Insight into Criminal Minds

An Academic’s Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind

BY KATHLEEN SULLIVAN

STAFF WRITER

Connell School of Nursing Professor Ann Wolbert Burgess received a phone call at her Boston College office in 1978 that would alter the course of her career and lead to a seismic shift in the practice of law enforcement.

The call from Roy Hazelwood of the FBI was the beginning of a decades-long collaboration between Burgess and the agency’s nascent Behavioral Science Unit (BSU). Armed with scholarly knowledge of sex crimes, victimology, and criminal psychology, as well as research skills, Burgess worked alongside the agents and helped them to identify, interview, and track down dozens of notoriously violent offenders and serial killers.

Burgess’s role in the evolution of criminal profiling and its application to several serial killer investigations are detailed in the new book, A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind, written by Burgess with Steven Matthew Constantine, associate director of marketing and communications at the Connell School.

While the book gives readers an insider’s view of the development of criminal profiling, it also offers an equally compelling perspective on Burgess as a trailblazing forensic and psychiatric nurse, whose story partly formed the basis for a popular TV show years later.

It was research Burgess conducted with BC colleague Lynda Lytle Holmstrom, a sociologist, that put Burgess on the FBI’s radar. The pair interviewed nearly 150 victims of rape to understand the emotional and traumatic effects of sexual violence. Their study found that sexual violence was more about power and control than the act of sex—a novel concept in the early 1970s. They also coined the phrase “rape trauma syndrome” to describe the psychological aftereffects of an attack that would often outlast the physical effects. They published their research in journals, and their article, “The Rape Victim in the Emergency Ward” in the American Journal of Nursing, caught the attention of Hazelwood.

Burgess was brought to the FBI Academy in Quantico to give lectures and teach the agents about victimology and violent sex crimes. There she met agents Robert Ressler and John Douglas, who were conducting a side project interviewing 36 serial killers.

As she recalled in her book, the taped interviews they shared with her were “like eavesdropping on the rawest fringes of humanity.” Burgess saw that the agents were onto an approach that could lead to a whole new way of understanding criminal behavior.

“As far as I know, no one’s ever tried to figure out why serial killers kill,” she recalled telling the agents.

Though Burgess found the agents’ project fascinating and the possible implications profound, she said the interviews were “poorly structured and had zero footing in any conventional school of research.” She joined forces with Ressler and Douglas, contributing her knowledge of sex crimes and applying proper research methodology to the project.

A Killer by Design depicts how the team’s criminal personality study then pivoted from abstract research to an investigative tool. Burgess and the agents applied their insights into criminal behavior to an active murder investigation of young teen boys in Nebraska in 1983. The team developed a profile of the likely killer of the unsolved murders, which helped law enforcement officers apprehend the perpetrator, John Joseph Joubert IV. The case received national media attention and was reported on in the Congressional Record.

Burgess said the Joubert case validated the BSU and criminal profiling, which had doubters even within the FBI. “We’d proven that there was value in understanding the criminal mind…to be able to actually use criminal profiling in an active case to hunt down a killer was the most satisfying reward of all,” wrote Burgess.

“That case elevated criminal profiling to a known tool that the FBI could offer local authorities,” said Constantine, who noted that the FBI needs to be invited in by local

Connell School of Nursing Professor Ann W. Burgess with Killer by Design co-author and Connell School colleague Steven Matthew Constantine: “The public understanding of rape—once dismissed as a ‘women’s issue’—has come so far and that’s a testament to Dr. Burgess and her work,” he says.

photo by lee pellegrini

law enforcement to look at a case. “It snowballed from there as more cases were solved via profiling.”

Burgess, Douglas, and Ressler would write a book titled Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives. The trio’s work was the inspiration for the hit Netflix show “Mindhunter,” in which actress Anna Torv played a fictionalized version of Burgess.

Burgess was often the only non-agent and only woman working with the so-called “mindhunters.” She had been told throughout her career that the graphic, violent, disturbing world of sex crimes was no place for her. Discussing a case with Hazelwood in the 1980s, she recounted, “He tried to walk some imaginary line of social decorum while talking to me about extreme acts of violence, regardless of how many times I told him to knock it off.”

