Inside the Mind of Killers: Ann Wolbert Burgess Breaks Her Silence on Working With the FBI’s ‘Mindhunters’
Ann Wolbert Burgess knew it was time to step away from the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) when serial killers started sending her Christmas cards—and knew her children’s names.
As a forensic nurse and one of the pioneers in the study of sexual assault and trauma, Burgess was instrumental in shaping the way the FBI profiled the world’s most dangerous criminals. The BSU, known as the real-life ‘Mindhunters,’ had been interrogating serial killers in a desperate attempt to prevent future horrors. But before Burgess, they lacked a crucial perspective—understanding the killer through their victims. Burgess changed that, helping track down some of the most depraved predators in history.
Now, decades later, Burgess is telling her side of the story. In her memoir, A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind, she unearths haunting transcripts, chilling encounters, and the secrets she uncovered while studying the twisted minds of America’s most notorious murderers. Speaking with A&E True Crime, Burgess shares which killers still haunt her, how she coped with cases involving children, and the shocking details that still surprise her about some infamous monsters.
How Victimology Changed the FBI’s Approach to Serial Killers
The FBI’s early profiling methods were brilliant but incomplete. They were laser-focused on suspects—on how they killed, their habits, their patterns. What they lacked was a deeper understanding of why they did it. That’s where Burgess came in.
“That’s exactly what [the FBI] needed,” Burgess explains. “They were always focused on the offender, but they needed to better understand what the victim went through. And that could be translated into what the offender’s motive was.”
The Clue That Caught a Predator
Burgess recounts the case of Jon Barry Simonis, the infamous ‘Ski Mask Rapist,’ who terrorized Louisiana. The BSU profiled him with startling accuracy—predicting that he would drive a flashy car. That detail ultimately led to his capture.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Burgess says. “The agents and local police were so good at profiling, even down to the kind of car a suspect would drive.”
The Killers Who Still Haunt Her
Some cases never leave you. For Burgess, Henry Louis Wallace, the ‘Taco Bell Strangler,’ is one of them. Wallace was able to evade law enforcement for years because authorities failed to connect his victims.
And then there’s Harvey Glatman, the ‘Lonely Hearts Killer,’ whose mother had desperately sought psychiatric help for him as a child—only to be told he’d ‘grow out of it.’
“That case made me realize how important it is to educate mental health professionals on the warning signs,” Burgess says. “Maybe we’re doing better now, but there’s still a long way to go.”
Could Ed Kemper Have Been Stopped?
Ed Kemper, the ‘Co-Ed Killer,’ murdered his grandparents at just 15 years old. Instead of recognizing the warning signs, he was released as a ‘rehabilitated’ young man—only to continue his killing spree.
“He was a really big kid, and he was bullied,” Burgess recalls. “He carried those violent fantasies right through his early incarceration. And when he got out, he killed again.”
Burgess questions how anyone could have believed he wasn’t dangerous. “He shot his grandmother in the back of the head. That didn’t come out of nowhere.”
The Case That Broke Her Heart
Working with the FBI meant confronting unimaginable horrors—including cases involving children. One that haunts Burgess is the abduction and murder of 7-year-old Melissa A. by serial killer Brian Dugan. Her friend, Opal, managed to escape—but law enforcement initially dismissed her as unreliable.
“They ignored what Opal could have told them,” Burgess says. “But we were able to get a detailed composite of Dugan from an 8-year-old child.”
She learned an important lesson from that case: “People say kids can’t tell you much. That’s not true at all.”
The Serial Killer Who Hid in Plain Sight
Dennis Rader, the ‘BTK Killer,’ terrorized Kansas for decades before he was finally caught. What surprised Burgess most? The fact that he hid all his trophies inside his house—where his family lived.
“It just means people don’t pay attention to what their family members are doing,” she says. “Or maybe they don’t clean their house very well.”
Why Serial Killers Shouldn’t Be Executed—Yet
One of the most controversial opinions Burgess holds is that some serial killers should not be executed—at least not immediately.
“The only way we’re going to learn where we made our missteps is through their confessions,” she explains. “If we execute them too quickly, we lose crucial information that could help us catch others before they strike again.”
A Lifetime of Secrets
Ann Wolbert Burgess spent years peering into the darkest corners of the human mind, helping shape the FBI’s behavioral profiling techniques and uncovering what makes killers tick. But even now, after all the cases, all the horror, she admits: Some questions may never have answers.
And some nightmares never fade.
