UK Newsday spoke with Adrienne Castro, a criminal profiler who used to work with the FBI and today consults on popular true crime show Forensic Time. Miss Castro gave us her expert opinion on the DT Killer, based on all the information police have released so far: ‘As ever, profiling is not an exact science, but I think we can draw some tentative conclusions from this criminal’s behaviour and his choice of victim. This is a white man who could be anywhere between his early twenties to his mid-forties. These aren’t compulsive acts; these murders are planned and methodical, and our killer likely has an average to high IQ. This man would seem to be perfectly normal, unremarkable, charming even. He outwardly appears to be an upstanding member of society, with a good job where he’s used to a level of control – maybe a management position. I think it’s very likely he has a partner or a wife, and potentially even a family too, who have no idea about his secret life.
‘There is an interesting observation to make about his spatial behaviour too. In serial killers, we find that an offender will have a natural aversion to committing crimes too close to home, their buffer zone. And yet, conversely, they also have a comfort zone: a nearby area they know very well which isn’t too close to home and where they feel secure committing these acts. We refer to this as the Distance Decay Theory. It’s interesting to note that these victims were all from different towns and villages in this one part of the county, and their bodies too were all spread out in different locations in the comfort zone area. This leads me to believe that our killer lives in a different nearby location, one that hasn’t yet come up in the investigation, his untouched buffer zone.
‘As to his motive, I think what we have here is something that underpins a lot of serial killings: misogyny, essentially. This man has very strong feelings about women: he hates them. These victims are all attractive, educated, intelligent young women, and there is something there that this killer finds utterly intolerable. He sees these killings as his own personal mission. I find the wrapping of their heads in tape particularly interesting, like he is denying them even their own faces; cutting off their ability to speak or see before he kills them. These killings come down to power and humiliation, and the sadistic pleasure the offender takes from that. It’s likely the signs were there from a young age, and he started out by harming family pets as a boy. I would not be surprised if, somewhere in his possession, he keeps a manifesto with all his thoughts about women and how they should look or behave in order to be acceptable.
‘The police have not released any information about whether he stalks his victims beforehand, but I would say, given how meticulous the victim selection appears to be, that there is a degree of surveillance before he abducts them. I think that’s part of the thrill for him. He may even make direct contact with them, and it’s possible the killer has had intimate relationships with these victims.’
Outside Julia Hunter’s family home this evening, her eighteen-year-old sister, Harriet, stopped briefly to speak to reporters. When asked about the possibility of Julia being stalked before her death, a tearful Harriet had this to say: ‘I’m not sure. She never told me she was scared or anything. I would’ve helped her if she had. But she did mention a few weird things in the couple of weeks before. She talked about seeing some lines, chalk lines, I think, that looked like three stick figures, near the house. I never saw them and it was probably just our neighbour’s kids. Also, a couple of dead birds – pigeons – had been brought into the house through the cat flap. But Julia thought that was strange because our cat is very old now and hardly goes outside. She also mentioned getting a few prank calls. That was in the week before she went missing, but she didn’t seem frightened by them. If anything, she found them annoying. But […] looking back on those few weeks before, everything seems weird to me now, now that she’s gone.’
A memorial service for Julia Hunter will be held on 21 February at her local church.
Ravi must have reached the end first, a sharp intake of breath right by her ear, like a windstorm trapped inside her head. Pip held up one finger to put him on pause, until she was done, reached the very last word.
And then: ‘Oh,’ she said.
Ravi jerked away from her, standing up to his full height. ‘Oh?’ he said, voice higher and scratchier than it should be. ‘Is that all you have to say about that? Oh?’
‘What are you…’ She spun her chair to watch him. His hands were dancing nervously, tucked under his chin. ‘What are you freaking out about?’