“Many of these original profilers had their own books, but very little of that content mentioned Dr. Burgess’s story,” said Constantine, who worked closely with Burgess on a 2018 campus event called “The Minds behind ‘Mindhunter.’” “I thought Dr. Burgess’s story was particularly interesting and needed to be shared.”

Burgess “broke the glass ceiling,” continued Constantine. “She was a pioneer. Her work helped change how law enforcement thought about these cases and it changed how the legal system thought about these cases. It’s the foundation of the modern aspects on how sexual crimes are dealt with. The public understanding of rape—once dismissed as a ‘women’s issue’—has come so far and that’s a testament to Dr. Burgess and her work.”

Burgess’s expertise led to her providing expert testimony in court and being interviewed for true crime podcasts. Her course, Forensic Mental Health, is considered one of the most popular courses on campus.

She is proud of the advancements in the field of forensic nursing, particularly in the establishment of sexual assault nurse examiners who play a critical role in collecting evidence from victims. Her entire career as a nurse and her research on sexual, violent crimes have been about putting the priority on victims, she said—giving victims a voice, destroying myths around rape, and improving the medical, legal, and investigating communities’ interactions with victims.

Burgess continues to work on behalf of victims. She and psychiatric nursing colleagues from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland have formed the “Super Sleuth Club,” meeting monthly via Zoom to try to solve cold cases. They are joined by Greg Cooper, a former FBI profiler who heads the Cold Case Foundation, and other former BSU agents.

Only a little over half of such cases are solved, which means “thousands of cases have never been solved,” according to Burgess, who said that the Super Sleuth Club heard from a woman connected to one of the cold cases they are investigating. The woman was only nine years old when her mother was killed; the murder remains unsolved.

“She was just so grateful that someone is still paying attention to her mother,” said Burgess. “I always wanted to speak for the victim who didn’t survive, because nobody spoke for them.”

Donald Brown to Speak at MLK Scholarship Banquet

Educational consultant Donald Brown, who served as director of Boston College’s Office of AHANA Student Programs for 27 years and led efforts to support first-generation, underrepresented students, will be the keynote speaker at the 40th Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Banquet, which takes place on February 22 at 5:30 p.m. in the Yawkey Center Murray Function Room.

During the banquet, University President William P. Leahy, S.J., will announce the winner of the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship, which recognizes a Boston College junior who has demonstrated superior academic achievement, extracurricular leadership, community service, and involvement with the African American community and African American issues.

This year’s scholarship candidates are Lubens Benjamin, Tamara Hyppolite, Kudzai Kapurura, Michael Martins, and E’Sachi Smalls.

Brown is founder and president of Brown and Associates Education and Diversity Counseling, which aids in developing and facilitating diversity dialogues as part of strategies aimed at preparing young people for the challenges of the 21st century. He also developed Christian Soldiers Inc., an innovative education program that aims to improve the quality of life for young people by focusing on their academic, social, cultural, and spiritual growth and development.

In 1978, Brown came to BC as director of what was then the Office of Minority Student Programs. He changed the office’s name to incorporate “AHANA,” an acronym for “African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American” created by BC undergraduates Valerie Lewis-Mosley ’79 and Alfred Feliciano ’81 as an inclusive alternative to the term “minority.” (The office is now part of the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center.)

Brown is credited with championing initiatives such as the Options Through Education Transitional Summer Program (OTE), the Thea Bowman Scholars Program, the Benjamin E. Mays Mentoring Program, and the Jaime Escalante Tutorial Program.

Interviewed by the Boston College Chronicle in 2004—the 25th anniversary of the “AHANA” acronym, which was adopted by other higher education institutions and programs, and eventually trademarked by BC— Brown said, “Dr. Martin Luther King talked to us about the need for people of good will coming together, and the need to launch coalitions. What Alfred and Valerie talked about back then was the need for Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, and progressive whites coming together. That’s what undergirds this AHANA concept.”

