#SERIAL HUNTER FEBRUARY SERIAL#

He showed hostility, alienating the jury and convincing them he was capable of murder. Douglas advised prosecutors on cross-examination techniques: Keep Williams on the stand for as long as possible and question him on matters he was sensitive about, particularly what he perceived as failures in his life. Wikimedia Commons/Netflix Wayne Williams after his arrest (L), Williams portrayed by Christopher Livingston in Mindhunter (R). And after investigators obtained a search warrant, they found that carpet fibers from Williams’s home and hair from his dog matched those found on some of the victims. They pulled over an African American man, 23-year-old photographer Wayne Williams. And sure enough, on May 22, 1981, investigators heard a loud splash in the Chattahoochee River. Stakeouts of major rivers were promptly organized. When the media reported that fiber evidence had been found on several victims, Douglas knew the perpetrator would likely begin dumping bodies in the water to get rid of the evidence. He thought the perpetrator was black because the boys were disappearing from predominantly black communities, where a white man being seen with a black child would draw attention. Atlanta investigators were convinced that the killer was white and possibly a member of a white supremacy group like the KKK.ĭouglas disputed this.

When Douglas arrived in 1981, the city had reached a crisis point. From 1979 to 1981, young black males were being murdered at an alarming rate in Atlanta - and no one knew why. John Douglas’s work on the Atlanta Child Murders case arguably defined his career. In 1985, the FBI established the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP), which “maintains the largest investigative repository of major violent crime cases in the U.S.” The data produced from Douglas and Ressler’s interviews would later become central to the ViCAP database.

#SERIAL HUNTER FEBRUARY SERIAL#

Wikimedia Commons Edmund Kemper was just one of the serial killers interviewed by Douglas. You may even indicate that you have empathy toward him when you really don’t. “You’re dealing with the victims of violent crimes, which is emotionally gut-wrenching, and you’re talking to the people that perpetrate the crimes, who really could care less about the victims,” he told Vulture.ĭouglas added, “And then, you’re conducting an interview with them as if there’s nothing wrong with the guy.

By 1979, Douglas and Ressler had interviewed 36 convicted murderers, including Edmund Kemper, John Wayne Gacy, and Charles Manson.ĭouglas later admitted that all this work took a toll on him. The questions focused on the motive and preparation for the murders, along with details of the crimes and how the criminals disposed of evidence. This protocol basically outlined the top questions to ask the killer in order to gain insight into his mindset. Wendy Carr in Mindhunter), a protocol for the interviews was established. Both Douglas and Ressler were convinced of the potential of profiling to flourish and began traveling across the country interviewing those incarcerated for unspeakable crimes. It was around this time that JOhn Douglas started the FBI’s Criminal Profiling Program. Ressler is credited with coining the term “serial killer” in the first place.Īnd like Douglas, he turned out to be a firm believer in the Netflix/Getty Images Bill Tench in Mindhunter (L), played by Holt Mccallany, and Robert Ressler, Douglas’s partner in profiling (R). In an interview with Vulture in May 2019, Douglas explained how Holden Ford - the character based on him in Mindhunter - first began profiling criminals simply to increase his credibility in the classroom.ĭouglas met Robert Ressler (portrayed as Bill Tench in Mindhunter), another FBI agent who had worked with the BSU since it was established in 1972. He decided that the way to remedy this would be for him to experience face-to-face encounters with violent offenders themselves. While at Quantico, Douglas felt there was something vital missing from his classes. Getty Images John Douglas with a special sniper rifle with telescopic sight used in hostage situations.

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