Paperback
ISBN – 9781776391455
In Stock
R250.00
Paperback
ISBN – 9781776391455
Micki Pistorius
Micki Pistorius (born 19 March 1961 in Pretoria) is a South African forensic or investigative psychologist and author. She was the first woman in her profession and the first profiler in South Africa. She says she has “cryptesthesia”, an extra-sensory perception for killers.
Career
Pistorius joined the South African Police Service (SAPS) in 1994, where she founded and headed the Investigative Psych Unit as Chief Investigative Psychologist, a rank equivalent to colonel; she also founded the Serious and Violent Crimes Component. By 1997, she had trained over 100 detectives to investigate serial criminals, and two successors, including Elmarie Myburgh.
She was involved in more than thirty serial killer cases while at SAPS. Among the people whose cases she worked on are Norman Afzal Simons, Moses Sithole, David Selepe, Stewart Wilken, Sipho Thwala, Velaphi Ndlangamandla, Cedric Maake, and David Mmbengwa.
She developed post-traumatic stress disorder and consequently retired in 2000 to join a private investigation company. Gerrard Labuschagne took over from her. After quitting, she wrote Catch me a killer in order to “purify” herself of her experiences while profiling. She still consults for South African government agencies, and appears in court cases as a clinical psychologist.
Pistorius is recognised as one of the world’s foremost psychological profilers, by people such as FBI profiler Robert Ressler.
Pistorius has empathy for serial killers, who she says are “not monsters; they are human beings with tortured souls. I will never condone what they do, but I can understand them.” She participated in the training of nearly two hundred detectives in the investigation of serial homicides
From 1994 to 2000, when South Africa was a young democracy, the country was stalked by a succession of brutal serial killers. Psychologist Micki Pistorius became the first profiler for the South African Police Service, playing a vital role in identifying and interrogating these killers, as well as training detectives nationally and in other countries. She broke ground with her theory on the origin of serial killers and is considered a trailblazer in her field.
Catch Me a Killer details the cases she worked on – from the Station Strangler and the Phoenix Cane Killer to Boetie Boer and the Saloon Killer. The book also features legendary detectives such as Piet Byleveld and Suiker Britz, as well as the FBI’s Robert Ressler.
Released alongside a major TV series based on the book, this new edition of Catch Me a Killer includes a new chapter and up-to-date information about some of the cases, such as the parole of Norman Afzal Simons in 2023. This is essential reading for all true crime aficionados.