THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 29, 1995 TAG: 9505290034
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 214 lines
Sometimes, he's waited three years.
Sometimes, three months.
But 10 times in the past eight years, he has met young men and strangled them, and dumped their nude bodies on streets and in ditches.
To catch him, police must understand him, and his patterns.
And to understand him, police must rely on experts who know the minds of serial killers.
``We first look at two things: What did they do, and who did they do it to,'' said Larry McCann, a special agent with the state police who specializes in tracking serial criminals.
McCann is one of several law-enforcement agents who developed the profile of the Chesapeake serial killer, an unknown person who, since 1987, has preyed on young men in South Hampton Roads.
The latest victim, the 10th, was found May 14, on Rotunda Avenue in Chesapeake. It was only then that police admitted a serial killer was at work.
The art that agents like McCann practice was once called psychological profiling, rooted in the Behavioral Sciences Unit in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Quantico complex. Now, it is called criminal investigative analysis.
In its simplest form, practitioners study the lives and behaviors of past serial killers, and use the patterns they find to help them develop profiles of active criminals.
Then, by studying details of a crime, agents like McCann develop a list of probable traits and characteristics of the person they are hunting.
Like the Chesapeake killer.
He is intelligent. He chooses low-risk victims. He plans the crime and uses a ruse or con, and good verbal skills to gain control of his victims.
He controls the victims so well that they die without struggling. And he ``gets better'' with each killing, meaning successive crimes show more efficiency.
He has taken an active interest in the investigation and reads about it in the newspapers.
He is probably outgoing, social and attractive. When he was young, he was frequently disruptive in school. He may have been the class bully or the class clown.
He probably drives irresponsibly or aggressively and may be a troublemaker. He has had many romantic partners, but probably hasn't sustained a serious, long-term relationship.
He is what profilers call an ``organized'' killer, falling into one of two general categories. The traits above are classic characteristics of organized murderers, whose ranks have included Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and Charles Manson. The other category is the ``disorganized'' criminal.
Bundy was a photogenic smooth-talker who lured girls and young women, often by pretending to be a police officer. He murdered from Washington state to Florida, where he was executed. Gacy was an Illinois contractor and civic leader who killed young boys and men. Manson, in California, masterminded the Tate-LaBianca murders.
The distinctions and the characteristics of serial killers were first set down by Robert K. Ressler, the FBI's pioneering profiler who tracked these criminals for the agency for two decades. Ressler, the man who coined the term ``serial killer,'' detailed his career in the autobiography ``Whoever Fights Monsters.''
``You look at a homicide, and first thing you conclude is whether it is organized or disorganized,'' McCann said. ``You look at the autopsy report, evidence, other crime-scene data, time of day, lifestyle of victim: These are all things you take into account.''
From the first conclusion - organized or disorganized - profilers begin mapping the mind of the probable suspect.
Sometimes the profiles are general, and sometimes specific. Sometimes the profiles are dead-on, right down to descriptions of dirty cars and apartments. A Ressler profile once so clearly described a man who was killing people and drinking their blood that police in Sacramento, Calif., practically plucked him off the street.
But profilers like McCann and Ressler are neither mystics who - as one FBI agent said in jest - toss chicken bones into circles in the dirt, nor are they super sleuths who hand suspects to baffled police detectives.
``It's a tool, another tool,'' McCann said. ``There are many tools in the arsenal of law enforcement - crime scene technicians, interrogations, criminal investigative analysis. It doesn't solve cases; rather it gives the investigator a profile, for lack of better word, of the person who would commit such a crime. It's a template, and you overlay template on population. Then the fun begins. It will fit a half dozen people, and then we have to start working.''
Like many organized offenders, the Chesapeake killer picks low-risk victims with similar lifestyles. Many of the 10 have been transients, and several occasionally stayed at the Union Mission in Norfolk. All but one have either been gay or had ties to the homosexual community.
None had defense wounds, meaning they went with the killer willingly and died without fighting. That shows the killer has enough social skills and intelligence to capture the victims without using force.
All but one of the bodies were dumped nude, another common attribute of the organized killer.
In similar serial-murder cases involving homosexual connections, victims who escaped eventually led to the killers' captures and prosecutions:
In 1978, Illinois police investigating a boy's disappearance found probable cause to search Gacy's home in a Chicago suburb after they discovered that another young man had escaped the home of the contractor and civic leader. The young man filed charges against Gacy because Gacy hurt him during a prelude to sex.
Eventually, investigators found the bodies of 29 young boys and men buried under Gacy's house, and four more bodies in a nearby river. After Gacy's arrest, several gay men came forward to say Gacy tried to handcuff them - as he had most of his murder victims - but they refused and left.
