Chapter Fourteen #2
“In any case, we currently have six victims. All female, age seventeen to twenty-one, and white. Each had a chunk of their naturally blonde hair cut. We believe the killer takes the hair as a trophy,” Lincoln continued, pointing to the photos on the whiteboard.
All the scenes were bloody. The women looked like they’d been brutally beaten with evidence of severe facial trauma, and all of them had some kind of ligature wrapped around their necks, though none of them were the same.
The photos were as gruesome as could be.
No wonder the FBI had been asked to help the LAPD catch a vicious serial killer.
I pointed to the board. “Does he strangle them?”
“Yes, after practically beating them to death,” Snow replied.
“He uses many different types of ligatures…rope, electrical cords, bungee cords. All of these are available for sale at every hardware, big box, drug, and grocery store in America. Because of the variety, we’ve come to the conclusion that they may be secondhand items that were previously used and discarded.
As you can imagine that would make getting a solid DNA profile from the killer monumental, if not impossible.
Collection and processing of any and all DNA is ongoing but it’s an immense task.
Until now, we haven’t found similar DNA on any of the victims or ligatures. We believe he uses gloves.”
“So, he doesn’t rape them?” Mickey questioned.
“No. He beats them, strangles them, and leaves them dead in an alley. He never uses the same alley, but the victims have all been identified as prostitutes operating in this four-block area.” Lincoln pointed to a satellite map with six arrows marking the location where the bodies were found.
“This is his hunting ground.” He traced an outline of several square blocks with his finger.
“So far, we’ve been unsuccessful in tracking this killer down.
We have a theory as to where he’s hiding, though, and that’s where you come in.
There will be more about that at the end of the briefing but first, let’s get back to the killer.
Like I said, he’s been active for months, and though we’ve had Special Agent Michaels—who closely resembles the victims—walking the boulevard as an undercover for several weeks, she’s so far been unsuccessful in getting this guy’s attention. ”
He nodded in SA Michael’s direction. Beth was tall for a woman, and blonde like the victims. I’d heard that her specialty in the FBI was working with victims of sexual assault and crimes against children. She’d been recruited by Lincoln Snow, handpicked to join his team like all his agents.
“Are you sure the killer is male?” Napoleon asked. “Couldn’t it be a woman committing the murders?”
“We considered that, especially since there’ve been no rapes, but we believe a woman wouldn’t be able to overpower the victims, or lure them, much less drag them into an alley to kill them,” Snow said.
“I’m going to have Dr. Reeves give you the profile he’s developed and then explain how we need you.
” He turned and looked at the doctor. “Leo, come on up here.”
Dr. Reeves got up from the chair where he sat beside his husband, SA Max Prince, and walked to the front of the room.
Snow’s team had successfully solved a cold case dating back over twenty years.
The Sweetwater Slaughterer had been executed by the State of Florida many years ago, but his illegitimate son had continued in his father’s footsteps.
Dr. Reeves, it turned out, was the son of the Slaughterer and half-brother to the most recent serial killer.
Their team had put an end to the serial killer but not before he’d almost taken Leo’s life in a revenge plot.
I couldn’t imagine being in Dr. Reeves shoes, growing up knowing not only that his father was a psychopath and mass murderer, but then having to face the past when his half-brother started killing as well.
Imagine it. What a bloody awful shambles.
“Thank you, Lincoln.” Dr. Reeves faced us. “This is the profile I’ve developed.” He paused and looked around the room, probably to make sure everyone was paying attention. “The killer is a sexual sadist, he’s disorganized, most likely male, approximately eighteen to thirty-five, and solidly built.”
Mickey held up his hand. “Sorry, Doc…you said he’s a sexual sadist, but he doesn’t rape them, so how does that make the crime sexual anything?”
“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 sexual sadists, 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.