Duffy refused to cooperate any further.

Dr. Canter’s profile of the killer was accurate in 13 of 17 points. He attributed the success of his technique to an understanding of how a criminal leaves behind ‘evidence of his personality’ through his actions in relation to a crime, including specific behaviours characteristic of that person. Consistent behaviours typical of the person’s social group also provide information that can be used to develop a profile.

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According to Dr. Canter, to build a profile of an offender from ‘the bottom up’ is possible. By reviewing a wide range of associated factors and operating under the premise that people behave typically consistently, the analysis of behaviour patterns observed over time can provide clues about a serial offender’s ordinary behaviour.

Drawing

Duffy went to trial in February 1988. He was convicted of two murders and four rapes, but he was acquitted on the remaining charges, including the murder of Anne Locke. Duffy later revealed to a psychologist that he had not been working alone when he committed his heinous crimes. However, he revealed no further details until 1997 when he implicated childhood friend David Mulcahy, a married father of four who was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. This marked the end of the lengthy and determined search for the Railway Killers, one that made effective use of criminal profiling.

Using Profiling

4.2

Last One!

The BTK

Dennis Lynn Rader murdered at least 10 people in and near the city of Wichita, Kansas, between 1974 and 1991. He became known as the BTK Strangler, which stood for ‘Bind, Torture, and Kill’, a name that he had originally passed to the media and police through a wide variety of written correspondence.

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First Killings

Rader’s first victims were four members of one family (Joseph Otero, his wife, and their two children) who were murdered in their home in January 1974. In April 1974, Rader struck again, using his preferred method of attack by gaining entry to the victim’s home. He tied Kathryn Bright and her brother Kevin, and then strangled her to death. Rader then shot Kathryn Bright’s brother several times as they fought, but Kevin Bright survived the attack. The police were unable to locate the killer from the description he provided.

In 1977, in a period of nine months, Rader murdered Shirley Vian and Nancy Fox in their own homes. He used the same method of binding and torturing to kill these two victims.

Possibly, he had other intended victims, but the murders stopped for a time. Then, two years later in 1979, Anna Williams narrowly escaped death when she returned home from work much later than expected. Rader had broken into her home, but apparently he gave up on her return that evening. He later sent an angry note to her stating "…be glad you weren't here, because I was." He included one of her scarves with the letter.

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Police and Media

Rader seemed to derive perverse pleasure from sending taunting letters to both police and various news outlets. He sent notes and letters from 1974 to 1979. For example, in October 1974, a letter describing in detail the murder of the Otero family had been left in an engineering book in the Wichita Public Library. In early 1978, he sent a letter to a Wichita TV station in which he claimed responsibility for the murders he had committed. This letter identified the BTK Strangler name, announcing that a serial killer was loose in Wichita. A poem was also enclosed, written as a form of macabre tribute to the murder of Nancy Fox. However, nothing was heard from BTK for the next several years.

Building A team

During that time, local police created a Task Force and spent thousands of hours searching for the identity of the BTK Strangler. They used various principles from science and followed up on the realization that all murders had occurred within a radius of approximately 8 km.

By 1988, the trail had gone cold. However, police received a letter from someone claiming to be the BTK Strangler. The author referred to a recent murder but denied responsibility while noting that it had been performed admirably.

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Criminal Profiling

In 1997, Robert Ressler, a former FBI agent, helped outline a profile of the BTK Strangler. Ressler thought the man may have been a graduate student or a professor in the criminal justice field at the local university, was most likely in his mid-to-late-20s at the time of the killings, and was an avid reader of books and newspaper stories concerning serial murders. Additionally, because his pattern of killings had not been seen in Wichita since the '70s, it was assumed that he had likely left the area or had died.

In August 2000, Dr. Deborah Schurman-Kauflin, President of the Violent Crimes Institute, created a partial profile of the killer based on limited information. Among her insights was a chilling statement about the mindset of BTK Strangler:

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This is not a person who would stop killing on his own. There are only three reasons he would stop: death, prison, or he is too disabled or sick to kill. This is a compulsive psychopath who enjoys killing and will not give it up.

