The dense and rugged Alaskan wilderness provided the perfect cover for a fierce and sadistic killer. He prayed on women, kidnapping them, raping them, torturing them. [Applause] He hunted them like animals for his own twisted pleasure. [Music] Turn it off. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] In the 1970s and 80s, people went to Alaska looking for a fresh start to reinvent themselves or to disappear for a while. Some of those disappearances weren't by choice. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. A serial killer's rampage was exposed when the bodies of young women began turning up in shallow graves that dotted the Alaskan wilderness. The killer was at home in the rugged terrain. But the hunt for him began 3,000 m away where FBI profilers mapped the criminal's mind. >> She was a hopeful young model looking for her break. [Music] She accepted a job with a man who claimed to be a photographer, >> but turned out to be a merciless killer. [Music] She wasn't his first victim [Music] or his last. [Music] From the 70s through the mid 80s, the wilderness of Alaska became a popular destination as people flowed north to constru struck the Alaskan pipeline. The population boomed. >> On August 13th, 1982, two offduty Anchorage police officers were hunting moose near the Kick River in a wilderness about 20 m from Anchorage. >> Not really holding out for us either. >> As they made their way through the dense forest, they happened upon partially buried human remains. They left it undisturbed. >> The next day, crime scene technicians from the Alaska State Troopers arrived at the scene. Crimes out here fell under state jurisdiction. Besides clothing and an elastic bandage, troopers found a 223 caliber shell casing in the shallow grave. Camelia buried here in the sand. >> Dental records identified the remains as 23-year-old Sher Marl, an exotic dancer reported missing a year earlier by her boyfriend. Troopers called him in to break the news. Her clothes matched the ones he reported her missing in, but her good luck charm, the gold arrowhead pendant she never took off, was >> gone. But uh I wanted to let you >> Maro was probably murdered shortly after she disappeared, giving the killer more than a year to cover his tracks. >> And finding him would be next to impossible. [Music] >> In the year following the discovery of Sher Marorrow's body, more women began turning up. It's a sad truth that finding bodies in the Alaskan wilderness wasn't all that unusual. Two or three times a year, some novice hiker or hunter would get lost and succumb to the elements. But a growing number of bodies had a different story to tell. During new road construction on September 2nd, 1983, a crew unearthed human skeletal remains not far from where Sher Marorrow's body had been found one year earlier. The bones had obviously been here for some time. Yet until recently, this area of the Kick River was so remote that it could only be accessed by boat or light plane. The remains were identified as 17-year-old Paula Guling, an out of work secretary who had moved to Alaska from Hawaii. She had been missing for 5 months. Like Sherry Marorrow, she had taken a job as an exotic dancer to make ends meet. >> And like Sher Marorrow, a 22 23 caliber cartridge was found at the site. >> For Alaska State Trooper Wayne Van Clawson, the connection was frightening. And that's about when everything started to become kind of scary for everybody because the the profile was the same. They were they were topless u dancers from from the clubs downtown. Uh but that was certainly when there was the belief that there was a serial murderer out there. >> Two bodies had been found, but now troopers believed there were more. They began to revisit missing persons reports. >> Many of those reported missing were exotic dancers. But in Alaska, their disappearance was not unusual. missing persons was a relatively low priority um statutoily. If you're an adult, you have a right to be missing and there were a lot of instances where these girls would just jump on a plane and go away. >> Between 1980 and 1983, 12 women had been reported missing. That was only a fraction of the unreported total. >> Troopers now wondered how many of the missing women were victims of the killer. >> That would be difficult to determine. Ladies and gentlemen, >> the Alaska State Troopers sent the evidence from the Sher Marorrow and Paula Guling crime scenes to the FBI's laboratory in Washington DC for analysis. [Music] The FBI ran ballistics tests on both shell casings to see if they were shot from the same gun. State troopers hoped the results could provide them with strong evidence that the same person committed both murders. The lab results were conclusive. Both women were killed by the same high-powered rifle. There was little doubt Alaska troopers were dealing with a serial killer. While they began their hunt for him in the wilderness, the Anchorage police were dealing with their own problems. [Music] Every city has its dark side, and Anchorage is no different. Except that in Alaska, the nights are longer and darker. In the 70s and 80s, Anchorage was a frontier town. Men came here to work hard, and women followed to ease their loneliness. Some women were lured to the strip clubs hoping to earn a quick buck. Others looking for more respectable opportunities worked in the clubs until something better came up. For many, it never did. And in the city's streets roamed a stalker. He chose carefully. His victims were hardly missed. For in a city made up largely of strangers, it's difficult to be a missing person. Some of the women who disappeared from Anchorage turned up safely. Some didn't turn up at all. But disappearances weren't the only crimes being reported. On the early morning of June 13th, 1983, Cindy Pollson, aged 17, ran down an Anchorage Highway. She was partially dressed and in handcuffs. She managed to flag down a passing truck. She was running for her life. The motorist dropped her off at her motel apartment. The desk clerk had called the Anchorage police. >> Miss Pson, >> an officer removed her handcuffs and tried to calm her. >> You all right? Here, let me get this. >> Anchorage police officer Greg Baker recalls the incident. >> Uh, we found her in handcuffs with very little clothes on. She was real credible. She was very scared. She's very frightened and uh she told us her story. >> Pollson, the prostitute, told Baker that she picked up a trick the night before. She described him as wiry, scruffy, about 6 ft tall with glasses and a stutter. He was not the kind of person she thought of as threatening. But as soon as she stepped into his car, he handcuffed her and put a wood-handled revolver to her head. [Music] They drove to a respectable residential neighborhood. He pulled her into his house. The place was wellkept and full of hunting trophies. [Music] He had a chain hanging from the ceiling of his den. He chained her up and stripped her. And there she was tortured and raped repeatedly for hours. Then he went to take a nap, >> leaving her there. >> Put my eyes wrapped. >> But he wasn't through yet. >> He said he was going to take her to his cabin in the wilderness. >> He said if she tried to get anyone's attention, he'd kill her and them as well. >> He told her he already had his alibi worked out. His friends were willing to lie for him. No one would believe her story. They ended up at the airport. She could see him loading a weapon into a small aircraft. She also saw her chance for escape. Her one chance to save her life. [Music] The story sounded outrageous, but her genuine terror compelled Officer Baker to check it out. >> Yep. >> I had a very street smart female scared to death with a story about being taken at gunpoint and held prisoner at a specific location that she described where it was. So, she knew where it was. She described interior of the location. She described a den up to and it including various animals were mount posted on the mounted on the wall. In route to the hospital for an examination, Pollson insisted on stopping at the airport to show police the airplane she had seen earlier. She positively identified it. While we were in there, we had a security guard stop us >> and described the car the same way that Cindy had described the car and in fact gave us a license number. Uh that license number confirmed the address or the area at least that Cindy had given us uh regarding where the house was. Police went to the address to speak to the owner of the car. They arrived moments before he pulled up, driving the vehicle described by Cindy Pollson. So far, everything Pollson said and checked out, but the suspect had his own story to tell. According to the motor vehicle records, the car that Cindy Pollson was abducted in belonged to Robert Hansen, a baker in Anchorage. Hansen, who fit the description of the man Pollson described, calmly answered questions. He said he was at a friend's house from 5:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. repairing a seat for his airplane. Afterward, he went to the home of another friend and stayed until around 5:30 that morning. >> Then he went to the airport and installed the seat. [Music] Hansen gave police his consent to search his house. Again, his home was exactly as Pollson had described. That only proved she'd been in the house, not that Hansen had raped and tortured her there. They could find no evidence of that. >> They did notice a loose- fitting wall panel. Behind it, they found a collection of weapons, but that wasn't surprising. Hansen was an avid hunter. They did find a revolver, but it didn't match the one that Pollson described. The gun, the chain, and the blanket she was wrapped in were nowhere to be found. Hansen's car appeared equally clean. Anchorage police found nothing in his car that fit Pollson's story. >> Those alibis were corroborated and verified and Mr. Hansen was released after a consent search of his house. Pollson, still shaken from her ordeal, was able to pick Hansen's picture out of a photo lineup. But when given the chance to take a lie detector test, she refused. >> Her occupation gave her an inherent distrust of the police >> and gave police an inherent distrust of her. >> She felt she'd never be taken seriously. >> Soon after, she left town for a while to try to put the nightmare behind her. Anchorage authorities were willing to let it drop, too. >> I found out because the uh alibis were corroborated and because they had a problem with Cindy Paulson appearing and disappearing and of course her lifestyle left a lot to be desired that the case had been suspended at the Anchorage Police Department. >> My hand and it was already >> police had gathered no solid evidence linking her story to Robert Hansen. >> But for officer Greg Baker, it wasn't over. He was one officer who believed Pollson's story and wouldn't let it go. The predator roaming the streets of Anchorage, was still out there, free to claim more victims. Robert Hansen, the most likely suspect in the abduction and rape of Cindy Pollson, had been released for a lack of solid evidence. Officer Baker was still curious. Lately, the Anchorage police have been grappling with what seemed like more than their share of missing persons reports involving prostitutes like Pulson or exotic dancers or women out by themselves. Pollson's assertion that she was about to be put on a plane only reinforced his creeping suspicions about Hansen. He had taken her to the airport where he was going to fly her out with a story that if she maintained her her helpfulness that uh he'd bring her back and let her go. Well, Cindy was bright enough to know that she was on a one-way trip and uh so was I. And so I kind of just put two and two together and figured that he was a very good suspect for the uh missing dancers. Baker's supervisor had suspended the investigation into Robert Hansen, but Baker couldn't let it go. Cindy Pollson's nightmarish story had too much detail to not have some basis in truth. But no one except Baker would listen to her. He continued his investigation. On the surface, Baker found nothing in Hansen's record to arouse suspicion. He had moved to Anchorage from Iowa 16 years earlier and opened a bakery. It was a huge success. He had a wife and children and except for his stuttered, he fit in completely. When he wasn't in the kitchen, Hansen enjoyed flying his small airplane, a Super Cub Piper. Back on the ground, he took to the woods. He was a solid citizen. He just didn't fit the model of a serial killer. There were plenty of others drifting through Alaska more suited to that role. They didn't have businesses. They didn't have families. Hansen did. He had everything to lose. Frank Rothschild was a prosecutor involved in the Pollson case. Bob the Baker, the troopers and the police used to go to his doughnut shop all the time. It was a very popular place to go. Uh he was he had a a bakery. People knew him. He was friendly. Uh he was just a hardworking guy. Yes, I want to know. >> Unaware of Officer Greg Baker's local investigation in Anchorage, state troopers were still trying to find their serial killer. >> Bodies continued to be unearthed in the Alaskan wilderness. Troopers set up a task force to study the similarities between the missing women and the murder victims. >> They hoped to find a common thread that would lead to a suspect. until authorities knew more. They did their best to educate dancers and prostitutes about playing safe. For the first time, police and prostitutes were on the same side. >> According to Rothschild, the goal was preservation. Law enforcement were then and had been for a time advising young women who were working in some of these clubs and who were working the streets to be careful and to advise them there was a maniac out there who was who seemed to be abducting and killing people. A little digging revealed that Hansen's criminal history was extensive. 