Killer Minds

There are many cultural myths about serial killers, often propagated even by mental health professionals. Many assume there is a profile of a serial killer, that serial killers always go for the same victim type or always use the same MO, that they are more clever than ordinary people, and that they are inevitably charming and attractive. The truth is not as simple as that. There are different types of serial killers, and while there are many books that discuss the serial killer phenomenon especially in relationship to victim types or context, researchers have not yet been able to come up with a definition, or type, that covers the broad spectrum of serial killers and their complex psychological dynamics. Ramsland looks at the variety of serial killer types, illustrating that it is difficult to accurately depict these elusive, intriguing, and dangerous killers. There are many cultural myths about serial killers, often propagated even by mental health professionals. Many assume there is a profile of a serial killer, that serial killers always go for the same victim type or always use the same MO, that they are more clever than ordinary people, and that they are inevitably charming and attractive. The truth is not as simple as that. There are different types of serial killers and while there are many books that discuss the serial killer phenomenon especially in relationship to victim types or context, researchers have not yet been able to come up with a definition, or type, that covers the broad spectrum of serial killers and their complex psychological dynamics. Ramsland looks at serial killer types, illustrating that it is difficult to accurately depict these elusive, intriguing, and dangerous killers. This book examines a variety of serial killers, from sexual predators to psychotic killers, from murder teams to odd eccentric stalkers, in order to present the distinct psychological dynamics that set serial killers apart from other violent murderers. Among the motives addressed are lust, control, glory, profit, thrill, delusions, rage, the desire for company, the need to please a partner, and even murder as an intellectual exercise. Serial killers live double lives, hiding their violence even from those who live with them, so along with a study of motives are chapters devoted to how close associates have described killers, including parents, siblings, co-workers, lovers, and survivors. There is no profile of a serial killer, and this book establishes that in vivid and frightening detail.

In Killer Minds Volume 2 best-selling crime author Amanda Howard investigates 64 more cases of serial murder from around the world. Using primary resources and the actual words of the serial killers, Amanda reconstructs both infamous and lesser-known crimes and provides an insight into the minds of various types of serial killers. Amanda Howard is a criminologist with a Master's degree in Criminology, a true crime author, fiction writer, TV personality and has been dubbed the "Serial Killer Whisperer" in the media. She has written seventeen books on a wide range of true crime cases as well as eight crime fiction novels and two further non-fiction books. She has interviewed some of the world's most heinous serial killers over almost three decades and has collected a vast pool of information on various types of killers, their motives and rituals. She also co-hosts the true crime podcast Monsters Who Murder where she dissects the body language and verbal cues of killers. She also owns the Memento Mori Death museum that has travelled across Australia and has a Master's degree in Arts (Writing).

The authorized tie-in to the popular TV show Criminal Minds Featuring stunning photos from the CBS series, Criminal Minds: Sociopaths, Serial Killers, and Other Deviants will give you new terrifying and fascinating insights into the mind of a criminal. Most episodes of CBS's Criminal Minds series feature a briefing where the profiling team defines the type of criminal they are looking for by examining behavior patterns that were established in actual criminal cases. Now author Jeff Mariotte takes us deeper into the BAU process by revealing the evil behind some of the most heinous murderers, sexual predators, and psychopaths in history. In this authorized companion to the hit TV series, you'll learn how real-life criminals committed their unspeakable crimes and follow the investigators who finally tracked them down. Mariotte explains why and how profilers organize major offenders into types and why each of these perpetrators falls into a particular category. You'll get the stories behind: Solo serial killers, such as David Berkowitz, Zodiac, and Henry Lee Lucas Sexual predators who preyed on women and girls, such as Dennis Rader and Gary Ridgway, and those who preyed on men and boys, such as John Wayne Gacy Killers with famous victims, such as John Hinckley, Robert John Bardo, and Mark David Chapman Cannibals and vampirists, such as Jeffrey Dahmer Traveling killers, such as Ted Bundy Female killers, such as Aileen Wuornos Family annihilators, such as John List, Mark Barton, and the Menendez brothers And many more