In 2007, the University established the Dr. Donald Brown Award, presented annually to a senior who, throughout his or her undergraduate career, has made extraordinary contributions to the BC community in ways that have benefited AHANA students in the areas of leadership, service, and academic development.

February 15 is the deadline to register for the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Banquet. Send email to mlkjr@bc.edu. —University Communications

OBITUARIES Francine Cardman, STM Faculty

Joe Yukica, Coached Football

School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor Francine J. Cardman, known for her pioneering contributions to theological education and her scholarship on early Catholic Church history, died on January 21. She was 74.

Dr. Cardman taught at STM and its predecessor, Weston Jesuit School of Theology, for 40 years. Her teaching and writings focused on early Christian ethics and spirituality, ministry and leadership in the early Church, and questions of gender and justice in contemporary Church practice. Her work was grounded in an historical approach that placed theology and ministry in their social and cultural contexts.

Last April, the STM held “History, Hope, and Justice: A Symposium on the Role of Women in Theological Education” to celebrate the contributions of Dr. Cardman. She and more than 100 current and former colleagues and students gathered virtually for the event that featured talks by theologians and Church historians, panel presentations by former students, and a prayer service of thanksgiving.

“Francine Cardman was a quiet giant who incrementally, through her teaching, mentorship, publications, and advocacy persistently challenged and moved the Church forward to approximate better the more justice-loving and inclusive institution it should be,” said STM Associate Professor of Church History Catherine Mooney, who knew Dr. Cardman for more than 40 years and was one of the faculty presenters at “History, Hope, and Justice.”

Dr. Cardman was a respected and influential teacher remembered by former students for her wisdom, humor, kindness, mentorship, and colorful handouts.

One of her former students was STM Dean Thomas D. Stegman, S.J. “I can attest that Francine was an outstanding teacher who cared deeply for her students. As dean, I will always be grateful to her for her role in helping the school draft our self-study in preparation of the accreditation process. We will miss her.”

In a social media post, bestselling author James Martin, S.J., M.Div. ’98, called Dr. Cardman “one of the best teachers I’ve ever had.” He added that she was a “brilliant scholar and wonderful person.”

He noted the significance of Dr. Cardman’s death on the feast day of St. Agnes, one of the Virgin Martyrs, because Dr. Cardman “wrote brilliantly and provocatively on women in the early Church, and specifically the Virgin Martyrs, whom she reframed as women taking control of their own selves in an era of patriarchy.”

He added: “Francine was one of the most beloved of teachers at the old Weston Jesuit School of Theology [which became BC’s School of Theology and Ministry]: she was at once humble, knowledgeable, demanding, fair, interesting, and helpful. Her classes were models of clarity.”

Dr. Cardman published a translation of Augustine’s homilies on the Sermon on the Mount as well as essays on Augustine, women’s ministries and ordination in early Christianity, lay leadership and participation in the early Church, structures of governance and accountability in the Church past and present, the development of early Christian ethics, and Vatican II and ecumenism. She also edited and contributed to Partners in the Conversation: The Role of Ecumenical Divinity Schools in Catholic Theological Education, a study conducted by the Catholic Task Force at Yale Divinity School, and was a co-investigator and contributor to a pilot study on “A Profile of Spiritual Resilience in Persons Who Live Well with Lifelong Disabilities.” She contributed essays to two STM book projects, Hope: Promise, Possibility & Fulfillment and The Holy Spirit: Setting the World on Fire. —Kathleen Sullivan

Read the full obituary at bit.ly/francinecardman-obituary

Francine Cardman

Joseph M. “Joe” Yukica, one of Boston College’s winningest football coaches, died on January 22. He was 90.

Mr. Yukica coached the Eagles from 1968-1977, compiling a 68-37 record, including 9-2 in 1971, earning New England Coach of the Year honors. His 68 victories are second only to Tom O’Brien (75) in BC football history. During Mr. Yukica’s tenure, BC began playing major football powers like Notre Dame, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Georgia Tech. A highlight of his career at the Heights was a 14-13 upset of highly-ranked Texas in 1976.

