◆ SpookStack

Douglas et ai.: Criminal Profiling from Crime Scene Analysis physical characteristics, habits, beliefs and values, pre-offense behavior leading to the crime, and post-offense behavior. It may also include investigative rec- ommendations for interrogating or interviewing, identifying, and apprehending the offender. This fourth stage has an important means of validating the criminal profile— Feedback No. 1. The profile must fit with the earlier reconstruction of the crime, with the evidence, and with the key decision process models. In addition, the investigative procedure developed from the recommendations must make sense in terms of the expected response patterns of the offender. If there is a lack of congruence, the investigative profilers review all available data. As Hercule Poirot observed, “To know is to have all of the evidence and facts fit into place.” 5. Investigation Stage Once the congruence of the criminal profile is determined, a written report is provided to the requesting agency and added to its ongoing investigative efforts. The investigative recommendations generated in Stage 4 are applied, and suspects matching the profile are evaluated. If identification, apprehension, and a confes- sion result, the goal of the profile effort has been met. If new evidence is generated (e.g., by another murder) and/or there is no identification of a suspect, reeval- uation occurs via Feedback No. 2. The information is reexamined and the profile revalidated. 6. Apprehension Stage Once a suspect is apprehended, the agreement between the outcome and the various stages in the profile-generating-process are examined. When an appre- hended suspect admits guilt, it is important to conduct a detailed interview to check the total profiling process for validity. CASE EXAMPLE A young woman’s nude body was discovered at 3:00 p.m. on the roof landing of the apartment building where she lived. She had been badly beaten about the face and strangled with the strap of her purse. Her nipples had been cut off after death and placed on her chest. Scrawled in ink on the inside of her thigh vas, “You can’t stop me.” The words “Fuck you” were scrawled on her abdomen. A pendant in the form of a Jewish sign (Chai), which she usually wore as a good luck piece around her neck, was missing and presumed taken by the murderer. Her underpants had been pulled over her face; her nylons were removed and very loosely tied around her wrists and ankles near a railing. The murderer had placed symmetrically on either side of the victim’s head the pierced earrings sshe had been wearing. An umbrella and inkpen had been forced into the vagina and a hair comb was placed in her pubic hair. The woman’s jaw and nose had been broken and her molars loosened. She suffered multiple face fractures caused by a blunt force. Cause of death was asphyxia by ligature (pocketbook strap) VOL 4, NO. 4+ 1986 21