ELON COLLEGE, N.C. – Robert Ressler, a former FBI agent who is considered the country’s foremost criminologist and authority on violence, will speak at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 18 in the McCrary Theatre of the Faith Rockefeller Model Center for the Arts. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Elon College Liberal Arts Forum.
Ressler’s work served as inspiration for the film, “Silence of the Lambs” and the TV series, “The X Files.” During his 20-year FBI career, he originated and directed the first research program on violent criminal offenders, coining the term “serial killers.” The title of his Elon presentation is “I Have Lived in the Monster.”
Ressler has met and interviewed notorious criminals including Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz and Jeffrey Dahmer. During those conversations, he learned about the victims, the gruesome methods used to kill them, and the twisted reasoning used by these sociopaths to justify their hideous actions.
Ressler was an expert witness in the Richard Jewell Olympic Park bombing lawsuit and currently serves as an analyst for ABC-TV on the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. As a public speaker, he chronicles his experiences in tracking and profiling brutal criminals. He also addresses the world increase in interpersonal violence and looks at the factors that create an environment where a serial killer can thrive without being caught.
Ressler is the author of the international best-selling books, “Whoever Fights Monsters” and “Justice is Served.” He is a consultant to Scotland Yard and is frequently called on to assist international investigations in many countries, including Russia, South Africa, Japan and Malaysia.
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