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