A Special Dedication to Leonard Morgenbesser

An edited version of this dedication is due to appear in the seventh edition of Eric Hickey's Serial Murderers and Their Victims:

In the wake of recent tragedies, instances of gun violence command national attention. Leonard Morgenbesser categorized the use of handguns as conflict resolution tools to be a threat to public health, a stance that preceded our collective response of outrage. Leonard considered injuries and homicides wrought by these recurring incidents to be at epidemic levels and characterized the reliance on such weapons as a disease whose devastation fractures communities.

As a social scientist, Leonard addressed this issue by tracking gun-related crimes perpetrated in his city of Albany and amassing an exhaustive list of these events. He chose to combat this scourge empirically by compiling information gathered from newspaper reports and television newscasts, instilling in others that something was being done about a seemingly hopeless plight.

After meeting at a conference, I detailed my own efforts to catalog serial murderers and became known to Leonard as “the data guy”. Now, realizing the breadth of his collection endeavors, this label constitutes the ultimate compliment.

Leonard taught me that data should be not only accurate, but actionable. Armed with statistics, Leonard advocated for Albany to be a SNUG program pilot city and helped to secure funding for this critical anti-violence initiative. A member of Albany’s Gun Violence Task Force, Leonard is credited with saving lives through his ceaseless, epidemiological approach.

To come to a greater understanding of serially violent criminals, we co-founded the ‘Multidisciplinary Collaborative on Sexual Homicide and Violence’. Leonard’s unwavering encouragement infused our cause with gravitas, inspiring all involved to work cohesively.

The impact of Leonard’s passing is still being measured, more than a year later. While Leonard’s legacy is the tenacity and persistence he dedicated to raising awareness about gun violence, his sponsorship and facilitation of innovative collaborations must be recognized. Without Leonard’s guidance and foresight, our group would surely not have coalesced.

Leonard possessed qualities I strive to emulate in my quest to utilize data for good. Perhaps our connection arose because Leonard saw in me some aspect of himself. Moving forward, I implore that we all reflect introspectively and embrace that facet of Leonard that exists within ourselves.

Pulling Back the Veil of a Serial Killer Suspect

Pulling Back the Veil of a Serial Killer Suspect:

An Analysis of the Investigation, Arrest and Statements of Felix Vail 

(An edited version of this post appears on Michelle McNamara's blog True Crime Diary.

Five decades before Louisiana became the setting for Nic Pizzolatto’s True Detective, the bayou served as a backdrop to serial killer suspect Felix Vail’s continual narrative of domination, degradation and control. Much the same as Pizzolatto’s killer, Vail operated in plain sight and was unknowingly aided by a peripheral political connection; the late District Attorney Frank Salter Jr declined to prosecute family friend Vail for the death of Mrs. Mary Horton Vail in 1962. Vail strove to maintain his accustomed standard of living, one untethered to obligations. His veiled dangerousness arose from the unabashed and ruthlessly-pursued philosophy that life should be unaffected by the turmoil caused by lesser people. This viewpoint contributed to Vail’s aspiration to escape the commitment of becoming a second-time father, allegedly resulting in the murder of his wife, Mary Horton Vail.

While Pizzolatto’s killer purposefully baited authorities to flaunt his self-assumed superiority, Vail, consummately self-aware, understood that unveiling one’s innate supremacy requires a measure of practiced latency. Vail’s adoption of a well-crafted, honed veneer assisted him in exploiting the unassuming qualities of his counterparts in a mostly furtive and non-violent style. These parasitic behavioral traits ensured that not all those that stood as obstacles met an untimely demise. On his quest to master and command all things, Vail did encounter resistance once his partner’s monetary resources were totally consumed. His allegedly murderous response dictated that Vail’s nomadic lifestyle, originally a byproduct of his evident shortcomings, would repeatedly be a mixture of cowardice and calculated deceit.

*

My exposure to Vail began innocuously in October 2012 when Northeastern University’s Jack Levin connected me with investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell in an effort to locate Jim Bell, a former Major Case Specialist (MCS) with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Bell investigated Vail as a serial killer suspect briefly in 1993 before retiring from the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP). Gregory M. Cooper, a member of the Serial Homicide Expertise and Information Sharing Collaborative, supervised Bell and suggested contacting the FBI.

