A criminal profiler working with the FBI was interviewing serial killer Edmund Kemper. Alone. He had no gun on him. And when he buzzed the guards to collect him… no one came for over half an hour.
Kemper, a 6′9″ and 300 pound man, leaned over and said the following words: “If I went apeshit in here, you’d be in a lot of trouble, wouldn’t you?”
“I could screw your head off and place it on the table to greet the guard.”
It was pretty chilling. Because Kemper was a 100% correct — he could harm the profiler. He could absolutely, and with great ease, take his life. The FBI man knew this. He even tried to negotiate a little with Kemper. Told him he’d be in trouble, that he’d be put in solitary… Kemper wasn’t fazed, replying that he’d been in solitary before, and that they would not place him there forever. In fact, killing an FBI officer would only elevate his status among other prisoners, and he knew he would never walk free anyway…
For fifteen minutes that must have felt like hours, Kemper toyed with the profiler. When the guards finally came, he placed a huge hand on the profiler’s shoulder. “You know I was just kidding, don’t you?” he said. No one ever interviewed serial killers alone since.