When a Killer Calls

<p><strong>From John Douglas--the legendary FBI criminal<br>profiler #1 <em>New York Times</em> bestselling author and inspiration<br>for the Netflix show <em>Mindhunter</em>--comes<br>a chilling journey inside the mind and crimes of Larry Gene Bell one of the<br>most dangerous serial killers Douglas confronted and the desperate effort to<br>identify and catch him.</strong><br></p><p><br>On May 31 1985 two days before her high<br>school graduation Shari Smith was abducted from the driveway of her family<br>home in South Carolina. Based on the crime scene and the abductor's repeated<br>and taunting calls to the family law enforcement quickly realized they<br>were dealing with a sophisticated and highly dangerous criminal. A letter arrived<br>the next day entitled Last Will & Testament in which Shari knowing she<br>was to be murdered wrote bravely and achingly of her love for her parents <br>siblings and boyfriend saying that while they would miss her she knew they<br>would persevere through their faith. The abduction rocked her quiet town <br>triggering a massive manhunt and bringing in the FBI which enlisted profiler<br>John Douglas. A few days later a phone call told the family where they could<br>find Shari's body. <p/>Then nine-year-old Debra May Helmick was<br>kidnapped from her yard confirming the harsh realization that Smith's murder<br>was no random act. A serial killer was evolving and the only way to stop him<br>would be to use the study of criminal behavior to anticipate his next move<br>before he could kill again. Douglas devised a risky and emotionally fraught<br>strategy to use Shari's lookalike older sister Dawn as bait to draw out the<br>unknown subject. Dawn and her parents courageously agreed. <p/>One of the most haunting investigations of<br>Douglas's storied career this case details how the<br>eerily accurate profile he created--alongside his carefully<br>crafted and stage-managed manipulation of the killer's psychology--combined with<br>dedicated police work and cutting-edge forensic science to end a reign of<br>criminal terror. As Shari's family took incredible personal risks to lure her<br>killer from the shadows Douglas and the FBI pushed criminal profiling to its<br>limits culminating in one of his most dramatic and<br>effective confrontations with a sadistic and remorseless killer.<br></p>