Book IV Teaser - Chapter 1 'Beginnings'

A JOURNEY TO THE

CENTER OF THE MIND

BOOK IV:

THE (LAST TEN) FBI YEARS

1996-2007

(AND “RETIREMENT,” 2008+)

James R. Fitzgerald

Supervisory Special Agent (Ret.)

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Criminal Profiler/Forensic Linguist

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, photographic including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher and author. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

The entirety of this book, in all its versions (eBook, paperback, audiobook), is 100% human created. There is not one scintilla of AI in this book. It was wholly and completely narrated, written, and edited, in that order, by James R. Fitzgerald, aka, “Fitz.”

DEDICATED TO:

Wally and Alma (My parents)

Cass, Alma, and Marilyn (My sisters)

Sean, Dan, and Ryan (My sons)

My grandchildren (You know who you are)

Natalie Schilling (My wife)

…without whom, to a person, this book would never have been written, nor a fulfilling life led.

Acknowledgements

As with my first three books in this series, I dedicate this book, my newest, and last in this series, to my parents (deceased), and my three sisters (Marilyn, deceased). I would be clearly remiss here if I didn’t acknowledge now for the fourth time my birth family for raising me, supporting me, encouraging me, educating me, and most importantly, loving me. None of my later successes in life would be possible without the five of them at the start of it all.

Regarding the other people to whom I dedicate this book…

Once entering adulthood, I was fortunate enough myself to raise (with their mother, Eileen) three great boys to great young men who are now, well, three great adults. Along with their mom, I hopefully provided them with the same support, encouragement, and love as was earlier bestowed upon me by my birth family.

Thanks Sean, Dan, and Ryan, and now your three wives, children, (and dogs), for being who you are and what you are to me today. You’re everything a father, and now grandfather, could ask for.

Lastly, a special thanks and acknowledgement to Natalie Schilling, my wife. She was my muse (among other things) at the time of my first book, way back in the early 2000-teens, and remains very supportive of my writing, and me, to this day.

In terms of a business-oriented acknowledgement, kudos also to Keith Conrad of Sound Concept Media. Although you’re presently reading the written version of JCM-IV, he was the producer for the audiobook version, which I narrated myself. Great job, Keith! You actually made me sound pretty good.

Additional kudos to Rick Schilling, my musical producer. Of course, the music is only present in the audiobook, pre- and post- each chapter, but I wanted to acknowledge him here, too, in the written version. (Rick happens to be my brother-in-law, but he also happens to be a great musician.)

Lastly, thanks to John and Jean Butler, Havre de Grace, MD, for the photographic headshot on the back cover.

Title Concept Thanks To:

Jules Verne

From his 1864 novel,

Voyage au centre de las Terre

Aka,

A Journey to the Center of the Earth;

and

The Amboy Dukes

(Specifically, Ted Nugent and Steve Farmer)

From their 1968 record album and single,

Journey to the Center of the Mind;

And

Natalie Schilling, Ph.D.

For first suggesting the title idea to me during a long walk on the beach in the spring of 2014.

Cover Art:

Stephen Jeter, the artist who created the wonderful covers of A Journey to the Center of the Mind, Book II and Book III, very sadly, and very suddenly, died in 2020. He left behind a small gallery of drawings – some complete, some only partially so. As I promised Stephen after the publication of Book III that I would again commission him to do the cover of Book IV, I didn’t want to go back on my word. As such, his very good friend and mine, Jim Clemente, kindly permitted me to peruse Stephen’s unpublished artwork for just that purpose. I eventually chose his sketch of the tree on an open field which you now see on the cover.

I then commissioned Philadelphia-area artist, Faith Scanlon, to complete the cover project. There was some general input from me, but lots more from her. Amazingly, Faith and Stephen, working spatially and temporally apart, with Stephen even no longer among us, combined their extraordinary talents to create the perfect cover for this, the final book in my memoir series.

The cover reflects a lone tree in the season of autumn which, I suppose at this stage of life, age-wise, I also find myself. (If so, I’d like to think it’s very early autumn for me.) The cover design also suggests that I, Jim Fitzgerald, have retired. Not by “hanging up my gloves” as would a boxer, but instead by hanging up my FBI raid jacket and my handcuffs. That’s at least one interpretation of it, right? Also, there are some hidden words in, on, and around the tree. (Hey, I’m a forensic linguist. I couldn’t resist.) Have fun finding them and matching them to the forthcoming chapters in which those same topics are discussed at length.

Thank you, Faith Scanlon, for completing this artistic project, this cover, for me, and for all of us.

Lastly, RIP, Stephen Jeter. Your memory lives on in many ways, and I’m proud to continue your legacy on the covers of JCM Books II, III, and now IV.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapters:

The 1996 Atlanta Olympic Bombings and Subsequent Bombings
Earl Pitts – The Spy Who Came in from the Cold…and into the Behavioral Science Unit
The JonBenet Ramsey Case – Specifically as it Pertains to Vassar College Professor, Don Foster
The Murder of My Friend, Joe Welsh.
James Kopp, the Abortion Doctor Sniper Case
Ann Coulter, her Stalker, and the Investigation of Me Right Before I Retired
The Amy Willard Homicide Case
The Center City Rapist Case
West Virginia v. Gullet Rapist Case
United States v. Roy Van Wyk Stalker Case
The Dartmouth College Professors’ Double-Homicide
The September 11th, 2001, Attacks
Amerithrax
The DC Sniper Case
Ohio v. the Multi-Personality Arson Lady
Pennsylvania v Illes, Homicide Case
CTAD, GITMO, and Athens
The Italian Unabomb Case
NJ v. McGuire Homicide Case
Retirement
Alabama v. Stokes Homicide Case; Academy Group, Inc.; Criminal Minds; Back to School
Pennsylvania v. Perez, Double-Homicide Case
New York v. Castor (aka, the Black Widow Murders)
Virginia v. Ernest Homicide Case
U.S. v. Heebe (and the Pseudonymous “Fender Lizard”)
Skinhead Bank Robber Gone Good
Manhunt: Unabomber Television Series – Before, During, and After
Me, the Media, Fake-Fitz News CNN
Fitz Goes Back to College; In Front of the Classroom this Time
Two Australia Criminal cases; a Popular Aussie Television Program; Being Reminded that “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished”