FBI MCS Wayne Koka liaised between Acting FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit-4 Unit Chief Armin Showalter, Jerry and myself. Coupling Jerry’s extensive Gone exposé with my knowledge of serial killers, they were convinced of Vail’s potential. By January, Showalter had spoken with Detective Randy Curtis of Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office who summarily reopened the Mary Horton Vail cold case. Koka later modestly labeled their assistance as “routine”, but we understood it to be a vital intervention. After Vail’s arrest that May, I dubbed it the ‘oldest of a serial killer suspect in the nation's history’.

Since Jerry suspected Vail of the 1973 and 1984 disappearances of his longtime girlfriend Sharon Hensley and another wife, Annette Craver Vail, we continued to delve into his past. We consulted with Dr. Henry Lee about DNA evidence, contacted Thomas A. DiBiase and the folks at NamUs about other no-body murder prosecutions, reached out to a jewelry expert to identify earrings that Vail retained, and emailed the Internet Adult Film Database to inquire about a triple X film in which Vail may have participated.

During several visits to his residence, private investigator Gina Frenzel surreptitiously audio recorded Vail and photographed thousands of pages from his journals. It is from the analysis of Vail’s utterances and the content of his writings that the following vignette is offered. Since we are not psychiatrists, this evaluation is based strictly on how Vail compares to previous offenders in the Radford Serial Killer Database. A trove of this magnitude of a serial killer suspect’s intimate thoughts has never been available for examination. For that reason, it is difficult to approximate exactly how Vail fits into the grander spectrum of serial homicide offenders.

*

Vail, a detached observer, refers to himself primarily as a scientist studying the anatomy of the ego; an entity whose mission is to overtake our electrical life force, or spirit, which is labeled as the limiting factor of the human species. Intending to triumph over the ego by subverting and then neutralizing it, Vail hopes to reach a state of “free brain awareness” where total autonomy, self-governance and spiritual enlightenment can be attained. Suppression of the ego requires isolation, discipline and focus as one must instruct the mind to overcome bodily functions like breathing and hunger. Through periods of fasting, “elimination”, “simplification” and the “ceasing of verbalization”, all toxins can be purged and unwanted aspects abandoned.

The undercurrent of eccentric flair that Vail exudes is accented by his existential leanings and esoteric beliefs. A cerebral being, Vail is handicapped by a preference for abstract thought, an immensely inflated sense of self-worth and a tendency towards megalomania. Vail boasts a range of abilities that have surpassed those of his peers from an early age, granted by being privy to the brain’s remaining “ninety-percent”. Vail evidently places a high degree of importance on intelligence, considering it a cherished attribute. His desire to tap into the consciousness of strangers to access information within their minds signifies Vail’s lifelong quest for absolute omniscience. To anticipate underlying motives, Vail has conducted body language research and has become a student of psychology; measuring and profiling in an effort to determine when the truth is falsified. To Vail, the most detrimental event is to be undermined.

The strangeness of the adult world, namely the undefined distinction between what is thought and what is spoken, has confused Vail from a young age. This dissonance manifested as a schism between intellect and emotion and an inclination to understand the concept of dualism that has dominated his existence and decisions. To Vail, it is upsetting that we are “in and out of synchronicity” with ourselves. While discussing Waiting for the Galactic Bus and The Little Prince, two works that describe extraterrestrials’ observations of the human condition, Vail highlights his disdain for the mainstream and reflects upon the parallels of his journey with those of the characters in the stories.

Vail takes pride in thinking “outside the social parameters” to which others are programmed. Ignoring “social ethics” and “religious morality” affords Vail the ability to realize his ultimate potential. Fitting into the social order is hampering, according to Vail, and requires putting the mind “in neutral”. He cares not for what is deemed permissible by society and openly disregards the illegality of prior actions. Although Vail relishes his outsider status, he is keenly aware that perception is afforded more attention than actuality. To avoid sending “red flags”, he pretends to be influenced by the disapproval of others, thriving on the cons that he perpetuates.

 

As humans are amalgams of environmental and situational occurrences, some events have impacted Vail’s capacity to maintain enduring relationships. Growing up on a farm with sharecroppers and orderlies instilled in Vail a penchant for dehumanization and the opinion that some are subhuman. As no woman could equal him emotionally, mentally, or spiritually, they existed merely to be used. The search for a “mother substitute” for his son during their travels was based specifically on what she could provide. Vail admits to a sexual addiction and claims to have slept with “hundreds and hundreds” of women. In reminiscing about trading “electrical energy” with his mother during nursing, Vail demonstrates that his view of normal sexual relations was warped from childhood.