12 years earlier in 1971, he'd been arrested twice for kidnapping, rape, and assault with a deadly weapon. They were crimes that bore an eerie resemblance to what Cindy Pollson had endured. Baker couldn't bring this information to his supervisor. The Pollson case had been officially suspended, and Baker was bucking authority. That left him no alternative. >> And at that time, I gathered up all the reports and background that I could find on Mr. Hansen and for carried it over to the troopers. >> When the troopers received the file from officer Baker, they were optimistic. Pollson's testimony along with Hansen's police record from Anchorage made him a prime suspect in the state case. >> The troopers investigation dovetailed with Bakers. >> They were both dealing with the same maniac. >> Robert Hansen was their best suspect. I think everybody was looking at him real seriously because he made a good suspect when you looked into him. He had uh a pretty extensive criminal background, including some sexual assaults. >> The only problem was the proof. Though Hansen was a violent sex offender, his record indicated nothing about being capable of homicide, nor was there any direct link from him to Sher Marorrow, Paula Guling, and the other missing women. At this point, troopers didn't even have enough for a search warrant. They knew only that three women were dead and 12 were missing. >> Out there lurked a serial killer. Troopers needed to catch him before he killed again. They needed help. >> We knew we had a mass murder on our hands. That was not something Alaska had any experience with. Somebody obviously knew that the FBI not only had experience with it, but had set out this unit that was designed specifically to try to assist in discovering who these people were. To catch a killer in their own backyard, the troopers called on help from over 3,000 m away. Only the FBI had the resources needed to get inside a killer's head. When the Alaska State Troopers determined they had a serial killer on their hands, they realized they didn't have the expertise to stop him, but they knew who did. Quantico, Virginia is home to the FBI's investigative support unit. Here, agents attempt to predict behavioral patterns by analyzing a criminal's actions. Retired FBI agent John Douglas helped pioneer behavioral profiling and still works as a consultant. His profiles are based on 25 years interviewing convicted killers. They taught Douglas how to think like they do. He's learned that serial killers are acting out their fantasies of control and conquest. As Douglas slowly wins their trust, he takes them back to the scene of their crime. you finally get them talking, they start giving you that thousandy stare. They're back, they're back 10 years ago, 20 years ago when they were perpetrating uh the crime and they kind of lock into that thousand yard stare and their memory is is just so precise and the fantasy is what keeps them going uh over and over and enables them to survive when they're incarcerated. So, I got to tap into that. It takes time, but once I'm in there, I get tremendous information. From these interviews, he distilled a checklist of traits and habits that serial killers share. They start young with lesser crimes such as arson or cruelty to animals. >> Okay, take care. >> Over the years, their violence builds to every new case. Profilers bring the knowledge of how killers evolve. To understand the criminal, you must look at the crime. You just want to see if you can come up with an analysis based upon preliminary police reports, crime scene photographs, a profile of the uh the victim, autopsy protocol, reviewing that, re review the autopsy photographs, do a an analysis of the overall crime, the risk level that the subject took, uh the victim risk level, analysis of the the area, the the maybe the crime scene, maybe have multiple crime scenes, and then uh based upon that uh you attempt now to come up with a specific type of uh type of profile. >> By examining every aspect of an unsolved crime, a profiler can determine specific characteristics of that killer, such as age, occupation, and physical characteristics. The troopers contacted the FBI to see if the bureau could work up an analysis of the Anchorage killer. They hoped the profile would sharpen the investigation and bring overlooked clues to light. The troopers gave the FBI what they needed to build the behavioral profile. For a scrupulous, accurate profile, they required only facts from the troopers, no analysis or theories. Trooper Wayne Van Clawson didn't want to lose any time. The information he received from Officer Baker aroused his suspicions about Robert Hansen, but he needed more information. Criminal records were just beginning to be computerized and he didn't have access to them all in Anchorage. While the profile was being developed, he went to Juno to collect Hansen's records from the Superior and Supreme Court archives. In his factf finding mission, Van Clawson researched every town that Hansen had ever lived in. He found reports on Robert Hansen dating back to 1961. He gathered all that he could carry, sent the rest by truck, then headed home. While he was in Juno the FBI had come through with a criminal profile of the serial killer. The fact that the killer was so prolific meant to Douglas that he could function unnoticed within the community, someone who worked independently, most likely a business owner. The killer would be an avid outdoorsman since the bodies were recovered in remote areas of wilderness. [Music] Since he prayed on prostitutes, Douglas concluded the killer had difficulty talking to women, had low self-esteem, and grew up feeling like an outcast. Based on killers with similar profiles, Douglas provided a specific characteristic to explain the cause of those feelings of inadequacy. a feature that bore an eerie resemblance to Robert Hansen. >> The one that totally blew us all away, I think, is that when they when they said he's either going to be be a stutterer or someone who has a lisp, a speech defect, how do you figure that? But that was one of the things that they suggested might show up. >> I got it. I got >> the FBI profile pointed to Robert Hansen, but the depths of Douglas's insight were about to be known. Upon Van Clawson's return, troopers studied the files. The records showed that Hansen had spent three years in a reformatory for setting fire to his old high school's bus garage. Based on their work with previous killers, the FBI profilers said the killer would have a history of arson. >> You have a boyfriend? >> Yes, actually I do. >> Yeah, cuz >> the profile painted the killer as a social misfit. Hansen's court-ordered psychiatric reports from his days at the reformatory bore this out. >> That's boyfriend girl. >> I'm really busy right now. You know, >> I don't I don't mean anything like I mean >> his stutter was a social barrier that undermined his self-confidence. >> Whenever he tried to assert himself, he'd be slapped down. >> Work to do or I'm going to call security on you. [Music] >> He never forgot the sting. The profile said the killer would learn to function as a normal member of society while his perversions festered within. His record showed that in his 30s, Hansen began working at a bakery. >> He would brag to co-workers about his kleptomania and the sense of power it gave him. He also bragged about his love of hunting. He took great pleasure in exerting power over his prey, stalking it, then wounding it, and he became good at the kill, winning prestigious awards. In 1967, he moved to Alaska to start a new life and for better hunting. 3 years after moving there, his record showed he was arrested for the attempted rape of a young receptionist at gunpoint. He pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon. A little more than a month later, he was indicted for the attempted assault of an 18-year-old woman he'd followed home. As soon as the man got to Alaska, he was involved in theft cases. He was involved in abductions. He uh had psych psychiatric evaluations showing him to be really unstable and having all kinds of weird sexual fantasies and the rest. >> True to the profile, Hansen seemed a respectable citizen, so the courts were lenient. In one case, he claimed to have memory lapses and was given psychiatric treatment and 5 years in a work release program. He abducted one of his early victims outside a coffee shop, took her to a cabin in the wilderness and raped her at gunpoint. She was 17 at the time. >> He told me, of course, if I called the police, that he would hunt me down and kill me. He told me he was a fine, outstanding businessman. He had never mentioned at any point when uh during the rape time or or before or after that he was married, but he said he's a fine outstanding businessman and that I was just a kid and nobody would believe me. >> And he was right. Everything the profiler said about the perpetrator of the serial killings fit suspect Robert Hansen. a truly dangerous man who was passing as a nondescript face in the crowd. While troopers zeroed in on Hansen, they spread out to search for more victims in the Kick River area where three bodies had been found. They believed that the dancers who were still missing may have been buried close to the other grave sites. But troopers came up empty. The area was too large and remote to cover completely. Despite the compelling FBI profile and the past police records, troopers lacked anything tangible to link Hansen to the killings. His police records were too stale, the evidence too circumstantial to hold any weight in a court of law. Investigators hoped that Cindy Pollson could help. She was the only surviving victim to Hansen's current wave of violence. Perhaps she could remember something else from her ordeal. >> Paulson gave another statement. >> But this time she was able to ID one of the guns Hansen had in his possession. Okay, that was the same. >> Aside from Pollson, Hansen had not been implicated in a rape or abduction for more than 10 years. But in the hopes of strengthening their case and establishing a pattern of behavior, investigators searched for another of Hansen's victims from years earlier, whose experience matched Paul's. >> Although this prior victim no longer lived in the area, troopers tracked her down and asked for her help. >> I had gotten a call from Alaska asking if I would like to maybe help with a conviction for Mr. Hansen. Uh they had explained to me that he had killed to the best of their knowledge seven women and they explained to me that the last woman had broken free. She agreed to testify when the time came, but troopers still had a weak case. The troopers felt confident they were on the right track. They didn't have enough to prove that Hansen was a serial killer. According to Anchorage Police Officer Greg Baker, Hansen knew that authorities were on to something. One morning, I was driving by and I needed to get some donuts for the shift. Mr. Hansen was there and he had a uh a window that he stood in and decorated cakes and cupcakes and cookies. And I remember watching him. He kept looking up at me and you could tell he was nervous and he kept putting frosting on his thumb and I liked that. >> What we'll do is >> although investigators had Hansen in their sights, they still lacked the evidence to connect him directly to the crimes. all the information we can possibly. >> But because Hansen matched the profile so closely, Douglas flew to Alaska to review the case and to brief the troopers and prosecutor Frank Rothschild on how to proceed with the suspect. >> The information that's already in front of him to >> Douglas was confident that Hansen was their serial killer. The hunter was now the hunted. >> So the missions was to provide a a analysis for them. Does he have the capability to commit a crime like this? And the answer was was yes. I believe this prostitute and I believe he's capable of perpetrating these crimes. >> Douglas's idea was to bring Hansen in for questioning while simultaneously searching