Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit

The Prologue to Mindhunter begins with a description of author John Douglas’s near-death experience in Seattle in December 1983. Three weeks prior to his hospitalization, Douglas, an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was in New York, giving a lecture to NYPD. At this time, Douglas was managing a full-time case load of about 150 active cases. He was flying all around the country to assist local law enforcement on horrific serial crimes. He was overworked, and he had been feeling unwell. He flew to Seattle with two new agents, Blaine McIlwain and Ron Walker, to advise and consult on the Green River Task Force. This task force was created for the sole purpose of catching the killer that was active in Washington State at the time. After giving a presentation, Douglas tried to rest in his hotel room, intending to sleep off what he thought was the flu. When he did not show up for breakfast a day later, his fellow agents kicked down his hotel door and found him on the floor, having continuous seizures. Douglas was taken to Swedish Hospital, where it was discovered that the right side of his brain had ruptured and hemorrhaged from his 107° fever.