They look like us, do the everyday things we do, and are often described by their neighbors as “nice, but quiet.” But underneath, they’re nothing like us: They’re the criminals hidden in our midst.
Two veterans of the study of violent crime, Steven R. Conlon, an instructor in the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, and Mary Ellen O’Toole, a retired profiler from the bureau’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, share what makes some of the most notorious offenders tick—and how their units bring them to justice.
The FBI’s elite Behavioral Science and Analysis Units study, conduct research, and consult on the violent and sometimes-bizarre individuals whose crimes include serial and mass murders, kidnapping, stalking, rape, arson, bombing, and terrorizing public places. These seasoned law-enforcement pros reveal the real world of deviant crime and their hunt for human prey—who often are far scarier than their movie and TV counterparts.
