Talk about the "Long Arm of the Law"! Incredible police work solved a case that was more than 50 years old and could only be solved by forensic techniques that were developed well after a teenager was brutally raped and two cops lost their lives.
Serial Killers Who Surrender: It's commonly believed that serial killers cannot stop, because their compulsion is so strong that they're literally addicted to murder. In addition, they feel no remorse so they have no reason to refrain from indulging their hunger for blood - or else they're just plain psychotic.
However, there have been cases of men who have stopped themselves from killing again by going to the police to confess. Some actually express remorse, and might indicate that they'd been on drugs or were in some other state of diminished mental capacity during their crimes. They might also have come to the realization that, try as they might, they cannot stop themselves.
Movies Made Me Kill: While it appears to be true that some people who immerse in horror imagery feel provoked to commit the same aggressive crimes they just viewed, it's also true that there is no evidence of a causal factor, and millions of people watch such films without feeling instigated to act. Some people process external images into aggressive behavior, others might gain catharsis, and still others remain altogether unaffected. A few become horror film makers or novelists. It's not easy to know just what effect a specific film might have. Whatever results, research shows that it has more to do with the viewer than the material viewed.
It stands to reason that violent imagery will affect certain people in a way that inspires them to act out. From the story that affects them, they acquire a frame and guidelines, and sometimes even interpret the film as a license to kill. Not everyone will be thus affected, but among those who are, it's safe to say there is such a thing as a "Copycat Effect" when the portrayal of violence grips a person so firmly that he or she decides follow the details of that specific template. Has the movie made him kill? No, but has it given him ideas and methods — even victims? We can see that such things have occurred and are likely to continue to occur.
Dr. Steven Egger: Investigator, interviewer and author, he has landed interviews with some of the most well-known serial killers and is currently compiling a new book. In the future, his research could help pin down personality traits associated with serial killers. Today, it assists the police and FBI as they identify serial murders and search for killers.
Black Dahlia: Former FBI profiler Gregg O. McCrary creates a criminal profile of the killer of Elizabeth Short, Hollywood's great unsolved murder case.
Bill Bass: In her 1994 novel, The Body Farm, Patricia Cornwell introduced readers to a "decay research facility" at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. It's actually called the Anthropology Research Facility, shortened to "the Facility," but Cornwell overheard a nickname that cops had adopted, and called it The Body Farm." On any given day," she wrote, "its several wooded acres held dozens of bodies in varying stages of decomposition." Given such a description, one might think this place is imaginary, but it's not. It's quite real.
Dr. Bill Bass is the founder and director of this innovative service to law enforcement that can't be found anywhere else in the world.
Dr. Katharine Ramsland adds three new chapters describing her recent brief forensic anthropology course there and what she learned getting up close and personal with skulls, decaying flesh, and other forensic treasures.
Kevin Neal: Fascinating forensic investigation involving various kinds of flies finally nails a sexual predator who kills his two stepchildren and leaves their bodies in a cemetery.
John Joubert: Young enlisted man murders boys and is convicted by forensic evidence. Sophisticated and beginning sleuths can follow the investigation and test their skills through short quizzes.
Robert Berdella: An art student turns into a sadistic Jeffrey-Dahmer-like murderer of young men, known as the Butcher of Kansas City. This interactive forensics story also goes into the psychology of a psychopath.
Carlie Brucia: Her young life would have been spared had judicial leniency kept habitual drug addict & sexual predator off the street and had Florida county law enforcement acted with alacrity.
The crime exacted a serious toll on families already pressured by drugs, divorce and other social pressures.
Child Molesters: Incidences of sexual assaults against children have risen when compared with previous decades, and children are increasingly kidnapped by family acquaintances (27%) and strangers (24%) instead of close relatives. Yet more than 90% of sex offenders are never sentenced, in part because their victims are people within their circles usually family members and these children are pressured with threat or shame not to press charges.
Who are these people and what are their motives? Can they be treated effectively so that they no longer present a danger to society? Or are they like drug addicts? Are there any viable alternatives?
Martin Frankel: Neurotic weirdo, surrounded by riches and beautiful women, is the mastermind of a $200 million insurance fraud that reached all the way to the Vatican. From his lavish cocoon, he masterminded one of the largest, most bizarre embezzlement schemes in American history, one that rocked the insurance and investment industries and spanned the globe from the unassuming town of Toledo, Ohio, to the gilded dome of the Vatican.
