This has the premise to be a very interesting documentary series, with a neat twist. The show looks at cold cases and is hosted by former profiler John Kelly and true crime author M. William Phelps. The twist is that John Kelly receives possible tips into the psyche of the killer by a mystery man serving time in prison. He has the codename of "13" and is said to be a serial killer. Using a serial killer to explain what may be going through the mind of the killer, or his motives, is intriguing but can still fall into what I call the "Criminal Minds" mentality in that all offenders operate to a set formula. The first case they looked at was the Connecticut River Valley Murders, which I have to admit I have yet to look into. The second was the case of the Eastbound Strangler. A man who killed four prostitutes and laid them in a drainage ditch, 60 feet apart, with their heads turned east, just outside Atlantic City.
Phelps himself carries out the fieldwork, such as visiting the crime scene and speaking to any potential witnesses. "13" believes the Strangler is the same man who killed the four women whose remains were found in Long Island, before the other six bodies were found. I believe too much emphasis was placed on the bodies facing east. It might fit neatly into an episode of "Criminal Minds" but as for the bodies faces looking in the direction of the Long Island victims is too tenuous to take seriously. He could have placed them facing out to sea! He could therefore have been a Naval man, or in the Merchant Marine! Being composed enough to place them a specific distance apart shows great temperament, and displays a good level of intelligence, so why should he not do something a bit out of the ordinary, such as the facing east, simply to tie up the cops and profilers with outlandish theories? You cannot say what is going through the mind of a serial killer. Everybody is different. Did his parents ban him from watching Star Trek? Did his father scream at him "I carried an M16 when I was a teenager!" Did his mother regard girls as the dirtiest sinners in the world and never let him forget it? You just do not know. You never know why every killer reacts the way they do. Why does he blame prostitutes for anything? Then again, they are the most convenient women to blame for everything that has gone wrong in your life. Even if they have never done anything to you. There is not a deep psychological reason behind everything. It is hard for people to accept that there are individuals who do not need a reason at all, to destroy lives. Not very heart warming is it?
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