Oh Mindhunter: the Netflix show based off a book (written by genius profiler John Douglas) that I logically should adore because I love all things true crime but I just CANNOT get into. The main character (Bill Tench) is based on FBI profiler Robert Ressler. In 1955, Mr. Ressler graduated from Schurz High School in Chicago, Illinois then attended two years at a community college before joining the US Army. After two years in the Army he enrolled at Michigan State University, focusing on Criminology and Police Administration. He earned a Bachelors of Science and attempted graduate school before eventually dropping out after a single semester. He then rejoined the Army, this time as an officer (thanks to the ROTC program at MSU). In 1970, Ressler joined the FBI and was quickly recruited into the newly formed Behavioral Science Unit, whose purpose was to come up with the psychological profiles of violent offenders that usually select their victims at random.

After Ted Bundy escaped through the light fixture of his Colorado prison cell on December 30, 1977 while awaiting trial for the murder of Caryn Campbell, Ressler helped to develop a profile of the serial killer in February 1978. In addition to putting the killer on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List they also released the profile to law enforcement. This was to help educate all policing agencies where the killer was most likely to gravitate to and who he was most likely to target. Only five days later on February 15, 1978 he was apprehended in Florida.

I live 1.2 miles away from Attica Prison where Ressler interviewed infamous Son of Sam serial killer David Berkowitz in 1979. Yes, THE Attica prison you hear about all the time in Law and Order and other procedural cop shows. In addition to Berkowitz, Attica Prison has been home to many other infamous murders over the years, including Mark David Chapman (he killed John Lennon) and Willie Sutton (famous bank robber).

Ressler and Douglas interviewed Berkowitz at the Attica Correctional Facility in 1979. When meeting the killer for the first time, Douglas was struck by how “his very blue eyes kept dodging between Bob and me.” … “He was trying to read our faces and gauge whether we were ­being sincere.” After he told the killer they were there for an interview to “help law enforcement solve future cases, and possibly help intervene with children who displayed violent tendencies,” he then pulled out a newspaper with a Son of Sam related headline. Ressler said, “David, in Wichita, Kansas, there is a killer who calls himself the BTK Strangler and he mentions you in his letters to the media and police.” … “He wants to be powerful like you.”

This flattery worked like a charm, and Berkowitz immediately was at ease with the profilers. He leaned back in his chair, allowed himself to get into a more comfortable position, and inquired: ‘what do you want to know?’” One of the more interesting insights Douglas gained from Berkowitz is that “he was always thinking about these murders, to the point that on a night when no victims of opportunity were available, he would return to the sites where he had successfully killed to masturbate and relive the sensation of power and sexual energy he derived from the crime itself.”

Berkowitz confessed to killing six people and wounding several others in New York City during the late 1970’s and has since become a born again Christian. He said because of this he should pay for the sins he has committed and will not seek parole. The killer is currently housed at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County, NY.

Ressler became the first serial killer profiler in history and went on to interview some of histories most infamous and depraved murderers. Between 1976 and 1979, he interviewed thirty-six killers to help find commonalities between a criminals’ backgrounds and their motives, including Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Kemper, and John Jobert. He was also crucial in the formation of Vi-CAP, also known as the ‘Violent Criminal Apprehension Program’. In 1990 Ressler retired from the FBI and published four books about serial murder. In addition to writing, he worked as a guest lecturer and often would speak on college campuses and to police agencies. On May 5, 2013, Robert Ressler passed away at his home in Spotsylvania County, Virginia from Parkinson’s disease. He was 76 years old.

In 2015 when I first moved to Attica I was curious as to what the prison looked like… so I hopped in my powder blue Dodge Dart, drove to the massive compound and just sat in front of it, staring… then all of the sudden out of nowhere I have very 4 official looking vehicles on top of me and I got the heck out of there. It’s a maximum security prison, the CO’s do NOT fuck around. They wanted to know who I was and what I was doing, and I completely get that. Now.