Vidocq Society

The Murder Room. Michael Capuzzo introduces the founders of the Vidocq Society, talented courageous sculptor Frank Bender, Commissioner William Fleisher, and criminal profiler Richard Walter. Learn what inspired them to help solve cold case murders. Click HERE to order The Murder Room in Print, Kindle Edition and Audio Versions

Cold Case Homicides: Practical Investigative Techniques by Richard H. Walton, EdD, VSM, provides effective and accessible information to those responsible for investigating and resolving previously examined, but still unsolved, cold case homicides.

The book merges theory with practice through use of case histories, photographs, illustrations, and checklists that convey essential, fundamental concepts, while providing a strong, practical basis for the investigative process. It combines proven techniques from forensics, psychology, and criminal investigation, and focuses on technologies that may not have been available at the time of the crime.

This guide defines the characteristics of a cold case homicide; details various investigative methods used by law enforcement agencies; explores the actual experiences of detectives in re-opening case files; and presents current technologies such as ViCAP, HITS, and TracKRS used in the identification of cases related to the re-opened case, or its perpetrator. It also highlights technological changes that contribute to law enforcement's abilities to solve cold case homicides, such as computerized print technology, the specificity of DNA, and the expanding data banks that enable the linkage of previously unknown suspects to the crimes they committed. Click HERE to order Cold Case Homicides in hardcover and Kindle.

Deadly Betrayal: The CBS Murders is based on an actual major, high-profile investigation, told from the inside by FBI man Don Richards, VSM.

“An undercover agent is killed in a Chinese Tong gang-war and FBI Supervisor Dan Robertson can't prove the operation was authorized. He is set up as the scapegoat, and told to involve himself in a safe white collar fraud case until things get sorted out. But that case is far more sinister, and soon Robertson finds himself partnered with NYPD Detective Richie LeBeau in a complex multiple murder investigation which might connect to the Tong. Overcoming personal clashes, inherent distrust, agency rivalry, and leaks to the media, they use every crime-solving and forensic technique to identify the killer, and build their case. When sharp legal maneuvering threatens to dismantle their work and free the killer, they must find a way to resurrect the case and bring justice to a terrible crime.” Click HERE to order Deadly Betrayal.

The Girl With The Crooked Nose by Ted Botha. Tells of Frank Bender’s work as a forensic artist and founding member of the Vidocq Society, to bring attention and resolution to hundreds of neglected murders of women near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. From this work, Frank and his daughter Vanessa have donated time and talents to assist the Ni Una Mas project (Not One More). Click HERE to order The Girl With The Crooked Nose.

In Someone’s Daughter, historian Silvia Pettem tells of a young woman, known only as "Jane Doe," found murdered in 1954 in Colorado. Pettem spurred the Vidocq Society and Boulder County Sheriff's Detective Steve Ainsworth to find the woman's name and killer.

Vidocq members selflessly volunteered resources and time: Drs. Richard Froede, Walter Birkby, and Robert Goldberg worked on exhumation and autopsy. Dr. Birkby reassembled the skull. Frank Bender did facial reconstructions. Dr. Terry Melton worked on DNA. Fred Bornhofen coordinated. Many others contributed. In October 2009, DNA comparison with a surviving sister confirmed Jane Doe's identity as Dorothy Gay Howard, an 18-year-old missing from Phoenix, Arizona. Click HERE to order your copy of Someone’s Daughter.

In Trail of Blood, The Vidocq Society helps solve the murder of 24 year old Scott Dunn. Scott's parents never gave up when his killers left no body, no weapon, only blood, so much blood.

“When Jim Dunn got the heart stopping call every parent dreads: "Your son has disappeared" on a Sunday night, it set into motion a six year nightmarish odyssey of desperate searches.

Dunn turned to Richard Walter of the Vidocq Society, forensic pathologist and criminal profiler, who consulted Scotland Yard, studied DNA evidence and blood spatter patterns, and then pointed out who he deduced killed Scott Dunn, and why.” Click HERE to order Trail of Blood.

Third Edition,
by Nathan J. Gordon and
William L. Fleisher

Effective Interviewing and Interrogation Techniques. A practical manual providing the forensic practitioner/ investigator critical insight into human behavior, enabling one to become a better interviewer, interrogator and, most importantly, an expert detector of truthful and deceptive behavior.

Gordon and Fleisher have created a one-stop guide to mastering the art of credibility assessment during an interview, with successfully tested techniques for obtaining a confession from guilty suspects. Forensic practitioners, law enforcement, the intelligence community, the private security sector, attorneys, and forensic and criminal justice students will all find this volume a valuable resource.
• The only book to address FAINT, IIT, and MITT in one source
• Enables the interviewer to obtain a confession that can stand up in court
• Includes an online workbook with practical exercises to assist the reader

The third edition expands chapters on torture, assessing the interview, statement analysis, MITT, and interrogation. It contains new chapters on passenger screening, and report writing, along with new case studies. Also covered are ways to maximize the collection of information from a prospective employee, and legal considerations.

The Forensic Assessment Interview Technique (FAINT) and the Integrated Interrogation Technique (IIT) were developed at the Academy for Scientific Investigative Training and are used by forensic practitioners and investigators to detect truthful or deceptive behavior. FAINT is applicable to all forensic type interviews and incorporates the assessment of nonverbal behavior, projective analysis of unwitting verbal cues, statement analysis and the Morgan Interview Thematic Technique (MITT). This volume teaches how to combine, apply and quantify these techniques to reach a numerical conclusion to the truthfulness of the interviewee. Available in hardcover and Kindle. Click HERE to order.

I Have Lived in the Monster: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Serial Killers by Robert K. Ressler and Tom Shachtman. Agent Ressler, who coined the term "serial killer" in the 1970s, recounts his years since leaving the FBI, working as an independent criminal profiler on some of the most famous serial murder cases of our day. Piecing clues from crime scenes, along with killing patterns and methods, Ressler explains his role assisting investigations of such perplexing international cases as England's Wimbledon Common killing, the ABC Murders in South Africa, and the deadly gassing of Japan's subway. We're also witness to Ressler's fascinating, in-depth interviews with John Wayne Gacy, plus a shockingly candid discussion with "cannibal killer" Jeffrey Dahmer. Click HERE to order.

Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives by John E. Douglas, Ann W. Burgess, & Robert K. Ressler. This authoritative book represents the data, findings, and implications of a long-term F.B.I.-sponsored study of serial sex killers. Specially trained F.B.I. agents examined thirty-six convicted, incarcerated sexual murderers to build a valuable new bank of information which reveals the world of the serial sexual killer. Data was obtained from official psychiatric and criminal records, court transcripts, and prison reports, and from extensive interviews with the offenders. Detailed information is included on the F.B.I.'s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP) along with a sample VICAP Crime Analysis Report Form. Attention is given to child/adolescent formative events, societal perceptions & pressures which may be motivational to sexual killers who exhibit aberrant thought patterns, deviant behavior, and aggression linked to sexual expressivity. 234 pages. Click HERE to order in Kindle, paperback and hardcover.

Healthy Martial Arts by Jolie Bookspan, Med, PhD, FAWM is for all in law enforcement, military, athletes, and others who need to be in top shape for work and life, while understanding and preventing injuries. Covers strength, abdominal training that transfers to Spec Ops (train like you fight), nutrition, flexibility, performance enhancement drugs and foods, soreness, injuries, breathing, spirit, speed, balance, joint stability, back, neck, and knee pain prevention, handling stress, making training and daily life healthy, training techniques for all athletes, brain power & mental exercise, wheelchair athletes, more. Dr. Bookspan is a sports medicine specialist, military scientist, 4th degree Black Belt, 2009 Master Instructor of the Year, and former full contact fighter inducted into the International Black Belt Hall of Fame. Healthy Martial Arts won the Reader's Choice Award of the International EUSA Martial Arts Association. Approximately 200 photographs. 228 pages. Click HERE for secure ebook download with color photographs. Click HERE for 8”x11” print edition with black & white photos.

Investigating Computer-Related Crime, Second Edition (2004) by Peter Stephenson with NEW Third edition coming soon. Written by an information security specialist, this second edition of Investigating Computer-Related Crime discusses cybercrime, its investigation, and the difficulties encountered by both public law enforcement officials and private corporate investigators. The book offers insights into collecting evidence, interrogating suspects and witnesses, handling crime in progress, as well as issues involving the authorities, and helpful case studies. Updated chapters incorporate new kinds of attacks, current work of the Digital Forensic Research Workshop and their investigative model, new operating systems, the impact of the Patriot Act, and new ways of analyzing computer media. 448 pages. Click HERE to order the hardcover edition.

Investigating Religious Terrorism and Ritualistic Crimes by Dawn Perlmutter, VSM, director of Symbol & Ritual Intelligence, is the first complete resource to assist in crime scene identification, criminal investigation, and prosecution of religious terrorism and occult crime. It analyzes occult and religious terrorist practices from each group’s theological perspective to help you understand traditional and contemporary occult groups and domestic and international terrorist religions, demarcate legal religious practice from criminal activity, and acquire techniques specific to occult and terrorist religion crime scene investigation. Click HERE to order in hardcover and Kindle.

The Unknown Darkness: Profiling the Predators Among Us by Gregg McCrary. McCrary's 25 years in the Bureau have yielded over 1000 cases to draw upon. The 10 he describes in the book reveal the strengths and pitfalls of modern criminal investigation, including the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, the Buddhist Temple Massacre in Phoenix, Arizona, the search for the Scarborough Rapist (who eventually became a serial murderer), the prosecution of Jack Unterweger (an international serial killer who committed murders in Czechoslovakia, Austria and Los Angeles), the Sam Sheppard murder case and others. McCrary answers what happens at the crime scene, what kind of person does it take to grapple with the serial killers among us, and exactly how do we disarm the enemy. 400 pages. Click HERE to order in hardcover or paperback.

Cold Cases: An Evaluation Model with Follow-up Strategies for Investigators (Advances in Police Theory and Practice) by James M. Adcock and Sarah L. Stein begins with a historical perspective on how cases get to the point where it appears all investigative leads have been exhausted, and includes a chapter on understanding the process of homicide and those who kill. Next, the authors explain the evaluation model, theories of the crime, evidentiary issues and concerns, informational and behavioral aspects relative to the crime and the participants in the crime, and documents investigative strategies for future efforts on the case. The third section discusses the investigation, questions investigators must ask, choice of interview/interrogation techniques based on the behavioral aspects involved, and how the growth in technology since the date of the incident might provide new opportunities to uncover clues. Finally, the authors suggest how investigators can maximize their efforts and obtain not just an arrest, but a conviction. Appendices include sample standard operating procedures from three different agencies to use as a guide for setting up a cold case unit and a list of additional resources a department may look to for assistance. 264 pages. Click HERE to order.

Diving Physiology in Plain English by Dr. Jolie Bookspan, former research physiologist for the U.S. Navy, inducted into the NAUI SCUBA instructor Hall of Honor. For divers, families of divers, search and rescue teams, training departments and medical personnel. Clear information to understand (not memorize) physiology and medicine, and apply all to safer decompression, thermal, equipment, gas mixing, fitness to dive, rescue, and other protocols. Order from the Hyperbaric Society publisher, retail stores, or the author through website: www.DrBookspan.com/books.

Many books on the market go into the investigative and forensic aspects of “homicides” but, singularly, do not adequately address the death investigation process as a whole. Understanding the entire process and event (whether it be homicide, suicide, accident or natural) with all of its nuances makes the detectives better death investigators. In this attempt the authors have addressed how one should go about conducting a death investigation from understanding the death process, to first officers’ responses upon arrival, the victim and the victimology, the preliminary versus the follow up investigation and the issues presented at a crime scene. It further delves into investigating equivocal deaths, the art of reconstructing the facts of the case, the investigative interviewing process, to a review of common mistakes found in other cases considering the legal issues at hand. In the appendices there is a sample of the Behavioral Analysis Interview in a homicide case; the art of differentiating suspects with pre-peri and post offense behaviors and a classic equivocal death analysis of a case that has had much attention over the years. The bottom line, “Death Investigations” is a “how to” book that all law enforcement officers should have on their bookshelf. Click HERE to order.