his house. >> To obtain a warrant, investigators needed to list specific items they believed to be in the house. They knew to look for the gun that Cindy Pollson described and the one that fired the bullets found in the graves of Sher Marorrow and Paula Guling. when we come in the room. >> That wasn't enough. They needed a home run. >> Something that would prove Hansen's guilt in no uncertain terms. >> They asked Douglas if there was anything else to list in the warrant. >> Yes. Some of the research findings is we're dealing here with a serial killer. And serial killers, uh, it starts off as fantasy. And one of the things to keep the fantasy going after the crime is is because they're on the hunt nightly looking for victims, is they take some type of momento, we call them either souvenirs or trophies, something belonging to the victims. >> Douglas helped prosecutors write the affidavit based on the likelihood of finding momentos mentioned in the profile. >> Okay. Anything else? I've got those two. >> Anything from a piece of the victim's jewelry to a driver's license. >> We don't have any. But a behavioral profile had never been used as the basis of a search warrant in the United States before. >> Rothschild knew he'd need to back it up with more conventional information. >> Obviously, the district attorney's office wanted this search warrant to be bulletproof. They wanted it to be absolutely positively without flaw because they knew this was a big big case. The last thing they wanted was to have something wrong with the search warrant and have all the evidence thrown out. >> The affidavit swelled to 48 pages. The judge granted eight search warrants for Hansen's property. Now they just needed Hansen. They had learned his pattern, knew his schedule. On October 23rd, 1983, they went to pick him up at his bakery. But Hansen wasn't there. He'd gotten off to a late start, unwittingly keeping the troopers waiting 20 t minutes. >> Robert Hans. >> Robert Hans. >> Sir, you step away from your car. >> When asked to come in for questioning, he didn't resist. The interrogation room was ready for him. The goal was to keep him off balance, hoping to elicit a confession and avoid a lengthy legal case. Douglas helped the troopers design the interrogation room for the biggest psychological impact. Crime scene photos and related materials were strewn everywhere for Hansen to contemplate before his interview. At the appointed moment, the troopers arrived >> and the mind game began. >> Mr. handsome. >> The FBI coached Rothschild on how to play it. >> Ask him questions in a way that would prompt more discussion. >> So that that's game plan number one. Then obviously we've got all of these cases that have been investigated and to get him to talk specifically about those. >> He's trying to search us out. What do we know? So I could see his game plan was to kind of find out what we knew and play off of that. And my game plan, of course, is to find out what he knew. While Rothschild tried to get Hansen to open up and confess, troopers served the search warrants. >> Hansen's wife was home. The troopers were extra cautious, videotaping the entire procedure. >> What they were looking for could be anywhere, even in plain sight. >> Hansen knew the troopers had access to his police and psychological records. >> He didn't tell authorities anything they didn't already know. He spoke of his painful upbringing, his strict family, his anger. >> He admitted to picking up dancers and prostitutes in the early 70s, and how enraged he became when they tried to raise their prices, but he denied threatening any of them. He admitted nothing. While Hansen told his story and his house was being turned inside out, other troopers headed to his bakery and to the airport to search his plane. Both were clean. The house became the focal point of the investigation. >> A careful search of the upstairs bedroom finally yielded a curious and eerie discovery. An aerial map of the region peppered with 37 X's. >> They seem to be clustered mainly around the area where bodies have been found. But there were dozens more marks than bodies, at least so far. >> The searchers continued up to the attic. Under insulation, the troopers found weapons. Among the items found were a 223 Ruger Mini14 rifle like the one used to kill Sher Marorrow and Paula Guling and a wood-handled revolver resembling the one described by Cindy Pollson. >> Yeah. >> The search team let Van Clawson know the good news. >> Sounds good. >> These women look familiar. You ever seen >> the net was closing on Hansen and he knew it, >> but he wasn't ready to talk just yet. >> Take another look. >> The interview dragged on for hours. It didn't seem like a confession was likely. I >> I haven't never seen. >> While troopers collected the evidence, the case unwound even further. Hansen's friend and neighbors stopped by, curious about the activity. She was stunned by the news, then made a confession that demolished the last of Hansen's story. >> She told troopers that her husband provided Hansen with his alibi on the night of Cindy Pollson's abduction. He'd lied to protect his friend, not realizing how serious Hansen's charges were. The husband later called police and retracted his statement. >> Hansen's alibi evaporated. As the search continued, the troopers found the most incriminating evidence so far. Evidence that Douglas knew had to be there somewhere. They found Sher Marorrow's necklace and other personal property belonging to the dead or missing women. They had found Hansen's stash of trophies. >> Yeah, this is Baker here. >> Investigators called the station. >> Just search the Hansen house. >> Though they had Hansen where they wanted him, still he wouldn't confess. about, >> but they had enough to lock him up on the Cindy Pollson case. >> Take your time. >> Bail was set at $500,000. Investigators now had time to build their case against Hansen as a serial killer. They called the prior victim to see if she was still on board. >> And at that time, they thought he had killed 11 women. And was I still interested in being a witness? They they really felt that they may need me cuz he hadn't confessed. >> All right, what you got? >> Three points on the map found in his bedroom match the locations of bodies recovered by the troopers. Another X marked the location of a body recovered by Seward police years earlier. The remaining X's presumably marked the graves of more victims, dozens of them. Looking at the map obviously was pretty chilling because we believed the map. The map was a body count as far as we were concerned. The man had kept track. He didn't have newspaper clippings. He had the map. When the troopers believed they had enough to convict Hansen on at least four murders, they confronted him and his lawyer with the evidence. Hansen couldn't refute it. He had no place left to hide. [Music] >> Finally, it was time to confess. Time for Hansen to cut a deal. Hansen said he would confess to the murders that could be proven as long as the trial was given no publicity and that his family be left alone. He demanded that he be imprisoned outside of Alaska when the trial was over. In exchange for only four convictions, he agreed to show the troopers where more bodies were buried. Investigators called the prior victim to tell her the good news. >> The third time they called back and said that he had confessed and they wouldn't need me. So, um, I hung up the phone when we were done talking, got my son off to school, got my husband out the door, and um, proceeded to fall apart. I started crying. I couldn't stop. I had no control over it. It controlled me. I could see each and every one of those women, how they died, probably hunted down like dogs, wounded, and then hunted more. >> In his confession, Hansen described how he would take his victims into the woods and hunt them as prey. Over the dozen years that he lived in Alaska, he'd raped more than 30 women and developed many strategies for capturing them. >> Once he found a likely target, a solitary woman like Sher Marorrow, he would befriend her and arrange to meet her at a fast food place. If they were dancers or aspiring models, he'd offer to pay to photograph them. He'd arrive early and stay in his car. That way, he'd be certain the woman arrived alone and had no one waiting for her in the parking lot. No witnesses. Then he'd go in and meet his new victim. One half of the handcuff was already fastened to the seat. Hansen boasted that snapping the other half onto his victim's wrist while reaching for his gun became like a reflex. Then he would take them home or to a remote motel to rape and torture them. Afterwards, he'd blindfold them and drive or fly them to the outskirts of town until he arrived at a secluded spot, his hunting ground. His habit was to toy with his prey before he made the kill. Hansen confessed that in the summer of 83, he devised what he called his summer plan. He sent his family away so he could bring his victims home. When he was done with them, he'd dispose of them in the wilderness. >> Close 26. On February 27th, 1984, Robert Hansen was convicted of murdering four women and sentenced to 461 years plus life with no chance of parole. After his sentencing, Hansen accompanied troopers into the field to find more of his victims, represented by X's on his map. A total of eight victims were found. Some places on the map went unexplored. Bears scavenged others, scattering the remains. Investigators will never know how many of the 37 X's represented one of Hansen's victims. According to John Douglas, the map might have depicted only a small part of his hunting grounds. Killers like Hans will come into contact with a lot of women, but fantasy is everything. And they may not like the way the the the person talks or the person dresses uh style and um so they'll make a decision. Well, this one will live. This one over here will, you know, will die. I believe he was good for a lot more cases. And I still believe there's there was a chance that one of the reasons that caused him to go up to Alaska, he was running away from homicides back in the lower 48. >> In the United States, an estimated 35 to 50 serial killers are active at any given time. Profiling has made them easier to spot and apprehend. Each time one is captured, investigators learn more about their twisted motivations, making it easier to catch the next one. A sleepy southern town becomes a place of unimaginable horror >> as young girls begin disappearing. [Music] A cunning serial killer is on the loose, >> tormenting a family while evading capture. [Music] until investigators could find a way to stop it all. He would continue his hunt for more victims. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] He was a predator, abducting girls and young women from their own front yards in broad daylight. He was a satist, phoning one victim's family, taunting them, boosting, then dashing their hope. And he wouldn't stop until we stopped him. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. This serial killer, whoever he was, could pass unnoticed in society. Yet, he craved the attention his crimes provided. Somewhere in this contradiction lay the key to his exposure. May 31st, 1985. The afternoon sun over South Carolina roasted the town of Lexington to a blistering 100°. Sher Fay Smith had found relief from the heat at a pool party with her boyfriend and fellow high school seniors. She was looking forward to the carefree days between her final exams and graduation. All of summer and the rest of her life awaited the ambitious 17-year-old. [Music] She lived with her family in a quiet rural community, a safe place tucked away from the edge of town. The Smith's home sat on a generous lot of dense woods. The house was about 200 yards from the road. Sherry's dad, Robert Smith, served as a local pastor. This Friday afternoon, he worked at home in his second floor office. He looked up from his studies to see his daughter pulling into the driveway and stopping to get the mail. In the next few moments, life in Lexington, South Carolina changed forever. Expecting Sherry to walk in the house, Mr. Smith looked out the window again, he noticed her car remained near the mailbox, but she was nowhere in sight. Immediately, he felt something was odd. He decided to take a look. Sherry suffered from diabetes. With her blood sugar out of balance, she might become disoriented or incapacitated. When he arrived at the bottom of the driveway, Mr. Smith found Sherry's car still running and the door swung open. >> Sherry. But his daughter was gone. >> There was no response to his call. >> Sherry. >> His mind began to race as he imagined the possibilities. Could she be lying in the woods somewhere, unconscious or in shock? >> Sherry? >> He yelled louder as he grew more frantic with words. Sherry. >> There was no sign of her anywhere. Sherry was gone. [Music] Mr. Smith immediately called for help. The assistant sheriff of Lexington County