He went on to coach at Dartmouth College from 1978-1986, where he had been an assistant coach from 1961-1965 before heading the University of New Hampshire football program for two seasons prior to joining BC. He finished his college head coaching career with a record of 111-93-4.

Mr. Yukica is survived by his sons Joseph Jr., James, and Jackson, and five grandchildren. His wife Betty died in 2015.

BC in the Media

Pacific Gas & Electric, the biggest utility in California, landed five years of probation due to a pipeline explosion that killed eight people a decade ago. With the probation ending, Carroll School Galligan Chair Sandra Waddock offered her views on the case in a piece for Marketplace.

Pope Francis’ installation of lay men and women in the ministries of lector and catechist is a continuation of the unfinished work of Vatican II, according to Prof. John Baldovin, S.J. (STM), who provided comments to National Catholic Reporter.

The Boston Business Journal highlighted two recent Boston College milestones; the opening of 245 Beacon Street and the announcement of plans for the Pine Manor

Institute for Student Success.

To make a meaningful impact, business leaders and policymakers should foster a mindset of supporting not only ventures that offer strong returns, but also those that help poorer places achieve sustained self-reliance, wrote Asst. Prof. Suntae Kim (CSOM) in a co-authored piece for Harvard Business Review.

In separate WalletHub Q&A features, Geoffrey Sanzenbacher and Anqi (Angie) Chen of the Center for Retirement Research provided advice for retirement, and Prof. Pablo Guerron (Economics) weighed in on choosing an auto insurance provider.

Synodality may seem like a new concept, but it’s actually an ancient tradition, Assoc. Prof. of the Practice Rafael Luciani (STM) said in a webinar moderated by Sister Maria Cimperman Ph.D.’03 of Catholic Theological Union that was covered in the National Catholic Reporter Global Sisters Report. Medical history was made recently when doctors transplanted a genetically modified heart from a pig into a human recipient. Walsh Professor of Bioethics Andrea Vicini, S.J., provided a Catholic perspective on this milestone in America magazine.

Nota Bene

Associate Professor of Theatre Stuart J. Hecht has been selected as a member by the College of Fellows of the American Theatre of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—one of the highest honors given to American theater community educators and professionals. “It means a lot to me to be nominated and elected by my peers and to receive this honor,” said Hecht, who will be formally inducted into the college in late April. An American theater historian and editor-in-chief of New England Theatre Journal, Hecht has worked extensively in Chicago theater history. He is co-editor of Makeshift Chicago Stages: A Century of Theater and Performance, an anthology of essays published last fall by leading historians on the work and aesthetics of the city’s theater community [see bcbookmarks.com/2021/10/18/ chicago-takes-center-stage]. Editorial choices can impact the amplitude of business cycles even if the information that is reported is correct, according to a study by Assoc. Prof. Ryan Chahrour (Economics) and colleagues, published in the American Economic Review and featured by PhysOrg Economics and Business.

Tablet Magazine published “One Day in Venice,” a tale of lost luggage and a Jewish Christmas miracle, penned by Prof. Maxim D. Shrayer (Eastern, Slavic, and German Studies).

A Q&A with Global Public Health Program Director Philip Landrigan, M.D., about the pandemic, the importance of vaccines, the Omicron variant, and the way forward ran in Crux.com.

Jobs

The following are among the recent positions posted by the Department of Human Resources. For more information on employment opportunities at Boston College, see www.bc.edu/jobs. Administrative Assistant, Office of Senior Vice President for University Advancement Senior Environmental Officer Program Director, Ever to Excel Assistant Director, Annual Giving Staff Nurse (multiple positions) Assistant General Manager, Catering Job Coach/Case Manager Director, Catholic Religious Archives Program Assistant Registrar Fiscal & Grant Administrator, Morrissey College Service Center Assistant Dean for Clinical Placement, Connell School of Nursing Campus Minister Development Assistant Associate/Senior Associate Director, Gift Planning Assistant Director, Biology Labs Resident Director Health Care Assistant Lead Teacher, Pine Manor College Laboratory Safety Specialist Student Services Associate Post-doctoral Research Fellow (multiple positions)

A New Life at the Heights

Continued from page 1 Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Service. “It was literally a humanitarian emergency,” recalled Sr. Loughry, who was recruited to assist because of her background working with refugees. “We had no idea how many were arriving or who they were. When I arrived, the first 800 people had come to the base that day, and by the time I left, there were 13,000.”

