The F.B.I. profiler sensed that one man was responsible for the death of all the victims, a man who wasn’t worried about being discovered at either the abduction or the body sites.

“Crime scene analysis,” Douglas continued, “reflects that your offender is comfortable at the crime scene location.”

Douglas believed that the killer felt no remorse over his crimes, and that he probably felt that the girls deserved to die. “He probably even feels he is providing a service to mankind.”

“The crime scene further reflects that your offender at this point in your investigation is not seeking power, recognition, or publicity. He is not displaying the victims after he kills them. He does not want his victims to be found, and if they are eventually found, he has the mental faculties to understand that items of evidentiary value will be more difficult to develop…if he disposes of victims in a body of water.”

Next came a more detailed description of a man with no name and no face—yet. It seemed to John Douglas that the man now referred to as the “GRK” had either worked, lived, hunted, or fished near the Green River area. Like most serial killers, he would be highly mobile, although he would be most likely to choose a conservative vehicle at least three years old. It was probably an ill-cared for van or a four-door car.

“Your offender has, in all probability, prior criminal or psychological history,” Douglas wrote. “He comes from a family background that included marital discourse [sic] between his mother and father. In all probability, he was raised by a single parent. His mother attempted to fill the role of both parents by inflicting severe physical as well as mental pain on [him]. She constantly nagged her son, particularly when he rebelled against all authority figures. He had difficulty in school, which caused him to probably drop out during his junior or senior year. He has average to slightly above average intelligence.”

The killer was probably attracted to women, but felt “burned” by them because they had spurned him or lied to him. “He believes he was fooled one too many times. In his way of thinking, women are no good and cannot be trusted. He feels women will prostitute themselves for whatever reason and when he sees women ‘openly’ prostituting themselves, it makes his blood boil.”

John Douglas believed the killer was drawn to the SeaTac Strip and its open prostitution because he had suffered a recent failure in a significant relationship with a woman in his life. It could well be that he had been dumped for another man.

“He seeks prostitutes because he is not the type of individual who can hustle women in a bar. He does not have any fancy ‘line’ as he is basically shy and has very strong personal feelings of his inadequacies. Having sex with these victims may be the initial aim for your subject, but when the conversation turns to ‘play for pay,’ this causes flashbacks in his memory of times past with other women. These memories are not pleasant. The straightforwardness of prostitutes is very threatening to him. They demonstrate too much power and control over him.”

The F.B.I. profiler felt the Green River Killer was “mentally comfortable” in killing prostitutes because of these feelings.

And what was he like in terms of appearance and lifestyle? Douglas pondered on that. “Your offender will be in relatively good physical shape. He will not be extremely thin or fat. He is somewhat of an outdoorsman. We would expect him to be in an occupation that requires more strength than skill, i.e., laborer, maintenance.”

He doubted that the GRK minded getting wet or dirty, because he was used to that from his job and/or his outdoor hobbies. “He will not be very meticulous, neat and/or obsessive-compulsive in his everyday lifestyle. He is a beer drinker and probably a smoker. Since these homicides, he has been doing both with more frequency.”

It was a precise description, yes, but you could go into any tavern and topless bar along the Strip and find several men who fit within its parameters. Scores of men fished along the Green River. Hundreds of local men hunted, drank beer, smoked, felt women had done them wrong, and drove dirty old cars. Where would the task force start?

Douglas guessed that the killer was Caucasian, somewhere between his midtwenties to early thirties, but cautioned against eliminating older subjects because there is no “burnout” with such murderers. “He will not stop killing until he is caught or moves from the area.”

Evaluating what profilers had learned from other serial killers, Douglas opined that he would not stay idle. “He is nocturnal and a cruiser. He feels comfortable during the evening hours. When stress at work or home increases, he cruises the area where the prostitutes are available.”

There was little doubt that the GRK revisited the river and other areas where he’d left his victims’ bodies, and it seemed likely that he was still contacting prostitutes, probably talking to them about the murders.

“He has followed newspaper accounts of these homicides and has clipped out some for posterity and for future fantasy and embellishment. If items belonging to victims are missing [i.e., jewelry], he will give them to the significant woman who is rooted to him—girlfriend, wife, mother.”

Although the Green River Killer had operated in his “comfort area,” Douglas felt that he was now having difficulty sleeping and was experiencing periods of anxiety, scanning newspaper accounts to see how thorough the investigators were. “He fears being detected.”

To ease that fear, the GRK might turn to alcohol, or even to religion.

In the Behavioral Science Unit’s experience, media coverage could have a profound effect on an unknown murderer. If the press stressed that the case had dead-ended and nothing was happening, the killer might feel he was “off the hook” and be able to cope very well with memories of his crimes.

Douglas suggested possible ways the media could help in flushing out the Green River Killer. If they mentioned how advances in forensic science and new techniques were helping to track him, he might well interject himself into the probe hoping to throw the detectives off.

A somewhat grisly suggestion from the profiler was to have the media give the location of cemeteries where the victims were buried. On a night when the Green River Killer couldn’t find a new victim, he might desecrate their graves.

Another ploy that sometimes worked was to create a “Super Cop Image.” The media could glorify one detective as an ultimate investigator assigned to the case. That man could give TV and newspaper reporters derisive quotes about the “demon” killer, while he painted the victims as angelic. This had worked in the past to draw a killer out of the shadows and into a dialogue with the top man.

There was another, opposite, possibility to consider. A psychologist or a well-liked reporter could give statements that the killer was the real victim, not the women of the streets. There would have to be a means for the killer to contact this sympathetic person who he felt would understand him.

What would entice one multiple murderer wouldn’t necessarily be effective with another. But there was a chance one of the schemes would work. The man the task force wanted to find might risk being identified and arrested, or he might be glorying in his success at duping the detectives who hadn’t caught him yet.

When—and if—the investigators had enough probable cause to execute another search warrant, John Douglas suggested that they take special care to take away scrapbooks, pornography, and any personal diaries they might find. Some killers papered their walls with newspaper clips about the murders they had committed, or kept macabre souvenirs and photographs, clothing, jewelry, even locks of hair. These things would be pure gold in a murder trial.