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Profiles in Murder: An FBI Legend Dissects Killers and Their Crimes
A victim is stabbed nineteen times but left in a peaceful, resting position. Was her killer a raging psychotic, or as timid as she was?
In a charred house a partially clothed woman is found in her bed with a pornographic magazine and a mirror. Did she die in the fire -- or at a sex killer's hands?
Before it was immortalized in The Silence of the Lambs, the FBI Behavioral Science Profiling Unit was pioneered by Russell Vorpagel. Now the legendary profiler takes you into the most intriguing cases of his career -- actual cases of serial killings, sex crimes, celebrity murders, and hostage takings.
Showing how profiling turns the chaos and blood of a crime scene into a psychological snapshot of a suspect -- his age, his personality, even the model car he drives -- Vorpagel illuminates the twisted minds of the most vicious criminals of our time.
From the vampire murderer Richard Trenton Case -- who consumed the blood of his victims -- to Vorpagel's own duel with an assassin on the island of St. Croix, Profiles in Murder is the chilling real-life story of the human monsters who share our streets -- and the men and women who hunt them down.
In a charred house a partially clothed woman is found in her bed with a pornographic magazine and a mirror. Did she die in the fire -- or at a sex killer's hands?
Before it was immortalized in The Silence of the Lambs, the FBI Behavioral Science Profiling Unit was pioneered by Russell Vorpagel. Now the legendary profiler takes you into the most intriguing cases of his career -- actual cases of serial killings, sex crimes, celebrity murders, and hostage takings.
Showing how profiling turns the chaos and blood of a crime scene into a psychological snapshot of a suspect -- his age, his personality, even the model car he drives -- Vorpagel illuminates the twisted minds of the most vicious criminals of our time.
From the vampire murderer Richard Trenton Case -- who consumed the blood of his victims -- to Vorpagel's own duel with an assassin on the island of St. Croix, Profiles in Murder is the chilling real-life story of the human monsters who share our streets -- and the men and women who hunt them down.
317 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 21, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 7, 2021
This one is far more interesting and informative than a lot of books on profiling. The author -- who was the central reason the FBI has a Behavioral Science Unit today -- takes us through one of his training courses in how to understand an equivocal death scene to suss out what happened and why. The gead-scrarcger in this book is the fact that it was totally new to me, but only until the last two chapters. I recognized having read those cases before. Now how did that happen? None of the other cases even rang a bell with me. Each one was unique and a great teaching story. Don't miss this one if you can stomach the gore.
November 29, 2013
As you may be aware, internets, I do enjoy a good serial killer book. I've read a few profiling books at this point, and I must say I liked this one quite a bit, but I can see why others may not have. Vorpagel (or really, the as-told-by guy, Harrington) has a very dry and clinical style, and the examples cover a wide but not deep range. The book is structured as a short course in profiling, as if the reader is sitting in the class with Vorpagel and a variety of students. This makes the structure feel somewhat forced, and issues aren't always brought up in an orderly fashion. The 'students' are not so much characters as mouthpieces to lead the discussion in the desired direction, and some scenarios are discussed which seem to have nothing to do with profiling per se, though they typically touch on issues of being attentive and not jumping to conclusions. The point of the class, and by extension of the book, is not to teach anyone how to profile, but to provide a basic overview of what profiling is, and how it can add value to (or, if poorly done, detract from) an investigation.
However, I really enjoyed this book despite its limitations. For one thing, there's a marked lack of ego here from Vorpagel, which is in contrast to similar books where the author tends to paint him/herself as a sort of groundbreaking crime-fighting master. Vorpagel is clearly competent and significant in his field, but this book is about profiling, not about Vorpagel the profiler. In addition, I liked the quick snapshot cases, as well as the "Murder, suicide, or accident?" problems which Vorpagel presents to the 'class'. It was a quick and enjoyable read for me.
