[120] MTSU Welcomes Criminal Profiler Hinman for Oct. 7 Lecture

FOR RELEASE: Sept. 28, 2010
EDITORIAL CONTACTS: Dr. Hugh Berryman, 615-494-7713; Gina E. Fann, 615-898-5385

MTSU WELCOMES CRIMINAL PROFILER HINMAN FOR OCT. 7 LECTURE
Expert Says Crime-Solving Task ‘Far from a Magical Event’

(MURFREESBORO)—Criminal profiler Dayle Hinman, whose investigative skills aided in the prosecutions of serial killers Ted Bundy and Aileen Wuornos, is bringing her expertise to MTSU on Thursday, Oct. 7, for the Fall 2010 William Bass Legends in Forensic Science Lectureship.

Hinman will speak beginning at 7 p.m. in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. Her free lecture, “The Devil is in the Details,” is open to the public.

“Criminal profiling has been the subject of countless movies, television programs and novels,” Hinman notes. “The profilers are frequently portrayed as individuals with special psychic abilities.

“Far from a magical event, profiling is an investigative technique that was developed and refined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is a process of systematically reviewing and analyzing crime-scene information.”

MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education, which is co-sponsoring the lecture, established the series to bring internationally known experts in forensic science to MTSU each fall and spring, said Dr. Hugh Berryman, FIRE director.

Hinman, who is one of only a handful of women in her field, began her 26-year career in law enforcement as a police officer at Florida State University. She worked for the Leon County, Fla., Sheriff’s Department and wound up at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, successfully investigating hundreds of crimes perpetrated by murderers, rapists and sexual offenders. She was trained in criminal profiling at the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico, Va., and is a court-certified expert in crime-scene assessment.

Hinman now lectures nationally and internationally on criminal profiling, crime-scene analysis, threat assessment and serial offenders. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the host of TruTV’s “Body of Evidence: From the Case Files of Dayle Hinman.”

During her lecture, Hinman says she’ll use specific case examples to help attendees understand how complicated cases were resolved. “Participants will gain a greater understanding of criminal profiling and better appreciate the collaborative working relationships between the various professional disciplines involved in criminal investigation,” she says.

In addition to FIRE, Hinman’s campus visit is being made possible by sponsorship from the College of Liberal Arts and College of Basic and Applied Sciences and MTSU’s sociology and anthropology, political science, psychology, biology, chemistry and criminal justice departments.

For more information on the Oct. 7 lecture, please call 615-494-7713 or visit www.mtsu.edu/fire.


Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. This fall, MTSU unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.

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IN BRIEF: Criminal profiler Dayle Hinman, whose investigative skills aided in the prosecutions of serial killers Ted Bundy and Aileen Wuornos, is bringing her expertise to MTSU on Thursday, Oct. 7, for the Fall 2010 William Bass Legends in Forensic Science Lectureship. Hinman is set to speak beginning at 7 p.m. in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. Her free lecture, “The Devil is in the Details,” is open to the public. For more information, please call 615-494-7713 or visit MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education website at www.mtsu.edu/fire.


For MTSU news and information, visit www.mtsunews.com.

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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a color JPEG of Hinman, please contact Gina E. Fann in the Office of News and Public Affairs via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385. Thanks!