Book Review
Title: Journey Into Darkness (Mindhunter Book 2) by John E. Douglas & Mark Olshaker
Genre: Non-Fiction, True Crime
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Journey Into Darkness was written as a follow up book to the hugely successful Mindhunter and after devouring that I couldn’t wait to get my teeth into this. The prologue and opening chapter reintroduces us to John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker and some of the cases they discussed in Mindhunter, which if you haven’t read I would highly recommend it and the Netflix show of the same name. Douglas takes us inside the head of the killer, experiencing their lives and the kills through their eyes which was wildly disturbing to read but it hits home the fact that this was Douglas’ entire job, to get inside the heads of the killers and think the way they do in order to predict their movement. This would lead to the capture of many killers and also prevent more deaths but Douglas also argue that it led to a lot of stress and a collapse on mental health on the part of the investigator which is something he has strived to change over the years. Just this introduction was enough to have me hooked and I can’t wait to see what cases Douglas will discuss in this volume.
Douglas talks about the case of Cleophus Prince who committed 6 murders which seemed completely random until it was passed to Douglas. He explains the differences between the killers MO and signature and how not all crimes have a signature but every single one has an MO. Douglas constructed a profile for the killer and when they arrested Prince, he fits the profile almost exactly. Other cases he discusses that look at the MO and signatures are the murder of Deliana Heng, a student. The police already have a suspect Tien Poh Su but they are unable to get a DNA sample from him to definitely link him to the murder. Given the restrictions of law, the police use a very creative method to obtain the DNA. They send an officer to the gym Su goes to and after striking up a conversation manages to convince Su to give him a blood sample. Su is linked to the murders but the real breakdown of the killer begins when he is handed the victims bloodstained panties in court, which was a tactic used in the murder of Mary France Stoner where the bloody rock used to kill her was placed in the line of sight of the suspect, Darrell Gene Devier who eventually confessed to the murder.
Douglas talks about the murder of Alison Parrott who despite their best efforts was never brought to justice which haunts Douglas because he has two daughters. Douglas then introduces us to the Schoolgirl murders which were the horrific rapes and murders of Kristen Dawn French, Leslie Erin Mahaffy, Terri Anderson and Nina DeVilliers, although there is some debate about whether DeVilliers’ murder is part of this grouping or another separate murder that happened at the same time. These murders were committed by Paul Kenneth Bernardo and his wife, Karla Leanne Homolka and it was later learnt that Karla’s own sister, Tammy Lyn Homolka was one of their victims. The FBI was to learn that Bernardo was also the Scarborough Rapist and they didn’t connect the crimes because they have escalated in nature and the MO had changed, and this proves that sometimes the FBI aren’t always right but those factors continue to haunt the men and women involved. Douglas also talks about the rape and murder of Christine Jessop and they believe that Guy Paul Morin was responsible but during his trial there was found to be insufficient evidence and he was released and even when he was retried for the crime he got away. There is some debate over when Morin was responsible but it seems it is a case that will never be solved.
The next case Douglas discuss is that of Cassandra Lynn Hansen who was abducted from her church and murdered by Stuart W. Knowlton. The tactics the various departments and people involved with the case use to get Knowlton to admit his guilt are amazing and there were also used in the case of Larry Gene Bell who murdered Shari Faye Smith and Debra Helmick. A similar case is the case of Shawn Moore who was killed by Ronald Lloyd Bailey along with Kenny Myers, although Kenny’s death wasn’t linked to Bailey until after his arrest. Douglas makes the distinction between psychiatry and psychology which are very different. Psychiatry is often self-reporting and can lead to issues within cases like this as Bailey’s previous crimes for assaulting people was missed and the connection with the missing children and murders was missed as they didn’t notice the escalation in his behaviour. Douglas also discusses the case of Priscilla Dinkel and Danelle Lietz, a grandmother and granddaughter killed spontaneously and he could see that the crime scene reflected elements of disorganisation and inventiveness. William Thomas Reager who living close by at the time and was found guilty of the killings because he felt guilty over his killing of the granddaughter at it wasn’t intended showing that not all murderers are completely emotionless. Douglas discusses the different types of sexual motivated killers especially those with an interest in children. He talks about the case of Amber Hagerman who was killed on January 13th, 1996, and how recognising and understanding the four phases of abduction might have saved her. The four stages are build-up, abduction, post abduction and recovery/release and Douglas discusses all of them using real life cases to explain them. Douglas talks about abduction cases done by women since they are more likely to abduct small children and babies. Joan Witt killed along with her mother trying to prevent Joan’s four day old daughter Heather being taken by Wendy Leigh Zabel. Most female led abduction are planned in advance unlike make led abductions sometimes months in advance of the child being born. However, Douglas does discuss a few cases where men were the abductors of babies. He also talks from both a professional and personal perspective being a father himself to two daughters and later a son and how he prepared them and armed them with the tools they needed to avoid situations like these.
