Criminal Profiling: the online encyclopedia

Roy Hazelwood (F.B.I.)

Birth date: March 4th, 1933

Specialization: Sexual predators, sex crimes, sexual paraphilias, and lust murder

Organizations joined: Academy group

Bio:

     Roy Hazelwood was born in Pocatello, Idaho to a very fractured household. Shortly after his birth his father kidnapped him and travelled around with him for six months before he was dropped of at his maternal grandparents home. His father was never seen again. He then lived with his mother in Houston, Texas before he began his military career.

Hazelwood was an exceptional soldier and did a tour in Vietnam (after which he was awarded the rank of major). He then joined the CID (the army’s criminal investigation division) and became an instructor. It was here he began to question motives of serial sexual predators, a lifelong passion of his. In 1971 he joined the bureau, and helped found the Behavioral Science Unit (along with Robert Ressler, John E. Douglas, Howard Teten, and Patrick J. Mullany). He also developed the first distinction between serial killers “disorganized” and “organized”. And he developed the six types of serial rapists.

He served in the bureau for 22 years before retirement, and is still active in the criminal justice field. He’s taught courses at the FBI academy in Quantico, the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, A.C.I.D (Army Criminal Investigative Division), and the southern police institute. He is also the vice president for the Academy group inc., which provides forensic consulting for the government, industry, and the rest of the criminal justice system.

 

Robert Ressler (F.B.I.)

Birth date: 2/15/37-5/5/13

Specialization: Criminology, crime scene analysis, homicide, sexual assaults, threat assessment, workplace violence, and hostage negotiation.

Organizations joined: The international and american academies of forensic sciences, the academy of criminal justice sciences, the international associations of chiefs of police, the international homicide investigators association, the vidocq society, etc.

Bio:

Robert Ressler was born February 15th, 1937 in Chicago, Illinois. As a child he was very interested in detectives and law enforcement and frequently read detective novels. Ressler’s interest was piqued when he was 9, as a crazed serial murderer was on the loose. He and his friends formed a small group of child detectives to solve the case. (They of course didn’t, but it put him on the way to his future career). Ressler joined the army during the Vietnam war, and did 10 years in active duty before joining the CID unit.  He served with distinction in the unit and retired with the rank of Colonel after 35 years of service.

Ressler joined the FBI in 1970 and was later recruited into the BSU. He was the first to interview violent criminals to find parallels between their backgrounds and motives for committing the crime. (He interviewed Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Chase, Edmund Kemper, and John Joubert). He also helped start ViCAP (Violent criminal apprehension program); a computer database with information on unsolved homicides

that can be cross-referenced with other unsolved killings across the U.S. He also helped start many other programs that would eventually combine and become the NCAVC division (the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime).

After 16 years of service in the FBI, Mr. Ressler retired at the rank of Supervisory special agent in the year 1990. Even after retirement Mr. Ressler still offered his services as a consultant to law enforcement. In 2006, Mr. Ressler visited Ciudad, Mexico to investigate a large amount of femicides. (These killings are still unsolved and still continue to today, there are now at least 400 victims). Mr. Ressler died of a heart attack, May 5th 2013 in his own home. The criminal justice field lost one of it’s greatest pioneers that day.

 

John Douglas (F.B.I.)

Birth date: 6/18/1945

Specialization: Serial murderers, rapists, bombers, and poisoners

Organizations joined: The mindhunter group (created by him and Mark Olshaker, a famous journalist and author)

Bio:

Born in Brooklyn, New York John Douglas is considered one of the most popular and controversial criminal profilers in the history of law enforcement. He joined the air force in 1966 and left four years later after completing his bachelor in sociology and psychology at Eastern New Mexico University. It was during his time after leaving the air force that Mr. Douglas met a FBI agent who convinced him to apply to the bureau. He joined in 1970, and was sent to Detroit, Michigan. He joined the local SWAT team as a sniper, and later became a hostage negotiator. He transferred to the behavioral science unit in 1977 to become an instructor of applied criminal psychology and hostage negotiation.

After his stint as an instructor, Douglas helped create the Investigative Support Unit (field agents who are asked to help in major cases and are called out to help manage manpower, resources, and to focus the investigation). Douglas traveled around the country solving numerous high-profile cases (tylenol poisoner, atlanta child-murderer, green river killer, and “the west memphis three”).  

During his career, he interviewed some of the most famous serial killers such as: David Berkowitz, Ted Bundy, Edmund Kemper, John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson, Dennis Rader, Sirhan Sirhan, Charles Manson, Arthur Bremer, etc. He authored numerous books over the years, some are textbooks, others are true crime, and he also co-wrote two novels.

After his retirement in 1991, Mr. Douglas (like the others) still consults on criminal cases and develops psychological profiles of violent offenders. The accuracy of his profiles have been criticized by scientists and law enforcement. Some say that he has made illogical claims based off lack of evidence, while others say that the use of “disorganized” and “organized” have no validity because every criminal has a combination of these behaviors. Regardless of his controversy, Mr. Douglas has had an influence on american culture and the criminal justice system.