Epilogue

Prologue

Welcome to the fourth and final book in my memoir series: A Journey to the Center of the Mind- Book IV.

As you may already be aware, Book I is all about my early childhood through my early 20s, growing up in the 1960s and mid-1970s in Philadelphia, and ending with my graduation from the Pennsylvania State Police Academy in 1976.

Book II is about my 11 years as a police officer, plainclothes officer, detective, and sergeant at the suburban Philadelphia, PA, Bensalem Township Police Department.

Book III is my first 10 years in the FBI, from Quantico in 1987, to New York City, to my promotion to the Profiling Unit, and ending with a very detailed chapter about my role in the Unabomb case.

This book, Book IV, picks up right where the last one left off, and without skipping a beat. It’s me, Jim Fitzgerald, aka “Fitz,” relating to you the various cases, criminals, characters, places, and everything and everyone of relevance in-between. More on some of these cases and people in a bit.

As you’re reading here, consider this as me, Fitz, talking to you are on a long car ride somewhere, or while sitting in a bar or coffee shop, or hanging out on a quiet beach with a few friends, and you’ve asked me about one or more of my most interesting FBI cases. “Sure, why not?,” I would reply. “And how about if I start in chronological order to my career – well, post-Unabom? That usually makes sense, right?”

So let’s see…how about if I start with the Atlanta Olympics bombing and the subsequent bombings by Eric Rudolph; then discuss the FBI agent/Russian spy working alongside of me at Quantico, Earl Pitts; then the JonBenet Ramsey case, or at least one very interesting aspect of it; the abortion doc assassin, James Kopp; the TV lawyer pundit who almost got me fired (even though she never meant to); the murders of two Dartmouth College professors; 9/11; the anthrax case; the DC sniper case; my time in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; oh, and let’s throw in a dozen profiling and/or forensic linguistic cases in which I provided expert testimony, some which made headlines, some which didn’t; later, in retirement, my several seasons as the technical adviser on Criminal Minds; my membership in the Vidocq Society in Philadelphia; the one (and only) case I ever worked for the criminal defense which resulted in two assistant U.S. attorneys being forced to resign, and a U.S. Attorney fired; the aftermath of the Discovery Channel TV series, Manhunt: Unabomber, and some wacky former FBI agents who to this day still don’t know the difference between a TV documentary and a scripted series; CNN outright lying about me; and much, much more to include the most difficult and frustrating criminal case of all for me, the still unresolved murder of a good friend.

Lastly, in my first three books before each initial chapter, I included a quote by a famous person. They were, respectively, Winston Churchill, Davy Crockett, and Paul de Man. As such, I want to include a quote here too before we begin Chapter One. Strangely, the quote’s physical presence followed me through practically my entire life on the inside lid of a small wooden collectible box one of my sisters gave me as a young boy, then sometime around 10 years of age, I came upon a small sticker or stamp, if you will, of the quote of which you’re about to read. Very interestingly, even way back then, it seemed to foreshadow my future professional life.

It is as follows:

“Knowledge.

I had six honest serving men,

they taught me all I knew.

Their names were where and what and when,

and why and how and who.”

– Rudyard Kipling.

Yes, I’ve lived by, if not with, those imaginary six men (or perhaps “persons” we’ll say in the 21st century) my whole life, and they’ve served me well. In fact, they’re still around. I’ve asked, and continue to ask, those questions and sometimes still get the answers I seek. It made me the investigator, profiler, forensic linguist, and most importantly, the person who I am today.

Now, let’s get started.

Admin Note # 1:

What you’re reading is a transcribed version of the JCM-Book IV audiobook, narrated personally by me. This written version has been edited for clarity. While it is mostly word-for-word to the audiobook, I have made a few relatively minor editorial changes in the forthcoming chapters to assist the reader in better understanding the individual storylines being related. There is nothing of major consequence in difference between the two versions of JCM-Book IV – just some relatively innocuous stylistic alterations for enhanced readability purposes.

Admin Note 2:

In 1995, when I first showed up at Quantico as a brand-new profiler, it was to the Investigative Support Unit (ISU). A few years later the name was changed to the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC). In 2004, it was renamed the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). During the forthcoming chapters, I may mention those individual names when necessary, but I’ll mostly just refer to my collective work entity as the “Profiling Unit.”

Admin Note 3:

“In accordance with my obligations as an FBI employee pursuant to my FBI employment agreement, this book has undergone a prepublication review for the purpose of identifying prohibited disclosures but has not been reviewed for editorial content or accuracy. The FBI does not endorse or validate any information that I have described in this book. The opinions expressed in this book are mine and not those of the FBI or any other government agency.”

To purchase Book IV on Amazon, click here.

Book IV Teaser – Chapter 1 ‘Beginnings’