Former profiler recounts true-life tales of horrors

Little · Jun 26, 2005

Former profiler recounts true-life tales of horrors
FLINT JOURNAL REVIEW
GENESEE COUNTY
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, June 26, 2005
By Doug Allyn
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Mention serial killers and the first name that pops up is Hannibal Lecter, the psychotic slayer portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in "The Silence of the Lambs." But compared to the real-life murderers Roger Depue has profiled over the years, Hannibal the fictional cannibal was a practically a cat. Or a lamb.

In "Between Good and Evil," Depue, former chief of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, has a stunning story to tell. No one steps closer to evil than a criminal profiler, who is trained to evaluate the minds and motives of America's most vicious predators.

A recognized authority in his field, Depue was one of the original mind-hunters, an FBI agent who led the bureau's Behavioral Science unit when its ground-breaking work first came to prominence. Operating out of a subbasement 60 feet under the FBI Academy gun vault in Quantico - 50 feet deeper than the dead, they joke - the profilers developed innovative analytical techniques and training programs that dramatical1y changed the way serial killers are tracked.

After retiring from the FBI, Depue founded AGI, the Academy Group Inc., a unique private investigation agency. Focused on forensics and staffed with an elite group of profilers, AGI consulted on a number of highly publicized cases, including the JonBenet Ramsey murder and the Columbine High School massacre.

Some of the toughest cases for Depue to swallow were the ones AGI lost. As an FBI agent, he'd been free to follow the evidence wherever it led. But as hired guns, in effect, AGI served at the pleasure of private law firms. Too often, when they uncovered evidence harmful to the defendants, they were simply fired and their work ignored.

Bound by attorney-client privilege, Depue and his staff were forced to stand silently by and watch killers walk away scot-free. The worst of these was the James Richardson case.

Tried and convicted in 1968, Richardson had spent 22 years in prison, four of them on death row. The crime was particularly vile: According to the state, Richardson had used insecticide to poison and kill his seven young children. Years later, a senile baby sitter babbled a confession, and Richardson's case was reopened.

As AGI looked into the case, however, they found that the woman had been thoroughly investigated at the time, and she had no motive for the murders. She'd even passed a lie detector test, while Richardson had failed a similar test. As to motive, Richardson, a migrant laborer who barely earned enough to cover his rent, had taken out life insurance policies on his seven children the night before they were killed.

Worse, three more of Richardson's children had died three years earlier under similar circumstances. Those deaths had never been properly investigated.

Despite the clear evidence of Richardson's guilt, he was freed after a cursory investigation by then Florida Attorney General Janet Reno, who Reno asserted he was "probably wrongfully accused." Richardson promptly turned around, sued the state for $35 million and settled out of court. Such apparent miscarriages of justice weighed heavily on Depue, but the worst was yet to come.

When his wife of many years suddenly died of cancer, Depue's rage and despair were so overwhelming that felt he had to step away from his life or risk losing his soul.

Leaving his firm, he spent three years as a brother of the Missionaries of the Holy Apostles. As a seminarian, he began counseling maximum-security inmates, men who had committed crimes like the ones he had worked so hard to solve. The work gradually restored his belief in man's capacity for redemption, and, in time, he returned to law enforcement. Today, he heads an elite forensics think tank simply called "The Academy."

"Between Good and Evil" is not an easy read, and the sheer savagery of the crime scenes would give Hannibal Lecter nightmares.

But Depue has more to offer than horror stories. Though his work forced him to face the worst that hardened criminals are capable of, he somehow retained his humanity and even his faith. The tale of Depue's journey is as dramatic as any thriller, all the more so because it's true.

Reviewer Doug Allyn is an award-winning mystery writer who lives in Montrose.

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/features-0/111980470759480.xml
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Two interesting quotes:

After retiring from the FBI, Depue founded AGI, the Academy Group Inc., a unique private investigation agency. Focused on forensics and staffed with an elite group of profilers, AGI consulted on a number of highly publicized cases, including the JonBenet Ramsey murder and the Columbine High School massacre.
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"But as hired guns, in effect, AGI served at the pleasure of private law firms. Too often, when they uncovered evidence harmful to the defendants, they were simply fired and their work ignored."
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It reminded me of the Sutton agency who investigated the Martha Moxley murder- they were hired by Mr. Skakel and when what they were uncovering was pointing to the Skakel boys the investigation was done. If someone within that agency had not inadvertently been missed signing a non-disclosure agreement, Michael Skakel would probably still be free.

Elle · Jun 27, 2005

Thanks for posting this excellent article, Little. Don't you just wish you could get the chance to personally talk to someone like FBI Agent Depue who ranked over John Douglas? I wonder what his thoughts were on John Douglas' report of Patsy and John Ramsey.

Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">"But as hired guns, in effect, AGI served at the pleasure of private law firms. Too often, when they uncovered evidence harmful to the defendants, they were simply fired and their work ignored." </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
They were simply fired and their work ignored. Doesn't this make you angry?

