FORENSICS: PROFILING THE PERPETRATOR

If you don’t know what you’re looking for, finding it is nearly impossible. Profiling, or looking at evidence

and making a best guess as to the type of individual who would commit the crime in question, helps

investigators get a firm grasp on whom it is they’re trying to track down. The profiler, usually a specially

trained FBI agent, looks at the crime scene, autopsy data, victim, and likely precrime and post crime

behaviours of the killer to make this assessment. The profiler answers questions like:

 How did the killer gain access to the victim?

 What did the killer do to the victim?

 Did the killer try to cover his or her tracks and, if so, how?

 What is it about this victim that attracted the killer?

 What motive or fantasy drove the killer to harm the victim in the particular manner at the
particular time and location?

In serial murder cases, offenders often are termed unknown subjects, or unsubs for short. Analysis of

the crime scene may offer clues to the type of unsub police should search for. That analysis has

become known as offender profiling. Even though profiling may not lead to the exact individual, it often

helps police narrow the focus of their investigation. In addition to predicting where other evidence is

likely to be located, profiling may suggest the unsub’s

 Physical and psychological makeup

 Areas of residence and work

 Behaviours that may have been exhibited before the crime

 Likely comings and goings after the crime

Lastly, the crime scene may reveal aspects of an unsub’s modus operandi (MO, or method of
operation) and signature.

Criminal profiling evolved from studies conducted by the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit, which now is

known as the Investigative Support Unit. The studies were designed to gain insight into violent

criminals. As investigators’ collective understanding of violent offenders increased, a useful

investigative tool was born. Crime-scene analysis for clues to the offender’s personality and motives

and offender profiling continually gained popularity and now are considered critically important in

tracking serial offenders. The premise that the perpetrator not only leaves behind physical evidence but

also behavioural and psychiatric evidence is leading criminalists to understand that this evidence may

be key to finding perpetrators.

One of the basic tenets of profiling is that behaviour reflects personality. How a person acts depends

upon his or her personality and psychological needs and fears. Profiling seeks clues to the perpetrator’s

personality from the behaviours he or she exhibits at the crime scene. These clues can provide insight

into the killer’s motives, level of intelligence and sophistication, and reasons for selecting a particular

victim.

ASSESSING THE PERPETRATOR’S PSYCHE

One basic method of characterizing offenders from crime-scene evidence divides them into the

following three categories:

 Organized offenders: These criminals are more sophisticated in their approach, and their crimes
show evidence of planning. These types tend to be of average or better intelligence, employed,
and in active social relationships such as with spouses and families. Even though they’re driven
by their fantasies, they maintain enough control to avoid being impulsive. They prepare and even
rehearse. They tend to target specific victims or types of victims and use control measures such
as restraints to maintain victim compliance. They bring the tools they need to gain access to and
control of the victim and avoid leaving behind evidence. As killers, they generally hide or dispose
of the body and are likely to have a dumpsite already selected.

 Disorganized offenders: These criminals usually live alone or with a relative, possess lower-than-
average intelligence, are unemployed or work at menial jobs, and often have mental illnesses.
They act impulsively, or as if they have little control over their fantasy-driven needs. They rarely
use ruses to gain the victim’s confidence, but rather attack with sudden violence, overwhelming
the victim. The crime scene often is messy and chaotic. This type of offender doesn’t plan ahead
or bring tools along, but rather uses whatever is handy. As killers, they typically leave the body at
the scene and exert little effort to avoid leaving behind evidence. Some have sexual contact with
the victim after killing him or her.

 Mixed offenders: Some offenders leave behind mixed messages at crime scenes. They show
evidence of planning and a sophisticated MO, but the assault itself may be frenzied or messy,
which may indicate some control over deep-seated and violent fantasies.

Profilers have developed categories of descriptors, or ways that they describe the types of individuals

who commit the crimes. Some of the descriptors used in serial killer profiling are as follows:
  Age: Most serial killers are in their 20s or 30s.

 Sex: Almost all are male.

 Race: Most don’t cross racial lines. That means, in general, White offenders kill Whites, while
Black offenders kill Blacks.

 Residency: Organized offenders may be married, have a family, and be well liked by their friends.
Disorganized offenders, because of their mental instability and immaturity, tend to live alone or
with a family member.

 Proximity: The location of the perpetrator’s home in relationship to the crime scene is important.
Most kill close to home, a factor that is particularly true with the first few victims. The area close
to home is a comfort zone. With experience, however, the killer may move his predatory
boundaries farther and farther from home.

 Social skills: Killers who use a ruse to ensnare their victims, like Ted Bundy did, typically possess
good social skills, whereas those who use a blitz-style attack are less comfortable with
conversation.

 Work and military histories: Organized offenders more often have a stable work history and are
more likely to have left any military service with an honourable discharge. Disorganized offenders
often are quite simply too unstable to hold a job in the long term or to complete military service.

 Educational level: Organized offenders tend to have more schooling than their disorganized
counterparts.

Using these descriptors, profilers can create a pretty good picture, or profile, of the type of person who

likely committed the crime. This profile may help police home in on a specific suspect and may play an

important role during the interrogation of suspects. Knowing the type of individual who’d commit a

criminal act helps investigators design the right questions and leverage any pressure points during

interrogation that snare suspects in a web of lies or even produce a confession.

Profiling also plays an important role in determining whether a crime scene is staged. Staging means

changing the appearance of the scene so that it looks like the murder took place in a different manner

and for a different reason. A classic example: the husband who kills his wife in a fit of anger, then

empties drawers and closets, knocks over furniture, and breaks a door lock or window to make it

appear as though a burglar committed the crime. When investigators discover that the wife was

severely bludgeoned and stabbed 20 times, the light of suspicion falls on the husband. A burglar
wouldn’t engage in such overkill, preferring instead to kill and run. Overkill usually is personal, with

anger as the common underlying drive.

TAKING TROPHIES AND SOUVENIRS

Many criminals take things from the crime scene. Money, jewels, electronic equipment, and other

valuables that can be sold commonly are taken, as is incriminating evidence, such as the murder

weapon or a used condom.