While awaiting his trial, Vail is undoubtedly contemplating the paradoxical nature of recent happenings. The image of a supreme being yearning for complexity has now been forcibly juxtaposed with the fallible man undone by weakness. Frenzel presented Vail with an opportunity for connection using distrust abatement and defense reduction – tactics Vail once employed for similar ends. As a consequence of his presumption that no one else could possess these nefarious capabilities, the all-seeing Vail failed to recognize Frenzel’s ruse. Although this deception seemingly validates Vail’s long-held paranoid thought patterns, being exposed as invariably human is, to Vail, a far more debilitating fate than any achieved at trial.

Researching Serial Murder

I have been keeping track of cases of serial homicide for the past thirteen years. Researching serial murder requires not only psychological fortitude but a daily commitment to ensure that offenders that are not labeled as serial killers by the media are captured in the data rolls. As opposed to conducting a Lexis Nexis search when you need information for a publication that spans several years, daily searches help to attribute a measure of validity to the data since the likelihood of missing a case is greatly diminished.

There are a few sources that I utilize to locate the names of offenders who are otherwise not identified as serial killers in my daily Google Alert. Twitter is a valuable resource in that it allows the researcher to search for keywords amongst thousands of user generated updates. Unfortunately, most users (like the majority of media outlets) do not label offenders who murder two victims serial killers. A work around to this problem is searching for keywords such as "two victims" or "two homicides". Although Twitter does a fairly good job in searching for variations of words, researchers should search for as many variations as possible. This method, however, can contribute to repetitive results, information overload and search fatigue.

I also search the Innocence Project website and the National Registry of Exonerations website once a month since some serial killers have been responsible for the murder that an innocent individual was accused and incarcerated. Once the court system acknowledges this error, the guilty party is typically identified. Since these cases are usually very old when the true killer is identified, they infrequently make the news. This requires the researcher to read each case to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the offender's background and if they were responsible for any additional homicides.

Law enforcement agencies are beginning to address their backlogs of untested evidence in the search for perpetrators of violence. As such, cold case blogs are another great source of information on the status of cases that had been placed on the shelf until advancements in DNA technology could catch up to law enforcement's needs. Researchers should be aware that, although new instances of serial homicides are in decline, there has been an influx of cases involving killers responsible for murders that occurred in prior decades. When these killers are uncovered, they are rarely included in the data rolls of new editions of the books that catalog serial killers.

We may begin to see an uptick in unsolved homicides due to the dwindling numbers of seasoned detectives dedicated to the investigation of major felonies, the reprioritization of the FBI's primary function from law enforcement to national security, the amount of time that DNA evidence takes to be processed (from 97 days in 2009 to 161 days in 2013 in NY) and the massive backlogs of uncompleted autopsies at medical examiner's offices.

Your Friendly, Neighborhood Serial Killer

Soon after the capture of "The Grim Sleeper", one of California’s most elusive serial killers, an all too common portrait of the perpetrator emerged. Unbeknownst to most, Lonnie David Franklin Jr., the friendly mechanic who volunteered around his neighborhood, does indeed fit the mold cast by scores of killers before him. A local man, Franklin held menial jobs, had a criminal record, chose marginalized victims, lived in the vicinity of the crimes, and was snared by DNA. The façade he delicately concocted to conceal these facts was shattered to reveal his true nature, shocking his neighborhood. These are all hallmarks of the average, modern day serial killer.

On Fear and Loathing, an episode of the popular television show Criminal Minds, the FBI agents asserted that the offender was African American to which the Mayor of the suburban town responded, “I’ve never even heard of a black serial killer.” The Mayor was echoing the sentiment of the real world news media, true crime aficionados and criminologists who consistently perpetuate the widely held misconception that serial killing is an endeavor engaged in solely by Caucasian males. 

