The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI’s Original Mindhunter
‘John Douglas is the FBI's pioneer and master of investigative profiling, and one of the most exciting figures in law enforcement I've had the privilege of knowing’ Patricia Cornwell‘John Douglas knows more about serial killers than anybody in the world’ Jonathan Demme, Director of The Silence of the LambsThe legendary FBI criminal profiler, number-one New York Times bestselling author, and inspiration for the hit Netflix show Mindhunter delves deep into the lives and crimes of four of the most disturbing and complex predatory killers, offering never-before-revealed details about his profiling process, and divulging the strategies used to crack some of his most challenging cases.The FBI’s pioneer of criminal profiling, former special agent John Douglas, has studied and interviewed many of America’s most notorious killers – including Charles Manson, ‘Son of Sam Killer’ David Berkowitz and ‘BTK Strangler’ Dennis Rader. Twenty years after his famous memoir, the man who literally wrote the book on FBI criminal profiling opens his case files once again. In this riveting work of true crime, he spotlights four of the most diabolical criminals he’s confronted, interviewed and learned from.A glimpse into the mind of a man who has pierced the heart of human darkness, The Killer Across the Table unlocks the ultimate mystery of depravity and the techniques and approaches that have countered evil in the name of justice.
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William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com
This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2019
Copyright © 2019 by Mindhunters, Inc.
Cover design by Jack Smythe
Cover images by shutterstock
John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker assert their moral right to be
Identified as the authors of this work in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Abstract paint background image on part titles by Eky Studio/shutterstock
Splattered bloodstain background image on table of contents by oriontrail/shutterstock
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins
Source ISBN: 9780008338107
Ebook Edition © May 2019 ISBN: 9780008338138
Version: 2019-04-12
To the memory of Joan Angela D’Alessandro and in honor of Rosemarie D’Alessandro and all of the others who, through their inspiration, courage, and determination, strive for justice and safety for all children, this book is dedicated with love and admiration
CONTENTS
AUTHORS’ NOTE
IN A SMALL ROOM IN THE BIG HOUSE
INTRODUCTION: LEARNING FROM THE EXPERTS
1 LITTLE GIRL LOST
2 “I SLEPT WELL”
3 MIND OF THE KILLER
4 HUMAN FALLOUT
5 WHAT THE PSYCH PEOPLE SAID
6 RED RAGE AND WHITE RAGE
7 THE BOTTOM LINE
8 “SUBSTANTIAL LIKELIHOOD”
9 JOAN’S LEGACY
II “KILLING FOR ME WAS JUST LIKE SECOND NATURE”
10 ALL IN THE FAMILY
11 THE ABANDONED VOLKSWAGEN
12 INSIDE THE WALLS
13 “THE CONVENIENCE OF THE SITUATION”
14 “THERE WERE VICTIMS IN BETWEEN”
15 POWER, CONTROL, EXCITEMENT
16 PLAYING GOD
17 WORKING NIGHTS
18 THE MAKING OF A KILLER
19 “I HAVEN’T CHANGED A BIT”
20 FALLEN ANGEL
IV “NO ONE MADE ME DO ANYTHING”
21 THE SUPERBIKE MURDERS
22 WHAT HAPPENED TO KALA AND CHARLIE?
23 WHAT MADE TODD TICK?
24 “GOOD OR BAD, I STILL WANT TO KNOW”
25 ORGANIZED VERSUS DISORGANIZED
26 NATURE AND NURTURE
EPILOGUE: A KILLER’S CHOICE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY JOHN E. DOUGLAS AND MARK OLSHAKER
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
The opinions expressed in this book belong to the authors alone and do not reflect those of the FBI or any other organization.
IN A SMALL ROOM IN THE BIG HOUSE
Here, it is not so much Who done it?, but Why?
And in the end, if we have discovered the Why? and add in How?, we will also come to understand the Who? Because Why? + How? = Who.
The aim is not to be a friend. The aim is not to be a foe. The aim is to get to the truth.
It is a verbal and mental chess match without any game pieces; a sparring session without body contact; an endurance contest in which each side will seek out and exploit the other’s weaknesses and insecurities.
We sit across a small table from each other in a dimly lit room whose cinder-block walls are painted a pale bluish gray. The only window is in the locked steel door, and it is small and reinforced with wire mesh. A uniformed guard peers through from the other side, making sure everything remains in order.
In a maximum security prison, nothing is considered more important.
We have been at this for two hours already and finally the moment is ripe. “I want to know in your own words what it was like twenty-five years ago,” I say. “How did this all happen to get you here? That girl—Joan—did you know her?”
“Well, I’d seen her in the neighborhood,” he replies. His affect is calm and his tone is even.
“Let’s go back to the moment she came to the door. Tell me what happened, step by step, from that point on.”
It is almost like hypnosis. The room is silent, and I watch him transform in front of me. Even his physical appearance seems to change before my eyes. His eyes are unfocused and he looks beyond me to stare at the vacant wall. He is moving back to another time and another place; to the one story of himself that has never left his mind.
The room is very cold, and even though I wear a suit, I struggle to keep myself from shivering. But as he recounts the story I have asked for, he has begun to perspire. His breathing grows heavier and more audible. Soon his shirt is drenched with sweat, and underneath, the muscles of his chest tremble.