responded to the call. The distraught father explained that Sherry was not the type to just run off. >> I'm not sure what happened, but how much time? She was responsible, warm, and well adjusted. Not the sort of teenager to run away. >> But the sheriff took nothing for granted. He questioned Smith about his relationship with his daughter. Today, more than a decade later, Assistant Sheriff Lewis McCarti vividly recalls his impressions of the Smith family during his first conversation with Sherry's father. >> We discussed his daughter's grades, what kind of child she was. Um, uh, it was determined that there was no animosity between mother and father and daughter. The Smith family was a very, very close-knit family. a very religious family. Um, you just had the six sense that that u they were extremely close that this child would not have have run away on her own. The investigator couldn't shake the feeling that something bad had happened to Sher Smith. And the same intuition told him it had nothing to do with her medical condition. Every minute that passed increased the likelihood that Sherry might never be found. Knowing this, the sheriff called for assistance, bypassing the 24-hour waiting period required before officially classifying an individual as a missing person. [Music] While waiting for the other officers to arrive, the sheriff and Robert Smith retraced Sherry's steps. Careful not to destroy any possible evidence. But the naked eye search yielded nothing, they had to wait for more equipment and expertise. [Music] Within minutes, officers from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, known as SLED, arrived at the Smith home. >> Investigators combed the scene, looking for tire tracks, foot impressions, or fingerprints. They found nothing. >> Knowing the next few hours were critical, the authorities assembled a task force and organized a massive ground search. The possibility of an abduction prompted a swift response. >> Crimes like this simply did not happen. >> Surrounding counties sent every available officer to help. [Music] >> Sherry. >> Word of Sherry's disappearance spread quickly through the close-knit community of Lexington. Hundreds of local residents offered to participate in the search. >> Still, they found no trace of the young woman. >> Though there was no direct evidence that a federal crime had been committed, state investigators called on the expertise of the FBI. They wanted the bureau to unofficially advise in the search and to assist in the investigation. Special Agent John Wulmer from the FBI's Colombia office was dispatched to the Smith's house the next morning. The disappearance had even baffled the experts. She was nowhere to be found and she was not from a type of family background where that would readily indicate she'd run off with somebody. She was from a very uh stable uh good family background and they immediately thought obviously something had happened to her but we had no idea at that point what >> the search urgently continued with hundreds of volunteers and officers working around the clock. >> It was a daunting task. The heat and terrain hindered the hunt. When you're talking about looking in a county of of 500 square miles, it it's almost like looking for a needle in a hay stack. It's extremely difficult because you don't know where to begin um and where to go. >> Two long hot days of searching passed and still there was no sign of sheriff. >> It grew more and more likely that this was an abduction. Horrified that a crime like this could happen in their town, the residents of Lexington were gripped by fear. Children were not seen without their parents. No one went anywhere alone. With every hour that passed, investigators hoped there was still enough time to find Sherry unharmed. [Music] On June 3rd, 3 days after Sherry Fay's disappearance, at about 2:30 in the morning, a call disturbed the Smith's restless sleep. Robert answered the phone. A voice he did not recognize asked for his wife, Hilda. >> Hello. >> The caller claimed to be Sherry's abductor. >> Yes. The captor apologized for taking Sherry and insisted that she would eventually be returned. >> He made clear this was not a ransom call. >> He told Hilda that she would receive a letter in the mail later that day. >> Just tell us what you want. >> He promised he'd call back and hung up. >> He hung up. >> Though a phone tap had been set up earlier, the call was too short to get a trace. Sled officers who were at the Smith home called Agent Wulmer immediately. >> It really was unclear whether she was alive or or dead. The caller was indicating that she was alive, that he uh would see that she was returned safely. And I think at that point everyone was hopeful that he was truthful and that in fact she was not dead and would be returned uh to her home and family. >> A letter hopefully containing clues to Sherry's whereabouts would be a welcome break. But first they had to find out if the letter promised by the caller really did exist. Not wasting any time, they woke the town's postmaster and ordered him to open the post office before daybreak. >> Then they went to work sifting letter by letter through the piles of outgoing mail. >> Long envelope, something. [Music] >> After a half hour, the postmaster found an envelope addressed to the Smiths. Carefully, they slipped it into an evidence bag and sent it to the SLED Forensic Labs for analysis. Inside the envelope, examiners found a two-page letter written on yellow legal paper. Their excitement melted into horror as they began reading the letter. It was entitled, "Last will and testament." It began. I love you, Mommy, Daddy, Robert, Dawn, and Richard, and everyone else, and all other friends and relatives. My thoughts will always be with and in you. Casket closed. I am sorry if I ever disappointed you in any way. I only wanted to make you proud of me because I have always been proud of my family. The letter ended with all my love always, Sharon Sherry Fay Smith. >> With the help of the Smith family, investigators confirmed that the handwriting was Sher's. Lab examiners began the painstaking task of analyzing the letter. Searching for prints, hairs, fibers, and other clues would take weeks. While investigators hoped the document might provide other valuable leads, they were alarmed by the letter's content. >> We were shocked. We were concerned for her well-being. Um there were several phrases in the letter that um um she refers to. One would be casket closed. Is you know why would why would a child make a statement casket closed? Sherry's fate was unclear. The abductor had all the answers. He had promised to call again. Until he did, the Smith family clung desperately to hope. Just days after Sher Fay's disappearance, her abductor had called to taunt the family. >> Since then, agents and detectives set up a voice recorder in addition to the tap already on the Smith phone. >> Having the abductor's voice on tape would be invaluable. >> If the suspect called again, they would be ready. The weight was excruciating. >> At 8:00 on the evening of June 3rd, the phone rang. Go ahead, answer. Try to stay on the phone as long as possible. >> Hello. >> It was the voice from the night before. He spoke to Hilda. Did you receive the letter today? >> Uh, yes I did. >> Okay. So, you know now that this is not a hoax call? >> Yes, I know that. >> Okay, listen. Listen real carefully. I got to hurry. Um, I know these calls are being traced. >> Uh, is Sherry with you? >> Sherry is now part of me physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Our souls are one now. >> Your souls are one now with Sherry? is and we're trying to work this out. So, please do what we asked. >> The trace had been successful. >> Go ahead, US1. >> The suspect had called from a phone booth about 20 m away from the Smith. A network of sheriff's deputies staking out the area raced to the scene, hoping to catch the car still on the phone. >> But when they arrived, all they found was a phone dangling off the hook. area. Any cars, >> give me plates. Any cars leaving the immediate area right now. >> He had slipped away, leaving nothing behind, not even fingerprints. >> They just missed him. Sherry's older sister, Dawn, recollects the agonizing uncertainty. >> I didn't really understand what was going on at the time. I didn't understand that he was a very sick person. I'd never dealt with anybody like that in my life. Um, but I really believe that he was taking care of her and that there had to be some reason for the madness of Sherry being taken. >> On the surface, the abductor's phone conversations revealed nothing about Sherry's whereabouts. However, for the FBI, the phone calls offered the first glimpse inside the mind of this twisted predator. It would be up to FBI profilers in the investigative support unit at Quantico, Virginia to penetrate this criminal's mind. >> John Douglas pioneered behavioral profiling for the FBI. He and others developed the investigative tool from over 25 years of interviews with convicted killers, arsonists, rapists, and bombers. >> Okay, good. When someone asks for a profile, what they're looking for are characteristics which includes um gender uh includes age, race, sometimes uh body typing, uh educational level, occupational uh type. >> To determine these characteristics, the profiler attempts to think like the killer. He tries to uncover his motivations. Examining every aspect of a crime reveals patterns of behavior. What emerges is a profile describing the type of person the killer will most likely be. After scrutinizing every detail of Sherry's abduction, Douglas generated a 22-point profile of the suspect. He painted the abductor as a white male in his late 20s to early 30s with above average intelligence. He would most likely work as a bluecollar day laborer because it sounded as if the killer had electronically distorted his voice. He probably worked in electrical contracting. He would have a prior criminal record. Douglas also suggested he lived locally. The tone and content of his phone calls indicated he was an asocial obsessive compulsive. If the stress of everyday life became too great, he would break down. He would then feel compelled to compensate for his own inadequacies through violent actions. >> He's a type of guy that that he feels like one grain of sand on a beach where there are billions and billions of grains of sand. He feels like nothing. He feels like a nobody. And how can this nobody, this personality, this person who's probably overweight, low self-esteem, doesn't unattractive, how can he become a somebody? He'll go after victims that there was no chance that he would ever come in contact with someone like like a Sharface Smith. And so for the first time in their life, they can be be powerful. On Wednesday, June 5th, the Smiths received another call. This time, he gave the family directions to where they would find Sherry. Listen carefully. Take Highway 378 west to traffic circle. Turn left at white frame building 6 ft beyond. We're waiting. God chose us. Investigators raced to the location, hoping they might still find her alive. [Music] 6 days after her mysterious disappearance, investigators found the body of Sher Fay Smith. When the Smith family received the call to the location of the body, u we went immediately there and and our worst fears u came true. >> Sherry's body had been laid in the woods of Saluda County, some 17 miles from the home from which she vanished. >> Her abductor was now wanted for firstdegree murder. A week of 100 degree heat had taken its toll. >> The body's advanced state of decay worked in the killer's favor. The medical examiner could not determine the exact cause and time of death. To John Douglas, the location and condition of the crime scene provided further insight into the suspect's mind. He had some criminal sophistication because I believe what he did is he waited he waited for her to now go into advanced stages of decomposition which would make it more difficult for law enforcement to to determine cause and method of death uh in this state of of decomposition. >> The confirmation of Sherry's murder devastated the Lexington community. That Saturday, a crowd of a thousand mourners attended a funeral service at the town's First Baptist church. That evening, following Sherry's funeral, >> the killer could not resist inflicting more torment. >> Well, may I speak to uh Mrs. Smith? >> Sherry's aunt Beverly answered the phone. >> I want to speak to Dawn. >> I'm sorry, she's not available either. >> Beverly stalled him, hoping to gain valuable time for the phone trace. I have to go then if I can't talk to her. >> But the suspect threatened to hang up if he couldn't immediately speak to Dawn. >> Hello. >> This thing got out of hand and all I wanted to do was make love to Don. I've been watching her for a couple >> to who? >> To I'm sorry to Sherry. Don I hope you and your family forgive me for this. >> When you killed Sherry, was she at peace? She wasn't afraid or anything? >> She was not. She was at peace. She knew that God was with her and she was going to become an angel. >> Overwhelmed with grief, Sherry's mother insisted on talking to her daughter's murderer. >> Did you tell her you were going to kill her? >> Yes, I did. And I gave her the choice and she picked suffocation. >> My god, how could you? It did not escape the attention of the FBI and local investigators that the killer had mistakenly used Dawn's name when he spoke of Sher. >> They braced themselves for the possibility that this killer might be turning his murderous obsession towards Dawn. But the suspect would make only one more call before falling ominously silent. Though he wasn't talking, they knew he was still out there terrifying a community. And the profile predicted that if he killed once, he would kill again. In June 1985, FBI investigators continued to hunt the kidnapper and killer of 17-year-old Sher Smith. While investigators focused on the Smith murder, the elusive predator pursued other plans. On Friday, June 14th, 2 weeks after Sherry's abduction, a man grabbed Deborah May Helmet from her front yard in Richland County as she played with her brother. She was just 9 years old. The child's screaming alerted a neighbor, but the woman was not fast enough. >> The abductor managed to slip away in broad daylight. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Helmick's neighbor could only provide vague information. However, the general description of the suspect and his method appeared eerily similar to the man the FBI wanted for the murder of Sher. Richland County Sheriff's immediately contacted the task force in nearby Lexington. Within moments of that abduction, we were aware of it and begin to focus on that case also. We were pretty much in our minds. Um I think that um everybody knew these two cases were connected. >> For John Douglas, the case took on an even greater sense of urgency. Deborah May Helmick's fate seemed almost certain. Once they get the urge, they're out looking for the preferential victim, but if they cannot find the victim of choice, they will go after whoever is uh is available. And that was the case here with Deborah May Helman. >> News of the second abduction brought Douglas down from Quantico, Virginia to South Carolina. >> The FBI hoped they could find 9-year-old Deborah May Helmick before her young life was cut short. In the Smith case, the killer's phone calls had been a critical link for the investigators. It had been nearly a week since Deborah's disappearance, and they hadn't heard from him. To get him to call, Douglas devised a plan. With the help of the local media, he would set a trap. >> One key element of the plan placed Dawn Smith in jeopardy. Douglas had to ask the Smiths to put their other daughter at risk to catch Sherry's killer and hopefully find young Deborah. >> Dawn agreed. >> A lot of times people thought we were twins. We looked a lot alike. And so they came up with this plan that if I were to answer the phone, maybe he would turn that fascination from Sherry to me. And if I could co keep him on the phone talking long enough about Sherry, about himself, about anything to keep him on the phone, then they could trace the call and catch him. >> Allow him to >> Douglas's strategy centered around a memorial service for Sherry. >> Investigators promoted the service in the local press. >> The agents hoped the attention to his first victim would rekindle the killer's fascination with Dawn. [Music] Douglas needed something else to bait the trap. A personal item from Sherry's room. Based on experience, Douglas knew that sexual predators are often attracted to personal items of their victims. >> She likes koalas. >> They want momentos that they can keep, even display as trophies. >> He noticed the koala bear. It was the mascot of the university she planned to attend in the fall. Think >> this is going to work perfectly. >> The day of the memorial service, plain clothed agents swarmed the grounds, hoping their suspect would visit the cemetery. >> As the family's minister delivered a eulogy, Dawn and her parents huddled close. Though Dawn had willingly volunteered to lure the killer to the trap, the danger it presented weighed on everyone's mind, >> there was no telling what the suspect might do. >> The security around Dawn was was heightened. We were extremely extremely concerned about Dawn becoming a victim. >> Then, as planned, >> Dawn placed some flowers in the koala on her sister's grave. to his own. >> Now, all that was left to do was wait. [Music] >> Using Douglas's profile, FBI agents coached Dawn on how to handle the suspect when he called. >> I was told to never be threatening, to never be harsh, to be real understanding and sympathetic and compassionate, and I was with him. And I think he liked that because he felt like he was very much in charge, which is something that he thrived on. >> Several calls came to the Smith home following the memorial service. >> Not knowing if it was Sherry's killer, Dawn had to answer everyone. >> Shortly after midnight, the phone at the Smith house rang again. Hello, Dr. Don Smith from Sherry. Will you have this? >> Yes. >> As Douglas had hoped, the culprit took the bait. >> And as anticipated, the killer had turned his focus to dawn. >> You can't be protected all the time. >> He made it clear to her that she was going to be his next victim. You know, uh, God wants you to join Cherry Bay. It's just a matter of time this month. >> Despite the threat, Dawn kept him on the line, enduring abuse from the man who murdered her sister while officials traced the origin of the call. >> Richland County. >> Yeah. Okay. Listen carefully. Go one north. >> Then before hanging up, the killer offered directions. >> Turn right. Deborah May is waiting. God forgive us all. >> Special Agent John Wulmer feared that the killer would not stop there. Once the he called about Deborah Helmick, then you're leading into the possibility that you now are dealing with a possible serial killer who has killed now at least two, you suspect maybe others before uh and may continue to kill others. >> Despite Douglas's success at getting the suspect to call, no one had anticipated just how far away the killer would go to avoid detection. Tracing the call from outside the area took additional time. >> Again, the suspect left the phone booth moments before the authorities could reach him. >> We were very, very close to catching him on a number of occasions, and it's almost as if he sensed this and began to move further in making his phone call. >> Other investigators followed the caller's directions. There they found 9-year-old Deborah May Helm murdered. The gamble had failed. With every missed opportunity, the probability of more victims increased, and now Dawn was the most likely target. Investigators feared the killer would make an attempt to abduct her. An elusive serial killer had already killed two girls around Lexington, South Carolina. The slim amount of evidence frustrated FBI investigators as well as local law enforcement. But the forensic analysis was about to generate the biggest break in the investigation. The last will and testament of Sher Smith was examined by Gail Heath, director of the questioned document section of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Labs. [Applause] Using an ESDA machine, Heath hoped to find hard evidence. The ESDA, an acronym for electrostatic detection apparatus, can pick up images that are invisible to the naked eye. It works on the opposite principle of a printing press. Instead of coating raised letters with ink to create an image, the ESDA fills in the indentations on the document in question with graphite. When an imaging film similar to Saran Wrap is pulled tight over the document, a readable image comes through. After hours of examining the document, Heath found indented writing. It appeared to be a phone number and a name. >> The particular name and phone number in question. We were able to bring up the entire area code. The first three numbers of the prefix. Um the next two numbers, the third number we were unsure of, and then we had the fourth number. >> The name on the pad was Joe. From the area code, investigators determined the number was from Alabama. To fill in the missing digit, investigators called every combination of the phone number until they reached a party who had the same name as the one found on the legal pad. They finally made a match. The number belonged to a man named Joe Shepard. Investigators scrutinized his phone records. They found that he had received a call from an address just outside of Lexington in Lake Murray, South Carolina. Either of these addresses could belong to the killer. Armed with the FBI profile, local police visited the Alabama address. >> How you doing? You, Mr. Shepherd? >> They met Joe Shepard. >> He didn't match the killer's profile. Uh, do you know anybody? >> Even though he was not a suspect, he could still be an important link to the killer. >> Police had to find out the connection between him and the Lake Murray, South Carolina phone call. Shepard explained it came from his parents' home. South Carolina officers verified that the address belonged to Joe Shepard's parents, Ellis and Sharon Shepard. Investigators went to the Lake Murray address to question the residents. >> The house was just 2 miles from where police found the body of 9-year-old Deborah May Helman. >> They learned that Ellis worked as an electrician in home construction. It was a profession the FBI profile predicted. As the officers knocked on the door, a cop pulled into the driveway. [Music] [Applause] [Music] >> May I help you? When investigators saw the shepherds, they immediately felt they had hit another dead end. Besides Ellis Sheperd's profession, nothing else seemed to fit the profile. They questioned them anyway. The shepherds told them that they had recently returned from a six-w week trip. The officers casually asked if the couple knew about the Smith and Helm murders. With every question, the police noticed Mrs. Shepherd becoming more concerned. >> The shepherds were beginning to suspect their housesitter, Larry Jean Bell. As they described Bell, elements of the profile fell into place. He was a white male in his 30s who lived with his parents. He sometimes assisted Ellis in home construction. Just days earlier, when the shepherds returned from the vacation, Belle had picked them up from the airport. He talked to the shepherds at length about the cases. He was closely following the news of the murders. It was more evidence of a meticulous mind and behavior consistent with the profile. They said that he had had saved the newspaper articles. Um told them all about the case and in great detail from the airport back to their residence. Again, it was uncanny how much this this profile was on track. >> Thank you very much. >> The detectives asked if they could see the inside of the house. >> You mind if we look around? >> No. Go right ahead. Let me show you. Suspecting the killer had used a weapon to force Sher Smith into the car, they asked Ellis Shepard if he owned a gun, Shepard led them to a drawer where he kept his revolver. >> The last time I used this gun, >> to his surprise, the gun was gone. >> Got a good idea. >> The officers asked the couple to accompany them to the precinct. >> They wanted the shepherds to listen to recordings of the killer's calls to the Smith family. [Music] The investigators needed to know if the voice on the recordings belonged to their house >> for a couple of months and then they'd find out I'm sane and then I'd get tried and get sent to lecture put in prison rest. I'm not going to stay in prison rest of my life. >> Though the call may have electronically altered his voice to the shepherds it was clear that the man on the tape was their housesitter Larry Jean Bell. Since I filled in all the holes and everything, >> we were all extremely elated. We could not show any emotion, but um we um we knew that we had the case at that point. We had our man or something, but anyway, >> the shepherds told the police that they expected Belle to return to their home at 7:30 the next morning for work. >> We're going to have a detective take him outside. Investigators staked out Belle's residence. This time, there was no way he could elude capture. [Music] >> Larry Jean Bell headed down the highway to the Shepherds. He failed to notice the unmarked police car following behind him. The officers radioed to another car waiting to cut him off at the approaching intersection. [Applause] June 26th, 1985, at 7:19 a.m., investigators finally trapped the elusive Larry Jean Bell. This time, it was the investigators who were one step ahead. Keep coming. >> Bel was arrested without resistance and taken to the precinct for questioning. >> With Bell now in custody, investigators still needed to build an airtight case to make sure he would never be free to kill