Mac needed his caffeine shot for another reason. He and Lich had been assigned to Riley’s detail on the University Avenue Strangler. They started that very morning, and he was perversely pumped. The Daniels case was over and done. A new senator had been appointed with a special election set for the following fall. Word was Helen Anderson was already angling to run.
The serial killer was still at large, and the political and media pressure was once again mounting on the department. Mac, having brought the Daniels case home, was the flavor of the month. This was especially the case after, at the chief’s request, he gave an extended interview to the Pioneer Press about the Daniels case. After the article, questions began to surface from the media, wondering if Mac would become involved in the serial killer investigation. Flanagan, seeing a chance to take some heat off, put Mac and Lich on it.
Mac was of two minds about it. He welcomed the chance to work the case. Cases like this were why he wanted to be a detective in the first place. It was the kind of case his dad would have loved.
However, Mac worried about his friend Pat Riley, who was heading the serial killer detail. The case was beating the shit out of him, and now they were putting the new hotshot on the case. Thankfully, Riles had made it easy, seeking Mac and Lich out, welcoming them, saying the case could use a fresh set of eyes. Pat gave them both a file, the “Cliff Notes” version he called it, to get them up to speed. They could spend time with the full case files in the days to come.
The short file told Mac that they were dealing with a cold, calculating killer. There had been six deaths to date. The last two had only been seven days apart, and the concern was that the killer was picking up his pace. Mac remembered thinking that the Daniels case would take the heat off the chief for a while. It lasted all of four days until they found the sixth body on the following Tuesday.
The file revealed that the investigators, despite six murders, had little solid evidence on the killer, just speculation.
The one certainty seemed to be the victims. With the exception of one, they were working-class women. They worked shifts that usually ended between 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. They were physically similar women, nondescript in appearance, medium height, thin and not physically strong.
Once he had the women, the serial killer strangled and then sexually assaulted them. He used a Trojan condom. Other than that, he left no traceable evidence behind. He wore gloves. He never left pubic hair, and they suspected that he shaved the area around his genitals, or perhaps was using a prop to complete the sexual assault. After strangling and assaulting the women, the asshole would dump the bodies in vacant lots in close vicinity to University Avenue. When he dropped the bodies, the killer left his signature, a balloon with a smiley face-“Have a Nice Day.” Riles said it was his way of rubbing their faces in it.
The FBI had been brought in to complete a profile, and their opinion was chilling. Their killer was a white male, since all of the victim’s were white, and serial killers tended only to kill women of the same race. The killer was of strong build and good agility, able to take the women quickly without being seen or heard. He was likely a loner who lacks social skills and has struggled with women.
The victims were very average or ordinary looking women. The killer likely considered himself to be in this category as well, yet had had little success with such women or women in general. He likely sought out women of this type because of some past stressor or experience in his life with a working-class woman or women. This past experience, likely involving rejection of some kind, had stuck with him, something that he hadn’t gotten over, that ate away at him and had finally come to the surface and caused him to seek out and kill these women. Nonetheless, he likely needed to have a woman in his life, despite his failings. In this regard, he might still live with his mother.
The areas where the women were found suggested he was a resident of or worked in the area. The killer, if he worked, did so during the day, as the women generally were abducted at night. His ability to get away undetected suggested he had watched the women for days ahead of the abduction, which required surveillance at night. It was likely that he prowled from place to place, looking for his target. Once identifying the target, he spent nights watching her every move, looking for the best place to take her. He then found privacy, perhaps in a van, or at some other location, maybe even his home, to commit the sexual assault. The dump locations and the leaving of the balloon was a way of feeling superior, pulling off the killing and being able to leave a calling card behind.
The sexual assault provided evidence of someone looking to have dominance over women. Poor, unsuccessful relationships or ones in which he was dominated were likely what caused him to act out in this fashion. In his life, he hadn’t been able to get women to do what he wanted. Once he strangled them, killed them, he had dominance over them, he could do what he wanted, however he wanted. Then, once the assault was complete, the final act became symbolic-dumping the body like garbage in a vacant lot, the dominance over the woman complete.
His ability to identify his victims, abduct them and get away almost completely undetected suggested some level of training, perhaps police or military. The ability to leave no evidence behind also spoke of some level of training or education in this regard.
For Mac, the scariest part of the profile was the opinion that the killer had a taste for the killing now, was perfecting his work, getting better at it. He would not stop. The FBI suggested the killer would keep a diary of the events, preparing to share his work with someone at some point in time. He likely spent time with the diary, reliving his acts, reveling in them.
Having seen the FBI’s success with profiling, Mac suspected much of what the FBI said was true. Unfortunately, following up on the FBI’s profile had proven unsuccessful.
Outside of what they knew about the victims and the FBI profile, direct evidence on the case was thin. The best piece of evidence they had was that he was probably using a van. Witnesses on two occasions had seen a van in the vicinity where a body was dumped. One witness saw a man run out of the vacant lot and get into a van. Problem was he was at least a block away. He couldn’t see plates or any other identifying features of the van, other than the taillights, which flashed and were thought to be for a Ford Econoline. The investigative detail didn’t have a color of the van, other than dark, probably black, brown, or blue. It was a van like a thousand others seen on a daily basis anywhere in town driven by delivery or repair guys.
The detail had run Minnesota license plate searches for felons with a history of sex crimes, who owned vans and perhaps had military or police training. There were a couple of hits, but they’d been quickly eliminated. There was more for Mac to read, but the condensed version got him up to speed for at least his first day.
Mac dropped the Explorer in the parking garage and walked into the Department of Public Safety Building. There was a detail meeting set for 8:15 a.m.; it would be his and Lich’s first. As Mac walked in, he heard a horn beep behind him; it was Lich. Mac waited, and Lich quickly got out, wearing his old beige topcoat, replete with dirt and coffee stains. Columbo wouldn’t have been seen in it. He didn’t have it buttoned, couldn’t over his potbelly. A gravy brown fedora covered his dome. However, the suit was the prize, faded green, with a faded yellow dress shirt and green tie with large gray stripes. His shirt needed collar stays as the tips flipped up.