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Robert Roy Hazelwood (March 4, 1938 – April 18, 2016) was an FBI profiler regarded as a pioneer in criminal profiling, and especially the profiling of sex offenders. He is buried in Quantico National Cemetery.
Biography[]
Hazelwood was born in the city of Pocatello in Bannock County, Idaho. His parents were stepfather Elmo Earl and Louella Matilda Hazelwood. He also had three siblings; two brothers and a sister.
When he was a baby, Hazelwood was abducted by his biological father who travelled around with him for six months before returning him. He was raised by his mother and stepfather in Houston and attended Sam Houston State University.
Hazelwood served in the Vietnam War and was eventually promoted to Major, leaving the army after eleven years. He followed his tour with a forensic medicine fellowship with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) and a stint with the CID as an instructor.
In 1971, Hazelwood joined the FBI as a profiler. He was extremely skilled at profiling sexual predators, developing the six different categories of rapist (power-reassurance, power assertive, anger retaliatory, anger excitation, opportunistic and gang, with anger excitation being the most dangerous). In 1980, Hazelwood developed the distinction between "organized" and "disorganized" murderers, a concept that is still used by law enforcement today.
One of Hazelwood's most famous cases was the Atlanta child murders, in which thirty children were killed. Working alongside a profiler named John Douglas, Hazelwood compiled and presented a profile of the killer in which he speculated the killer was an African-American man. Eventually, Wayne Williams (an African-American man) was arrested and received two life sentences.
Hazelwood, after he retired from the FBI, was an active member of an organization of former FBI agents and law enforcement officers. He continued to work closely with the FBI and other government agencies in an effort to track down sexually-oriented murderers. He also wrote two books alongside Stephen Michaud: The Evil That Men Do and Dark Dreams. Hazelwood gave lectures across North America about sexual sadism and autoerotic fatalities. His presentation was heavily focused on Dennis Rader, the BTK strangler.
A devout Presbyterian, Hazelwood died while taking a nap in the sun at his home on April 18, 2016. He had a wife and two children at the time.