Dr. Maurice Godwin's profiling comments about
the killer of Mary K. Stetson matched the killer's behavior.
Dr. Maurice Godwin, a criminal psychologist who serves as an adjunct professor
at Norwich University in Vermont, said yesterday that based on news reports
about her death, her killer is "somebody who has killed before.
"To actually mutilate the body and put it into a bag," said Godwin,
"this guy is a repeat killer.
>> And on Thursday, authorities in Wisconsin said they were interested
in talking to Plch about the killing in Sauk County of a woman whose torso was
found in the Wisconsin River July 30. A day later, other parts of the woman's
body were discovered in the river near Spring Green, a township of 1,400 people.
Because there has been nothing similar reported in New Hampshire in recent
years, Godwin said he believes the killer has come here from elsewhere.
>>The killer Vaclav Plch, was a Czech immigrant
Godwin was adamant that Stetson was acquainted with her killer.
"This definitely was not a stranger-to-stranger murder," he said. They
may not have known each other long, he said, but they knew each other.
>> By the time authorities caught up with Plch, already trying to build
a new, low-profile life in Texas, it was clear that he and Stetson knew each
other and, in fact, had shared a late-night life together in the dank bars of
Manchester.
Godwin has conducted a study of 107 serial killers who murdered 728 people and
developed the study into a book, "Hunting Serial Predators," which
will be published in September.
He said Stetson's killer was most likely Caucasian, 30 to 35 years old, probably
with at least a high school education, who works at a blue-collar job.
>>At first glance, the two seemed unlikely companions: Mary L. Stetson,
40, a youthful grandmother who worked two jobs to support her family, and Vaclav
Plch, 39, a Czech immigrant who had lost his job slicing poultry at a nearby
processing plant just as his marriage was falling apart.
"It takes a lot of time and effort to cut through bones," he said.
"You have to have tools, too, an ax, some kind of sharp machete. This
individual did not do this at that bridge. They would have found spots of blood
and pieces of flesh."
>> On Aug. 16 - six days after Manchester police obtained a murder
warrant - officers in Austin, Texas, found Plch in front of a convenience store.
The warrant was built on the results of a search of Plch's apartment; police
seized a butcher knife and several long-bladed knives. No murder weapon was
identified in the search. Plch killed Mary Stetson in his apartment.
Original news article
Experts: Killer not a novice
By CISSY TAYLOR
Union Leader Staff
July 24, 1999
Criminal justice experts suggested yesterday that whoever murdered Mary K. Stetson and mutilated her body was not a novice in the art of death.
Dr. Maurice Godwin, a criminal psychologist who serves as an adjunct professor at Norwich University in Vermont, said yesterday that based on news reports about her death, her killer is "somebody who has killed before.
"To actually mutilate the body and put it into a bag," said Godwin,
"this guy is a repeat killer.
"The city of Manchester," he said, "definitely has a sadistic murderer on
the loose. No doubt about it. It appears that this is an individual who has killed before
and who will kill in the future."
Because there has been nothing similar reported in New Hampshire in recent years, Godwin
said he believes the killer has come here from elsewhere.
James Alan Fox, Litman professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University in Boston, said the killer may even have already left the area. He acknowledged the likelihood the killer had struck before. "First-time killers are so repulsed by what they do, they wouldn't be able to cut up the body," Fox said.
"Often the first murder is fairly simple . . . strangulation, stabbing," he said. "But once he has gotten a taste of murder and enjoys it, as he continues his spree, he will tend to get more and more vicious and brutal."
Professor Thomas Hammond, a criminal justice instructor at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, was not ready yesterday to suggest there is a serial killer at work.
"I wouldn't want to jump to the conclusion this is a serial killer," said Hammond, who once served as an FBI agent. "But certainly serial killers look for vulnerable victims . . . prostitutes, young hitchhikers."
Stetson was a 40-year-old single mother of five who had managed to get off welfare, but was living in assisted housing and, friends said, battled a drinking problem. Despite that, her children were her greatest joy and top priority, friends and family said.
Family members said they last saw her late Sunday afternoon with a man they only knew as "Chris." While investigators have declined to say if they are looking for or have found "Chris," Hammond said "Chris" would have been the main focus of the search for her killer.
A neighbor, who declined to give his name, said he saw Stetson with a man named Chris
on Sunday about two hours after she had left her apartment with him. They were carrying a
six-pack of beer and walking toward the Piscataquog River, where her torso would be
discovered two days later.
Godwin was adamant that Stetson was acquainted with her killer. "This definitely was
not a stranger-to-stranger murder," he said. They may not have known each other long,
he said, but they knew each other.
Godwin has conducted a study of 107 serial killers who murdered 728 people and developed the study into a book, "Hunting Serial Predators," which will be published in September. He said Stetson's killer was most likely Caucasian, 30 to 35 years old, probably with at least a high school education, who works at a blue-collar job such as a mechanic, which is not considered a menial position.
Godwin and Fox both also said serial killers prey on those who are marginal: prostitutes, the homeless, young hitchhikers. Stetson may have fit into this group, they said, because of her drinking problem or her social contacts.
"Killers who mutilate use a con, a ploy, to lure their victims in," Godwin said. He suggested that the ploy in this case might have been to walk to the river with her after she bought beer "to get her away from where people would see them." Then, they got into his own vehicle, Godwin said. "He took this victim somewhere else and murdered her," he said. This is not the first time the killer has mutilated, either, Godwin said.
"It takes a lot of time and effort to cut through bones," he said. "You
have to have tools, too, an ax, some kind of sharp machete. This individual did not do
this at that bridge. They would have found spots of blood and pieces of flesh."
Godwin expressed surprise that the body would have been dropped in an area that lots of
people frequent.
The river above the dam at the Kelley Falls hydroelectric plant is a popular swimming and party spot for many West Side residents. "It's unusual to bring the victim back to the area," Godwin said. "If it was someone from around the area, they would know that's a frequently visited place. If it was a visitor to the area, he would not be aware there are loads of people who visit the swimming hole all the time."
Fox said there are four reasons someone would mutilate a victim's body: ease of disposal, cover up identity, provide souvenirs for the killer or in an effort to express total domination. Stetson's identity, however, was revealed by a tattoo on her back, a tattoo the killer did not see or didn't recognize was there, if covering up the identity was the motive behind the mutilation.
Hammond said the horrible crime has rightly shaken everyone. "Who have we got
loose in our community that is doing things like this? None of us can understand it,"
Hammond said.
"Sane minds have a difficult time trying to understand what we see as very deviant
and abnormal behavior. I think investigators are doing everything they can right now to
try to locate the killer," he said.
Fox said one would not be able to walk down the street and pick the killer out of a
crowd. "You won't know it," he said. "These people tend to be
extraordinarily ordinary."
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