Can You Spot a Serial Killer? BTK, Son of Sam, and What the FBI Found - Part 2

About this episode

Mark Olshaker discusses the psychology of serial killers and the chilling case of BTK in this episode of Heroes Behind the Badge.

In Part 1 , Mindhunter co-author Mark Olshaker traced how FBI legend John Douglas unlocked the psychology of serial predators through audacious prison interviews and left us at the doorstep of the most baffling double life in American criminal history. Part 2 opens there: how does a church president, Boy Scout leader, and devoted family man spend decades as BTK - one of the most feared serial killers in the country - while everyone around him has no idea? In this Part 2 conversation with hosts Craig Floyd, Dennis Collins, and Bill Erfurth of Heroes Behind the Badge, Olshaker unpacks Dennis Rader's chilling compartmentalization, the "homicidal triad" warning signs that may identify a serial predator before they strike, and the psychological evolution of David Berkowitz from setting 1,000 fires to terrorizing New York City as the Son of Sam. He also draws a sharp line between serial killers - who expect to get away with it - and mass murderers, who don't. Bill Erfurth brings it to street level with a real serial killer arrest that ended at a Wendy's drive-through with a punchline no screenwriter would dare write. The episode closes on two of the hardest questions in the field: why…

People in this episode

Hosts: Craig Floyd, Dennis Collins, Bill Erfurth

Guest: Mark Olshaker

Topics covered

• serial killers
• psychology
• law enforcement
• crime
• FBI
• true crime

Keywords

• BTK
• Son of Sam
• serial killers
• FBI
• psychology
• homicidal triad
• Dennis Rader
• David Berkowitz

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Heroes Behind the Badge

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