again. Combining hard forensic evidence with the FBI profile, South Carolina police arrested Larry Jean Bell on suspicion of kidnapping and murder. But now they had to prove beyond any doubt that he was indeed the killer of Sher Smith and Deborah May Helman. It was up to Lexington County solicitor Donald Meyers to make the case. A career prosecutor, Meyers was determined to convict the killer who had so horrifically taunted his victim's family. I did not like Lar Jean Bell even before I knew him. And I knew that this was probably the most publicized case that we would ever had, the most publicized in South Carolina up to that time. And I pretty much committed myself to go after him with everything I had. All right, guys. >> Though there was powerful evidence against Bell, it was only circumstantial. Still, in the state of South Carolina, a confession could guarantee the maximum sentence. >> You know, God wants you to join. >> Meyers needed to make sure that Bell would never be able to take another life. >> He wanted a confession of evidence. >> Again, they called on the FBI to help. They recommended setting up an interrogation room that would elicit a selfinccriminating statement right here. >> For instance, a map showing where the phone calls were made. Uh some pictures of the victim so that he's aware as he looks about the room to remind him of the victim. Uh you might have uh fingerprint cards on the table. You might have uh notebooks or file cabinets that would have his name on them. All to make him think, you obviously have uh narrowed in on him. You've got the goods on him. He might as well go ahead and and give it up. >> While the officers prepared to question Belle, other detectives secured a search warrant for the Shepherd's house. For the next 12 hours, the forensic team combed every square inch of the home, looking for anything that would firmly connect Belle to the crimes. [Music] >> As the profile predicted, the house was in perfect order. It was meticulously cleaned, vacuumed, and dusted, >> particularly in the room where Larry Jean Bell had been staying. But beneath the orderly exterior, the team uncovered evidence of his deviance. The bed's pristine sheets concealed a thin, dirty mattress. And beneath that lay a porn magazine and a handgun that matched the description of Mr. Shepard's missing 38. [Music] Despite the freshly vacuumed carpets, an investigator retrieved a blonde hair in the space where a vacuum cleaner wouldn't reach. >> A lab would match the strand to Sher Smith. >> Well, how are you this afternoon? >> While the investigators continued the search for evidence of the shepherd's home, >> detectives at the interrogation carried out the FBI's strategy. First, they made sure Belle was comfortable. >> As advised by Douglas, they spoke to the suspect in a non-threatening way. >> They pretended to empathize with him, >> okay? >> To understand his pain in order to pry him open. >> They walked their suspect through the growing mound of evidence condemning him. >> At every chance, they reminded him of the victims. Bel denied everything. >> However, he did make a curious request. He wanted to meet Dawn and Hilda Smith. Hoping the mother and sister of his first victim might stir a confession. The Smiths agreed. Hilda and Dawn tried to mentally prepare themselves. [Music] Finally, they stepped into the room and came face to face with Sherry's killer. >> He began to mumble and he began to speak about how he was sorry that the person sitting in that chair couldn't have been the one that had done this. Um, but another Larry Bell could have been the one. Just he really didn't make a lot of sense. And so I remember sitting there, I remember looking at him, I remember listening to him and I really just felt disgusted that I knew this was the man and he wasn't even man enough to say I did it. I'm sorry. I'm just trying to make excuses, but but my mom said the most incredible thing to him. She said, "I know you're the man that killed my daughter and um I can honestly say that I don't hate you." And he he got tearary. But Belle's emotional break went only to the point of tears. He never made the confession authorities wanted. After weeks of compiling evidence, Meyers and the investigators began to piece together the sequence of events of May 31st, 1985. Bel noticed Sher Smith after dropping his mother off at a doctor's appointment. Something about the young woman triggered his leerous cravings. As she left the parking lot, Belle followed. His desire shattered what little restraint he possessed. [Music] He never let her out of his sight. Sherry did not notice the comic following her down the road. She pulled into the driveway and stopped at the mailbox. [Applause] [Music] >> Bel wasted no time. >> Tell me the way to >> He had taken Sherry completely by surprise. >> Come on, you're going with me. >> Yeah, you know, Timmy. >> He brought Sherry to the Shepherd's house on Lake Murray. Bel then cancelled dinner with friends. He told them he wanted to stay at the shepherds and watch a baseball game. >> He had already tied Sherry to the bed. The evidence showed that Sherry had been raped. Before killing her, Belle coerced Sherry to write her last will and testament. 12 hours after she disappeared, he covered her mouth with duct tape and suffocated her. Investigators believed that she was dead by 4:58 a.m., the time Belle claimed that their souls became one. It took less than one hour for 12 South Carolinians to find Bell guilty of firstdegree murder. >> Meyers prosecuted Bell in a separate trial for the murder of 9-year-old Deborah May Helm. He was found guilty a second time. With Belle's conviction, the Smith family could begin to rebuild their lives. There was a sense of of relief that okay now he can't do this to me. He can't do this to anybody else and and he will be put away. >> Larry Jean Bell paid the ultimate price for his sadistic crimes. On October 4th, 1996, he was put to death in South Carolina's electric chair. Though the loss of Sher Smith and Deborah May Helmick will always be felt, life in Lexington has slowly returned to normal. [Music] With skill and determination, the South Carolina law enforcement community and the FBI brought closure to a grieving town by ending the deadly game of cat and mouse. The sunshine and beaches of South Florida attract many types of people. Aspiring young models gravitate here with the hopes of being discovered. Beginning in February 1984, the dreams of stardom darkened into nightmares when several young women disappeared. It was the beginning of a string of brutal and terrifying murders that spread out across the country. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] It's a model's job to rivet the public's attention. But in 1984, some aspiring models began attracting publicity in a terrible new way. Across the country, dreams of glamour turned nightmarish as young women disappeared, only to be found tortured and killed. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. When a suspect emerged, the FBI's 10 most wanted list became the tool we used to try to flush him out. The promising life of Beth Kenyon came to a violent end on March 5th, 1984. [Music] The attractive 23-year-old dreamed of becoming a model. She had even been a finalist in the Miss Florida pageant. But all her hopes were cut short this Monday afternoon. The next day, Beth's parents reported her disappearance to the Miami police. The police merely listed Beth as a missing person and explained many girls her age drop out of sight for various reasons without telling their parents. But the Kenyons knew their daughter wasn't the type to just vanish after a few days on a lark. >> They hired private detective Ken Whitaker and his son Ken Jr. to investigate. >> She's been missing. >> The Kenyons told the Whiters that Beth worked as a teacher of emotionally disturbed children. >> She has a regular routine that she comes home. >> She was responsible and enjoyed a close relationship with her family. >> Strange there. This is, as you can see, where she had a 6:00 appointment this year. >> Fearing something had happened to Beth, the Kenyons had searched their daughter's apartment in North Dade County for anything that might help them find her. >> But all they found was an address book and a picture album. >> Beth, and this is Beth over here. And this is a a boyfriend, somebody she went out with. >> Just showing me a picture. >> Armed with little more than a few snapshots of Beth and her friends, the investigators went to work. The father and son team quickly narrowed down Beth Kenyon's last known whereabouts. Ken Whitaker Jr. talked to an attendant at a Miami gas station near the school where Beth taught. Ken showed the attendant several photographs. >> Been gone a couple days. >> He clearly remembered Beth, >> but he also recognized someone else in the photos. >> A man that accompanied Beth the afternoon she disappeared. They come in. >> His name was Christopher Wild. >> Okay. All right. >> On March 11th, 6 days after Beth's disappearance, the investigators contacted Wilder by phone. He denied knowing where Beth was, but invited the Whiters to his house to speak more about her. But when Wilder didn't answer his door, the suspicious investigators decided to look around. They had learned he was a successful building contractor and a self-proclaimed fashion photographer. The Kenyons had told the father and son team that Wilder had proposed to their daughter, but that she had turned him down, leaving him upset and angry. Rifling through the garbage, the Whitakers found a photograph. >> Chris Wilder. On the surface, it appeared an innocent picture, but to trained eyes, it meant more. [Music] The investigators soon learned that Christopher Wilder had driven a car in the Miami Grand Prix. On February 26th, 1984, he finished 17th and won $400. That race day was also the last time that anyone saw Rosario Gonzalez. The 20-year-old worked for a marketing firm distributing free aspirin samples at the Grand Prix. The Miami News still buzzed with the mysterious disappearance of Gonzalez. She had vanished just 5 days before Beth Kenyon. The investigators discovered that Wilder knew Gonzalez. She had modeled for him in amateur photo shoots. It was a critical connection. >> The two missing women, Beth Kenyon and Rosario Gonzalez, were linked through Christopher Wilder. [Music] >> With this information, Mr. and Mrs. Kenyon sought the help of the FBI. Special Agent John Hanland of the FBI's Violent Crimes Unit in Miami remembers the meeting. >> On the 12th of March, the Kenyons came to the FBI uh seeking more active involvement of the FBI. Of course, we didn't have any jurisdiction at the time. There was no evidence of an abduction. >> In an attempt to put pressure on Wilder, the Kenyon's private investigators leaked their findings to the Miami Herald. The story was published on March 16th, 1984. Though the article did not mention Christopher Wilder's name, it clearly accused him. The report described the man connecting Gonzalez and Kenyon as a local contractor, race car driver, amateur photographer, and a native Australian. It was Wilder to a tea. Although the FBI had no jurisdiction, Supervisory Special Agent Gordon McNeel had already begun looking into the matter. >> This connection uh drew my interest and uh I decided to uh open a preliminary kidnapping investigation to see if we had a possible violation of federal law. >> Agents McNeel and Hanland found Wilder was a likely suspect. He had a criminal history that reached back to his native Australia where he was out on bail on a sexual assault charge. Days later on March 21st, the agents were notified about an incident which allowed them to open a full investigation. A phone call came into the Miami FBI office reporting that a Tallahassee, Florida woman had been abducted and transported across state lines into Georgia where she escaped. The initial description of her asalent fit Christopher Wilder. >> Are you okay? >> Sorry. >> Special Agent Hanland flew to Georgia to hear the victim's story. It was a nightmare. >> Oh, sorry. No business. >> 19-year-old Linda Grober told Hanland she'd been shopping in a mall in Tallahass, Florida, when a man approached her about a modeling job. >> Magazine covers any sound. Claiming to be a photographer, the stranger invited her back to his car to see his portfolio. >> It was the middle of the afternoon in a very public place, and Linda said she felt perfectly safe. >> Never. >> When he asked her if she'd ever modeled, she said no. He flattered her with remarks about how beautiful she was and promised he could put her on the cover of Vogue. But Linda reported that when they got to his car, the photographer began changing his story. >> He claimed he'd left his portfolio at his studio and he asked Linda to go back to the studio with him. When she hesitated, the man attacked and pushed her into the car. He clubbed her on the back of her head. Everything