Profiles in Crime

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 Katherine Ramsland, PhD, is a professor of forensic psychology and criminal justice at DeSales University. She has published more than 1,000 articles and 60 books, most focusing on serial killers, and speaks internationally on the subject. She was a regular contributor to Court TV's Crime Library, and is a regular guest on The Today Show, 20/20, NPR, and E! True Hollywood.

What's scarier than a murderer? Someone with the charisma to compel others to kill for them . . . or to kill themselves. Meet these cult leaders-and get an inside look at their beliefs and how they controlled others.    Some cults, led by leaders like Charlie Manson, Jim Jones, and David Koresh, are notorious. But others are less well known, such as Shoko Asahara and his doomsday cult, Aum Shinrikyo, who orchestrated the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. Or Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret, who founded the Order of the Solar Temple, a doomsday cult that led to the death of 51 members by murder or suicide. Then there is Marshall Applewhite, leader of Heaven's Gate, who, along with 38 followers, killed themselves in the belief that the Hale-Bopp comet signaled the arrival of a spaceship that would transport them to a higher plane of existence. What makes cult leaders so compelling is their often-unfathomable power over their adherents. Why do people kill others or themselves for a questionable set of beliefs? Killer Cults tells the stories behind both famous and unfamiliar cults, and the people behind them. Across a series of profiles, we learn the jaw-dropping truth behind some of the most mystifying and deadly cults, and their leaders, all of whom led their followers down a dark, murderous path. Stephen Singular is a veteran crime journalist and the bestselling author of numerous books, including Unholy Messenger: The Life & Crimes of The BTK Serial Killer and When Men Become Gods, about jailed Mormon polygamist Warren Jeffs. His first book, Talked to Death: The Life & Murder of Alan Berg, was nominated for an Edgar Award and served as the basis for the Oliver Stone film, Talk Radio. Singular has appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, MSNBC's Hardball, and The Rachel Maddow Show, as well as serving as a commentator for legal cases on TruTV.

From Ted Bundy to John Wayne Gacy and David Berkowitz, the 1970s were a time of notorious and brutal serial killers. Find out more about them, along with some you may never have heard of.   The Co-Ed Killer, Son of Sam, Hillside Strangler, and Dating Game Killer-in many ways, terrifying serial killers were as synonymous with the 1970s as Watergate, disco, and the oil crisis. This fascinating collection of profiles presents the most notorious as well as lesser-known serial murderers of that decade. Beyond Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz, it includes more obscure killers like Coral Eugene Watts, known as "The Sunday Morning Slasher," who killed 80 women; Edmund Kemper, the "Co-Ed Killer"; and Rodney Alcala, who is believed to have killed between 50 and 130 people between 1971-1979. Profiles will include: Rodney Alcala: The Dating Game Killer David Berkowitz: The Son of Sam Kenneth A. Bianchi and Angelo Buono, Jr: The Hillside Strangler Ted Bundy John Wayne Gacy: The Killer Clown Coral Eugene Watts: The Sunday Morning Slasher Vaughn Greenwood: The Skid Row Slasher Jane Fritsch is a journalist who was a reporter and editor at The New York Times, where she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She was also a reporter for The Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and The Chicago Tribune, where she covered the trial of the serial killer John Wayne Gacy. She was an assistant professor at The Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University.

The 1980s were a time of notorious serial killers-Jeffrey Dahmer, Aileen Wuornos, Samuel Little-but also of advances in forensics that helped lead to their capture. The serial killer became part of our common cultural consciousness in the 1970s and, in the decade that followed, the FBI confronted even more incomprehensible crimes and their perpetrators. This engrossing collection of illustrated true-crime profiles details the unthinkable exploits of a rogue's gallery that includes-in addition to Jeffrey Dahmer, Aileen Wuornos, and Gary Ridgway-Samuel Little and Joseph James DeAngelo, serial murderers whose criminal legacies are still making headlines today. Jane Fritsch is a journalist who was a co-finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a reporter for TheNew York Times, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and Chicago Tribune, where she covered the trial of the serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

For fans of true crime, this fourth entry in the Profiles in Crime series presents history's most "elite" serial killers-master murderers who stretched the psychic envelope and racked up the largest number of victims.   Historical in scope and international in breadth, this collection of true-crime stories chronicles 15 of the most infamous "extreme killers" who ever lived-those with the largest number of confirmed kills, in many cases more than 50. The subjects range from 15th-century French child killer Gilles de Rais, purportedly the model for the folk legend of "Bluebeard," to Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole, who inspired the film Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer; to Samuel Little, America's most prolific serial killer with 60 confirmed and 93 claimed murdered, to Mikhail Popkov, dubbed "The Werewolf" by Russian media for having slain more than 70 women between 1992 and 2010. Michael Newton is the author of the Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. His more than 348 works of fiction and nonfiction include the true-crime books The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes;The Mafia at Appalachin, 1957;The Encyclopedia of Robberies, Heists, and Capers;The Gangsters Encyclopedia: The World's Most Notorious Mobs, Gangs and Villains; and The FBI Encyclopedia.