If you are looking for a book which is an intro to the field of profiling, this book may be a bit too disorganized in structure. If you want an in-depth discussion of some specific cases/pathologies, then this book is too shallow for you. However, if you have a general interest in profiling and serial crime, and have a few books on the issue under your belt, this may be a very pleasing quick read for you.
However, I really enjoyed this book despite its limitations. For one thing, there's a marked lack of ego here from Vorpagel, which is in contrast to similar books where the author tends to paint him/herself as a sort of groundbreaking crime-fighting master. Vorpagel is clearly competent and significant in his field, but this book is about profiling, not about Vorpagel the profiler. In addition, I liked the quick snapshot cases, as well as the "Murder, suicide, or accident?" problems which Vorpagel presents to the 'class'. It was a quick and enjoyable read for me.
If you are looking for a book which is an intro to the field of profiling, this book may be a bit too disorganized in structure. If you want an in-depth discussion of some specific cases/pathologies, then this book is too shallow for you. However, if you have a general interest in profiling and serial crime, and have a few books on the issue under your belt, this may be a very pleasing quick read for you.
April 18, 2019
This book was interesting and I'm glad I read it, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be. It is written in the form of a class that Russell Vorpagel gives to a group of "students" only 4 of whom actually speak to him. It's all very contrived and the students are stereotypic of their professions. It read more like bad fiction. I was hoping that it would be more factual and that it would give me a sense of what profilers think about when they view a crime scene. How they come to their often incredibly accurate portrayals of the UNSUB. That part is still a mystery to me. I guess I'm going to have to go take the year-long training at Quantico to get what I really want out of these books. Or else find the textbooks they use. Or maybe I should just go back to school and become a Psychology Major.
Or maybe just manage my own expectations.
Or maybe just manage my own expectations.
May 5, 2013
This is my least favorite profiling book so far. I appreciated that Vorpagel covered all types of profiling, especially death scene investigation: figuring out if a death was a murder, suicide, or accident. That was a different dimension from the books I've read by Hazelwood and Douglas (aside from Hazelwood's coverage of auto-erotic death). However, the format of this book was really distracting, and made it hard to take it seriously. For one thing, it was an incredibly easy read, the sort that makes me suspect this was written on approximately a middle school level. For another thing, the format, where the co-author writes about Vorpagel in the third person, in what I assume to be a generic class with fictional students, just felt very cheesy. Had it been an actual retelling of a specific class, with real students and examples, it might have felt more credible.
Also, I was kind of horrified as I was reading, to come across a story that identified a suspect/ victim as a "Negro". I realize this book is a bit out of date, but still I was surprised by that, and by what a point the author made to identify students by their race (there was the Asian woman. the Hispanic woman. the African American man. kudos for diversity, but it was pretty obviously meant that way, and very awkward.)
Despite the distractions, the book was a VERY quick read, as I said. Until the last few chapters. I found Vorpagel's "final" for his "class" to be filled with details I couldn't follow, that turned out not to be relevant, and was debated for far too long, repetitively, by his "students". And the final story, about the extremist Rastafarians, felt tacked on. It wasn't an example of Vorpagel's work, since he was the target/ victim, and was told primarily from the criminal's perspective, which I found suspect. Even with expert profiling, I doubt that someone can accurately retell every thought and action of the unsub up through the crime and afterwards. This happened throughout the book, but was most glaring in the final story, and definitely contributed to the cheesy true crime pulp feeling of the book.
I doubt I would read anything else by this author. I'll stick with more professional-style writers, like Hazelwood and Douglas.
Review also available at Once A Week Or More
Also, I was kind of horrified as I was reading, to come across a story that identified a suspect/ victim as a "Negro". I realize this book is a bit out of date, but still I was surprised by that, and by what a point the author made to identify students by their race (there was the Asian woman. the Hispanic woman. the African American man. kudos for diversity, but it was pretty obviously meant that way, and very awkward.)