As we cross into the second half of the book, Douglas discusses Jack Collins and Gertrude Martinus who after spending some time in Syria, adopted their first child, Stephen and this was followed a few years later but their second adopted child, Suzanne. We follow the family closely learning about the children as they grew into adults and while Stephen isn’t the adventurous one, the entire family was surprised to learn that Suzanne wanted to become one of the first female Marine aviators and took steps to make it happen but she is soon going to be killed. Suzanne was the victim of one of the killers we were introduced to earlier in the book, Sedley Alley but rather than focusing on him this section focuses on Suzanne and who she was as these things are often lost in the media and criminal proceedings. Learning about her life made the eventuality of her death even more heart-breaking to read and this gets worse when we see the aftermath of what her parents and brother were left to deal with especially in regard to the court case and how it was postponed several times to determine Alley’s mental state. Even after the trial where he received the death penalty there were many delays that the family campaigned against in order to get justice for the daughter and sister they lost to this savage man. Reading about the long and drawn out affairs that the family had to deal with meant they weren’t allowed to put Suzanne to rest properly until it was done and we hurt for them. Douglas does a great job of making the crimes from a thing of sensation to something entirely human and makes us ask questions that how can society allow things to happen that did during Alley’s trial without making themselves seem completely heartless when Suzanne was an innocent person whose life was ripped away from her.
The next couple of cases that Douglas introduces us to are very disturbing to read about, the first is the case of Nancy Newman who was murdered along with her two daughters, Melissa and Angie. All three were sexually assaulted and murdered in a brutal fashion especially the three year old, Angie which immediately sparked the attention of the authorities. At first the profiling team were at odds with law enforcement as they thought they had a suspect but he didn’t match the profile completely. The killer turned out to be Nancy’s husband, John’s nephew, Kirby Anthoney and the reasons behind the killings were difficult to read about. We also introduced to the case of Carolyn Hamm who was raped and murdered and while there were similar crimes locally, these were rapes and break ins not murders. After several crimes are committed they arrest David Vasquez for the murder but they believe that there were two offenders but the partner was never found. Vasquez was sentenced to 35 years in prison, however, a few years later a string of similar murders began and they realises they have a serial killer on their hands. When Susan Tucker is murdered among others, Douglas and his colleagues believe that Vasquez was wrongfully imprisoned. There are many more murders along with break ins and rapes and they feel that the profile was wrong based on the accounts of the victims that survived and there were quite a few. Eventually, Timothy Spencer is arrested for these crimes and got himself the nickname, the South Side Strangler. This was the first case where DNA was used to convict for the death penalty but Vasquez couldn’t be re-tried because the original evidence degraded and remained in prison. In 1989, Douglas along with friends managed to get Vasquez pardoned and released.
The final case Douglas discusses in the book is the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, these are high profiles cases so I won’t talk in too much depth about them but I was surprised to learn that Douglas was asked to create a profile on the murder and while he didn’t want any bias after the fact he seems to agree that O.J. Simpson was the most likely killer of Nicole and Ronald. The details of the case are difficult to read but there isn’t a case in the book that is easy to read about. Douglas wraps up the book by talking about the justice system and the pros and cons of rehabilitation and whether it works in practice as well as theory. Overall, I found Journey into Darkness just as informative to read as Mindhunter but I held a stronger fascination with the killers discussed in Mindhunter that I felt a stronger passion when I was reading it but I will definitely be picking up more of Douglas’ books in the future.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Comments