Katherine Ramsland

There are two parts to every crime story: how they did it and why they got caught.This book is about the second part, and how it changes the way we catch serial killers.   No two stories about the capture of a serial killer are the same. Sometimes, the killers make crucial mistakes; other times, investigators get lucky. And the process of profiling, hunting, and apprehending these predators has changed radically over time, particularly in the field of criminal forensics, which has exploded in the last ten to 15 years. Laser ablation, video spectral analysis, cyber-sleuthing, and even DNA-based genetic genealogy are now crucial tools in solving murders, including the recent capture of the so-called Golden State Killer. This first book in the new Profiles in Crime series tells the history of forensics through the “capture stories” of some of the most notorious serial killers, going back almost a century.The killers include: Rodney Alcala, a serial rapist and murderer sometimes called “Dating Game killer” for his appearance on that TV show. No one knows the exact number of his victims. Takahiro Shiraishi, the suicide killer from Zama, Japan, who dismembered nine victims and stored their bodies in his refrigerator. Aileen Wuornos, one of the rare female serial killers. She shot seven men in Florida and was turned in by an accomplice. Jeffrey Dahmer, the “Milwaukee Cannibal,” and Bobby Joe Long, both identified by survivors Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz (“Son of Sam”), who both made mistakes Ludwig Tessnow, who killed several children in Germany, and was caught through new methods in forensic investigation that could distinguish human from animal blood

In 1974, Dennis Lynn Rader stalked and murdered a family of four in Wichita, Kansas. Since adolescence, he had read about serial killers and imagined becoming one. Soon after killing the family, he murdered a young woman and then another, until he had ten victims. He named himself “B.T.K.” (bind, torture, kill) and wrote notes that terrorized the city. He remained on the loose for thirty years. No one who knew him guessed his dark secret. He nearly got away with his crimes, but in 2004, he began to play risky games with the police. He made a mistake. When he was arrested, Rader’s family, friends, and coworkers were shocked to discover that B.T.K. had been among them, going to work, raising his children, and acting normal. This case stands out both for the brutal treatment of victims and for the ordinary public face that Rader, a church council president, had shown to the outside world. Through jailhouse visits, telephone calls, and written correspondence, Katherine Ramsland worked with Rader himself to analyze the layers of his psyche. Using his drawings, letters, interviews, and Rader’s unique codes, she presents in meticulous detail the childhood roots and development of one man’s motivation to stalk, torture, and kill. She reveals aspects of the dark motivations of this most famous of living serial killers that have never before been revealed. In this book Katherine Ramsland presents an intelligent, original, and rare glimpse into the making of a serial killer and the potential darkness that lives next door.

"The meaning of The Vampire Chronicles is still unfolding for me, and is as much connected to God as to the Devil, as much connected to pleasure as to pain. That the books are entertainment seems a given, and for that I'm grateful. That they can be seen as a religious journey is also clear. I am immersed in the questions, and praying for the answers. Lestat, c'est moi. I want you to love all of my characters. I am, in the writing of these and other novels, as ambitious as Dickens. I want everybody to cry when Claudia dies, just like they did for Little Nell." -- Anne Rice February 8, 1995 Interview with the Vampire. The Vampire Lestat. The Queen of the Damned. The Talc of the Body Thief Memnoch the Devil. With her bestselling, epic saga, Anne Rice has reinvented the legend and literature of one of fiction's most popular and captivating archetypes. Now, Katherine Ramsland, Anne Rice's biographer, has completely revised and updated the ultimate reference guide to the world, history, and adventures of these haunting characters, from the unforgettable Lestat to Rice's newest chilling creation, Memnoch the Devil. Written with the full cooperation of Anne Rice -- and now with more than 1,200 entries -- The Vampire Companion offers an insightful exploration, appreciation, and interpretation of all the characters and events, names and places, symbols and themes in the five volumes of The Vampire Chronicles, including more than one hundred pages of new entries on Rice's latest vampire novel, Memnoch the Devil. Everything that readers might want to explore further is annotated and analyzed in this entertaining and enlightening the unforgettable characters of Louis, Lestat, Claudia, Akasha, Armand, and Memnoch; the important points of interest on Lestat's fascinating tour through Heaven and Hell; ancient lore; Rice's unique contributions to the mythos of vampires; the literary inspirations that echo through the novels; Rice's own reflections and revelations about her work and about the movie Interview with the Vampire; and much more. Richly illustrated with new photos, drawings, maps, and a complete time line of events in The Chronicles, The Vampire Companion is as captivating as the phenomenal saga it explores. It is a guidebook that no visitor to the world of Anne Rice should be without.