At least two victims of a Milwaukee serial killer and cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer, escaped. The first was mistakenly returned to him by police and was killed moments later. The second escaped during a sexual attack and called police. This time, the call led to Dahmer's prosecution and conviction in the deaths of 17 men and boys.
Both Gacy and Dahmer cruised homosexual bars and areas, and lured victims with promises of money or parties, according to Ressler. Police believe the Chesapeake killer is doing the same; several victims were last seen at night in downtown Norfolk or Ocean View, often in gay bars.
Like Gacy and Dahmer, the Chesapeake serial killer also has let victims live, McCann believes.
Maybe the intended victim sensed something odd and declined the stranger's invitation, or maybe a victim escaped when the situation suddenly turned uncomfortable or frightening.
If a person who escaped calls police, McCann said, the cases could be solved.
``I'm sure the person responsible for these homicides has let a lot of people go,'' McCann said. ``I'm sure he has interacted with a lot of potential victims over the years, but for one reason or another, didn't kill them. As for why, we'll have to ask him when we catch him.'' ILLUSTRATION: JOHN EARLE/Staff illustration
Investigators looking for a serail killer develop a list of probable
traits and characteristics of the person they are hunting. They
have two main categories of killers, ``organized'' and
``disorganized.'' The Chesapeake killer is considered
``organized.''
ORGANIZED KILLER
Chooses low-risk victims, like prostitutes, transients and
children.
Chooses victims carefully.
Uses a ruse or con to gain control of victims.
Usually plans the crime.
Is intelligent and has good verbal skills.
Successive crimes show more efficiency.
Often hides, erases evidence to conceal his identity.
DISORGANIZED KILLER
Often chooses high-risk victims, who may fight back.
Shows little forethought in choosing victims.
Uses physical strength or weapons to gain control.
Usually doesn't plan the crime; can commit it on the spur of the
moment.
May be socially lacking.
Often becomes more brutal with each crime.
Shows little regard for covering his tracks.
CLUES
Anyone who has information about these slayings is asked to call
police at 487-1234.
The victims who police now say were slain by a serial killer:
Charles F. Smith, an 18-year-old resident of Ocean View in
Norfolk, was found slain July 17, 1987, near the intersection of
Sondej Avenue and Bisco Street in Chesapeake's Bowers Hill section.
He wore only jeans and tennis shoes.
Joseph Ray, in his 30s or 40s, had recently lived in Alabama and
had a record of minor arrests.
He was found dead on July 19, 1988, his body dumped in Chesapeake
near the intersection of Military Highway and Interstate 64.
Stacy Reneau, a 21-year-old Portsmouth resident recently
discharged from the Navy, was found dead on Jan. 7, 1989, off
Rockwood Drive, near Burnson Drive in Chesapeake's Deep Creek
section.
He was last seen at a Food Lion, where he applied for a job.
John W. Ross Jr. was a 37-year-old ironworker from Sunbury, N.C.
He was found Jan. 21, 1992, in a ditch along Old Government Road, an
unmarked shortcut across the southern end of Fentress Naval Airfield
property. He had used cocaine in the hours before his death.
Garland L. Taylor Jr., a 24-year-old Portsmouth brickmason, was
married and had a young son.
His body was found in a Suffolk ditch on Sept. 17, 1994.
Billy Lee Dixon, a 32-year-old Norfolk resident, was nicknamed
``The Cherokee.''
Dixon, whose picture was featured in homosexual magazines, was
found dead July 2, 1992, off Channell Way in Isle of Wight County.
He had used cocaine before his death.
Samuel E. Aliff, a 31-year-old man who last lived in Richmond,
was found dead on Rotunda Avenue in Chesapeake May 14. Aliff had
some minor scrapes with the law, including a felony burglary arrest.
He often traveled from Richmond to Norfolk.
Reginald Joyner, in his 30s or 40s, was found March 7, 1993, near
the intersection of Greenwood and Holy Neck roads in Suffolk. He had
used cocaine before his death.
Ray Bostick, a 27-year-old Norfolk resident and unemployed truck
driver, was found dead in Chesapeake on June 6, 1993, off Cooks Mill
Road in the Deep Creek section.
He had used cocaine before his death.
Robert A. Neal, 24, a Portsmouth resident, was found dead on
Sept. 8, 1993.
His body was dumped in the 4600 block of Old State Road in
Chesapeake's Bowers Hill section.
KEYWORDS: SERIAL KILLERS PROFILE MURDER VICTIMS by CNB