Season 3, Episode 35: Victimology: Why Investigators Profile Victims of Crime to Solve Cases

Remember the original Unsolved Mysteries from back in the day when Robert Stack was the host? How he always wrapped up the intro by saying, “Perhaps you may be able to solve a mystery.” Retired FBI Criminal Profiler John Douglas agrees. He says in our book today that “...there’s almost always someone out there who has information needed to complete the puzzle.”

Our book this week is The Anatomy of Motive by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker and our guest is a familiar one, private investigator Sheila Wysocki. She’s going to help us understand

• what the term “victimology” means
• how you prepare one and
• why it’s so important for investigations

Sheila Wysocki became a household name in the private investigation world after she helped solve the cold-case murder of her college roommate, Angie Samota, more than 25 years later. Only wanting to figure out Angie’s case, Wysocki was ready to close the case on her PI career. However, that’s when letters from around the world came pouring into her inbox begging her to help their families who had mysteriously lost a loved one. “I just couldn’t say no,” recalls Wysocki, “these families were in the same position I was after Angie’s death, and I knew I had to at least try to help them.”

Since then, Wysocki has worked on over 100 complicated cases, has been nominated as one of the Top 20 Best Nashville Private Investigators, and voted the number six most influential woman private investigator. She has been featured in The Washington Post and has appeared on Anderson Cooper, Dateline, Katie Couric, A&E Biography’s “I Solved a Murder,” ABC’s 20/20, Crime Watch Daily, Criminal, and numerous other podcasts. Persistence has always been how her colleagues characterize her and that persistence has paid off in the many cold cases she has worked.

Links to previous episodes that featured Sheila:

Season 1, Episode 8: Murder in the Bayou, Part 1

Season 1, Episode 9: Murder in the Bayou, Part 2

Season 1, Episode 38: Survivors

Season 2, Episode 20: True Crime Moms who Never Give Up - " in the Heartland" by Jax Miller

Please visit my website to access more episodes, read my blog posts, or check out ways you can financially support the podcast so that together we can impact more people, more families, and more communities. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting and investigative services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com.

Link to buy The Anatomy of Motive

Link to Sheila’s website

Throwback to Robert Stack on Unsolved Mysteries

National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or Text START to 88788