In 2002, upon learning that the D.C. Snipers were African American, the killers were regarded as outliers; a rare occurrence among rare occurrences. But those perplexed by The Grim Sleeper’s race must only briefly examine our storied history of serial murder to discover that a plethora of African American serial killers do exist. Chester Dwayne Turner and John Floyd Thomas, two of the most prolific serial killers in California history, were both African American. Missouri’s Lorenzo Gilyard and Ohio’s Anthony Sowell each amassed victim counts and time lines commensurate with those of Franklin’s. Derrick Todd Lee gathered friends together for sermons and barbeque, much the same as Franklin offered his services around the neighborhood. These are all regular, common men who share an irregular, uncommon pastime; each living dual lives until the full breath of their atrocities become known. Time and again, these killers compel us to assess societal constructs and question how well we truly know our neighbors.

Franklin earned “The Grim Sleeper” moniker due to his seemingly self imposed hiatus between murders, the unique aspect that garnered him national attention. So how was Franklin able to out-maneuver the police for decades? Some may purport that Franklin is an uber-intelligent, stealthy, cunning loner with unique insight into police tactics. Hardly. The ballistic matches, eyewitness account and lack of forensic knowledge relegate Franklin to the careless killer’s club. Franklin did, however, purposefully capitalize on people’s willingness to trust others, a trait common to almost all serial killers. After all, who among us would like to think their neighbor is capable of such abhorrent crimes? Those who knew Franklin find it difficult to juxtapose his outward genial behavior with his brutal private actions. This dissonance, in concert with police missteps, victim selection, luck, neighborhood dynamics, and a failing criminal justice system also ensured Franklin’s longevity.

Franklin perfected the ability to remain infamous and concurrently surreptitious by being a prototypical, common man; a pizza eating, blue collar worker with a daughter attending college, the nice guy willing to go out of his way to fix your car and stop to chat with passersby. Conversation ranged from basketball to police procedurals and often veered towards his favorite subject, women. According to news reports, Franklin was not especially shy about sharing details of his sexual exploits with his male neighbors, invariably counting on them to overlook or dismiss this subtle red flag as simply “guy talk”, a tenant of normalcy. Comparably, the same is true when men congregate and discuss sports as a means to find commonality and fit in.

Arguably, the most intriguing aspect of the Grim Sleeper case is the controversial method with which he was located; familial DNA. Currently, the majority of serial offenders are detected using DNA taken from victims and matched to the killer’s own genetic material, a concept unknown to murderers, like Franklin, who were operating in 1985. But, as law enforcement tactics evolve, killers find new resolve. Today, competent serial killers either take forensic countermeasures or realize that eventually they will be apprehended; their inevitable capture a mixture of good science, persistence, and luck. For these reasons, today’s killers rarely contact the media or engage in the shrewd cat and mouse days of old. Rather, modern offenders hope to prolong their freedom’s fragility by constructing a delicate façade, either by staying married or being involved in the community, all while praying they remain unchallenged. In the future, however, a killer’s unsuspecting relative may unwittingly be responsible for bringing them to justice through a familial DNA match. This new technique, if nationally accepted, would render many serial killers’ attempts to cloak themselves as a futile exercise and undoubtedly expose many more average, friendly, neighborhood serial killers.

FBI Freedom of Information Act Request – Filed 7/7/11 – Denied 8/16/11

Subject: NAMES & DEMOGRAPHICS OF ALL SERIAL KILLERS KNOWN TO NCAVC

Response:

As it pertains to your request, the FBI does not maintain a running list of serial killers. Therefore, the information you seek is not in a retrievable format. Because the FOIA does not require agencies to create records, your request does not comply with the FOIA and its regulations.

Request:

In Geberth and Turco's article titled Antisocial Personality Disorder, Sexual Sadism, Malignant Narcissism, and Serial Murder (1997), the authors state that "The National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) identified 331 serial murderers in the United States between 1977 and April 1992." In filing this request, we ask that only the first and last names of all offenders cataloged within research databases located at the Critical Incident Response Group’s (CIRG) National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime Behavioral Analysis Unit 2 (Crimes Against Adults), the Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center (CASMIRC) and the FBI Academy’s Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) be identified. In an effort to avoid impeding an ongoing investigation or interfering with a pending investigation or internal inquiry, the focus of our request is solely closed, fully adjudicated cases. Information on any unsolved homicides, offenders suspected of unsolved homicides or classified law enforcement techniques or methods is beyond the scope of this inquiry.