Little did Sr. Loughry know then that she and her BC colleagues would wind up providing a direct and much-needed lifeline to one of those many thousands seeking refuge.

A promising connection

For three weeks, Sr. Loughry ran a morale and wellness center within the base, where women and children could safely congregate and play. She and the other volunteers distributed donated clothing and supplies—many refugees had arrived with only the clothing on their backs—and offered legal assistance, but the needs of the population quickly exceeded their limited resources.

“It was a very tough time for the population,” said Sr. Loughry. “Many adults were overwhelmed, first by having survived and then by the system: What do I do now? How long am I going to be here?”

As Sr. Loughry worked on the ground, her colleagues back at the Heights, led by Vice Provost for Global Engagement James Keenan, S.J., were discussing another way to assist. In order to build new lives in the U.S., a majority of the Afghan refugees would need to secure employment. They wondered: Would someone with an academic or humanitarian background be interested in working at Boston College?

Through her contacts, Sr. Loughry learned that a young Afghan man named Farhad Sharifi was staying at Camp Atterbury in Indiana, just seven hours away from Fort McCoy. Sharifi was fluent in English and had a master’s degree in social work from St. Joseph’s College in Bangalore, India. Prior to his evacuation, he worked for an international non-governmental organization supporting the education of girls in Afghanistan. Sr. Loughry arranged to speak to him.

When he heard from Sr. Loughry for the first time, Sharifi was in the midst of navigating one of the most difficult transitions of his life. Thirty-three years old, he had been living in the city of Herat with his parents and younger brother before the government collapsed, working with internally displaced people to provide education, local leadership, and capacity-building programs. His job responsibilities included fieldwork in remote villages, where he risked kidnapping and violent attack by the Taliban.

“I had times when I needed to look over my shoulder to see if someone was following me,” he recalled.

Fearing persecution, Sharifi and his colleagues left Herat the day before the city fell, and were among the thousands standing outside the Kabul airport in the days following the August 15 takeover. Sharifi slept on the pavement outside the airport gates for several nights, awakening frequently to the sound of gunshots being fired into the air by Taliban guards. On August 23, he was granted access to the airport and boarded a plane bound for the United Arab Emirates. On September 11, he arrived at Camp Atterbury, where he would live for the next three months.

Building a new life

Looking back, Sharifi believes he had no choice but to leave Afghanistan, a fact that weighs heavily on him.

“When you don’t have any control over what’s happening in your life, it is always stressful,” he said. “Like many other evacuees, I feel uprooted, betrayed, and oppressed all at the same time. We in the Afghan community, especially the youth and the new generation, feel like we’ve been thrown back more than 100 years, like everything that was meaningful has been lost and what remains is only hope for many of us.”

For a month after their first phone call, Sr. Loughry and Sharifi spoke daily by phone, hammering out a plan to bring him to BC. BCSSW Dean Gautam Yadama had offered Sharifi a position on the Research Program on Children and Adversity, but there were other details to consider.

“There was the job but also the logistics of housing and clothing and food and donations,” said Sr. Loughry. “I was immensely supported by the BC system—everybody played a role once I pulled them in. People were constantly ringing me up saying, ‘I can do this,’ or ‘We can do that.’”

On December 3, Sr. Loughry and a host family from Chestnut Hill met Sharifi at Logan Airport. He was carrying a single backpack of possessions, ready to start a new life.

“I’ll never forget that moment,” said Sr. Loughry. “He trusted us to get on that plane and come to Boston. That would have overwhelmed anybody, I think, but he was able to do it.”

A new beginning

Since arriving at BC, Sharifi has thrown himself into his work as a way to keep his mind busy. In his new position, he’s helping to adapt programs designed for specific refugee populations so they can be used to help Afghan refugees.

