The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases by Michael Capuzzo

Author:Michael Capuzzo [Capuzzo, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General, Espionage, Social Science, United States, Vidocq Society, Sociology, True Crime, Murder - United States, Murder - General, Murder, Investigation, Infamous Crimes And Criminals, Criminology, Forensic sciences, Case studies
ISBN: 9781592401420
Publisher: Gotham Books
Published: 2010-09-15T07:00:00+00:00

suicide. In 1957, the psychiatrist

James Brussel, “The Sherlock

Holmes of the Couch,” successfully

profiled the Mad Bomber who had

terrorized New York City in the

1940s and ’50s, injuring fifteen

people with thirty-three bombs

planted everywhere from phone

booths to libraries, including Penn

Station, the New York Public

Library, and Radio City Music

Hall. The Mad Bomber eluded cops

for sixteen years until Brussel, after

studying the bomber’s many crimes

and letters, successfully predicted

down to the last detail that the killer

would be a middle-aged, Catholic,

Slavic ex–Commonwealth Edison

employee living in Connecticut,

who furthermore would be, as

George P. Metesky was when

arrested at his sisters’ house,

wearing a double-breasted suit,

buttoned. In the 1970s, Brussel

helped the FBI create its Behavioral

Sciences Unit, which developed the

first “profiles” of suspects.

By the time Pennsylvania State

Trooper Stoud attended a Vidocq

Society luncheon in Philadelphia in

1995, as a guest of a senior state

trooper who was a VSM, he had

investigated more than a dozen

murders and read everything he

could get his hands on about murder

and murder investigation, including

all of Douglas’s and Ressler’s

books, Truman Capote’s In Cold

Blood, and the biblical story of

Cain and Abel. Yet he was deeply

frustrated. In his thirties, he wanted

to advance his career.

Walter had given a talk at the

Vidocq luncheon about his murder

subtypes. He discussed his method

of solving the most notorious

murder in modern Australian history

—the brutal slaying of beauty queen

and nurse Anita Cobby. Stoud was

dazzled. He was desperate to

become a profiler, but after reading

all the books, there wasn’t any more

to learn.

Mindful that “you had to find a

profiler to show you the road so you

can

walk

it

yourself,”

he

approached

Walter

after

the

luncheon and asked if he could

study with him, and was swiftly

rejected. Late that night, he called

Walter at home in Michigan,

repeating his request to “be a

learner.” Walter snapped at him, “I

said no, did you hear me? I’m not

interested. You’re too normal, a

family and all the rest. I’ve tried

this

before,

and

it’s

never

successful. It would be a waste of

my time and yours.” Half an hour

later, Stoud called back and said, “I

was just hung up on, but I won’t

take no for an answer.” Walter

cursed him out; Stoud said, “I’m

going to keep calling.” He called

the next night, and the next.

Gradually, the younger man and the

older developed a dialogue. They

discussed murder cases in the news,

murder cases they were working,

the nature of evil. Walter allowed

himself to wonder if Stoud had the

brains, the guts, the character, and

moral fiber, to be his protégé. “You

must learn to think horizontally as

well as vertically,” he said, “which

very few of us in the world can do.”

Walter nurtured hopes the younger

man could follow him, could stand

witness to and stand against the

worst evil human beings did to one

another.

Walter drove over the icy hills in

his aging Ford Crown Victoria to

the Green Gables tavern. The car

had 120,000 miles on it, and was

always breaking down. Walter was

always getting lost. Stoud pointed

out he needed new shocks and

brakes, and he snorted in reply,

“You know I don’t care about those

things.” The state trooper marveled

at how little he knew about ordinary

life—cars, computers, the World

Series—for a genius. I guess he’s

saving

it

all

for

sadism,

necrophilia,

and

Munchausen

syndrome, Stoud thought.

Walter said that after a lifetime

immersed in ghastly murders, he

had decided to reinvent himself as a

country gentleman. What was left of

him, that is, after years of forays

into the

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