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American Morning

Green River Killer

Aired November 05, 2003 - 09:47   ET

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

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


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us this morning to talk about the Green River killings, and how the man behind them got away with murder for so long is criminologist Casey Jordan.
Good morning. Nice to see you.

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMONOLIGIST: Good morning. Good to be here.

O'BRIEN: I think that's really the main question -- how could somebody kill so many people and get away with it for so long? He was a suspect for a long time.

JORDAN: He was. But the normalcy of his life, the fact that he was a longtime employee in this very study job as a truck painter, he was married three times, he has a child -- the normalcy of these killers is very often the best mask they can wear. The stereotype is that we're looking for monstrous ogres. But usually it is the guy who lives next door. And that mask of normalcy probably protected him for these 20 years.

O'BRIEN: Give me a little insight into the mind of a serial killer. I mean again, as you say, the normalcy. What's going on in someone's mind that makes them, probably snap is not the right word, because he lived for so long as this monstrous ogre who was living this double life, essentially.

JORDAN: If we knew what went on inside their minds, it would be far easier to actually apprehend them. So we don't speculate about what goes on in the mind, except that he's clearly driven by some inner force, to go out and act as a predator on these very vulnerable young women and girls, these runaways who are vulnerable by virtue of the fact that, as runaways or prostitutes, they very often don't have family who is looking for them. So he buys time, because they are not missed immediately, and they don't have families who are empowered to search for them, hire investigators, and very often it takes dozens of victims before the police really begin to take things seriously.

O'BRIEN: The murders took place in the 1980s. Give me a little background on this. He was a suspect pretty much immediately. There was something linking him to one of the missing women, an identification of his vehicle, but it never really went anywhere, and he passed a polygraph test.

JORDAN: He did. And we see that a lot with suspected killers. They enter very often a zone, somewhere so far beyond normalcy it's really sociopathy. They don't feel anything about their murders. That's why they're able to them again and again, get away with, because they don't feel any remorse, they don't feel any guilt, and they keep feeling compelled. And because of that they, can very often pass a polygraph, because they truly don't have any reaction to the machine.

O'BRIEN: So was he very cunning? Were investigators inept? Was it a combination of the two under the sort of overall umbrella of a normal life that protected him?

JORDAN: You have to understand that 20 years ago, we did not know nearly as much about serial homicide as we do today and we did not have the advantages of DNA evidence and technology. So it's tempting to blame the police investigators. I think a few mistakes were made, but I think it would be wrong to blame them completely, because they were doing the best that they could with the tools and the tool box at that time.

O'BRIEN: He's obviously avoiding the death penalty Washington D.C. Do you think that he'll face it in Oregon?

JORDAN: I think it's interesting that there are these two bodies found in Oregon, which he may not plead to, because Oregon may go after him with the death penalty.

The most important thing to realize is that these prosecutors work for the people of the state, and these people include the families of the victims. So they have to do what's right for everyone. And sometimes, I do believe that it's better to take a guilty plea on 48 people, and not draw it out years and years of a death penalty trial for the sake of the families.

O'BRIEN: All right, I think I said Washington D.C., but I obviously meant Washington State and Oregon, where of course these murders took place.

Casey Jordan, as always, thanks so much. Nice to see you. Great information.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 5, 2003 - 09:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us this morning to talk about the Green River killings, and how the man behind them got away with murder for so long is criminologist Casey Jordan.
Good morning. Nice to see you.

CASEY JORDAN, CRIMONOLIGIST: Good morning. Good to be here.

O'BRIEN: I think that's really the main question -- how could somebody kill so many people and get away with it for so long? He was a suspect for a long time.

JORDAN: He was. But the normalcy of his life, the fact that he was a longtime employee in this very study job as a truck painter, he was married three times, he has a child -- the normalcy of these killers is very often the best mask they can wear. The stereotype is that we're looking for monstrous ogres. But usually it is the guy who lives next door. And that mask of normalcy probably protected him for these 20 years.

O'BRIEN: Give me a little insight into the mind of a serial killer. I mean again, as you say, the normalcy. What's going on in someone's mind that makes them, probably snap is not the right word, because he lived for so long as this monstrous ogre who was living this double life, essentially.

JORDAN: If we knew what went on inside their minds, it would be far easier to actually apprehend them. So we don't speculate about what goes on in the mind, except that he's clearly driven by some inner force, to go out and act as a predator on these very vulnerable young women and girls, these runaways who are vulnerable by virtue of the fact that, as runaways or prostitutes, they very often don't have family who is looking for them. So he buys time, because they are not missed immediately, and they don't have families who are empowered to search for them, hire investigators, and very often it takes dozens of victims before the police really begin to take things seriously.

O'BRIEN: The murders took place in the 1980s. Give me a little background on this. He was a suspect pretty much immediately. There was something linking him to one of the missing women, an identification of his vehicle, but it never really went anywhere, and he passed a polygraph test.

JORDAN: He did. And we see that a lot with suspected killers. They enter very often a zone, somewhere so far beyond normalcy it's really sociopathy. They don't feel anything about their murders. That's why they're able to them again and again, get away with, because they don't feel any remorse, they don't feel any guilt, and they keep feeling compelled. And because of that they, can very often pass a polygraph, because they truly don't have any reaction to the machine.

O'BRIEN: So was he very cunning? Were investigators inept? Was it a combination of the two under the sort of overall umbrella of a normal life that protected him?

JORDAN: You have to understand that 20 years ago, we did not know nearly as much about serial homicide as we do today and we did not have the advantages of DNA evidence and technology. So it's tempting to blame the police investigators. I think a few mistakes were made, but I think it would be wrong to blame them completely, because they were doing the best that they could with the tools and the tool box at that time.

O'BRIEN: He's obviously avoiding the death penalty Washington D.C. Do you think that he'll face it in Oregon?

JORDAN: I think it's interesting that there are these two bodies found in Oregon, which he may not plead to, because Oregon may go after him with the death penalty.

The most important thing to realize is that these prosecutors work for the people of the state, and these people include the families of the victims. So they have to do what's right for everyone. And sometimes, I do believe that it's better to take a guilty plea on 48 people, and not draw it out years and years of a death penalty trial for the sake of the families.

O'BRIEN: All right, I think I said Washington D.C., but I obviously meant Washington State and Oregon, where of course these murders took place.

Casey Jordan, as always, thanks so much. Nice to see you. Great information.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com