True crime at its most potent: a riveting account of tracking down and convicting an evil serial killer by the detective who trapped him. "In the duel between a small-town cop and France's most dangerous serial killer, the advantage appeared heavily in favour of Francis Heaulme, the criminal known as the 'man from nowhere', who may have killed more than to 50 men, women and children. "Heaulme left few ordinary clues during a career of crime spread across the country. Faced with a master of ingenious alibis and innate resistance to interrogation, all his gendarmerie opponent could count on was instinct. This psychological hunt for a killer has echoes of Dostoevsky. "Heaulme never spoke murders. He referred to pepins - bothersome details, before noting days when pepins coincided with killings he had supposedly witnessed. He gave the impression he was an accidental observer of events in which women were beaten to death or children repeatedly stabbed. He had no criminal record and was scrupulous in living in the law. While he is thought to have been involved at least 50 murders, Heaulme once said that 'every time I visited somewhere there was a pepin.' So far 400 towns and villages have been identified where Heaulme stayed." Paul Webster in the Observer, reviewing the French edition This is the best, clearest, most decisive account of the work of a detective possible. It shows how deadly criminals can only be caught by a combination of luck, patience - and most important of all skill and determination. It is frightening stuff.

The second novel based on the hit CBS series. The BAU is called to help Chicago detectives investigate a series of bizarre murders. The killings seem unrelated, until profiler David Rossi makes the connection: the scenes are modeled after three notorious serial killers. Original.

An elite team of FBI profilers is called in to help Chicago detectives investigate a series of bizarre murders. Though all are violent and disturbing, the crimes seem unrelated—until profiler David Rossi makes the connection. He recognizes each grisly tableau as one modeled on the crime scenes of three of the country’s most notorious serial killers: David Berkowitz, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer. Someone is taking the cult of true crime to terrifying extremes, and with so many killers left to emulate, Rossi wonders how he can possibly profile a killer who’s hiding within the killer profiles of others...

The FBI profiler & co-author of the #1 New York Times–bestseller Mindhunter recounts his role in catching one of America’s most notorious serial killers. Inside the Mind of BTK tells the incredible true story of how FBI profiler John Douglas tracked and participated in the hunt for one of the most notorious serial killers in US history. For thirty-one years a man who called himself BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) terrorized the city of Wichita, Kansas, sexually assaulting and strangling a series of victims, taunting the police with cryptic communications, and bragging about his vicious crimes to local newspapers and television stations. After disappearing for nine years, he suddenly reappeared, complaining that no one was paying enough attention to him and claiming that he had committed other crimes for which he had not been given credit. When he was finally captured, BTK was revealed to be Dennis Rader, a sixty-one-year-old churchgoing, married man with two children. As a leading serial killer profiler for the FBI, John Douglas was first called to consult about the case in 1980 and remained involved with the story and all of its principal players up to the arrest and prosecution. After Rader was arrested, Douglas was granted both an exclusive interview with the killer after his sentencing, as well as access to friends, family, and police. In this page-turning book, Douglas reveals both new information and insight into why Rader did what he did, why he stopped for a mysterious nine-year period, and his current psychological state in custody. Praise for Inside the Mind of BTK “Legendary profiler and bestselling author Douglas (Mindhunter), who pioneered the FBI’s systematic study of serial killers, offers his insights into one of this country’s most chilling killers—Dennis Rader, a seemingly innocuous family man and municipal employee, whose brutal murders terrorized Wichita, Kans., for three decades. . . . While the stomach-turning story of BTK's crimes has been told by others, Douglas's unique professional experience and his exclusive personal access to Rader offers a different perspective, even as the answer to the question of how such a monster comes to be remains elusive.” —Publishers Weekly “Riveting! Douglas and Dodd have focused a laser sight on one of the most fascinating and disturbing serial killers of our time. Their in-depth analysis of BTK’s early childhood, his seemingly “normal” everyday life, and his shockingly well-hidden “other” life deftly explores the nature of evil and how we can better protect ourselves from such cunning predators.” ―Lisa Gardner, New York Times–bestselling suspense author of Hide

Is there a biological basis for evil? From neurological imaging to behavioral studies, Dean Haycock's account of the groundbreaking research reveals what scientists are learning about the psychopaths living among us. How many times have you seen a murder on the news or on a TV show like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and said to yourself, "How could someone do something like that?" Today, neuroscientists are imaging, mapping, testing and dissecting the source of the worst behavior imaginable in the brains of the people who lack a conscience: psychopaths. Neuroscientist Dean Haycock examines the behavior of real life psychopaths and discusses how their actions can be explained in scientific terms, from research that literally looks inside their brains to understanding out psychopaths, without empathy but very goal-oriented, think and act the way they do. Some don’t commit crimes at all, but rather make use of their skills in the boardroom. But what does this mean for lawyers, judges, psychiatrists, victims and readers--for anyone who has ever wondered how some people can be so bad. Could your nine-year-old be a psychopath? What about your co-worker? The ability to recognize psychopaths using the scientific method has vast implications for society, and yet is still loaded with consequences.