kiss me black

the-gods-themselves:

Edmund Emil Kemper III is one of the most deadly dangerous - and fascinating - serial killers of modern times in that he is extremely intelligent, articulate, and insightful, and is therefore able to offer investigators great insight into his own mind. He is, in fact, so ingratiating and pleasant that at times even those who should be the least vulnerable to his charms fall prey to them. In the late 1970’s, FBI criminal profiler Robert Ressler interviewed Kemper several times as part of the Criminal Personality Research Project. Ressler became comfortable enough with Kemper that an interview was conducted one-on-one, with no other federal agent or law enforcement officer present. Upon concluding their discussion, Ressler, who was locked in a room with Kemper, pressed a buzzer to alert the guards that he was ready to leave. When no one came to unlock the door, Ressler pressed the buzzer again. After three attempts at summoning a guard Kemper spoke up. The following quotations are verbatim from Ressler’s book, Whoever Fights Monsters. “Relax. They’re changing the shift, feeding the guys in the secure areas. Might be fifteen, twenty minutes before they come and get you.”

Kemper was playing the part of the master manipulator. He wasn’t letting up either.

“If I went apeshit in here, you’d be in a lot of trouble, wouldn’t you? I could screw your head off and place it on the table to greet the guard.”

According to Ressler, he tried to reason with Kemper, assuring that there would be trouble if anything untoward happened. Kemper replied, “What would they do - cut off my TV privileges?”

Kemper, Ressler knew, was exactly right. While killing Ressler might earn his extra time added to his sentence or a stint in solitary confinement, there wasn’t much that could be done to Kemper that would be any worse than spending the rest of his life in prison. Not to mention killing a federal agent would undoubtedly give him great respect and notoriety in the prison population.

Ressler began hinting that he might be armed, telling Kemper that FBI men might be given special privileges for carrying weapons into a prison. When asked what the weapon might be, Ressler hedged, saying, “I’m not going to give away what I might have or where I might have it on me.” Kemper pressed the issue, and finally asked, “[Is it] martial arts then? Karate? Got your black belt? Think you can take me?” The mood had shifted, and Ressler took this as an opportunity to begin a conversation about martial arts.

Finally, a guard appeared to allow Ressler to leave and return Kemper to his cell. As he was exiting the room, Kemper touched Ressler’s shoulder and said, “You know I was just kidding, don’t you?”

Robert Ressler has never again conducted an interview alone with a serial killer. [x]

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