DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090532

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   68 lines

EX-FBI AGENT RECOUNTS TALES OF ENTERING KILLERS' MINDS

John Douglas, who spends quality time climbing into the heads of some of America's grizzliest killers, talked about the world of ``profiling'' Wednesday night at the Pavilion.

The former chief of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit has formulated investigative portraits of suspects in headline cases such as the JonBenet Ramsey slaying and the Unabomber case.

He spoke at the third and final lecture sponsored by the Virginia Beach Forum this year. The talk was riveting, frightening and, at times, self-consciously humorous as he relayed what goes into the thousands of cases he has worked and the hundreds of criminals he has interviewed.

``It is unlike any other type of law enforcement,'' he said. ``To do this you have to break down the wall that protects most of the cops.''

It is a protective detachment.

He tosses it out the window.

The technique is described in his books, and he developed it with other FBI profilers and investigators.

For Douglas to enter the brain of rapists, bombers and murderers he puts himself in their shoes and walks their steps, then he tries to think their thoughts. He tries to understand their crimes and to understand how the victims fit the killers' patterns.

He said he has worked on local cases in the past, but not recently. When asked about local cases such as the possible string of serial slayings in Chesapeake, Douglas did not mention specifics, but urged police to pursue such criminals through creative, pro-active means and to look closely at the first case.

It is taxing work, he told the Pavilion crowd. During the investigation into the brutal Green River killer case in Seattle, it almost killed him. He fell into a stress-related coma for more than a week.

He recovered, then went back to work finding scum.

He gave examples. Rapists who ask their victims for dates after the rape. Killers who prey on children. People conscious of right and wrong who don't let that get in the way of their crimes.

He sees the patterns in ``their work'' and how they evolve.

Many are abused as children. They turn to arson. They deface property. They abuse animals. They often have above-average smarts, but are low achievers. They turn to violence early and attempt to develop a modus operandi.

They can pick out the children with low self-esteem and lure them away from toy stores and playgrounds with promises of toys, pets or friendship. They pick the children off like predators hunting animals in the wild. Then they do ugly things. Douglas knows this because he has talked to them, face to face.

``They enjoy talking about it,'' he said. ``They enjoy the hunt.''

He is not a huge advocate of releasing sexual predators.

``Their tears are never for the victims of violent crimes,'' he said of the criminals' confessions to him and to parole boards that may look at good behavior in the big house instead of remembering the crimes.

``The tears are for them,'' he continued, ``that they have to spend 23 hours a day in solitary and one hour in the yard.''

And since the crimes are about power and control and not usually sex, techniques such as castration will not stop repeat offenders.

``You castrate one of these rapists and he's not going to be happy,'' Douglas said.

Progressive pursuit of serial criminals is a must for officials, he said, and private citizens, especially parents, should be aware of potentially dangerous situations. ``The killers profile, too,'' Douglas said. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

John Douglas, who was involved in many high-profile FBI cases, kept

his audience riveted Wednesday.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu