Profiling 101

(This section created in partnership with my bestie AI, ChatGPT. The ideas are mine but she helps me organize them).

🧠 The Basics of Behavioral Analysis

Welcome to the foundation of Wolves in the Wallpaper. If you’re fascinated by the psychology behind crime and want to understand how profilers work, this is your guide. Criminal profiling isn’t about predicting the future—it’s about reading the patterns that are already there, hidden in plain sight.

Whether you’re here to follow my case breakdowns or to try your hand at profiling yourself, this page will walk you through the core tools of behavioral analysis.

🔍 What Is Criminal Profiling?

Criminal profiling—also called behavioral analysis—is the process of piecing together a psychological portrait of an unknown offender based on the evidence left behind. It’s part science, part instinct, and entirely focused on human behavior.

Profilers ask:

What kind of person would commit this crime in this way?
What do the choices at the scene tell us about their habits, impulses, fears, and fantasies?
What kind of life would shape someone to do this?

It doesn’t reveal a name, but it can help point investigators in the right direction—or eliminate suspects who don’t fit the psychological blueprint.

🗂 Organized vs. Disorganized Offenders

This is one of the most foundational tools in profiling. Crimes tend to fall somewhere along a spectrum from organized to disorganized. These categories are based on the behaviors and decisions an offender makes before, during, and after the crime.

Here’s a simplified breakdown:

Feature	Organized Offender	Disorganized Offender
Planning	Meticulous, premeditated	Spur-of-the-moment
Control	Maintains control over the scene and victim	Quickly loses control
Scene	Tidy, limited evidence	Chaotic, messy, evidence left
Victim	Chosen deliberately	Victim of opportunity
Social Life	Appears normal, may have relationships	Isolated, awkward
Intelligence	Average to high	Often lower
Criminal Record	Nonviolent crimes	Past violence or instability
Behavior Afterward	Watches news, inserts self into investigation	Withdraws, confused or remorseful

🧰 Note: Many offenders don’t fit neatly into one box. A killer might be methodical in one moment and chaotic in another—especially if something unexpected happens. Profilers look at dominant patterns, not perfection.

👤 Victimology: Understanding the Target

If you want to understand the offender, start with the victim. Victimology is the study of who the victim was, how they lived, and why they may have been targeted.

Key questions:

Was the victim considered high-risk or low-risk based on their lifestyle?
Did they have regular routines or habits that made them vulnerable?
Were there signs of overkill, humiliation, or posing that suggest a personal motive?
Was the victim targeted for who they were—or just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Sometimes the victim is the key to unlocking the “why.” Other times, they’re chosen because they were simply available. But either way, the offender’s choices reflect their inner world.

🧪 Crime Scene Analysis

Crime scenes are emotional landscapes. They reflect how the offender was feeling, what they feared, and what they wanted.

Things profilers look for:

Primary vs. Secondary Scene: Was the crime committed and the body left in the same place? If not, why move it?
Staging: Is the scene manipulated to look like something it’s not? (Think of a “robbery gone wrong” setup.)
Level of Forensic Awareness: Did the offender try to clean up? Wear gloves? Avoid cameras?
Control and Chaos: Was the crime quick and controlled—or explosive and messy?
Evidence of Fantasy: This includes posing, overkill, sexual elements, or anything that goes beyond “just” killing.

💡 MO vs. Signature

This is where things get especially interesting.

MO (Modus Operandi): The how of the crime. It’s the practical method used to commit the offense—things like tying someone up, breaking in through a window, or wearing a mask. MO can change over time as offenders learn and adapt.
Signature: The why. Signature behaviors are psychological or emotional needs that don’t serve any practical purpose—posing the body, taking trophies, inserting objects, or writing messages. Signatures tend to be consistent because they fulfill a fantasy or compulsion.

MO is about getting away with it.
Signature is about getting something out of it.

🧬 Offender Traits: What Can We Guess About Them?

After analyzing all the above, profilers generate a hypothesis about the offender’s traits. This might include:

Likely age range
Gender and race (when relevant)
Occupation or lifestyle clues
Psychological state (e.g., delusional, compulsive, organized, impulsive)
Knowledge of the area or victim

The goal isn’t to accuse—it’s to focus the investigation.

🧠 Types of Offenders (Motives)

There are several broad categories of motive that come up repeatedly in profiling:

Visionary: Driven by hallucinations or delusions
Mission-Oriented: Believes they’re cleansing the world of certain people
Hedonistic: Kills for pleasure, which may be sexual, sadistic, or thrill-seeking
Power/Control: Finds gratification in domination, not necessarily in death
Anger/Rage: Explosive and emotional, often with overkill or disorganized scenes

These categories can overlap, and not every case fits neatly—but they help frame the lens through which we analyze behavior.

