Criminal Profiling Serial Killers Forensic Science Violent Criminal

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Criminal Profiling & Serial Killers Forensic Science

Criminal Profiling & Serial Killers Forensic Science

Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (Vi. CAP) • Created in 1985 by the FBI out

Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (Vi. CAP) • Created in 1985 by the FBI out of Quantico, Virginia. • Designed to track and correlate information on violent crime, especially murder. • Contains crime scene descriptions, victim and offender descriptive data, including name and other personal identifying information, laboratory reports, criminal history records, court records, news media references, crime scene photographs and statements. • Vi. CAP program made its database available to all law enforcement agencies.

Criminal Profiling & Serial Killers • Generally it is difficult to talk about serial

Criminal Profiling & Serial Killers • Generally it is difficult to talk about serial murder without also talking about the nature of murder. But that’ll be for another day… • This lecture focuses on a particularly rare form of homicide - the serial killer. This is a bizarre and highly controversial field of study. • However, there is some overlap with theories explaining serial rapists, arsonists, pedophiles and work on profiling violent crime.

Criminal Profiling • Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is a behavioral and

Criminal Profiling • Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is a behavioral and investigative tool that is intended to help investigators to accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminal subjects or offenders. • Offender profiling is also known as criminal profiling, criminal personality profiling, criminological profiling, behavioral profiling

What is criminal profiling? • Construction of a psychological, behavioral and demographic profile of

What is criminal profiling? • Construction of a psychological, behavioral and demographic profile of the type of person likely to have committed the crime • Usually applied to serial crimes (serial murders, serial rapes…)

What to look for • State of the crime scene • Gives clues about

What to look for • State of the crime scene • Gives clues about the type of offender • Age • Race • Motive

Criminal Profiling • Statistics from FBI (1981) • 88 cases solved using profiling out

Criminal Profiling • Statistics from FBI (1981) • 88 cases solved using profiling out of 192 • 17% of these cases were solved by profiling ALONE • Profiling Using Computers • VICLAS (violent crime linkage analysis) • Computer matches crimes with similar characteristics

Serial Killers and Criminal Profiling

Serial Killers and Criminal Profiling

Definition of a Serial Killer • Murder of three or more persons • Involves

Definition of a Serial Killer • Murder of three or more persons • Involves a distinctive “cooling off” period • Can be days to months to years • Differs from Mass Murder (3+ persons killed together) & Spree Killing (3+ persons killed in short period of time at different locations)

Serial Killers • Throughout the last three decades the US serial killer rate has

Serial Killers • Throughout the last three decades the US serial killer rate has risen 940%. • There at least 35 serial killers in the USA today. • The US has 6% of the world’s population but 75% of all serial killers.

Typical Serial Killer White male Late 20’s to early 30’s Kills within his own

Typical Serial Killer White male Late 20’s to early 30’s Kills within his own race Method of murder is “hands on” (strangulation or stabbing) • Victims selected because they share specific characteristics (for example, Ted Bundy chose young women with long hair, parted in the middle) • •

Organized vs. Disorganized • Organized Crime Scene: • Body is hidden • Weapon is

Organized vs. Disorganized • Organized Crime Scene: • Body is hidden • Weapon is removed from scene • Appears to be well-planned • The victim is specifically targeted • Restraints often used • Aggression takes place before death

Organized vs. Disorganized • Disorganized Crime Scene: • Body not hidden • Weapon is

Organized vs. Disorganized • Disorganized Crime Scene: • Body not hidden • Weapon is present • Appears to be spontaneous • Victim may be an acquaintance • Aggression or sex post-mortem

Lust Killers: An especially nasty subtype • James Russell Odom & James Clayton Lawson

Lust Killers: An especially nasty subtype • James Russell Odom & James Clayton Lawson • Met in a mental institution • Talked about their fantasies regarding women: Odom raping and Lawson mutilating • Their crime: • Kidnapped, raped and brutally mutilated a woman

Lust Killers • Lawson quoted as saying: • I wanted to cut her body

Lust Killers • Lawson quoted as saying: • I wanted to cut her body so she would not look like a person and destroy her so she would not exist. • I did not rape the girl. I only wanted to destroy her.