Despite the distractions, the book was a VERY quick read, as I said. Until the last few chapters. I found Vorpagel's "final" for his "class" to be filled with details I couldn't follow, that turned out not to be relevant, and was debated for far too long, repetitively, by his "students". And the final story, about the extremist Rastafarians, felt tacked on. It wasn't an example of Vorpagel's work, since he was the target/ victim, and was told primarily from the criminal's perspective, which I found suspect. Even with expert profiling, I doubt that someone can accurately retell every thought and action of the unsub up through the crime and afterwards. This happened throughout the book, but was most glaring in the final story, and definitely contributed to the cheesy true crime pulp feeling of the book.
I doubt I would read anything else by this author. I'll stick with more professional-style writers, like Hazelwood and Douglas.
Review also available at Once A Week Or More
April 5, 2015
I was eager to learn about Richard Trenton Chase, as it was the first thing that stood out to me when I looked at the back cover of this book. There's little on him compared to other serial killers but he is pretty famous for being disorganized and not being classified insane while in court, even though he really was (compared to guys like Gacy who pleaded insanity). The part on him was pretty brief, interesting though. I suppose it's because there's many cases in this book. Still, the classroom aspect of the writing made me cringe at times. I wish he had written it as a normal narrative, without throwing around the names of the people "in the class" (which confused me at times). Overall it's okay, the guy is talented at his job and displays this through his extensive experience written in this book but god did it ever take me a while to finish this. Grueling too. I put it down sometimes and had to force myself to read it. In the end I did not even finish it. I am sorry..
June 18, 2012
Loved the epilogue and wish it had been the intro. Reading what Vorpagel is trying to accomplish in the coroner system, justice system, etc makes it easier to understand the case studies. Very interesting book about profiling and it is education. It makes me not want to upset anyone since approx 1.25 million people in this country are pyschotics. (statistic quoted from book based on a half of one percent of a population of 260 million.)
December 17, 2013
I read this out of curiosity for how profiling became a part of catching serial murderers, etc. The curiosity started, of course, when watching Silence of the Lambs, but was further fanned watching Criminal Minds and other such TV shows. If you are at all interested in the process of FBI profiling, this is a good place to begin reading about it. Vorpagel was one of the agents who first started profiling and brought it into regular practice by law enforcement.
December 12, 2016
Just finished reading this book, id have to say iv'e learned a lot about Profiles in Murder, and how people can be as normal as a EMT driver who has decent jobs without not one criminal record turns out to be serial killers. I do recommend this book for you readers out there, it really opened my eyes to learn what sick people are in this crazy world.
January 11, 2011
** Yet another FBI profiler's book on the subject. This one is the worst of those I've read. It's interesting but the writing/story is pretty boring. There's just not enough information given... on the crimes; on the analysis; on the conclusions.
January 17, 2016
Russell Vorpagel's (another FBI profiler) account of several muders and an insightful look into those who committed them. Written almost like a fictional storyline, this was entertaining and easy-to-read.
October 7, 2016
"A profile is like an Impressionist painting - hundreds of little strokes, none of them individually significant, create a meaningful picture en masse."
May 1, 2012
Loved this book! So interesting.
July 2, 2018
Lisa, North River patron, June 2018, 4 stars:
Russell Vorpagel, one of the FBI's best known psychological profilers, takes the reader through the type of training class he has led many times. His method of teaching is to provide true case histories and to ask his students for their conclusions as to whether the case represents a murder, an accident, or a suicide. I was fascinated by the methodical way he teaches of studying the crime scene, talking to suspects and witnesses, and creating potential scenarios to explain what may have happened. Some of the cases are graphic and not for the faint-hearted.
Russell Vorpagel, one of the FBI's best known psychological profilers, takes the reader through the type of training class he has led many times. His method of teaching is to provide true case histories and to ask his students for their conclusions as to whether the case represents a murder, an accident, or a suicide. I was fascinated by the methodical way he teaches of studying the crime scene, talking to suspects and witnesses, and creating potential scenarios to explain what may have happened. Some of the cases are graphic and not for the faint-hearted.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews