Mindhunters | 2013 July

The Personalization of Grief

By Mark Olshaker On July 31, 2013 · 2 Comments

Scott Simon

I met Scott Simon in 2001 when we worked on a PBS program together about the anthrax scare and learning to deal with the prospect of bioterrorism in the wake of 9/11. We have been friends since then and now my wife Carolyn and I are neighbors with Scott, his lovely wife Caroline and their two beautiful daughters. This week, the well-respected host of National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition has garnered a good deal of national attention and generated an equal amount of controversy for his Twitter and Facebook commentary from the bedside of his dying mother.

Is it proper to share your personal grief with people you don’t even know? As someone who has spent a lot of time with the families of murder victims, I have some thoughts.

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The Pornography of Murder

By John Douglas and Mark Olshaker On July 30, 2013 · 6 Comments

Ariel Castro

In a Cleveland courtroom this past Friday, Ariel Castro pled guilty to 937 of the 977 charges against him, ranging from kidnapping to rape to aggravated murder to just about anything else you can think of, in connection with his holding and torturing three women as sexual prisoners for more than a decade. The plea bargain avoids a lengthy and costly trial for the people of Ohio and the possibility of a death sentence for the 53-year-old Castro, while keeping him behind bars for the remainder of his natural life.

Rightly calling Castro a “coward,” Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty stated that he had secured the approval of victims and their families before agreeing to the plea deal.

For his own part, Castro tried to explain himself to Judge Michael J. Russo by stating that, “my addiction to pornography and my sexual problem has taken a toll on my mind.”

That he has a “sexual problem,” there can be no doubt. But what about this addiction to pornography?

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Allison Leotta’s Tips For Staying Safe

By Mark Olshaker On July 26, 2013 · 3 Comments

Allison Leotta

My friend Allison Leotta is a first-rate crime and mystery novelist whose latest book, Speak of the Devil, has just been published by Touchstone, a division of Simon & Schuster. But a large part of her preparation for her literary career was serving as an AUSA – Assistant United States Attorney – specializing in the prosecution of sex crimes in the District of Columbia. This is one of the best training grounds any prosecutor can have.

Through her extensive experience investigating and trying sexual predators, Allison has come up with five rules for keeping yourself safe. They square totally with John Douglas’s and my own research and experience, so I want to spread them as widely as possible.

Allison’s rules save lives!

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In Memory of Emmett Till

By Mark Olshaker On July 25, 2013 · 4 Comments

Emmett Louis Till
July 25,1941-August 28, 1955

Today would have been the 72nd birthday of Emmett Louis Till, a young man who died in 1955 at the age of 14, never knowing the impact he would have on history or the reverence his name would command as a martyr for dignity, equality and justice. In that, I equate him with Anne Frank, who also went on to enduring significance long past the end of her short life.

The story of Emmett Till is well known, but it always bears repeating.

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The Weight of the Evidence

By Mark Olshaker On July 24, 2013 · 7 Comments

About the same weight as a large male human.

Some years ago, when my wife Carolyn and I lived in the woods in Virginia, we came home one day to find an adult male deer with full antler rack lying dead on the side of our driveway. I called every state and local authority I could think of, but the answer was always the same: If the carcass wasn’t on state or county land, it was my responsibility to dispose of it.

So I called my friend Hank who, in addition to being a physics teacher and musician, happens to be handy at all sorts of things, and together we attached a metal chain around the buck’s neck and dragged it off into the deep woods, where nature could take its course.

Why am I relating this?

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