Mindhunter

Recently, in this very hot summer in Los Angeles, I found myself up late one night binge-watching the David Fincher-produced Netflix show, Mindhunter (2017).  From the credits, I was led to two books that tell a reader everything about the development of the FBI Behavioral Science Unit and how agents profile killers by studying the crime scene, talking to witnesses, and interviewing past serial killers in prison to understand their behavior and thinking.

Robert K. Ressler and Tom Shachtman in their book, Whoever Fights Monsters (St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1992) traces the development of the BSU and focuses on interviewing some of the “monsters” who kill.  We see how the agents in the unit build their profiles and assist police agencies in running down clues and ultimately, locking these disturbed individuals away from society.  The cases are gripping, as one might expect, and not for the squeamish.  We also get a healthy dose of cultural criticism and criminal detection history.

Many of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes live in relative anonymity.  Neighbors often do not realize the horror next door.  But the writers take pains to debunk the bulging-eyed monster killer as a construct of horror films.  “Most people conceive of the murderer as being a kind of Jekyll and Hyde,” they write.  “One day he’s normal and on the next a physiological drive is taking hold—his hair is grown, his fangs are lengthening—so that when the moon is full, he’ll have to seize another victim.  Serial killers are not like that.  They are obsessed with a fantasy, and they have what we must call nonfulfilled experiences that become part of the fantasy and push them on toward the next killing.  That’s the real meaning behind the term serial killer.”

We learn how a case is broken down into four phases: precrime behavior, commission of the crime, disposal of the body and evidence, and postcrime behavior.  There are also two kinds of perpetrator approaches to the murder:  organized and disorganized.  This goes to motive and premeditation.  The organized killer comes prepared for the crime and has studied the situation over a span of time to figure the best method of execution.  A disorganized killer is one who murders on impulse, in the moment.

The writers see criminal profiling as an art, not a science, although there are aspects of science present, especially psychology.  It is true, though, that some people are good at putting themselves inside the head of the killer and the victim to fully understand how the horrific scene went down.  The investigators often suffer from burnout, PTSD, and physical manifestations of their intensive, job-related stress resulting in debilitating illness.

Mindhunter:  Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit (Gallery Books, 1995), by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker, was used as the foundation for the Netflix show, and Ressler and Douglas are the models for the central characters.  Many of the same cases are covered in both books, but the differing points of view, and the individual characters of these two detectives are interesting in comparison and worth the reading of both books.

Douglas and Olshaker touch upon the cultural aspects that make these true crime stories so interesting to the average person.  It is not all blood splatter and tragedy, or monsters who come alive in our dreams and haunt the earth.  Murder originates in the human condition:  a lovers’ quarrel, a neighbor dispute, a cheating spouse, a need for drugs or money.  Serial killers are different.  Over the years, the profilers found that the three most common motives for these crimes are domination, manipulation, and control.  The murder is usually set off by a triggering event, like losing a job or breaking up with a lover.  These commonalities, when compiled, help law enforcement capture the culprit before he can kill again.  By nature, a serial murderer is manipulative, narcissistic, and egocentric.  He will tell people what they want to hear, and he is an expert at aping human emotion and normal behavior in an effort to control the situation and the participants involved.  The FBI’s BSU focuses on a simple equation:  Why + How = Who.  The agents ask themselves:  What took place?  Why did it happen?  And, who would have committed this crime for those reasons?

Behavioral science is an important tool in solving these murders.  These books present a full analysis of cases and techniques used to catch the perpetrators.  The reading is grisly but interesting, a rare look inside both the minds of killers and the detectives who chase them down and bring them to justice.