just went black. When she regained consciousness, they were driving on a country road. >> When her abductor saw her coming around, he stopped the car in a secluded spot. It dragged Linda from the car, telling her that if she tried to escape, he would kill her. He wrapped his fingers around her throat and strangled her until she passed out. The next time she woke up, she was wrapped in a sleeping bag, lying on a bed in a cheap motel room. Once again, he threatened to kill her if she tried to escape. >> Don't move. >> He tied her to the bed and super glued her eyes shut. For the next several hours, the kidnapper repeatedly raped, beat, and tortured Linda Grober. When she disobeyed his commands, he shocked her with an extension cord he had fashioned into an electrocution device. anytime. >> The abuse was so severe, Linda realized she would be dead before someone found her. >> She managed to break free >> and locked herself in the bathroom. >> Somebody help. Help. >> She pounded on the walls and screamed for help. >> Help me. >> Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Hey, stop now. Stop it. Stop it. >> I'm telling you. rapist panicked, grabbed what he could and ran. Agent Hanland showed Grober a series of photos and asked if she could identify her asalent. It was absolutely no doubt in my mind. I mean, I'd spent hours with this person that that's who he was, and I just identified him as clearly Christopher Wilder. >> Now 35, a PhD candidate, and a single mom, Linda Grober's fierce determination saved her life. It also made her a strong witness, ready to risk everything for her abuser's arrest. >> I was in the hospital for a week or something like that. And then I was I had to basically leave the country while he was still a fugitive because they were concerned about my safety. They're concerned about my family's safety. As heinous as Grober's ordeal was, it had the value of catapulting the investigation into a federal case. >> Because she had been abducted across a state line, the FBI now had full jurisdiction. Christopher Wilder was now wanted for the kidnapping and rape of Linda Grober, and he remained a prime suspect in the disappearance of Rosario Gonzalez and Beth Kenyon. Uh obviously now we had uh federal violation and we had every reason to put all the resources of the FBI into this case. [Music] Not knowing exactly where to find Wilder, a team of agents descended upon his house in full force. kicking in the door, they poured in, ready to arrest the suspect. >> Clear, clear, clear, clear. >> But they found an empty house. >> Clear. Everything clear. >> All clear. All clear. >> Wilder had long abandoned it. >> All clear. He was on the run days ahead of the federal agents. And every minute he remained free put another woman in jeopardy. >> The desperate chase had begun. >> March 1984, FBI agents conducted a meticulous search of the abandoned home belonging to Christopher Wilder. Two women were missing and presumed dead at his hands. A third had barely escaped with her life after her kidnapping and rape. The agents needed something to clue them in to their suspect's present whereabouts. >> You like to decorate? >> What happened to his mate? >> But before he left, Wilder had prepared his home for any investigator. >> The place had been manicured. There were basically no fingerprints left in Wilder's house. You're always going to find fingerprints inside a residence. Looked like everything had been totally cleaned. >> FBI and local authorities canvased Miami in West Palm Beach. >> But no one reported having seen or heard from Wilder since he left Linda Grober in a Georgia motel. The FBI alerted police to keep an eye out for Wilders's car. They asked banks and credit card companies to monitor any transactions he might make, but informationational systems in 1984 moved slowly. The leads trickled in and were usually too late for a quick response. On March 21st, 1984, a sharpeyed utility repairman in central Florida noticed something unusual in a shallow creek. It was the barely recognizable body of a young woman. She was later identified as 21-year-old Terresa Ferguson. Witnesses last saw her 3 days earlier, leaving a shopping mall with a man fitting Wilder's description. The autopsy showed she'd been beaten with a tire iron and strangled to death. The victim's profile and the savagery of the crime suggested Wilder. But nothing directly tied him to it. If it was the Australian contractor, the FBI agents knew they had a serial killer on the loose, one that had to be stopped before he murdered again. Agents continued to follow the suspect's trail. An automatic security camera photographed Wilder at a bank in Tampa. The bank records showed that he had emptied his accounts of more than $19,000. It was an ominous break. Their prey now had the money to travel far and wide. >> By March 22nd, 1984, Wilder was already in Texas. Witnesses saw him approach 23-year-old Terry Walden in the parking lot of Lamar University in Bumont, Texas. Walden was a wife, mother of two, and a nursing student. >> Yes, I'm a photographer. My job is to >> Wilder asked her if she'd like to do some modeling. >> Make a lot of extra money. You sure you don't want to keep the garden things? But Wilder couldn't seduce Walden with his pitch. >> She politely declined. She had no way of knowing that she would soon see him again. [Music] While the FBI began its national hunt, witnesses later told investigators that Wilder had stayed in Bumont, Texas another day. This time he went back to familiar territory to stalk his next victim. >> They have this one since 799 or 99. >> He visited the local mall shopping for a young woman to deceive with dreams of glamour. >> You're taking some fashion photography. No, no, listen. You're not too prime. >> I'm legit. It's okay. But no one succumbed to his bogus promises. >> No, sorry. >> That's fine. That's fine. >> After getting brushed off several times, he spotted a familiar face. It was Terry Walton. >> Hey, how are you? >> She had come to run errands after dropping her four-year-old daughter off at daycare. >> Are you interested now? Would you take the card and just consider? >> Terry again turned Wilder down. No, >> I'm sure you could. >> But this time, he wouldn't take no for an answer. As she left the mall, Wilder followed her out to her car. In broad daylight, in the middle of a crowded mall parking lot, Wilder attacked Walter. He knocked her unconscious and pushed her into her Mercury cougar. [Music] He grabbed his bags and drove off in the victim's car. Walden's husband reported her missing later that afternoon when she failed to pick up her daughter at daycare, but by then it was too late. Terry Walden's body was found floating in a canal near Bowmont, Texas a few days later. >> The police recovered Wilder's Chrysler a few miles away. >> Some fiber and some here. Get a couple pictures of this before we take the stuff out. An FBI forensic search of the car uncovered hair and fibers matching Terresa Ferguson, the young woman discovered by the repairman 5 days before. Terresa Ferguson had been Wilder's fourth known victim. >> McNeel and Hammond estimated that the killer was still at least two days ahead of him. Out of the Miami office, they broadcast a national all points bulletin for Terry Walden's stolen car. Uh, every state police agency along the way, every state trooper who was out on that highway knew the car we're looking for. And unfortunately, uh, it's amazing sometimes you say, "Okay, well, he's in a purple car." We say, "How many purple cars are out there?" Well, it's amazing how many purple cars are out there when you're looking for purple cars. And that was the problem. We never knew at the time what license plate he was using on that particular vehicle. FBI teletypes clattered endlessly. Every field office in the country received page after page describing Wilders's physical appearance, his victim profiles, where he had last been identified, and where he was thought to be heading. The technology of 1984, however, could not keep up with the pace of his flight. There were so many leads on Wilder going back and forth all over the country. Every one of them went to all FBI offices for information that the FBI teletype system was backed up over 48 hours for about 2 weeks because of the volume of information that was flowing back and forth on Wilder. That left the bureau with only one certain way to track Wilder. They had to follow the grizzly trail of corpses he discarded as he ran. The next victim was 21-year-old Suzanne Logan. She was last seen shopping at a mall near Oklahoma City. A fisherman stumbled upon her body 2 days after she disappeared. The location of her disappearance and the manner in which she died all suggested one thing. She had died at the hands of Christopher Wilder. >> In this particular case, we had an individual who was kidnapping, raping, torturing, and murdering a woman about every day and a half. So u uh there was intense pressure as there should be. >> Slow technology and a fast fugitive hampered the FBI. But on March 28th they got the break they had hoped for. Wilder checked into a motel in Rifle, Colorado using a stolen Visa card. The FBI knew he had the card and was using it, but they had not been able to trace it until rifle. In those days, 1984, they didn't have the uh instant validation of your credit card when you walk into a hotel. They only called in uh bills that were going to exceed $100. Uh every motel that Wilder stayed along his murderous route, the charges were in the vicinity of $50 to $60. Perhaps from sheer boredom, the motel clerk decided to call in the credit card that night instead of waiting to mail it the next day. Instead of approval, the clerk received a phone number to call immediately. An early morning call mobilized the FBI's Denver, Colorado field office. >> At last, the FBI knew where the fugitive was. In the early hours of the morning of March 29th, four agents approached Wilder's motel room, confident that they had finally cornered the killer. Okay, FBI search war. >> He wasn't there. >> As swiftly as the FBI had responded, Wilder had eluded them. For some unknown reason, the fugitive had departed before sunrise. >> He's not in the hotel. >> It had been the best lead the agency had, and it failed. >> Once again, the exasperated task force had no idea of where the predator was. Yet, they feared it was one of the dozens of shopping malls within a day's drive of Rifle, Colorado. March 29th, 1984. In just 3 weeks, the Australian contractor Christopher Wilder had abducted four women and murdered three of them. FBI agents noticed a pattern developing in the campaign of violence. The killer kept his direction westward, and he had narrowed his hunting grounds to shopping malls. [Music] 18-year-old Cheryl Bonaventuru was last seen at the Mesa Shopping Mall in Grand Junction, Colorado. The FBI would later connect Wilder to her death. You had a man that you knew was on the prowl. You had a man who you knew as each day goes by that that some poor soul in deathly fear of her life was dying in an extremely uh uh danger extremely painful way. To get the word out, the FBI cast a wide net. Across the country, agents notified security officers and mall managers about the danger, telling them to be on the lookout for the Australian. Investigators supplied malls with photos and flyers that were posted to alert shoppers. Despite the FBI warnings, a teen magazine held a covergirl competition at the Meadows Mall in Las Vegas. Wilder showed up armed with his camera. He chatted with several of the teens during the event, but eventually zeroed in on Michelle Corfman. The 17-year-old had driven up the 25 miles from her family's Boulder City, Nevada home. >> Nervous about participating in her first model search. She had asked her friends and family to let her go alone. >> After a few minutes conversation with Wilder, Corfman changed her clothes and left the mall. Yeah, sure. I do. >> That's great. >> It was April 1st. >> As soon as Vegas authorities alerted the FBI that a local girl had disappeared at a mall, agents responded. They asked for all pictures that anyone had taken of the fashion show. One photographer immediately delivered five rolls of film. And when they printed those photographs, there was the Corfman girl on stage in a modeling type pose. And who's directly beyond her about 20 ft away looking at her with what I call the look of a homicidal maniac? None other than Christopher Wilder. [Music] Like the others, young Michelle Corfman suffered at the hands of Wilder. He bound and gagged her with duct tape. Then he beat, raped, and tortured her. >> And you will see incisions in the body. Uh they may only be an inch to an inch and a half long, and they're not deep. They're done just enough to make it bleed. They were only meant to torture, not to kill, until he finally actually killed the victims. He was a brutal sexual satist. >> On April 5th, 4 days after the Michelle