The NCAVC’s research database is comprised of cases submitted on a voluntary basis by law enforcement agencies from across the country. Thusly, agents of the NCAVC claim that they cannot dispense information without the consent or knowledge of the agency that provided the data. While we agree that the source of this information should remain confidential in order to protect the NCAVC’s ability to remain a clearinghouse of violent crimes, an offender’s first and last name become public record after an arrest. The NCAVC cannot claim proprietary ownership of the data if it was supplied by outside parties.

As mentioned above, Geberth and Turco gained access to the NCAVC’s research database to complete their manuscript. It would have been administratively impossible to obtain consent from each of the 331 law enforcement agencies that populated the database before granting these researchers access to the dataset. Louis B. Schlesinger, author of Ritual and Signature in Serial Sexual Homicide (2010), also utilized data from FBI databases where “All cases were closed and fully adjudicated and were contributed by law enforcement agencies from around the country.” Janet Warren, author of The Sexually Sadistic Serial Murderer (1996), stated that the data used in her study were “compiled from case files obtained by the FBI’s NCAVC through their research efforts.”

As established, the NCAVC’s BAU 2 gathers data for the purpose of research; it is not a classified law enforcement database commensurate with NCIC, Interpol, HITS, CODIS or ViCAP. Thusly, the contents of any research databases located within CIRG’s NCAVC or the Behavioral Science Unit should not be held to the same heightened confidentiality standards as ViCAP, a classified law enforcement database. Fulfilling this FOIA request would hamper the NCAVC’s continued ability to obtain information from law enforcement agencies no more so than ViCAP’s recent release of unsolved homicide data to the Scripps Howard News Service will compromise that unit’s ability to collect homicide cases from law enforcement agencies.

Agents from the NCAVC have also mined their databases for the purpose of research. In Serial Murder in America: Case Studies of Seven Offenders (2004), an agent of the NCAVC stated that four of the offenders included in the article were identified from “previously compiled lists in the NCAVC of individuals fitting the research criteria…”. FBI agents again consulted the “NCAVC case records” for the publication Frequency of Serial Sexual Homicide Victimization in Virginia for a Ten-Year Period (2004). Although neither of these articles identified the offenders by name, enough biographical details were supplied that the following individuals were identified as the killers referenced in the articles:

Serial Murder in America: Case Studies of Seven Offenders

Offender 1 - Joel Rifkin
Offender 2 - Steven Howard Oken
Offender 3 - Gary Ray Bowles
Offender 4 - Danny Rolling
Offender 5 - Reginald McFadden
Offender 6 - Elroy Chester
Offender 7 - Faryion Edward Wardrip

Frequency of Serial Sexual Homicide Victimization in Virginia for a Ten Year Period

Offender 1 – Elton Manning Jackson
Offender 2 – Chander Matta
Offender 3 – Sean Patrick Goble
Offender 4 – Timothy W. Spencer
Offender 5 – Richard M Evonitz
Offender 6 – Leslie Leon Burchart

Agents of the NCAVC have also constructed manuscripts and journal articles that identify offenders by name. One such article, Cross Cultural Comparison of Two Serial Sexual Murder Series in Italy and the United States (2010), exposed an investigative technique that any offender may now use to avoid further incarceration. In this instance, the NCAVC recommended searching the offender’s cell which revealed additional forbidden materials that led to the offender’s further incarceration.

According to the American Psychological Association, academic professionals “do not withhold the data on which their conclusions are based from other competent professionals who seek to verify the substantive claims through reanalysis” of the data. In this case, the contents of the NCAVC’s research database should be analyzed by “other competent professionals” to verify that it meets the definitional standards of serial murder set forth by the academic community during the 2005 Serial Murder Symposium held in San Antonio, Texas.

In closing, the release of a small subset of information contained within the NCAVC’s research databases should not adversely affect the agencies’ ability to conduct operations. In this case, the NCAVC should release the requested data to satisfy this request in much the same way that ViCAP supplied unsolved homicide summary information to members of the press. The nature in which this information is secreted from the public is in direct contrast with their safety. If an offender, such as Loren Joseph Herzog, were to be released into society, the public should know who the offender is and into what community they will be returning. By law, no organization that engages in research activities can secret the identities of convicted criminals from public knowledge. Therefore, the identities of the offender’s located within the units listed above should be made known through this request.