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Former Investigator Discusses Hunt for Baton Rouge Serial Killer

Aired September 04, 2002 - 10:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also in Louisiana, authorities hope that a newly-released profile of a serial killer will make people take a closer look at their neighbors, friends and even family members. Police are trying to track down a man who they say killed three women in the Baton Rouge area over the last year. Detectives say the man is likely white and is between the ages of 25 and 35 and seemingly harmless.
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MARY ANN GODAWA, BATON ROUGE POLICE: Women who have been or will be questioned by investigators may not even think to mention this individual because he seems so harmless. The women he follows, watches or interacts with may not even be aware of him because he blends in with the community and his physical appearance is normal.

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KAGAN: So far police have not named any suspects in the case.

Joining us now to talk more about the probe and the profile is former FBI investigator Don Clark.

Don, good morning, thanks for being with us.

DON CLARK, FORMER FBI INVESTIGATOR: Good morning, Daryn, good to be with you.

KAGAN: First, I want to go to this idea that he appears to be a nice, normal, regular guy and non-threatening. In each of the cases with these three women, it doesn't appear that he forced entry into their home.

CLARK: Well I think what's happening there, and again speaking not as a profiler but as an investigator who's really used those people and those resources very well, they have developed this information from all of the investigation that's been conducted from the crime scene, to talking to other people around and really looking at what transpired right at the crime scene. And I think that's why they get an idea as to how this type of person operates. He's not the first that's operated in this method I might add.

KAGAN: He's not the first, you mean other serial killers have operated in this way or?

CLARK: Absolutely, Daryn. You may recall Ted Bundy years ago. He was a very handsome young man, he moved around, the young ladies really liked him. He was very good conversationally and it was easy for anyone to let their guards down. And before you know it, this impulsiveness that he has to go out and commit a crime just sort of rises and the next thing you know he's done something very sinister to these people.

KAGAN: Similar thing. I want to go over some of these clues with you, Don. First of all, white male. How do we know it's a white guy? We have no physical description, really, of him.

CLARK: Yes, but -- you don't. But I'll bet you that there is something at that crime scene that these investigators have collected up. It could be a strand of hair, it could be some skin under the fingernails, it could be a number of other items that could have been picked up, clues, evidence at the crime scene that would really tell you what race or ethnicity this person might be.

KAGAN: Also his age, they're saying white male between 25 and 35.

CLARK: You can also tell that, too. And again, from my experience with working with these profilers and the other people who do these types of crime scenes, you can tell a lot about a person just by getting different types of evidence from the crime scene and the hair, looking at different particles from the skin. And who knows, maybe there's even blood from this -- from the crime scene. As a matter of fact, they did get some DNA and from that they may be able to tell ages and the ethnicity of people.

KAGAN: And they're saying his shoe size between size 10 and 11, so descent sized guy, and able to lift 175 pounds. I'm wondering maybe one of the women weighed about that and he'd have to move her body from one place to another.

CLARK: Well again, you're exactly right because it's very difficult to tell how strong a person might be. And their height may not always correlate with how much weight that they can lift because some people who are very short can lift an awful large amount of weight. But if one of the ladies weighed a particular amount, that may give them some ideas. But I can't give you a scientific, and I'm not certain that they can as to how they really determine how much weight a person can lift.

KAGAN: In following these three cases and reading more about what's happened in Baton Rouge, there's actually quite a number of unsolved murders of women over the last 10 years. It's entirely possible that this man, or whoever's doing this, is responsible for a lot more than just the murders of these three women.

CLARK: Well it is possible that one person could be responsible for this. But keep in mind now, they estimate that this person is between 25 and 35 years old, which would give them then a timeline as to perhaps how many years that this person may have been involved in such activities. So if that's the age line that they're working with, there may be some others that responsible for but not all. It has not -- it has not been uncommon, even here in Texas, that we've had a number of victims of someone who's been killing young females over the years and yet have not been able to prosecute or identify anyone. And these are very tough cases that they don't have a person to pin this DNA and all of the evidence to.

KAGAN: Well let's hope that this profile helps them catch the guy that has done these terrible things to these women. Don Clark, thanks so much.

CLARK: Thank you.

KAGAN: Appreciate your time.

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