“It’s similar to my job in Afghanistan in that I’m in the social work realm and I’m getting to work with families and communities,” he said. “I’m learning a lot.”

Outside of his job, Sharifi hopes he can be a resource to members of the wider BC community interested in hearing his story and learning about the political and cultural landscape of Afghanistan. On February 2, he joined Sr. Loughry and Fr. Keenan for his first public event, “On Refugee Work and Afghanistan: An interview with Farhad Sharifi.”

Becoming a refugee himself has given Sharifi a deeper understanding of the experiences of other displaced people, and made him even more determined to work to ensure that all humans are free from oppression. While he misses his family back home, he remains hopeful for the future, at BC and beyond.

“Sometimes, when my Afghan colleagues and friends text me about the situation [at home] and the imposed limitations on the already limited freedom they had, I feel numb,” he said. “But what I’m certain about is that hardship has made us stronger and more resilient to our environment. We will rise again and prosper and do our part to make this world a better place.”

Alix Hackett is a senior digital content writer in the Office of University Communications

Farhad Sharifi feels that hardship has made Afghans “stronger and more resilient to our environment. We will rise again and prosper and do our part to make this world a better place.”

photo by caitlin cunningham

Gaelic Roots Spring Series Spotlights Irish Musicians

The Gaelic Roots spring semester series at Boston College will include performances by two premier traditional Irish musicians, one of them American-born, and a tribute to one of the most important figures in the 20th-century Irish music revival.

Sponsored by the Irish Studies Program, Gaelic Roots explores Irish, Scottish, American and related folk music traditions through concerts, talks, and other events featuring accomplished performers widely considered among the best at their craft— and many with ties to Massachusetts or elsewhere in New England or the Northeast.

The series begins with uilleann piper Jerry O’Sullivan on February 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the McMullen Museum of Art room 111. The New York City native is one of the most eminent American-born pipers— equally proficient on highland and Scottish small pipes as well as uilleann, with a mastery of both the technical and the expressive aspects—and a fine player of tin and low whistle. O’Sullivan has toured throughout much of the world, including the Middle East and Asia, and performed with luminaries ranging from James Galway and the Boston Pops to Dolly Parton; he also was among the musicians who performed and taught at Boston College’s Gaelic Roots summer program. He has recorded four solo albums and appeared or been featured on more than 90 others, with film soundtracks (including “Far and Away” and “The Long Journey Home”) and numerous TV commercials to his credit.

On March 31, Gaelic Roots will present “Remembering Seán Ó Riada and Ceoltóirí Chualann,” at 6:30 p.m. in Gasson 100. This concert of music and poetry will pay homage to Seán Ó Riada (1931-1971), who played a seminal role in the Irish folk music revival that emerged in the 1960s. Classically trained and with an interest in modern, avant garde techniques, Ó Riada incorporated traditional Irish music into his work— much as composers like Bela Bartók and Ralph Vaughn Williams did with the traditional folk music of their respective homelands—for theater, film, and performance. In 1960, he formed the ensemble Ceoltóirí Cualann (“ceoltóirí” is Gaelic for “musicians”; Cualann is the area near Dublin where Ó Riada lived), whose repertoire of traditional Irish tunes was arranged in nontraditional, orchestral fashion by Ó Riada. Some members of the band went on to form one of the most popular acts to come out of the Irish folk revival, The Chieftains, who promulgated Ó Riada’s approach to Irish traditional music.

Oisín McAuley, a fiddler in the western Ireland tradition regarded as among the finest in recent generations of Irish musicians, will perform on April 21 in Gasson 100 at 7 p.m. A Donegal native now living in the Greater Boston area, McAuley began playing traditional music at age nine but in subsequent years studied classical violin and took an interest in other kinds of music, including jazz and bluegrass. He is a longtime member of acclaimed band Danú, with whom he has recorded seven albums; he released a solo CD, “Far from the Hills of Donegal,” in 2007. McAuley is the director of summer programs at the Berklee College of Music.

Links to Gaelic Roots events are available at bc.edu/irish.

Jerry O’Sullivan