Corfman disappearance, the FBI held a press conference. >> They announced the placement of Christopher Wilder on its famed 10 most wanted fugitives list. >> 10 most wanted For 50 years, the list has helped generate the publicity needed to catch violent fugitives. >> Special Agent Tron Brekie serves as national spokesman for the FBI. >> Thank you. >> The criteria for the top 10 was met with Wilder. He was a menace to society. He was extremely dangerous, a violent individual on whom charges were outstanding. and he had fled the area where we thought that he might be. Therefore, it was very important for us to get the message out to the American public and to the media that u he could be anywhere in the United States. But Wilders's addition to the 10 most wanted fugitives list came a day too late for Tina Marie Reiko in Lomida, California on the day before the press conference. The 16-year-old visited the Delm Fashion Center Mall to apply for a summer job. >> What a beautiful face she had. >> The high school student wanted the work to save for a car. few pictures. >> She met Christopher Wilder when he said that she was perfect for a modeling gig he had to shoot. >> And uh actually, you're so perfect that I could give you $100 right here. >> He gave her $100 cash and promised much more to come. >> If you're right, and I know you are. I can tell you are. Do you have a few minutes to just go out and close? Take some pictures. Say to myself, this girl, this Wilder drove Tina Marie to a nearby park. [Applause] At first, everything progressed as if it were a legitimate job. >> He said the scenic location had perfect light for the camera. >> This canopy right here, I think, is really lovely, right? As the shoot began, an eager Tina Marie worked to please her photographer. >> Yeah. >> When Wilder told her to smile, she did. When he told her to tilt her head, she did. >> And then it all turned wrong. >> Now in the car. All right. >> He pointed a 357 Magnum at her face and told her to get in the car. >> Quickly. Quickly. The terrified teen had no choice but to obey. >> Wilder brought Tina Marie Reiko to a motel in San Diego. there. Like all the others, he beat his teenage victim, tied her to the bed, and raped her repeatedly. Wilder cut her with his knife and electrocuted her using wires he would tie to different parts of her body. The brutality perplexed Agent Hanland. You say to yourself, why would anybody want to do that to anybody? to scare them so bad, to brutalize them so bad, to torture them with an electrical cord, and then kill them like a piece of trash. And that person knows they're going to be killed. I mean, up until some point, the great realization comes over that individual. I'm not going to survive this. My life's over. And these are young women. He identifies himself as a professional photographer, commenting on a young woman's appearance and attempts to persuade her to accompany him from the area. >> Just as Tina's life was about to end, a special news bulletin captured Wilder's attention. >> Dangerous and this approach may lead to his apprehension. Christopher Bernard Wilder has been placed on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. >> As you know, >> it was the FBI press conference. too. >> Wilder watched in horror as his picture was plastered on television sets across the nation. >> The federal agents proclaimed him the most wanted fugitive in America. >> They held him responsible for the disappearances of six young women. >> They didn't know about the seventh victim in the hotel room with him. >> Get the information out as quickly as possible. >> We got to move. Come on. >> Wilder panicked. He grabbed Tina Marie and hit the road. >> Come on, we got to move. >> But now that he was top on the 10 most wanted fugitives list, Wilder landed on the front page of every newspaper and on the top of every newscast in the country. It's the front page headline in every newspaper in America. Every news show, every radio show is talking about Christopher Wilder and showing his picture and saying his name, Christopher Wilder. >> The FBI hoped that by plastering Wilders's face across TV screens and newspapers, someone somewhere would spot him. It was the best chance agents had to stop Wilder before he destroyed another life. In the spring of 1984, the FBI conducted the largest manhunt in history for the rapist and murderer Christopher Wilder. >> They knew of at least six victims. They suspected there were many more. Wilder had squeezed through the FBI net in Nevada as he headed back east. With him was a 16-year-old hostage named Tina Marie Rico. On April 10th, 1984, outside a shopping mall in Gary, Indiana, Christopher Wilder told Rico that he would let her go on one condition. She had to help him catch his next victim. For 6 days, the adolescent had been raped, beaten, and terrorized. She was ready to do whatever he asked. Wilder noticed Dornet Wilt ducking into several shops. He figured she was job hunting in the mall. Rico told Donette that Wilder was a store manager and wanted her to fill out a job application at his car. [Music] When they reached his car, Wilder drew his pistol and forced Donette to get in. >> Sweetheart, why don't you just come with us? Get the car. Get in. Go around. Go around. >> He sped off with the two girls. Witnesses saw them leave. >> Okay. a young woman uh very attractive as were all of Wilder's victims uh had been taken from a um was seen leaving with an individual who they believe to be Crystal Wilder from a mall in the Indianapolis area. And so when that information came to us, we felt that okay, now we know he's headed back east. >> The bureau directed every agent east of the Mississippi to work on the case. Despite his promise, Wilder refused to release Tina Marie. Instead, he forced Reiko to watch while he tortured and raped Donette in front of her. The nightmare continued for two days. On the morning of April 12th, 1984, >> Tina Marie heard a familiar voice on the morning news. >> Any kind of energy and just put Tina come home alive safely. You know, we're all rooting for you. >> The word that we've got >> on national television, Tina Marie's mother begged the kidnapper not to hurt her daughter. >> Your daughter and that there is every indication that your daughter is still alive. And >> Wilder flew into another panic. He packed up his hostages and left. >> Get her dressed and you get dressed now. >> Wilder complained that it was only a matter of time before the FBI caught up with him. He stopped the car in a wooded area near Penan, New York. He ordered Rico not to move. Donette was drugged with sleeping pills, yet he forced her to march into the forest. Left alone, Tina Marie pondered the opportunity to escape, but the horror of the last nine days had broken her mentally. She stayed put. >> What are you doing? This way. Come on. Come on. Walking through the woods, Donette Wilton slowly woke up to the realization that Wilder was going to kill her. >> Sit up. Sit up. Sit up. >> She didn't want to die by stabbing. She begged him to shoot her instead. >> Deal. Deal them. >> Ignoring her please, Wilders stabbed her through the chest twice and left her for dead. All right, here we go. As he began to drive away, the fear that Donet Wilt might still be alive seized him. He returned to the scene to properly dispose of Donette. >> Stay here. Stay here. You here? When he got there, he could scarcely believe what he saw. She was gone. Incredibly, Donette Wil had survived. Stabbed twice, bleeding profusely, drugged and beaten. She had managed to pull herself up and escape to a road where a passing motorist rescued her. >> I'd like to take a statement from you if I can. >> Thanks to Wilt's testimony, the FBI now pinned Wilder in the Northeast, still driving the Mercury Cougar he had stolen from Terry Walden. >> But for how long? After he went back and found out that Chief was no longer there, uh he realized obviously that uh he had to do something uh with this vehicle. He needed a new vehicle and uh he got into western New York State once again. He headed for the nearest mole, this time in Victor, New York, where he spotted a gold Pontiac Firebird. He told Rico she would take the wheel of the cougar and follow him wherever he went. >> He carjacked 33-year-old Beth Dodge. >> At gunpoint, Wilder forced her into the backseat of her Firebird. The emotionally shattered Tina Marie did as she was ordered. Wilder drove for a half an hour to a secluded area. Come on. Come on. Get out. Come on. Just get out. Just get out. Just get out. Listen. I want you to get the white suitcase and I want you to get the camera and I want you to put it in this car and wait for me. You understand? He forced Beth Dodge into the woods. Moments later, Tina Marie heard two shots echo out from the trees. There had been no rape, no torture. This time, Wilder had simply killed Dodge for her car. But he had a different fate in mind for Tina Marie. In all the hell he had put her through, Wilder had bonded with Tina Marie. He told her he didn't want her to be around when the end came. He drove Tina Marie Rico to the airport in Boston and gave her money for a ticket home to Los Angeles. Her ordeal was finally over. [Music] Once safely home, Tina Marie would fill in details for agents about Wilder's murderous rampage. Wilder was now alone, and the agents didn't want to wait till another victim disappeared to clue them into his whereabouts. [Music] During the search for Wilder, we knew that uh that he had friends uh in Canada and had visited Canada extensively. So, uh we felt there was a good chance that he was heading directly to the east and then north into Canada. destroyed. >> Wilder raced toward the border in Beth Dodge's Firebirds. For 3 weeks, he had beaten the FBI's best efforts. Even the 10 most wanted fugitives list had failed to produce his capture. Agents McNeel and Hanman desperately wanted to stop the killer before he struck again or fled their jurisdiction. By April 1984, Christopher Wilder had left seven women dead across America. Three more were presumed dead. Three others had survived with rapes and beatings. The FBI believed that he was in New England heading north. Federal agents concentrated their resources in the northeastern states before he could escape across the Canadian border. I mean, the FBI had agents out circularizing it and then wanted poster out and that kind of thing. But the best thing you have going for you are the hundreds of police officers up in that area who are a lot many more eyes and ears than FBI agents available in in New England. >> On Friday, April 13th, 1984, Wilder stopped for gas in the tiny town of Colbrook, New Hampshire, about a dozen miles from the Canadian border. While he filled the tank, he casually asked an attendant about the paperwork that might be needed to cross the border. Two state troopers, Wayne Forier and Leo Jellison, spotted Beth Dodge's car. They, like almost every police department in the country, had been told to be on the lookout for the Firebird and for a man of Wilder's description. Jealous asked Wilder if he could speak for a second. >> Police. >> Wilder leaped into the Firebird and grabbed his 357 Mag. >> In the struggle, the weapon went off. Officer Jellison was shot in the chest. He would live, but Christopher Wilder would not. The bullet that wounded Officer Jellison first passed through Wilder. It pierced his heart, killing him instantly. Wilder's cross-country reign of terror ended with a tenth death, his own. Authorities ultimately recovered the mutilated bodies of Cheryl Bonaventura and Michelle Corfman in the months afterwards. But the two missing women that started the investigation, Rosario Gonzalez and Beth Kenyon, were never found. Mr. and Mrs. Kenyon went to their graves without knowing the fate of their daughter. >> Come here. Come here. >> Other victims and their loved ones have struggled to restore their shattered lives. Are >> you my friend? >> Linda Grober has also learned a chilling lesson. I think an important point to make is that these people are not always demons and they're not they don't always have tattoos. They don't always have long hair. They're often extremely eloquent and they're they're disguised and they can fit easily into your father's living room after dinner sipping a a wine or a brandy. >> The terrifying truth is that Christopher Wilder was not unique. He made the most wanted fugitives list. But there are dozens of killers like him each year that never reach national attention. They troll our shopping centers, our schools, and our churches, searching for victims. Vivid dreams of easy fame and fortune can quickly darken. Only through public awareness, tireless vigilance, and the resourcefulness of the FBI can we hope to keep these predators at bay. [Music] Turn it on. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] There you go. [Music] [Music] [Music] Turn it off. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]