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Outlook: The man behind Mindhunter: Face to face with serial killers

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John Douglas (credit: Alexander James Towle/Fairfax Media via Getty Images)

08/12/2020 GMT

The man behind Mindhunter: Face to face with serial killers

BBC World Service - Outlook, The man behind Mindhunter: Face to face with serial killers

John E. Douglas spent his FBI career speaking to some of America's most violent criminals

As an FBI agent John E. Douglas interviewed serial killers to understand the criminal mind.

In the 1970s John E. Douglas was a relatively young FBI agent who would travel around the US teaching police officers the bureau's tactics. John knew he was inexperienced compared to the seasoned detectives he was instructing. But he had an idea to accelerate his learning: go into prisons and speak to notorious serial killers. He spoke to some of the most infamous criminals, including child killer Joseph McGowan. They weren't called 'serial killers' back then, John helped come up with the term. Through the interviews John was able to understand how the minds of these criminals worked and how it could be applied to solve open cases. But the gruelling work took its toll on John. Andrea Kennedy spoke to him about how it began to erode his mental health and very nearly cost him his life. His story inspired the Netflix series Mindhunter. This programme was first broadcast in June 2019.

(Photo: John E Douglas. Credit: Alexander James Towle/Fairfax Media/Getty Images)

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