Written by a leading expert on the subject, the Second Edition of Hunting Serial Predators describes the empirical process used to analyze serial murderers' crime scene actions, making it possible to form logical decisions about how to detect and apprehend serial killers. In this new edition, Dr. Maurice Godwin provides the reader with a model of the crime scene actions of American serial murderers based on information available to a police inquiry. This text also gives an overview of the related scientific knowledge, introduces a new method to classify the serial predator, and provides accounts of the process and difficulties of profiling the serial murderer. By presenting a classification model of serial murderers and their crime scene behaviors based on empirical and repeatable studies, this book makes significant advances in the areas of police investigations, etiology, and treatment possible.

The majority of the available published accounts of serial murderers are not in scholarly or technical publications. Even such few academic reviews as do exist typically commence with reference to fictional accounts so that the profile of a serial murderer is typically far from clear or precise. Hunting Serial Predators is unique in that each chapter, written in detail, explains how to research and interpret, psychologically, the crime scene actions of serial killers. The book provides the reader an empirical facet model of the crime scene actions of American serial murderers based on information available to a police inquiry; an overview of the related scientific knowledge, introducing a new method to classify the serial predator, and accounts of the process and difficulties of profiling the serial murderer. By presenting a classification model of serial murderers and their crime scene behaviors based on empirical and repeatable studies, this book makes significant advances in the areas of police investigations, etiology, and treatment possible. The empirical process used to analyze serial murderers' crime scene actions described in Hunting Serial Predators makes it possible to make logical decisions about how to detect, apprehend, and eventually access their dangerousness.

The majority of the available published accounts of serial murderers are not in scholarly or technical publications. Even such few academic reviews as do exist typically commence with reference to fictional accounts so that the profile of a serial murderer is typically far from clear or precise. Hunting Serial Predators is unique in that each chapter, written in detail, explains how to research and interpret, psychologically, the crime scene actions of serial killers. The book provides the reader an empirical facet model of the crime scene actions of American serial murderers based on information available to a police inquiry; an overview of the related scientific knowledge, introducing a new method to classify the serial predator, and accounts of the process and difficulties of profiling the serial murderer. By presenting a classification model of serial murderers and their crime scene behaviors based on empirical and repeatable studies, this book makes significant advances in the areas of police investigations, etiology, and treatment possible. The empirical process used to analyze serial murderers' crime scene actions described in Hunting Serial Predators makes it possible to make logical decisions about how to detect, apprehend, and eventually access their dangerousness.

A former cop challenges the romanticized FBI "profiler" as a falsehood, showing that psychological profiles of serial killer are largely fictions while the more diversified police work that incorporates environmental psychology, landscape analysis, crime site investigation, and statistics often yields better results. Original.

A criminal profiler journeys inside the dark minds of serial killers to provide a portrait of these deadly predators, how they hunt for victims, how to identify them, and how to protect oneself from them.

There are two parts to every crime story: how they did it and why they got caught.This book is about the second part, and how it changes the way we catch serial killers. No two stories about the capture of a serial killer are the same. Sometimes, the killers make crucial mistakes; other times, investigators get lucky. And the process of profiling, hunting, and apprehending these predators has changed radically over time, particularly in the field of criminal forensics, which has exploded in the last ten to 15 years. Laser ablation, video spectral analysis, cyber-sleuthing, and even DNA-based genetic genealogy are now crucial tools in solving murders, including the recent capture of the so-called Golden State Killer. This book in the new Profiles in Crime series tells the history of forensics through the “capture stories” of some of the most notorious serial killers, going back almost a century. The killers include: Rodney Alcala, a serial rapist and murderer sometimes called “Dating Game killer” for his appearance on that TV show. No one knows the exact number of his victims. Takahiro Shiraishi, the suicide killer from Zama, Japan, who dismembered nine victims and stored their bodies in his refrigerator. Aileen Wuornos, one of the rare female serial killers. She shot seven men in Florida and was turned in by an accomplice. Jeffrey Dahmer, the “Milwaukee Cannibal,” and Bobby Joe Long, both identified by survivors Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz (“Son of Sam”), who both made mistakes Ludwig Tessnow, who killed several children in Germany, and was caught through new methods in forensic investigation that could distinguish human from animal blood

Includes material on "the Trailside Killer in San Francisco, the Atlanta child murderer, the Tylenol poisoner, the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, and Seattle's Green River killer ..."

