Portrait of a Predator
“The interesting question isn't whether someone was dangerous. It's how all the pieces of a life came together to make their particular kind of danger possible.”
An examination of dangerous individuals through the psychological, developmental, social, and situational forces that influenced their behavior, revealing the patterns, contradictions, motivations, and vulnerabilities behind what they did.
Robert Hansen & The Coward's Hunt
Robert Hansen became infamous as Alaska's “Butcher Baker,” a serial killer who abducted women, flew them into the Alaskan wilderness, and hunted them through remote terrain. Or at least that's the mythology. But I think calling what Hansen did a “hunt” gives him far too much credit. He selected women he believed society would be slow to protect. He controlled the weapons, transportation, restraints, terrain, timing, and whether anyone knew where they were. Then, he treated the helplessness he had deliberately manufactured as evidence of his own superiority. But I have a question: What does winning actually prove when you were the person who controlled the rules?
Play Story (64 mins)