The Last Victim_ A True-Life Journey Into the Mind of the Serial Killer - Jason Moss [0]
THE LAST VICTIM. Copyright © 1999 by Jason Moss and Jeffrey Kottler, Ph.D. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
Warner Books,
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
ISBN 978-0-7595-2830-7
A hardcover edition of this book was published in 1999 by Warner Books.
First eBook Edition: April 2001
Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.
Contents
Copyright
Prologue by Jeffrey Kottler, Ph.D.
1: The Bookstore
2: True Crime
3: First Target
4: The Plan
5: Research
6: A Question of Motive
7: Perfection and Fear
8: Monsters
9: In Training
10: The Questionnaire
11: Setting Bait
12: Secrets
13: Outside the Boundaries
14: Perversity
15: Fictional Friends
16: What’s Up, Buddy?
17: A Back Door
18: Incest
19: Joining a Family
20: Deeply Disturbed
21: Cannibal
22: Only the Lonely
23: Doubts
24: Night Stalker
25: Weak Stomach
26: Grooming a Killer
27: The Experiment
28: Hook, Line, and Sinker
29: Q & A
30: The Invitation
31: FBI
32: Journey
33: The Attorney
34: Long Walk
35: Face-to-Face
36: Jekyll and Hyde
37: Breakdown
38: Day Two
39: Neighbor Down the Hall
40: Goodbye
41: Going Home
42: Juggling Killers
43: Blackmail
44: Execution
45: Aftermath
Afterword by Jeffrey Kottler, Ph.D
Prologue
by Jeffrey Kottler,
Ph.D.
It was autumn in the desert, but not like the kind of autumn you’d ordinarily envision for that time of year. It was still hot, blazing hot. The only refuge from the sun was inside the refrigerated buildings.
With its stately palm trees and expanses of grass, the campus resembled one of the many resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. The difference was that, instead of neon and slot machines, there was a hotel college that taught would-be entrepreneurs how to operate casinos, as well as the usual academic buildings that catered mostly to local students and a few Southern California refugees. The most prominent structure by far was the Thomas and Mack Building, the basketball arena that played host to the Runnin’ Rebels. This was a university, after all, known primarily for its basketball program.
The best and the brightest of the students, a few hundred ambitious, sometimes compulsive scholars, enrolled in the honors program to get the best shot they could for entrance into medical school, law school, or the corporate fast track. The requirements included several exploratory seminars designed to expand students’ education beyond their narrow areas of specialty.
I had volunteered to teach one of these honors seminars, called “Things That Matter.” I’d billed it as an opportunity for advanced students to explore a series of topics, including relationships, love, friendship, and, most vitally, the future. And on the first day of class, I encountered an ambitious group of young people: future lawyers, doctors, politicians, CEOs, and scientists.
One student caught my attention immediately because of the way he was dressed. While his peers, aged twenty to twenty-five, wore the uniforms of their generation—jeans, T-shirts, sandals, shorts, even a skateboard or two—this particular student looked as if he’d lost his way en route to a job interview. Beyond his crisp white shirt, striped tie, and polished loafers, I noted a resemblance to one of the Baldwin brothers, William maybe or Alec. He displayed the chiseled good looks that immediately attract the attention of the opposite sex. His eyes were serious, intent, and I noticed he was watching me carefully.
As the semester progressed, this young man stood out for a number of other reasons. He was predictably bright and precocious, even by the standards of an honors program. Yet he was also exceedingly confident and poised. In the jargon of my profession, “he appeared older than his stated age.” This was not just because of the way he looked but