1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 242 is based on the above analysis...

"Given the murderer's boasting about his professionalism while disposing of the body, it is almost certain that the murderer is experiencing a serious professional crisis."

"They are very confident in their professional abilities, but that confidence is being challenged."

Billy Hawke, following Theodore's analysis, offered his conjecture:

"He's already been fired?"

Theodore nodded:

"It's possible."

"It could also be criticism, demotion, or causing some kind of accident."

"Being fired is the worst-case scenario for the murderer."

"Unemployment and heartbreak are the two most typical and common stressors."

"The former poses the most direct threat to people's social identity and survival security, while the latter fundamentally destroys people's self-worth and intimate connections."

Bernie looked at Theodore:
"It seems we need a list of departing employees from the shipyard."

Encouraged, Billy Hawke asked Theodore again:

"That dock, is it?"

"All four bodies were thrown into the water from here."

"He may have wrapped the body at the dock."

“Apart from the Coast Guard supply tents in the park, almost no one goes there.”

"The Coast Guard only uses the tents there when they have missions to operate along the river; otherwise, nobody cares about them."

“Once it gets dark, even if he dances on the dock with a corpse in his arms, no one will notice.”

Theodore looked at Billy Hawke with some surprise:

"One of the reasons the murderer chose the dock on the southwest side of the tidal lake as the location to dump the body was because the dock was extremely well hidden."

"The dock is in a remote location, completely blocked by West Potomac Park to the north and the Potomac River to the south."

"Besides taking the water or air routes, to get here by land, you either have to go from the northwest along the southwest section of Ohio Avenue, through West Potomac Park, or from the southeast, through East Potomac Park, and across the Ohio State Bridge."

"But any serial killer will always prioritize secrecy when choosing a location to dump a body."

"Only if the location where the body is disposed of is sufficiently concealed can the crime be kept undetected. Without a body, there is naturally no case."

"Unless a special emotional connection is found between the location where the body was disposed of and the killer, this is simply a necessary choice for the killer to cover up the crime."

Bernie hesitated for a moment, then asked Theodore:
“But yesterday at the Seventh Precinct, you mentioned that the discovery of the body dumping site would put pressure on the killer and make him nervous, so you reminded the Seventh Precinct to increase patrols.”

Isn't this a kind of emotional connection?

Theodore glanced at Bernie and shook his head:

“The murderer can choose any secluded location as the place to dump the body.”

"In this case, the murderer's treatment of the victim was highly ritualistic, and the final step of the ritual was to throw the body into the water and let it sink to the bottom of the river."

"This requires a river, a dock, and a secluded body of water that will not be discovered."

"It was inevitable that the murderer would choose this dock as the site to dump the body."

"For the murderer, the location where he dumped the body, like his crime, is a huge secret that he can only keep to himself."

Bernie understood:
"So the discovery of the dock was like a secret that only he knew being discovered by someone else, and then published on the front page of the Washington Star!"

Theodore affirmed his statement:

"This will inevitably put pressure on the murderer."

"This is the tension that comes with the secret being discovered and exposed."

"If the place where the body was dumped was the place where the murderer first had sexual intercourse, or a place where the murderer often played in childhood, or a secret base where the murderer vented his emotions."

"For the murderer, the location where the body was dumped was not just a secluded place to dispose of the body, but also had other special meanings."

"When the location where the body was dumped was exposed, the murderer felt not only the tension of his secret being exposed, but also the anger of his private territory being violated."

"At this stage, no special emotional connection has been found between the murderer and the dock."

Bernie and Billy Hawke understood this time and began to write furiously.

Theodore waited a while and then summarized:

"The killer experienced absolute power and control by strangling his target with his arm."

"After killing the target, the murderer transported the body to the dock and performed a highly ritualistic treatment of the body to gain professional pride and psychological satisfaction."

He paused, then continued:

"Based on the above analysis, my profile of the murderer is as follows."

"We are looking for a man between 30 and 50 years old."

"The killer was physically strong, especially in the upper body, which gave him enough confidence to quickly subdue the victim."

"The killer is likely to be of ordinary appearance, or even appear trustworthy, so as not to arouse excessive suspicion when approaching the victim."

"They may exhibit traits of being taciturn or overly polite in order to conceal their inner impulses."

"The killer had a vehicle as a means of transportation, which could be a pickup truck or a large station wagon."

"Its maintenance of vehicles and ships will be excellent."

Bernie couldn't help but look up at Theodore.

He knew the murderer had a car, but he didn't understand anything else after that.

Theodore paused, met Bernie's gaze for a moment, and seeing no questions from him, continued speaking:

"Gears, tarpaulins and ropes, and even the bodies of the deceased were all transported in this vehicle."

"This car might even be a crime scene."

"The murderer lured the victim into his car, drove to a remote area, and committed the murder."

"The killer may also have owned a small boat."

"This boat isn't big; it might be carried on the vehicle."

"The body disposal site is about ten yards away from the dock. The murderer may have first transported the body to the dock by car, performed a ritualistic treatment at the dock, put the body in a boat, and rowed to the disposal site to dump the body."

"The dock where the body was dumped is a remote location. The murderer must have been very familiar with that area to have found it."

"He most likely lives in Alexandria or the southwest area of ​​DC."

"The killer may be introverted, usually quiet, and not very enthusiastic about parties and gatherings. Instead, he prefers activities that allow him to be alone, such as fishing or hiking."

"But he was very arrogant and thought that no one around him was as smart as him."

“They don’t show it on purpose, and sometimes they even deliberately act more ‘approachable’.”

Bernie looked up at Theodore again.

Theodore stared at him, but still didn't get a question from Bernie.

This puzzled Theodore, so he simply stared at Bernie:

"The murderer worked or had worked at the Alexandria Shipbuilding Company."

"It was not simply manual labor, or a job that anyone could do; the murderer's job required a high level of technical skill."

"The killer was very skilled at his job and highly accomplished in his field, which he was proud of." "His professional abilities were an important source of his confidence and self-esteem, and these skills gave his life a sense of order."

"It is highly respected because of the technology it possesses."

"But the killer's career has suffered a setback in the last two years."

"This blow may stem from technological changes in shipyards, which put their traditional skills, which they are proud of, at risk of becoming obsolete."

"It could also come from challenges posed by younger, more educated newcomers."

"Or perhaps he needed to take responsibility for an accident, which made the perpetrator realize that the skills he had been so proud of were not as sophisticated as he had imagined."

"The murderer was likely married, but the marriage was not going well."

"The professional setbacks, in turn, led to economic pressure on his family and a decline in his status within the family, which further destroyed the killer's male self-esteem, making him unable to regain a sense of control in the workplace and social relationships. He then sought this feeling by killing more vulnerable groups."

Billy Hawke was the first to finish taking notes.

He glanced at the contents of the notebook, then at Theodore, and hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

Bernie quickly finished writing as well. After reviewing the profile again, he asked Theodore with a puzzled look:

Wasn't the killer white?

Theodore shook his head:

“In the vast majority of violent crime cases, interracial crimes are rare.”

"Fighting among their own kind is a more common pattern in violent crimes."

"Black people tend to target other Black people, white people tend to target other white people, and Latinos tend to target other Latinos."

"But in this case, the first victim was a black man, while the second victim, based on his basic condition when he was recovered, should be a white man."

"This kind of interracial crime makes it very difficult to determine the ethnicity and skin color of the perpetrator."

After Bernie finished taking notes, he raised a question:
Is this case related to sex crimes?

Instead of giving a direct answer, Theodore asked him in return:
"Why do you ask?"

Bernie opened the file folder, took out the photo of victim number 1, and spread it on the table:
"'Cherry' is a prostitute."

“He chose ‘Cherry’ as his target and tricked her into getting into his car by talking business with her, then took her to a secluded place and killed her.”

"Moreover, if he wasn't out looking for pleasure, he shouldn't have been there at that time of day, walking from the southwest section of Maine Avenue towards Fifth Street."

