Robert Ressler - [Part 1] - Criminal Profiler - Documentary

Documentary about Robert Ressler, and his methods of profiling serial killers.

(narrator) Nothing is more difficult than hunting the hunter of man.

(Robert Ressler) A serial killer is a
predator,

but they hunt human prey.

(narrator) The FBI investigates at least 50
serial killings per year.

(Robert Ressler) They have fantasies that
drive them to violence,

and they kill and kill
again.

(narrator) Who becomes a victim is
determined by only one thing:

The mind of the
serial killer.

(Robert Ressler) A profile is a psychological
portrait of a killer.

It establishes a map into
the mind of the murderer.

(narrator) And that is where the hunt has
to begin.

Alexandria, Virginia, on the
outskirts of Washington, DC.

Two police officers revisit a
series of brutal murders that occurred two decades ago.

The first case that
occurred,

the body was found in a drain area.

(narrator) Detective Tom Moorehead fills in
the case history for his
visitor.

The second one was
reported missing,

and it was six weeks before we
found her.

Her automobile was found,
though, right away.

(narrator) The body count kept rising.

Number three was found in
a creek,

submerged in the water.

There was sexual assault on all
of those.

After the autopsy, fluids were
sent to the lab,

and it indicated that they had
been raped.

(narrator) The details of the killings were
so gruesome,

they shocked even seasoned
investigators.

There were two that were
stabbed,

the one that had been missing
for about six weeks - she had

been stabbed somewhere around
20 times to the upper part

of her body.

The medical examiner had
said that it was an indication of overkill,

which is a lot of times

they're acting in sort of a
frenzy.

Five woman.

Three of them died in just one month.

At that particular point,
we had no idea who it was,

so we were just wondering how
would it be for the next one.

(narrator) What makes a man kill his fellow
man?

There are no easy answers, but
Robert Ressler has made it

his mission to find
them.

The emerging profile of a
profiler.

Robert Ressler began his
career as a military

investigator for the U.S. Army.

He was stationed in Europe and
the Far East.

In the Army, he learned how to
catch criminals.

I became convinced that
understanding the motives

of the killer would ultimately
make me better at catching them,

so I started studying psychology and continued as a

criminal investigator.

Upon leaving the Army,
Robert Ressler was looking

for a way to achieve his
goal.

I wanted to work for the
best,

and that was the FBI.

Here I thought I could combine
my knowledge of

criminal behavior psychology.

I was especially interested in
serial killers because here

I thought psychology played

a major role in why they killed
and how.

(narrator) When Ressler joined the Bureau
in 1970,

his interest in modern
psychology was frowned upon.

The FBI was a place where hard
evidence counted.

Despite the internal opposition,
Ressler formulated a plan

to study the behavior of serial killers.

He called it profiling.

(Robert Ressler) I had a working lunch with
the Director of the FBI

this time, William Webster.

At the end of the lunch and
said, "Mr. Ressler,

I think you have a great idea.

I want you to align yourself
with academics and outside

people outside the FBI of the
highest quality,

and I want this program to be
successful."

That gave it life.

Back in Alexandria, Virginia,
the killer had stabbed his

victim first in the back, then the front,

then everywhere.

(narrator) The morgue.

This is where Robert Ressler
looks for clues.

(Robert Ressler) Each time I walk into a
room like that,

I'm afraid I'm going to see
something worse than I've ever
seen before.

I figured out very early
that there are two types of

serial killers,

and that's organized and disorganized.

Just by looking at the crime
scene and how the bodies are
found,

I can establish a pretty good basis for a profile.

(narrator) Detective Moorehead tells
Ressler that all victims

were found completely dressed.

Yet, they had all been raped
before they were killed.

If they're dressed
properly,

I would say that the killer has
ordered them to dress

themselves.

If they're dressed improperly,
then it would indicate the

killer dressed them after death.

So whether or not they were
dressed by themselves or

whether or not they were dressed
by the killer becomes, again,

another look into the killer's mind.

(narrator) Ressler notes this telling
detail.

If the killer was able to
instruct the women to dress,

this would suggest somebody who

was in control of his own senses,

enough to plan the kill,

an organized mind at work.

This is how it always begins.

Picking up the scent.

Beginning to track the serial
killer.

(Robert Ressler) On a very personal level,
I just wonder what is his

force that takes ahold of a
person and pushes them over

the edge.

(narrator) Robert Ressler has been on the
trail of this evil ever since

he was nine years old.

Catch me before I kill
more.

I cannot control myself,
scrolled with lipstick on

the wall by a desperate killer.

Chicago.

1946.

A city gripped by fear.

The chilling words of America's
first modern serial killer

captured the imagination of the
entire country.

Two women, brutally murdered,
found in carefully arranged

settings.

The killer had even bandaged the
mortal wounds as if ashamed

of what he had done.

(offscreen voice) It came into my head that I must
have done something,

and I realized it must have been
a child.

(narrator) The northwest side of
Chicago.

This is where Robert Ressler
grew up.

(Robert Ressler) So it's good to be back in
Chicago.

Well, you know, it's been....

(narrator) He still stays in touch
with his old friend,

Phillip .. l Kozlofsk..

Together they roamed the
neighborhood streets when

they were boys.

It was a long, hot summer when
the string of bizarre killings

known as the lipstick murders
shook this city.

The boys were so intrigued, they
formed their very own

detective agency.

Their mission?

To catch the Lipstick Murderer.

(Robert Ressler) The whole idea came from some
movie that we had seen where

kids were detectives,

and we decided we were going to do this.

Could have been. Right, right.

It was a lot of cloak and
dagger involved with this.

You know, the kind of the false
beards and the dark glasses,

which, of course, no proper spy
operation can be without.

(narrator) But the games soon ended
when the killer struck again.

Police found body parts
floating in the Chicago sewers.

They identified the victim
as six-year-old Suzanne Degnan.

She had been snatched from
her home, murdered,

and dismembered.

It really paralyzed the city
of Chicago.

It was a frightening aspect to
have a child taken from

her bedroom in the dead of
night,

body parts found in sewers - of
course,

this guy confessing to all.

The police arrest William Heirens,

a 17-year-old student.

He confesses everything.

The Lipstick Murderer now has a
face.

The Heirens' case had a
tremendous impact,

in general, on people in
Chicago.

In your case, it actually led
you to try to somehow gain some

insight into the mind of this
person as to why he was doing it,

and then this led to, led....