Schurman-Kauflin’s profile of BTK was updated in 2005 (just prior to the BTK Strangler‘s arrest) to provide a more detailed description of his character traits and� behaviours

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The profile

• Divorced white male who now would be in his 50's
• Sad, lonely, bored
• Has a normal appearance and fits in well with the people who live in Wichita
• Drives a non-descript pickup truck or car, most likely American-made
• Was and is strong and enjoys using his hands
• Can be charming and disarming when he chooses
• Prefers his own company because he feels superior to everyone

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• Lives in a lower to middle-class area
• Not known as a criminal
• Sane, but a psychopath
• Has a strong dislike of women and views them with disdain
• Enjoys playing puppet-master and would prefer killing and manipulating others to almost anything
• A consummate liar and manipulator
• Enjoys being discussed in the media and takes delight in people guessing about him
• Has the world at the end of his string, but his problem is that to be truly heard, he has to be caught

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More Deliveries

In March 2004, BTK Strangler began a series of communications that ultimately led to his arrest in February 2005. The Wichita Eagle newspaper received a letter written by a person believed to be BTK Strangler who claimed responsibility for the murder of Vicki Wegerle in September 1986. This murder had not been attributed previously to BTK Strangler, but several photographs of the crime scene and a photocopy of the driver's licence of Vicki Wegerle’s were included with the letter, indicating that whoever had sent it had intimate knowledge of the crime.

Subsequent letters, notes, and packages were sent throughout 2004 while police encouraged BTK to continue to communicate, hoping that he would make a mistake to identify himself.

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December 2004

In December 2004, Wichita police received another package from the BTK Strangler; it contained the driver's licence of Nancy Fox. It had been stolen from her residence at the time of her murder in 1977. In February 2005, postcards were received by a local TV station and were followed by further writings related to the 1974 murders of a certain member of the Otero family.

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An error. . Finally

Then the BTK Strangler made an error. In February of 2005, he sent a padded envelope containing a computer disc to a TV station in Wichita. On this disc, police found metadata embedded in a Microsoft Word document that identified the Christ Lutheran Church and that showed the document was last modified by "Dennis". Investigators then discovered that the president of the Christ Lutheran Church council was Dennis Rader.��Teacher Note - I don’t think people realize how much information is artifacted into documents. Especially now with cloud computing

The Arrest

Police immediately began surveillance of Rader and obtained a warrant for the medical records of Rader's daughter. Subsequently, a tissue sample was obtained from her and tested for DNA. It provided a familial match with semen found at an earlier BTK Strangler crime scene. This evidence, combined with other pieces of information gathered prior to and during the surveillance, gave police the grounds to arrest Rader in February 2005. He was taken into custody without incident. He talked to the police for several hours, confessing almost immediately. His confession and subsequent interviews with police filled almost a dozen DVDs.

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BTK Interviews

During his lengthy interviews with police, Rader appeared to detach himself from his victims, describing them as his "projects”, discussing in detail how he had “put them down”. Rader also described the contents of his "hit kit”: a briefcase or bowling bag containing handguns, tape, rope, and handcuffs. He also carried extra clothing that he could change into after committing a murder.

Always a Ritual

Rader also provided insight into how he chose his victims. He would first wander the city until he found potential victims; he would then stalk them for some time. Then, he would break into the victim’s home when no one was home, cut the phone line, and hide until his victim came home. Rader then bound, tortured, and killed his victims. Usually he strangled them until they lost consciousness, but he would revive them just to strangle them again. He would repeat the pattern, becoming sexually aroused at the sight of their struggles. Finally, Rader would strangle them to death and ejaculate into an article of their clothing, usually underwear.

All victims except one lived in and around central Wichita. Rader lived on the same street as one of his victims.

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Drawing

Rader pleaded guilty in 2005, giving a graphic account of his crimes in court. By this time, Rader had openly admitted to two other murders that the BTK Strangler had not originally been suspected of committing: Marine Hedge in 1985 and Dolores David in 1991.

In August of 2005, Rader was sentenced to serve 10 consecutive life sentences (one life sentence per victim) without possibility of parole for 175 years. The police investigation concluded with the statement that Rader was not responsible for any other murders.

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Drawing

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Although criminal profiling played a minor role in the search for the BTK Strangler, this story demonstrates the need for an objective, balanced approach to serial crime investigation based on the ease with which a serial killer can blend into conventional society.

Strangely, the BTK Strangler was able to carry out what seemed to be a normal life during his decades of a reign of terror. He was on both the Sedgwick County's Board of Zoning Appeals and the Animal Control Advisory Board. He was president of his Christ Lutheran Church Congregation Council and a Cub Scout leader.

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Let's make sure that we actually understood the cases with a quick digital quiz and we will see you in the next one!