A Few More Things to Think About… M. O. (Method of Operation) - "success

A Few More Things to Think About… M. O. (Method of Operation) - "success of crime" • Victim/location selection, means of attack, use of weapon, planning, means of transport • Valuables taken • Evidence left behind Signature - "needs and patterns of offender" • Wound patterns, sex acts, means of control, rituals, talk • Souvenirs taken • Evidence destroyed

Herman Mudgett (H. H. Holmes): America’s First Serial Killer “I was born with the

Herman Mudgett (H. H. Holmes): America’s First Serial Killer “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer…. I was born with the Evil One standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since. ” - H. H. Holmes

Charles Manson “From the worlds of darkness I did let loose devils and demons

Charles Manson “From the worlds of darkness I did let loose devils and demons with the power of scorpions to torment. "

Ted Bundy: Campus Killer “You feel the last bit of breath leaving their body.

Ted Bundy: Campus Killer “You feel the last bit of breath leaving their body. You’re looking into their eyes. A person in that situation is God. . . "

John Wayne Gacy: Killer Clown “I should never have been convicted of anything more

John Wayne Gacy: Killer Clown “I should never have been convicted of anything more serious than running a cemetery without a license. "

David Berkowitz: Son of Sam “I am deeply hurt by you calling me a

David Berkowitz: Son of Sam “I am deeply hurt by you calling me a woman hater. I am not. But I am a monster. I am the ‘Son of Sam’. "

Jeffrey Dahmer: The Milwaukee Cannibal “After the fear and terror of what I had

Jeffrey Dahmer: The Milwaukee Cannibal “After the fear and terror of what I had done had left…I started it all over again. From then on it was a craving, a hunger. . . "

Aileen Wuornos: Highway Killer “I robbed them, and I killed them cold as ice,

Aileen Wuornos: Highway Killer “I robbed them, and I killed them cold as ice, and I know I would kill another person because I’ve hated humans for a long time. "

Profiling a Serial Killer: “The Trailside Killer” • San Francisco Mount Tamalpais August 1979

Profiling a Serial Killer: “The Trailside Killer” • San Francisco Mount Tamalpais August 1979 • Edda Kane (44 years) found dead • Facedown, kneeling position • Single gunshot wound to back of head • No evidence of sexual assault • No robbery

Trailside Killer • March 1980 • Barbara Schwartz (23 years) • Stabbed in chest

Trailside Killer • March 1980 • Barbara Schwartz (23 years) • Stabbed in chest • Naked, kneeling position • October 1980 • Anne Alderson (26 years) • Shot in head • BUT: not naked, not kneeling

Trailside Killer • November 1980 • Shauna May (25 years) • Found in a

Trailside Killer • November 1980 • Shauna May (25 years) • Found in a shallow grave NEXT TO Diana O’ Connell (22 years) who had been missing for one month • Both shot in head

Trailside Killer • Same day: two more bodies • Richard Stowers (19 years) and

Trailside Killer • Same day: two more bodies • Richard Stowers (19 years) and fiancée Cynthia Moreland (18 years) • Determined to have been killed the same weekend as Anne Alderson in mid-October

Trailside Killer • March 1981 • Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park • Ellen Marie

Trailside Killer • March 1981 • Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park • Ellen Marie Hansen (20) & Steven Haertle • Threatened to rape Ellen, shot & killed her when she protested • Steven was shot but survived • Able to give a description of the man

Trailside Killer: Constructing a profile (John Douglas) • Crime scenes in secluded areas only

Trailside Killer: Constructing a profile (John Douglas) • Crime scenes in secluded areas only accessible by foot: Killer was comfortable in area, a local • Victims attacked from rear in blitz-style attack: Killer was asocial, not able to charm victims with conversation. Blitz-style attack was the only way he could control victims

Trailside Killer: Constructing a Profile • Victims ranged in ages and appearance: Killer didn’t

Trailside Killer: Constructing a Profile • Victims ranged in ages and appearance: Killer didn’t know victims. He is acting out a fantasy • Victims were white: Killer is white • Able to evade police: Low to mid 30’s • Probably spent time in jail, possibly attempted rape • Blue-collar work

Trailside Killer: Constructing a Profile • Very intelligent • Not random act - precipitating

Trailside Killer: Constructing a Profile • Very intelligent • Not random act - precipitating stressor • History of bed-wetting, fire-starting and/or cruelty to animals (as a child) • SPEECH IMPEDIMENT • Secluded, didn’t want to be seen • Relied on over-powering victim • Indicates a disability, but unlikely physical because was able to control victim

Trailside Killer Caught • David Carpenter • • • White male, 50 (*profile of

Trailside Killer Caught • David Carpenter • • • White male, 50 (*profile of age incorrect) Industrial arts teacher History of attacking women and served jail time Domineering and abusive mother Bed-wetting & cruelty to animals as a child SEVERE STUTTER

You be the profiler: The Silence of the Lambs

You be the profiler: The Silence of the Lambs