Expert: FBI profilers work to define kidnapping suspects
PORTLAND, Ore. - While police said there was no indication Monday that Kyron Horman was kidnapped, the FBI called in a profiler who could help identify a possible kidnapper.
A local forensic psychologist - not involved in the Horman case - said the FBI profiler will use more than just physical evidence as he forms a picture of possible abductors.
If it becomes a kidnapping case, the physical scene, however, will be instrumental as FBI agents and their profiler start to ask questions about what happened to Horman, said Portland forensic psychologist Frank Colistro.
“The typical offender does not know how much evidence he or she has left behind when they commit this type of crime, but the profilers do,” he said.
Colistro said the profiler will likely ask himself about two distinct types of abductors.
“It could be the work of an opportunistic offender. It could be the work of a very planful, methodical serial offender,” he said.
Colistro said he does not know specifically what the profiler will ask, but the questions would likely include:
- How did the abductor get access to Horman?
- How would Horman react to strangers?
- Did witnesses see anyone unusual at the school Friday morning?
“All of that to assist and determine whether this looks like it was an opportunistic, impulsive abduction - if an fact it was an abduction - or something more systematic to see if the characteristics of what happened here are similar to any other open cases,” he said.
And he said the FBI will use its enormous database to search for similarities between Horman’s disappearance and thousands of other cases across the country.
“But it’s going to be the profiler, not a computer that ultimately makes the important decisions,” Colistro said.
The profiler will also make a profile of Horman based on what he learns from family, friends and teachers. That information could also tell the profiler and agents what type of person would target Horman.
Family statement (pdf) Kyron Horman flier (pdf).