Elle · Jun 27, 2005

Tried and convicted in 1968, Richardson had spent 22 years in prison, four of them on death row. The crime was particularly vile: According to the state, Richardson had used insecticide to poison and kill his seven young children. Years later, a senile baby sitter babbled a confession, and Richardson's case was reopened.
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This is the first time I've read about this case, Little. Up until the JonBenÃ©t case I never delved deeply into any real cases. It's very depressing. I was a fictional crime fan for years, but I couldn't get the JonBenÃ©t case off my mind, and I found myself searching the net for more information.

I'll leave the reading of Roger Depue's book to the younger ones. I would rather sleep at night.

I caught the tail end of an A & E special during the week "Conversation With Killers" with Dr. Park Deitz, one of America's leading court authorities on madness, according to my TV guide. I think I'm happy I missed two thirds of it, and it's time for me to take a hike.

Sylvia · Jun 27, 2005

I seem to remember that the Ramsey first contacted the members of the Academy and all of them declined to work for the Ramseys. I remember seeing a statement in a newspaper. It left me with the impression that after that they asked MCrary, who also refused to work for them, which eventually let them to Douglas.

Little · Jun 28, 2005

Profiler slipped up
By Chuck Green
Denver Post Columnist
Jan. 30, 1997-
There's an old adage that goes something like this: Actions speak louder than words. In the criminal field, there's a time-tested twist to the adage: Behavior is more telling than words.

But former FBI profiler John Douglas, who has worked for the family in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case, seems to have veered from that old principle.
In his interview with "Dateline NBC" this week, Douglas has said that "his heart" tells him that JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy, weren't involved in her murder. And he relies heavily on his 4 1/2 hour interview with the couple to reach his conclusion, he said. If John Ramsey is a liar, Douglas said on national TV, he's one of the best.

But one of Douglas's former FBI colleagues, Gregg McCrary, watched the television interview with more than a passing interest. He turned down the job as the Ramsey family's profiler a couple of weeks ago. McCrary found some notable flaws in Douglas' profiling work for the Ramseys. NBC referred, without contradiction from Douglas, to the profiler's "interview with the parents for 4 1/2 hours."

McCrary said the parents should have been interviewed separately, not jointly, for the profiling work to be valid. "That's always the correct way to do this. It's fundamental," McCrary said. "You separate the people, you interview them independently, you lock them into statements and then you compare." To do otherwise virtually invalidates the effort, he said. And he wasn't impressed with Douglas' conclusion that John Ramsey is telling the truth. "I've talked to guilty offenders in the penitentiary, and some of them are so manipulative and persuasive that they almost have you believing they didn't do it," he told me yesterday.

Top-notch criminal profilers, he said, "always put more weight on behavior than on words. The behavior of the offender is much more telling than what he says later," McCrary said. And the behavior of JonBenet's killer speaks very, very loudly.
End quote. Source: http://www.corpus-delicti.com/mccrary_jbr.html
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(bold emphasis mine)

Little

Voyager · Jun 28, 2005

Hi Little and Elle....

McCrary is a true professional, who while very human, is able to control his own prejudices and emotions, putting them aside to follow proceedure and set protocal....One can only wish that he had taken the Ramsey's up on their offer in the beginning...

As many here have witnessed and some have asserted, John Douglas and Lou Smit have used their professional standings and personal egos to influence public opinion in the Ramsey's favor and have together damaged a basically simple murder case against the Ramsey's twenty times more than the mistakes of Linda Arndt, the original detective on the case, or Alex Hunter the inept DA of Boulder, or the corrupt Boulder police department, or even the corrupt legal counsel representing the Ramseys......

I hold John Douglas and Lou Smit responsible for the non-prosecution of the Ramseys because of their undue and undeserved influence on both the public and on our legal system....

Hopefully because of McCrary and his institute, we will not see forgeries such as Douglas and Smit with their publicity and money driven motives given credibility in future cases.....These two are dangerous in the negitive results that they have been able to produce....

And don't even get me started on Janet Reno!

Voyager

Elle · Jun 28, 2005

Thanks for Chuck Green's article, Little. It seems McCrary wasn't impressed with John Douglas' report on the Ramseys, and quite rightly so.

McCrary said the parents should have been interviewed separately, not jointly, for the profiling work to be valid. "That's always the correct way to do this. It's fundamental," McCrary said. "You separate the people, you interview them independently, you lock them into statements and then you compare." To do otherwise virtually invalidates the effort, he said. And he wasn't impressed with Douglas' conclusion that John Ramsey is telling the truth. "I've talked to guilty offenders in the penitentiary, and some of them are so manipulative and persuasive that they almost have you believing they didn't do it," he told me yesterday.
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Heavens above, this is the way we see it carried out in the movies. People are separated, and of all people who should be separated for questioning, it should be husband and wife; especially under the circumstances related to the JonBenÃ©t case. John Douglas should be challenged about that one on his own site.

It's been some time since I read about this happening, Little, and I would need to research this again.

Voyager, I agree with all you have stated in your excellent post.

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