The legendary FBI criminal profiler and international bestselling author of Mindhunter and The Killer Across the Table returns with this timely, relevant book that goes to the heart of extremism and domestic terrorism, examining in-depth his chilling pursuit of, and eventual prison confrontation with Joseph Paul Franklin, a White Nationalist serial killer and one of the most disturbing psychopaths he has ever encountered. Worshippers stream out of an Midwestern synagogue after sabbath services, unaware that only a hundred yards away, an expert marksman and avowed racist, antisemite and member of the Ku Klux Klan, patiently awaits, his hunting rifle at the ready. The October 8, 1977 shooting was a forerunner to the tragedies and divisiveness that plague us today. John Douglas, the FBI’s pioneering, first full-time criminal profiler, hunted the shooter—a white supremacist named Joseph Paul Franklin, whose Nazi-inspired beliefs propelled a three-year reign of terror across the United States, targeting African Americans, Jews, and interracial couples. In addition, Franklin bombed the home of Jewish leader Morris Amitay, shot and paralyzed Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, and seriously wounded civil rights leader Vernon Jordan. The fugitive supported his murderous spree robbing banks in five states, from Georgia to Ohio. Douglas and his writing partner Mark Olshaker return to this disturbing case that reached the highest levels of the Bureau, which was fearful Franklin would become a presidential assassin—and haunted him for years to come as the threat of copycat domestic terrorist killers increasingly became a reality. Detailing the dogged pursuit of Franklin that employed profiling, psychology and meticulous detective work, Douglas and Olshaker relate how the case was a make-or-break test for the still-experimental behavioral science unit and revealed a new type of, determined, mission-driven serial killer whose only motivation was hate. A riveting, cautionary tale rooted in history that continues to echo today, The Killer's Shadow is a terrifying and essential exploration of the criminal personality in the vile grip of extremism and what happens when rage-filled speech evolves into deadly action and hatred of the “other" is allowed full reign. The Killer's Shadow includes an 8-page color photo insert.

This revealing look inside the minds of sexual predators, from cyber-stalkers to rapists to teachers who exploit underage children, explains why they commit their heinous crimes. They are among the most frightening of all criminals, yet few have attempted to document the complex mindset of the sexual predator through intimate case details. Inside the Minds of Sexual Predators reexamines this intentional criminal behavior, describing the different types of sexual predators and explaining why they choose to commit their specific type of predatory acts. Each chapter of the book addresses a different category of predator or a specific, complex issue related to predatory behavior. Distinctions are drawn between types of offenders, from the casual offender to the depraved rapist and serial lust killer, and the variables that play a part in an individual's sexual predation are explored. Like Ramsland's Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers, this book is essential reading for professionals in law enforcement and psychology, as well as for everyone seeking to go beyond the headlines to understand this difficult and controversial topic.

There are many cultural myths about serial killers, often propagated even by mental health professionals. Many assume there is a profile of a serial killer, that serial killers always go for the same victim type or always use the same MO, that they are more clever than ordinary people, and that they are inevitably charming and attractive. The truth is not as simple as that. There are different types of serial killers, and while there are many books that discuss the serial killer phenomenon especially in relationship to victim types or context, researchers have not yet been able to come up with a definition, or type, that covers the broad spectrum of serial killers and their complex psychological dynamics. Ramsland looks at the variety of serial killer types, illustrating that it is difficult to accurately depict these elusive, intriguing, and dangerous killers. There are many cultural myths about serial killers, often propagated even by mental health professionals. Many assume there is a profile of a serial killer, that serial killers always go for the same victim type or always use the same MO, that they are more clever than ordinary people, and that they are inevitably charming and attractive. The truth is not as simple as that. There are different types of serial killers and while there are many books that discuss the serial killer phenomenon especially in relationship to victim types or context, researchers have not yet been able to come up with a definition, or type, that covers the broad spectrum of serial killers and their complex psychological dynamics. Ramsland looks at serial killer types, illustrating that it is difficult to accurately depict these elusive, intriguing, and dangerous killers. This book examines a variety of serial killers, from sexual predators to psychotic killers, from murder teams to odd eccentric stalkers, in order to present the distinct psychological dynamics that set serial killers apart from other violent murderers. Among the motives addressed are lust, control, glory, profit, thrill, delusions, rage, the desire for company, the need to please a partner, and even murder as an intellectual exercise. Serial killers live double lives, hiding their violence even from those who live with them, so along with a study of motives are chapters devoted to how close associates have described killers, including parents, siblings, co-workers, lovers, and survivors. There is no profile of a serial killer, and this book establishes that in vivid and frightening detail.