‘Get a German Shepherd’: Serial killer expert gives women tips on staying safe

Trailblazing criminal profiler Dr Ann Burgess, who single-handedly changed the way the FBI catches serial killers, has shared an important tip to help women stay safe.

A professor and former forensic nurse, 87-year-old Burgess has been the inspiration behind several fictional shows, such as Mindhunter and CBS’s current series Criminal Minds . Now, she is at the forefront of her own documentary, Hulu ’s Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer , which details her career.

In the late 1970s, she was called on by a then-male-dominated bureau as a consultant, and she interviewed and studied some of the country’s most notorious serial killers including Ed Kemper (the “Co-Ed Killer”), Ted Bundy, and John B Simonis (the “Ski Mask Rapist”).

Burgess transformed the way the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit came to understand serial killers, through structured data collection and analysis. She created a framework for criminal profiling that had never existed previously .

Speaking to People ahead of the release of the three-part docuseries, Burgess offered key advice to women on how best to protect themselves against danger.

“Get a German shepherd. That’s the one thing I always say – a German shepherd,” she said.

“A lot of killers seize opportunity,” Burgess explained. “So if they see a ‘Beware of dog’ sign and think that a man is there who could possibly fight them, they’re going to move to the next house for the easier victim.”

She also advised women to always trust their gut.

“That’s your limbic system reacting,” she said. “It’s an involuntary system that is set in us to alarm us, and you should pay attention to it. I just think that’s only good sense to listen to it, and not to override the system.”

She recalled how, in many cases, women felt like something was off, thinking “‘Geez, I’m overreacting.’ And then they found themselves in very tight positions.”

In a previous interview with The Independent , Burgess discussed her concern for how true-crime reports and TV shows are informing criminals and making them “more sophisticated”.

“I think we have to be very careful that they don’t pick up the lingo and they don’t use it in any way to manipulate,” she said, “because they are such major manipulators – and their skill in lying and putting it over on people is so much a part of them and getting away with a crime.”

She also noted the growing issues with cybersecurity and social media. “Who knows where we’ll be in the next decade?” Burgess said. “There’s been so much crime and reaction; will there be a difference in victim response? We don’t know that. Or will there be new and different kinds of crimes that we’ll have to look into?”

Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer is streaming on Hulu in the US and will be available soon on Disney+ in the UK.