General Discussion and News > Writing Advice
An FBI Agent and a NYC Detective walk into a bar ...
(1/1)
S_M_Walker:
Now that I've got your attention I'd like a little advice, please.
I'm currently writing a crime novel about two serial killers, brothers, who have continually evaded FBI capture. The FBI gets close then poof they're gone. the Agent in charge suspects that they have someone on the inside feeding them information to avoid capture. (Not sure if it's an unknown relative or someone they have something on.) I'm curious, is it realistic to have the FBI agent get the phones messages, text messages and emails of the other agents working the case? Possibly phones tapped? ???
Now on to the NYC Detective, he's been best friends with the FBI agent since they were kids. The Detective's fiance gets taken, but there is no sign of force and the detective doesn't know about the serial killers. The car she was in is found out of state. Locals law enforcement thinks that she just took off, he knows her better than that. It hasn't been 48 hours so he can't file a missing person report yet but he knows something is not right. Do you think it's a good idea for him to skirt the law and get someone to hack the traffic cameras to try and identify who had her?
I'm planning on having both eventually figure out that they are looking for the same people and work together to find her before time runs out for her.
Any advice or suggestions are welcome.
Thank you!
producer103:
Now that I've got your attention I'd like a little advice, please.
I'm currently writing a crime novel about two serial killers, brothers, who have continually evaded FBI capture. The FBI gets close then poof they're gone. the Agent in charge suspects that they have someone on the inside feeding them information to avoid capture. (Not sure if it's an unknown relative or someone they have something on.) I'm curious, is it realistic to have the FBI agent get the phones messages, text messages and emails of the other agents working the case? Possibly phones tapped? ???
If they suspected someone on the inside they'd open an investigation and emails, messages are all government property so there is no expectation of privacy. They wouldn't need to go through a judge to get a warrant to tap anything. They'd just search his office while he's out of it.
Now on to the NYC Detective, he's been best friends with the FBI agent since they were kids. The Detective's fiance gets taken, but there is no sign of force and the detective doesn't know about the serial killers. The car she was in is found out of state. Locals law enforcement thinks that she just took off, he knows her better than that. It hasn't been 48 hours so he can't file a missing person report yet but he knows something is not right. Do you think it's a good idea for him to skirt the law and get someone to hack the traffic cameras to try and identify who had her?
I'm planning on having both eventually figure out that they are looking for the same people and work together to find her before time runs out for her. The car being out of state brings the F.B.I. into it. Kidnapping is automatically an F.B.I. case. They don't have to be invited in. They take it over! The 48 hours is just a guide. If there's reason to believe the cases are related, they could open a case file, but the F.B.I. would already have an open casefile. Why was the fiance taken? Usually two people, especially serial killers, don't last long. Leopold and Loeb, Bianchi and Buono (The hillside stranglers) one or them is usually the dominant running the show and that relationship usually burns out eventually. Kenneth Bianchi (the dom) just decided to lay low, but his cousin, Angelo Buono, didn't want to stop killing. Without Bianchi to plan and run the operation, Buono was caught very quickly, made a deal and ratted out Bianchi. All serials go through the same stages and eventually begin to devolve where they can no longer be tracked based on known behaviors. Ted Bundy, while he usually one girl at a time, in the stage of devolution, broke into a college sorority house and killed six students. Though a great deal is known about serial pathology, most serial killers are caught through their own stupidity. Ted Kaczynski's wrote a manifesto and insisted it be published. John Wayne Gacy invited a policman to his home for dinner, during which the policeman smelled the decaying bodies under the floorboards. Danny Rolling, in Gainsville, Florida, killed a woman that turned out to be a police dispatcher which brought the F.B.I. down on him. He was found to have been living in tent in a wooded area just outside of town. You really need to do your due dilligence if you're writing about serial killers. With shows likw Criminal Minds, readers are becoming experts on serial killers, bombers, kidnappers, etc. If they get the idea you're just making this stuff up, they won't buy your books and agents as well as publishers will blacklist you.
Any advice or suggestions are welcome.
Thank you!
If they suspected someone on the inside they'd open an investigation and emails, messages are all government property so there is no expectation of privacy. They wouldn't need to go through a judge to get a warrant to tap anything. They'd just tap his phone and search his office while he's out of it.
Why doesn't the detective know about the serial killers. The killings would be reported on all of the news channels. Trust me, he'd know about them.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
Go to full version