 

James A. Brussel (Criminal Psychologist)

Birth date: 1905-1982

Specialization: Criminal psychology (all criminals)

Organizations joined: none

Bio:

Considered by some to be the first criminal profiler of the 20th century, Dr. Brussel was an accomplished criminal psychologist who had his own private practice in Greenwich village, Manhattan. Prior to his lasting fame as the person who caught the “Mad bomber” he was chief of army neuropsychiatry during the Korean war.(He also did counterintelligence profiling to help with FBI and CID investigations).  In the December of 1956, Dr. Brussel was called upon to help in his most well known case.The “Mad Bomber” had been terrorizing New York city for sixteen years. On a cold December morning, in 1956, Detective Finney entered his private practice asking for a psychological profile of the bomber. Dr. Brussel agreed (reluctantly) on behalf of his longtime friend,Captain Cronin.

Based off evidence and a letter mailed to the police, Dr. Brussel was able to create this amazingly accurate profile:

• Male

• Former employee of Con Edison (one of the bombers main targets)

• Paranoid

• Middle-aged (Paranoia peaks at 35, so he was probably older than that)

• Neat, meticulous, and organized

• Overly sensitive/shy

• Was foreign born or an immigrant

• Had no college education

• Probably Slavic (or other eastern european group) and catholic

• Lived in Connecticut (the letter was mailed in a county in Connecticut)

• He had an Oedipus complex (or slightly erotic obsession with his mother), unmarried, and lived with a single sister.

• He would be caught wearing a double-breasted suit.

When the police caught George Metesky, he was a 50 year-old, unmarried, slavic man who lived with his two single sisters in their apartment. His belongings were neat, and his workshop (where he built the bombs) was extremely organized. He was shy around others, and wasn’t talkative with neighbors. He also lived in Waterbury, Connecticut, 

and was caught in a double-breasted suit.

Besides working on the “Mad Bomber” case Dr. Brussel consulted on the Boston strangler case of 1964, the “Career girl” murders of 1963, and the Coppolino case of 1965, as well as many others. He also taught applied criminal psychology for a short period at the FBI academy.

 

Howard Teten (F.B.I.)

Birth date: Unknown

Specialization: Criminology, Social psychology, Abnormal psychology

Organizations joined: None

Bio:

Before joining the bureau in 1962, Teten was a marine corps sergeant and photographer during the korean war, and after being discharged, joined the orange county sheriff’s office in 1956. His interest in photography and criminal investigation made him pursue a degree in criminology.

In 1958, he left the sheriff’s office and then became a police officer in San Leandro. In 1960 he graduated with a degree in criminology at the University of california. He later enrolled at Berkeley and began noticing the correlations between psychology and criminal behavior. After graduating from Berkeley, Teten sent an application in to join the FBI. He was accepted and was overjoyed because of the better pay and better opportunities for career advancement.

In 1962, he completed basic training and was assigned to the Oklahoma city field office. In 1963, he was transferred to Cincinnati, and was transferred (again) to Memphis 2 years later. In Memphis, he got another degree, this time in social psychology. In 1969, the FBI’s training division asked him to become an instructor. It is here that he began teaching his famous course “applied criminology”. (This course inspired agents John E. Douglas, Robert Ressler, and  Roy Hazelwood to create 

the Behavioral Science unit and research violent crimes). This course helped solve numerous cold cases, and was a major success for the bureau. After a while Teten began teaching all across the U.S. and asked another agent with similar skills (Patrick Mullany) to help him teach.

In 1972, the BSU was created to advance and apply the concepts taught by Teten and Mullany. The first members were of course: Jack Kirsch, Teten, Mullany, Robert Ressler, Roy Hazelwood, (and later) Jack Douglas.

 

Bob Keppel (Detective/ D.A. Investigator)

Birth date: 6/15/1944

Specialization: Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgeway, Lust murders, serial rapists

Organizations joined: Institute of forensics

Bio:

Born in Spokane, Washington, Bob Keppel was a star athlete at Central Valley High school. He attended Washington State University, on a scholarship and graduated in 1966. At college he played basketball, and was well on his way to a career in olympic sports. However, he studied criminal justice and graduated after his career prospects went away.

Keppel encountered the “Bundy murders” a week after he became a homicide detective for the King county sheriff’s department. At first they were investigating the disappearance of two women at the Lake Sammimash state park. Later they found the bodies, and were able to connect them to a similar killing at Taylor mountain in 1975. They were able to determine it was a serial killer, by the fact that all the victims were female college students that were last seen with a male with a cast on his arm. (This male turned out to be Ted Bundy, one of the most prolific serial killers in american history).The BSU unit was also called to develop a profile of Bundy, but were unable to catch him before he escaped to Florida (where he continued his killing spree, until his eventual capture).

The police were able to use bite marks off his victims, and his victim type. After being caught in Florida, Keppel interviewed Bundy for months, right up to his execution.

In March of 1982, Keppel left the sheriff’s office and became an investigator for Washington State Attorney General’s office. It was here that he honed his homicide investigation skills, and helped solve numerous cold cases throughout the state of Washington. He also helped investigate another serial murder case, “The Green river killings”. Although he did not catch the killer, he helped develop profiles of the murderer and came up with numerous people matching the profile. (Including the actual killer himself, Gary Ridgeway). It was during this investigation that another criminal profiler (John E. Douglas) was seriously ill and almost died.

After retiring from the attorney general’s office, Keppel continued his career and became a professor of Criminal Justice at Seattle University. He also teaches at Sam Houston State University, and New Haven University. He has also wrote many textbooks for law enforcement, and the criminal justice field. He became the president of the “Institute of forensics” a non-profit organization that specializes in managing investigative technology. They show many departments the software, hardware, and databases needed to help catch criminals. They also teach them how to investigate, process crime scenes, and follow leads.