A psychological examination of the blurred line between victim and accomplice―and how a killer can be created Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr. was only fourteen when he first became entangled with serial rapist and murderer Dean Corll in 1971. Fellow Houston, Texas, teenager David Brooks had already been ensnared by the charming older man, bribed with cash to help lure boys to Corll’s home. When Henley unwittingly entered the trap, Corll evidently sensed he’d be of more use as a second accomplice than another victim. He baited Henley with the same deal he’d given $200 for each boy they could bring him. Henley didn’t understand the full extent of what he had signed up for at first. But once he started, Corll convinced him that he had crossed the line of no return and had to not only procure boys but help kill them and dispose of the bodies, as well. When Henley first took a life, he lost his moral base. He felt doomed. By the time he was seventeen, he’d helped with multiple murders and believed he’d be killed, too. But on August 8, 1973, he picked up a gun and shot Corll. When he turned himself in, Henley showed police where he and Brooks had buried Corll’s victims in mass graves. Twenty-eight bodies were recovered―most of them boys from Henley’s neighborhood―making this the worst case of serial murder in America at the time. The case reveals gross failures in the way cops handled parents’ pleas to look for their missing sons and how law enforcement possibly protected a larger conspiracy. The Serial Killer’s Apprentice tells the story of Corll and his accomplices in its fullest form to date. It also explores the concept of “mur-dar” (the predator’s instinct for exploitable kids), current neuroscience about adolescent brain vulnerabilities, the role of compartmentalization, the dynamic of a murder apprenticeship, and how tales like Henley’s can aid with early intervention. Despite his youth and cooperation, Henley went to trial and received six life sentences. He’s now sixty-five and has a sense of perspective about how adult predators can turn formerly good kids into criminals. Unexpectedly, he’s willing to talk. This book is his warning and the story of the unspeakable evil and sorrow that befell Houston in the early 1970s.

To help writers create more credible and convincing criminal characters, this guide examines the basics of psychology and law, theories of criminality, and various disorders that can lead to criminal behaviour. It also explores the legal process, forensics, and treatment of offenders and victims.

What do Nathaniel Hawthorne, William James, Scottish lore, and a purloined corpse have in common? Cursed land near Concord, Massachusetts, linked to Annie Hunter’s family. When Annie arrives in Concord for her wealthy grandfather’s funeral, she’s stalked by those who want her gone. The more she learns about her crooked kin, the more she wants to be anywhere else. While her PI team investigates murders linked to a cyber game, Annie races to locate a deadly relic. If she fails, people will die, and she’ll lose her only link to her missing father. To stop the impending threats, Annie turns to three brothers whose family her ancestors ruined. In this third Nut Cracker investigation, the stakes are the highest they’ve ever been.

(A 69-page True Crime Short with photographs) H. H. Holmes was a central character in Erik Larson’s hugely successful The Devil in the White City, which is planned as a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Holmes is commonly viewed as a real-life Hannibal Lecter, a devious and cunning serial killer. Holmes used the persona of a successful doctor and entrepreneur to draw untold numbers of young women to his three-story Chicago hotel to experiment on before killing them. He would often deflesh the corpses to sell the skeletons to medical schools. Holmes enjoyed trying out methods of murder and watching his victims die. Scientists from his era believed Holmes’ brain would unlock the secret of his perversity, but he denied them the chance to find out. Today, neuroscience allows us to unlock the brains of sadistic psychopaths, so we can better understand what his brain – if dissected – would have revealed. We can research killers to decode Holmes’s vile behavior. From Psychopath: "After the girls died, he’d enjoy viewing ‘their blackened and distorted faces’ before he dug a shallow grave, removed their clothing, and dumped them into it with ‘fiendish delight.’ Holmes considered that ‘for eight years before their deaths I had been almost as much a father to them as though they had been my own children.’ "It is precisely this behavior that most puzzles the ordinary person and draws the researcher’s how can a man torture and asphyxiate children, or burn them and view it as entertainment? How can he ‘befriend’ them for years, knowing the whole time that he will end their lives? How can he describe it as pleasurable? This is the reason the psychopath holds our fascination. It’s why researchers even during Holmes’s era tried extracting criminal brains post-mortem for study. They hoped to locate the seat of disturbed moral consciousness."

When a boy vanishes under strange circumstances, forensic psychologist Annie Hunter collects her team of sleuths, the Nut Crackers. They link the boy to a network of powerful people, the "I Scream Men," who gain political favors through a juvenile sex trafficking ring. As Annie tries to hide a victim they seek to silence, head predator Alder Plattman - nicknamed "Plat-eye" - snatches her young daughter. Relying on coded clues, some quirky allies, and the mysterious method of remote viewing, Annie sets out to rescue her daughter and cripple the criminal network. Among her associates is attorney Jackson Raines, a youth advocate whose brother stole the network's secret records before he was murdered. As a hurricane bears down and Plattman chases Annie's team, they race to recover this vital cache before he can find and destroy it.

