A Conversation About the Riverman, 1984, Part 7

"I left out parts of my number-one ruse or lure, would be the-- well, I don’t think it’d be my number one, necessarily. Maybe number two would be the police badge. You know that commands a lot of power. At least initially, until the cover is blown. I mean, Bianchi and his cousin stretched that to the limits down in Los Angeles. 

Uh, yeah... that’s a good one, except, like you say, these girls, after a period of time, I mean, the prostitutes that are working Pacific Highway South must have been very wary of something unusual, even a cop flashing a badge. I don’t know, uh, what their reaction would be. But after a while, I think even that wouldn't scare them. I’m sure you’ve interviewed them and asked them if they’ve had people approach them flashing badges, and that’s probably another question you should ask. Again, I’m sure you’ve asked it. To all the prostitutes out there, have they been approached by anybody flashing badges? Because my guess is if the guy is using that technique, sooner or later he’s going to run into somebody, flashes a badge on her, and something happens. She either backs away or somebody, some other event, intervenes, because he’s not getting everybody he approaches. He's not getting everybody he approaches, whether he’s successful or not. Some of them he’d only make contact with. Using all his mental powers to assess the situation, and he’s in the progress of trying to convince her to go with him, if something doesn’t feel right, if she doesn’t appeal to him for some reason, once he even starts talking to her, if she doesn't want to go... something happens where in fact, he doesn't take her away. I

f he's using the police badge routine, that's gonna stick out in their minds. And he's gonna know that too. If he fails as Bono and Bianchi did-- at least once that I know of-- that’s going to be something to follow up on. And I don’t know if you have any reports like that or not in the Green River case... But because these prostitutes are so wary, I think the guy is coming on in a really low-key, nonthreatening manner. And he knows them so well and I don’t think he’s coming on as a cop. Because if he did, I think you’d know about it by now. You’d have a pretty good feeling about it by now. That’s not to say he’s never done it or hasn’t thought about doing it, or wouldn’t try it, you know. 

But if he’s always reading, I’ll bet you, like I say, some people-- hunters-- read Field and Stream, this guy’s reading True Detective. So he’s always thinking of new ways. My guess is he’s so nonthreatening, so low-key, he knows them so well, that either he’s coming on sometimes with a job or sometimes with something else. And what that something else might be is anybody’s guess."