“A sexual sadist doesn’t have to have penetrative sex with his victims to be labeled that. In fact, many of them are impotent and can only become aroused by thinking about killing. Sometimes they’re able to get and maintain an erection at the time of the kill, but not always. Often they masturbate over the corpse after the kill, but it’s not a given. They might revisit the crime scene to masturbate there later.
“In the case of this killer, he cuts a chunk of hair from the victim’s head, probably after death. He may fondle the hair in order to reach climax afterward. But because no semen was found at any of the crime scenes, I profiled that he’d do that elsewhere to fantasize and relive the kills over and over at a later time. Though the collection of trophies isn’t limited to sexualsadists, in this case, I believe it does. Taking hair is a very intimate act. Does that answer your question?”
Mickey nodded. “Sick fuck.”
“Yes, he is,” Dr. Reeves agreed. “Back to the profile. Please take note…while I’ve profiled this killer to be between eighteen and thirty-five, I’ve based the age of the killer in correlation to the age of his victims, but it is the most likely piece of the profile to be inaccurate. I am, however, confident that his age is within that range.”
“Why?” Candy asked.
“It’s based on the fact that serial killers generally target victims around their same age at the time of the murder. Historically, we’ve seen this in other serials that kill over a long period of time…decades in some cases. Their victims often range in age from younger to older, as the killer himself ages.”
Candy nodded as the doctor continued.
“I’ve profiled the killer as Caucasian because all the victims are white. Though there are cases where a killer will target someone not of the same ethnic background. Among Caucasians, that number is less than 19 percent, meaning over 81 percent of white serial killers hunt white victims.
“I’ve profiled this individual is in a lower socio-economic class and probably holds a job—if he holds a job at all—consisting of manual labor or another low paying occupation. I will say this about this killer—and this rule is true about all serial killers—they spend a significant part of their day and night fantasizing about past kills. This often means he has a hard time holding down a job. He’s obsessed with killing and dreams of it constantly. As I’ve said before, he relives past kills in his mind over and over and often revisits the crime scene itself.”
Dr. Reeves panned the room to make sure we were still paying attention. “If he has a car, it’s most likely an older model. Though determining paint color is less accurate, I’d venture a guess that it’s a dark, neutral color, and possibly shows signs of body damage. Based on the neighborhood where he hunts, a fancy, newer car with a bright paint color would stick out and be memorable to the prostitutes who stroll that area. None have reported such a car to police or to Beth who’s been down there for weeks working undercover.” He glanced at SA Michaels.
“I’ve gotten to know a lot of women on the stroll down there and I’ve asked a lot of questions,” she said. “They’re all afraid of this guy and I believe they were honest when the police asked about the johns and cars. No one has noticed any vehicles hanging around or parking for long periods of time. They’ve all got regulars, some of whom drive cars which stand out, but they’ve all been checked out. We’ve run a hell of a lot of license plates over the last two months. And talked to a ton of johns, none of whom appear to fit Leo—Dr. Reeve’s—profile.” She nodded to Leo to continue.
“I’ve also profiled this individual as having a non-military background based on the way he leaves the victims.”
“How would that be?” I asked, fascinated by what I was hearing. Getting into the mind of killers had interested me ever since my captivity.
“His crime scenes are sloppy, for one thing. Every man or woman I’ve ever met in the military, has discipline ingrained into their everyday lives, down to the way they fold their socks in a drawer.” I didn’t miss the sly look he gave his husband before he continued. “This killer punches his victims in the face to incapacitate them but then continues beating them until they’ve lapsed into unconsciousness before strangling them.”
“But wouldn’t that make it more likely that he is military?” Kindness Rayburn asked. I turned to look at the Asian agent on Lincoln’s team. I didn’t know much about her but I did know she was a former Marine with a reputation going around the building. People had told me not to count on going into the FBI boxing ring downstairs with her if they didn’t want their bell rung pretty hard. She was an expert in martial arts and taught self-defense in the Corps.
“Yes, if that were the only character trait this killer exhibits, I’d agree with you, Rayburn,” Dr. Reeves said. “But I think you’d agree that anyone trained in the military would incapacitate an opponent more cleanly by hitting them in the solar plexus or using pressure points to render them no threat. You teach that in your Krav Maga classes. This killer lacks discipline in the method of killing. He either gets them in a car, takes them to a random alley and kills them once he’s dragged them out to the ground. Or he lures them there on foot.”
When she opened her mouth to argue the toss, Dr. Reeves held up a finger. “The last thing I’ll say about whether his background is this…we know he uses—or reuses—ligatures which he might have found on the street. They’re convenient, for lack of a better term. My point is, someone with a military background would be more methodical and organized, learned from years of training.”
“That’s the answer I was looking for,” Rayburn said with a brilliant smile.
“Anything to satisfy your curiosity, Kindness,” the doctor replied with a smile. “Besides, I never argue with women who can kick my ass.” The wink he sent in her direction was full of affection.
Truth be told, Leo’s explanation made perfect sense.
“You said he’s disorganized,” Candy said. “It sounds like he hunts in the same place and disposes of his victims in alleys using the same method of killing. Doesn’t that make him…I don’t know…organized?”
Leo glanced over at him. “In this context, disorganized is more of a description of the killer’s mindset. Organized killers may stalk their victims, get to know their patterns. Do they work at a certain time of day, pick up their kids and take them to the park on a Tuesday, eat at a certain restaurant, etcetera. An organized killer may obtain a date rape drug and decide how and when he’s going to slip it into a potential victim’s drink ahead of time.” He nodded to emphasize his point.
“Disorganized killers don’t go out hunting with that mindset. They might like blondes which is why they target them, but they don’t know who they want until they see her. In this case, he doesn’t build a murder kit…for example, a bag with duct tape, ligatures, a cudgel, Rohypnol, etcetera, ahead of time. This killer doesn’t plan his kills. He finds a ligature that serves his immediate need and uses that on the victim he’s targeted.”
“Thank you,” Candy said, “please continue, Dr. Reeves.”
Leo nodded. “I’m almost done. Because of his lack of financial circumstances, I’m not convinced this killer has a permanent residence. He may live in a flop house or in his car, if he has one, or in a homeless encampment of some sort.”
I sat up straighter. “Ya think he’s homeless?”
“There’s a possibility of that, Agent Good. We have some intel which may indicate that but it’s not confirmed,” Lincoln said. “And this is where your team comes in.” He turned to Candy. “There’s a homeless encampment not far from the killer’s hunting ground. We’ve sent an undercover agent in to try to ask questions of the population, but they’ve been hesitant…well,actually they’ve been totally uncooperative so far. To top it all off, the undercover may have blown the assignment by being overzealous in their questioning.”
I could understand how that might happen.
“What do you need from us?” Candy asked, looking around the room.
“As you can imagine, they’re not the most cooperative bunch of people on their best day and a lot of them are either drug abusers or otherwise dangerous due to mental illness. It may take time for anyone going undercover to build a rapport and based on what the current UC said, he didn’t take the time needed to build up confidence among the homeless,” said Leo.
