serial murder investigation

It is 1985 and FBI agent Vince Leone is on the hunt for a serial killer. Needing a break in the case, he uses a controversial new FBI technique called "profiling" to determine likely suspects.

New York City, 1845. Timothy Wilde, a 27-year-old Irish immigrant, joins the newly formed NYPD and investigates an infanticide and the body of a 12-year-old Irish boy whose spleen has been removed.

"In Oslo, after the first snow of the season has fallen, a woman disappears, and a sinister snowman is left in her wake. As irascible detective Harry Hole realizes that this is only one of multiple disappearances, he begins to think a serial killer may be at work--and may be drawing in Hole personally and intentionally"--.

Argues that serial killers are not a phenomenon of modern society and have existed throughout history, revealing evolving social attitudes that have influenced the motives, methods, and criminal careers of serial killers.

Provides an account of the crimes of Robert Silveria Jr. and the efforts of law enforcement to catch and capture this serial murderer associated with the Freight Train Riders of America--FTRA--and nicknamed "The Boxcar Serial Killer.".

Reporters Sari Horwitz and Michael Ruane retrace the movements of John Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, charged with the random sniper attacks that left ten people dead and several others wounded in October 2002, and discuss the cooperation between local, state, and federal authorities that led to their arrest.