The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer by Robert Keppel & William J. Birnes & Ann Rule

Author:Robert Keppel & William J. Birnes & Ann Rule
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: Homicide, Social Science, Serial Murders, Fiction, Investigation, General, Murder, True Crime, Serial Killers, Bundy, Ridgway, Green River Region, United States, Serial Murders - Washington (State) - Green River Region (King County), Washington (State), Homicide - Washington (State) - Green River Region (King County), Ted, Serial Murderers - Washington (State) - Green River Region (King County) - Investigation, Case studies, Gary Leon, Serial murderers, Criminology
ISBN: 9780743463959
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 1995-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Interviewing a Serial Killer

Interviewing a prisoner you suspect of committing a series of murders is much different than interviewing a killer who has just committed a “routine” murder. In fact, few interview techniques work at all. There are no manuals, no police handbooks, and no empirical research whatsoever to help you pick your way through the interrogation over the suspect’s psychological land mines that can explode in your face and ruin your chances of getting a confession. I know plenty of detectives who are great interviewers, but rarely have they had the opportunity to sharpen their skills against a serial killer. Unless the incriminating physical evidence was overwhelming or they actually managed to catch the perpetrator in the act, detectives usually need the suspect to confess in order to get resolution to all murders in a series. In most cases the killer is the only living witness and the interrogator may have to gain the killer’s cooperation at all costs in order to make a case. Ted Bundy recommended that the most effective approach is to get a suspect’s trust by showing him you understand what he’s been going through.

We already know from experience that there are two basic types of killers: (1) those who give self-incriminating statements because the evidence at the scene or in their car or from eyewitnesses is so overwhelming that they need you to acknowledge they are being cooperative, and (2) those who refuse to confess even though you might be shoving what you call evidence right into their faces. It is this latter category that can be the most frustrating. These killers know, like Ted Bundy and the Riverman knew that without their help you can’t find the bodies they dumped, the weapons they used, the cars they drove, or even the names of many undiscovered victims that they have killed. Without their cooperation, you might have nothing more than suspects who look promising on the basis of circumstantial evidence, but against whom the physical evidence is lacking. You have to get your suspect to work for you.

Bundy showed us ways we could get a serial killer to cooperate by sharing valuable information. Most of the long-term killers have led investigators around for years while the trail turned cold behind them. Like Bundy, they successfully escaped detection by police while sometimes dropping victims right in the middle of heavily guarded dump sites. Like the Riverman, who operated right under our noses, they picked up victims on highly patrolled streets. They probably lived in the communities where they killed and sat just two or three seats down from patrol officers at a local doughnut shop where they listened in on cops talking about the case. Serial killers know they’re invisible. What would induce people like this to talk with the police and eventually confess?

Bundy demonstrated that most killers of his type, killers like the Riverman, prided themselves on getting victims under their power. Because these killers perceive themselves as powerless, their ego trips involved spinning a net of power so broad that entire communities and police forces would be entrapped.

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