Retired FBI agent William Hagmaier speaks to a of group students and local law enforcement on Friday at Mount Aloysius College. Mount Aloysius College

CRESSON — For retired FBI agent William Hagmaier, who has dedicated his life to investigating violent, serial and sexually motivated crimes, having someone like Ted Bundy describe him as his “best friend” was “really weird, to say the least.”

Hagmaier shared that personal anecdote during his presentation Homicidal Sexual Predators: Inside the Minds of Notorious Serial Killers to over 150 students, social workers, law enforcement and legal professionals at Mount Aloysius College on Friday.

The presentation focused largely on Hagmaier’s insight into criminal psychology through extensive personal interviews with serial killers like Ted Bundy and the Gainesville Ripper, Danny Rolling.

“He’s by far one of the best there is. It’s an honor to have him here,” Justice, Law and Society Department Chair Joseph Bobak said, adding that some attendants had traveled more than 150 miles to hear Hagmaier speak.

Hagmaier was one of the five original profilers in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, was chief of the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crimes and remains a consultant with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

In 2021, the movie “No Man of God” starring Elijah Wood documented Hagmaier’s interviews with Bundy in the years prior to his execution, wherein Hagmaier obtained Bundy’s confession.

“I’m really impressed with this small college putting these things together,” Hagmaier said of Mount Aloysius. “They have a lot of vision, and they’re willing to share what they have with the community. I would like to see them be able to do more.”

While this was Hagmaier’s second time at Mount Aloysius, it was senior criminology student Brianna Buksa’s first time hearing him speak. She was interested in attending the presentation because she “always had an interest in serial killers,” especially since she’s taking Bobak’s criminal profiling class this semester.

“I knew this presentation would be right up my alley,” Buksa said. “I wanted to see how someone like Hagmaier talks about these things. He’s really well-spoken.”

The Diocese of Altoona and Johnstown’s Michele Luciano expressed a similar interest, saying attending the event could be beneficial for her work.

“I wanted more of a background of what causes people to do this, how it happens — it’s so bizarre and violent,” Luciano said.

During his presentation, Hagmaier went over the similarities of Bundy’s and Rolling’s victims while sharing graphic crime scene photos to further illustrate the motives behind the killers’ actions and how they influence law enforcement creating a criminal profile.

Hagmaier brought up November’s University of Idaho murders as a recent example. While news of the events were still coming out, Hagmaier said his daughter asked him what he thought the perpetrator’s profile would look like.

Hagmaier said, based solely on the media reports at the time, he told her he guessed the killer to be a white male, about 30 years old with an advanced degree. Then, on Dec. 30, 28-year-old Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, on four counts of first-degree murder in relation to the killings.

“She asked me if I had told the FBI, and I said, ‘no one would return my phone calls,'” Hagmaier said, laughing.

Hagmaier said that the Idaho killings struck him “as a mixture of Bundy and Rolling” and it was like their crimes being committed all over again.

When a student asked why Bundy would only speak to Hagmaier despite there being other, more experienced FBI agents eager to interview him, Hagmaier said it was “probably due to the time of their lives.”

Hagmaier and Bundy were only born three months apart, Hagmaier said, so they were the same age, were both married and had children of the same age.

“He probably knew more about law enforcement than I did at that point,” Hagmaier said of Bundy.

This allowed Hagmaier to turn Bundy into a kind of teacher, to get him talking.

“He asked me why he should talk to me and I said I was just there to learn,” Hagmaier told the student.

A Pittsburgh native and Slippery Rock University alum, Hagmaier said he never intended to go to college. One of six children with alcoholic parents, Hagmaier’s family didn’t have a car, so he had to hitchhike from Pittsburgh’s North Side to his first semester at Slippery Rock.

Hagmaier said he never wanted to profit off his affiliations with Bundy or Rolling — which is why he waited 30 years to agree to a movie. Instead, he gives these presentations in the hopes that students and other professionals will recognize his success and realize that they can do the same thing with the right frame of mind and by utilizing whatever resources are available to them.

“Everyone is on the same team, retired or not,” Hagmaier said. “Always keep an open mind; everyone is different. Science is great but you still need to talk to people.”

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.