Theodore selected a full-body photo of victim number 1 and posted it on the whiteboard:
"The killer's car, and a small boat."

"According to employees of the Potomac River sightseeing boat company, even boiler repairmen at the shipyard earn tens of thousands of dollars a year."

"The murderer, as a skilled and experienced shipyard worker, likely earned an even higher annual salary."

"If the killer's motive is sex, the target he seeks should be commensurate with his income."

"The first deceased had almost every possible X disease, and was old and unattractive, making him inexpensive."

"This is completely inconsistent with the killer's financial situation."

After a pause, Theodore changed the subject:
"But this does not mean that this case is completely unrelated to x."

"The satisfaction of x cannot be achieved solely through the action of x."

"For many violent criminals, the process of controlling and killing with violence is just as satisfying as the act itself."

"Among the four categories of sex crimes, the angry-excited type of criminal derives sexual excitement and pleasure from the victim's pain, fear, and despair; violence itself is a source of sexual satisfaction."

"In this case, the victim number 1 may not have been just an easy target for the murderer; he also had a certain symbolic meaning."

Billy Hawke instinctively asked:
What is the symbolic meaning?

Theodore shook his head:

"It's not clear yet."

"The killer may have projected complex feelings for his mother, wife, or other important women onto the victim."

"It is also possible that he had a history of failure or inferiority in sex, or even that he was sexually impotent, and he blamed all of this on the deceased."

"Or the murderer may have seen himself as a cleaner, purifying society by eliminating prostitutes to satisfy his distorted sense of moral superiority."

"We need to wait for the identities of the other three victims to be confirmed before we can get any results."

"Understanding the victims is key to understanding why the killers chose them."

Bernie went out and called in Richard Dick Vaughn's assistant.

The assistant walked into the office, his gaze quickly drawn to the whiteboard behind Theodore.

The whiteboard was somewhat messy, with some unrelated words written on it, and a photo pasted in the very center.

The assistant examined the photo carefully and quickly identified it as a dead body.

He paused for a moment, then quickly looked away and asked Theodore and the others what kind of help they needed.

Bernie was in charge of negotiating, and he requested a list of shipyard employees who had left within the last two years, a list of employees held accountable for the accident, and a list of employees who had been demoted or otherwise disciplined.

The assistant agreed without hesitation.

However, he also reminded everyone that these lists may take some time to compile, and they are expected to be available tomorrow.

The assistant explained that each of the three lists they needed could contain hundreds or even thousands of names.

Bernie was surprised and asked why.

The assistant told him,
Over the past two years, in order to adapt to industry changes and enhance its competitiveness, the shipyard has made a series of changes and attempted to introduce new shipbuilding technologies and advanced equipment.

However, a considerable number of workers have a strong resistance to new shipbuilding technologies and equipment.

The shipyard had to lay off wave after wave of rebellious workers.

This even triggered several worker strikes.

The shipyard's parent company, Marina Industries, even sent representatives to the shipyard to negotiate with the union several times, and it took a lot of money to calm the situation down.

However, the workers' resistance did not disappear.

Over the past two years, the shipyard has experienced a series of accidents, both large and small, resulting in substantial losses.

In the most serious incident, a newly launched ship was almost blown into the sky.

The shipyard had no choice but to execute the worker who caused the accident.

The workers felt they didn't deserve this fate, so they sought help from the union.

The trade union responded to every request and immediately organized itself to fight for the workers' interests.

With both sides sticking to their own versions of events and the stalemate continuing, the union resorted to its trump card: organizing a strike.

The shipyard had no choice but to back down.

As this continued, the relationship between the shipyard and the labor union became unprecedentedly tense, and the two sides engaged in an unprecedented struggle in various fields.

The assistant helplessly shrugged:

“During previous negotiations between the shipyard and the union, the union made one demand.”

"When a shipyard provides any employee list to any external organization, it must submit it to the labor union for review to confirm that the list does not infringe on the interests of the workers and that its use is legitimate before it can be provided."

"They really do verify each name one by one."

(End of this chapter)