🧠 The Four Main Rapist Typologies

1. Power-Reassurance Rapist

Motivated by a desire to feel more confident, wanted, or masculine.

Key Traits:
- Low self-esteem
- Socially awkward or isolated
- Believes the victim may come to like him
- Uses minimal force; may apologize or show concern
- Often fantasizes that the rape is a romantic or consensual encounter
Common Behaviors:
- May engage in voyeurism or stalking beforehand
- Tends to rape at night in areas he feels comfortable (e.g., near his neighborhood)
- Rarely causes significant physical injury
Example: A man breaks into a woman’s home, gently wakes her, and whispers that he won’t hurt her if she complies. He may ask personal questions or say things like, “You’re so beautiful.”
Notable Case Example: Herbert Mullin (though better known as a spree killer, his early crimes showed power-reassurance elements in terms of seeking connection)

2. Power-Assertive Rapist

Motivated by a need to dominate or prove masculinity through control.

Key Traits:
- Confident and aggressive
- Often narcissistic or entitled
- Sees rape as his right
- Uses moderate to excessive force without necessarily wanting to harm
- Often impulsive and may be intoxicated
Common Behaviors:
- Rapes to show dominance, often during or after arguments or as a “test of power”
- Little regard for victim afterward; may leave her exposed or humiliated
- May be charming or manipulative beforehand
Example: A man meets a woman at a bar, drives her somewhere isolated, and forces sex, insisting she “owes” him.
Notable Case Example: Altemio Sanchez exhibited power-assertive traits during his earlier rapes—using his strength to overpower victims and fleeing afterward, showing little concern for how they were left.

3. Anger-Retaliatory Rapist

Motivated by rage and a desire to punish or humiliate the victim.

Key Traits:
- Explosive and impulsive
- Likely to have issues with women or authority
- Rape is a form of payback
- Short, intense attacks with excessive force
- Often does not plan well or cover tracks
Common Behaviors:
- May target women who resemble someone they’re angry with
- Injuries are often severe—bruising, tearing, even beating
- Uses degrading language or physical abuse
Example: After being fired or dumped, a man attacks a woman walking alone and violently rapes her while shouting insults.
Notable Case Example: Bobby Joe Long, while ultimately a serial killer, began with anger-retaliatory style rapes after his divorce and personal frustrations.

4. Anger-Excitation Rapist (Sadistic)

Motivated by sexual gratification from suffering and fear.

Key Traits:
- Most dangerous and rarest type
- Derives pleasure from victim’s pain, fear, or death
- Often intelligent, manipulative, and calculating
- Carefully plans attacks and may use restraints, torture, or tools
- Often kills the victim
Common Behaviors:
- Keeps souvenirs (clothing, hair, etc.)
- Engages in rituals or rehearsed fantasies
- May record or photograph the crime
- Victims are often strangers
Example: A man abducts a woman, keeps her captive for days, tortures her while documenting everything, and eventually kills her.
Notable Case Example: Robert Berdella, Ted Bundy, and BTK. Altemio Sanchez’s later murders, particularly those with clear signs of overkill and ritualistic elements, may suggest a mixed presentation with emerging anger-excitation traits.

❌ The Limits of Profiling

Profiling isn’t magic. It doesn’t produce a name, and it’s only as good as the evidence available. It’s a tool—sometimes a brilliant one—but it works best with solid investigative work, not in place of it.

Offenders lie. Scenes get contaminated. People surprise us. But behavior leaves traces, and the truth tends to shimmer between the cracks.

Resources

Burgess, A.W. (2022). A killer by design: Murderers, mindhunters, and my quest to decipher the criminal mind. Hachette Book Group.

Douglas, J. & Olshaker, M. (2020). The killer across the table: Unlocking the secrets of serial killers and predators with the FBI’s original mindhunter. Day Street Books.

Douglas, J. & Olshaker, M. (2019). Journey into darkness. Arrow.

Douglas, J. & Olshaker, M. (2017). Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s elite serial crime unit. Simon & Schuster.

Douglas, J. & Olshaker, M. (2000). The cases that haunt us. Scribner.

McCrary, G. (2004). The unknown darkness: Profiling the predators among us. HarperTorch.

Ressler, R. (1993). Whoever fights monsters: My twenty years tracking serial killers for the FBI. St. Martin’s Paperbacks.

Vronsky, P. (2020). Serial killers: The method and madness of monsters. Berkley.