The Psychology of Death Investigations outlines definitively how behavioral evidence can often provide the necessary components and missing pieces to complement physical evidence as an essential tool for incident reconstruction. In order to determine the direction of an investigation and to prioritize leads, if necessary, death investigators must establish the manner of a natural, accident, homicide or suicide. The most overlooked aspect of death investigation is the psychological dimension, which can provide unique leads, correct false assumptions, enhance investigative awareness, and solve cases in surprising ways. In an estimated 10-20% of cases, the manner of death cannot be determined, or worse, has been erroneously categorized. Since many jurisdictions can't afford behavioral consultants, this book has been written to provide practical information for a basic psychological analysis. If the circumstances surrounding a death are equivocal, psychological consultants can compile information retrospectively about a deceased person's mental state and possible motive to assist with unravelling ambiguity about the manner of death. This is the primary function of a psychological autopsy, and, as such, this is the first book of its kind dedicated solely to the topic. In the event that the manner of death is determined to be a homicide, behavioral profiling can help to focus the potential pool of suspects. Professionals and students alike will benefit from the exercise of cognitive awareness and the application of psychological logic presented. Psychologists, medical examiners, coroners, attorneys, fraud examiners, law enforcement personnel, death and homicide investigators, and students enrolled in criminal profiling, forensic psychology, and criminal justice programs will find this text to be a compelling and insightful reference to add to their professional toolkit.

"The Mayfair family is a huge imaginative refuge for me; it is living and growing in my mind all the time." --Anne Rice In the spellbinding tradition of her bestselling The Vampire Chronicles, the prolific Anne Rice has created the sensuous saga of the Mayfair witches. Resonant with supernatural suspense, mesmerizing eroticism, and lush detail, The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos have bewitched the imaginations of readers everywhere. Now comes the definitive touchstone guide to the history and mystery of this magnificent dynasty of witches. Just as she did with The Vampire Companion, biographer and Anne Rice authority Katherine Ramsland presents a fascinating A-to-Z encyclopedia of information, interpretation, and analysis--this time devoted to the characters and key events, places and symbols, historical and mythological themes of the Lives of the Mayfair Witches novels. Created with the full cooperation of Anne Rice, The Witches' Companion features detailed character breakdowns, from the present-day enchantress Rowan Mayfair to the lustful spirit Lasher; a complete genealogy of the Mayfair family; a chronology of events; a guide to geographical locations; the intriguing origins of the Mayfairs' extraordinary clan; revealing observations from Anne Rice herself; and much more. Illustrated throughout with hundreds of photos, drawings, and maps, The Witches' Companion will be every Anne Rice fan's inseparable companion in traveling through the unforgettable world of the Mayfair witches and their legacy.

Are any vampire myths based on fact? Bloodsucking villain to guilt-ridden loner—what has inspired the redemption of the vampire in fiction and film? What is Vampire Personality Disorder? What causes a physical addiction to another person's blood? Are there any boundaries in the polysexual world of vampires? How could a vampire hide in today's world of advanced forensic science? What is the psychopathology of the vampire? What happens in the brain of a vampire's victim? Since Bram Stoker's Dracula was published in 1897, the concept of the vampire has evolved from supernatural creature of the night to reluctant bloodsucker to the sympathetic vampire of today's popular culture. Featuring interviews with forensic experts, creative artists, and real-life bloodsuckers, The Science of Vampires offers a fascinating investigation into the myths and realities of the vampire, exploring every aspect of the dark force that has played host to our fears of infections, depletions, alien influence, and disease. From vampirism's roots in ancient legend through its post-modern redefinition in contemporary films and novels to its scientific evolution as a very real mental disorder, Ramsland proves just how immortal, enigmatic, and seductive the lure of blood can be.

Forensic psychologist Annie Hunter runs a PI agency. She pits her talented “Nut Crackers” team against Tommy Ray Bruder, who’d snatched her best friend, Hailey, when Annie was 14. Annie made a pledge back then to find her. Bruder was caught for another crime, but he refused to say what happened to Hailey. From prison, he’s been writing coded poems to entice podcasters to get him released. These same codes offer Annie new clues for locating Hailey, but she must do this before Bruder walks free. Her efforts provoke Bruder’s former partner, a dangerous man with his own damage path. Annie’s promise to find Hailey imperils her entire team.