Retired FBI agent William Hagmaier spoke to a group of students and local law enforcement Friday at Mount Aloysius College. Mount Aloysius College
CRESSON — For retired FBI agent William Hagmaier, who has devoted his life to investigating violent, serial and sexually motivated crimes, having someone like Ted Bundy describe him as his “best friend” was “really weird, to say the least.” .
Hagmaier shared this personal anecdote during his presentation, “Murderous Sexual Predators: Inside the Minds of Notorious Serial Killers,” to more than 150 students, social workers, law enforcement and legal professionals at Mount Aloysius College on Friday.
The presentation focused heavily on Hagmaier’s insight into criminal psychology through extensive personal interviews with serial killers such as Ted Bundy and the Gainesville Ripper, Danny Rolling.
“He’s one of the best there is. I’m honored to have him here,” said Justice, Law and Society Chair Joseph Bobak, adding that some staff members traveled more than 150 miles to hear Hagmaier speak.
Hagmaier was one of the five original profilers in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Division, was chief of the FBI’s National Center for Violent Crime Analysis, and remains a consultant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
In 2021, the film No Man of God, starring Elijah Wood, documented Hagmaier’s interviews with Bundy in the years before his execution, in which Hagmaier obtained Bundy’s confession.
“I’m really impressed with this small college bringing these things together,” Hagmaier said of Mount Aloysius. “They have a lot of vision and are willing to share what they have with the community. I’d like to see them be able to do more.”
Although this was Hagmaier’s second time at Mount Aloysius, senior criminology student Briana Buksa was hearing him speak for the first time. She was interested in attending the presentation because she’s “always been interested in serial killers,” especially since she’s taking Bobak’s criminal profiling course this semester.
“I knew this presentation would be right up my alley,” Buxa said. “I wanted to see someone like Hagmaier talk about these things. He really speaks well.”
The Diocese of Altoona and Michele Luciano of Johnstown expressed similar interest, saying that attending the event could benefit her work.
“I wanted more backstory on what makes people do this, how it happens — it’s so weird and violent,” Luciano said.
During his presentation, Hagmaier explored the similarities between Bundy and Rowling’s victims while sharing graphic crime scene photos to further illustrate the motivations behind the killers’ actions and how they affect law enforcement, creating a criminal profile.
Hagmaier pointed to the University of Idaho killings in November as a recent example. While news of the events was still coming out, Hagmaier said his daughter asked him what he thought the perpetrator’s profile would look like.
Hagmaier said that based solely on media reports at the time, he told her he assumed the killer was a white male in his 30s with a college degree. Then, on Dec. 30, Brian Christopher Koberger, 28, was arrested in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, on four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the murders.
“She asked me if I told the FBI and I said, ‘nobody’s going to return my calls,'” Hagmaier said, laughing.
Hagmaier said the Idaho murders struck him as “a mix of Bundy and Rawlings” and as if their crimes had been re-enacted.
When a student asked why Bundy spoke only to Hagmaier, even though there were other, more experienced FBI agents who wanted to interview him, Hagmaier said it was “probably because of the time of their lives.”
Hagmaier and Bundy were born just three months apart, Hagmaier said, so they were the same age, and both were married and had children of the same age.
“He probably knew more about law enforcement than I did at that point,” Hagmaier said of Bundy.
This allowed Hagmaier to turn Bundy into something of a teacher to get him to talk.
“He asked me why he needed to talk to me and I said I was just there to learn,” Hagmaier told the student.
A native of Pittsburgh and a graduate of Slippery Rock University, Hagmaier said he never intended to go to college. One of six children with alcoholic parents, Hagmaier’s family didn’t have a car, so he had to hitchhike from Pittsburgh’s north side to his first semester at Slippery Rock.
Hagmaier said he never wanted to profit from his ties to Bundy or Rowling — which is why he waited 30 years to agree to a film. Instead, he gives these presentations in the hope that students and other professionals will recognize his success and realize that they can do the same with the right attitude and by using all available resources.
“Everybody’s on the same team, retired or not,” Hagmaier said. “Always keep an open mind; everybody is different. Science is great, but you still have to talk to people.
Mirror writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.