Micki Pistorius (born 19 March 1961 in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

) is a South African

forensic Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and crimin ...

or investigative psychologist and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. She was the first woman in her profession and the first profiler in South Africa. She says she has "cryptesthesia", an extra-sensory perception for killers.

Early and personal life

Pistorius grew up in Pretoria with several brothers and sisters. She worked as a journalist for eight years, before deciding to study psychology at the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

, where she received a Masters in the subject, and also became a lecturer with a reputation for eccentricity. While doing her doctoral thesis on serial killers, the first in South Africa, she developed her theory linking

Freudian Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

psychosexual development In Freudian psychology, psychosexual development is a central element of the psychoanalytic sexual drive theory. Freud believed that personality developed through a series of childhood stages in which pleasure seeking energies from the child b ...

with serial killing. She was married for eight years, but divorced as a result of work pressures after she became a profiler.

Career

Pistorius joined the

South African Police Service The South African Police Service (SAPS) is the national police force of the Republic of South Africa. Its 1,154 police stations in South Africa are divided according to the provincial borders, and a Provincial Commissioner is appointed in ea ...

(SAPS) in 1994, where she founded and headed the Investigative Psych Unit as Chief Investigative Psychologist, a rank equivalent to colonel; she also founded the Serious and Violent Crimes Component. By 1997, she had trained over 100 detectives to investigate serial criminals, and two successors, including Elmarie Myburgh. She was involved in more than thirty

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

cases while at SAPS. Among the people whose cases she worked on are

Norman Afzal Simons Norman Avzal Simons (born 12 January 1967), known as The Station Strangler, is a South African rapist and suspected serial killer who was convicted in 1995 of the rape and murder of 10-year-old Elroy van Rooyen. He was sentenced to 35 years (25 f ...

Moses Sithole Moses Sithole (born 17 November 1964) is a South African serial killer and rapist who committed the ABC Murders, so named because they began in Atteridgeville, continued in Boksburg and finished in Cleveland, a suburb of Johannesburg. Sit ...

David Selepe David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

Stewart Wilken Stewart Wilken (born 11 November 1966), known as The Boetie Boer, is a convicted serial killer from South Africa. Wilken is regarded as a highly unusual serial killer, having killed individuals from two distinct victim types: female prostitutes a ...

Sipho Thwala Sipho Mandla Agmatir Thwala (born 1968) is a South African rapist and serial killer who was convicted in 1999 for the murders of 16 women and 10 rapes. He was sentenced to 506 years in prison.

Velaphi Ndlangamandla Velaphi Ndlangamandla (born 1966), known as The Saloon Killer, is a South African robber and serial killer, responsible for killing 19 people between April and September 1998 in Mpumalanga. He was sentenced to 137 years' imprisonment for his crim ...

Cedric Maake Maoupa Cedric Maake (born 1965), known as The Wemmer Pan Killer, is a South African serial killer who was convicted of 27 murders but was suspected of killing many more. Biography Cedric Maake’s father died when he was in Standard 8 (now � ...

, and

David Mmbengwa David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

. She developed post-traumatic stress disorder and consequently retired in 2000 to join a private investigation company.

Gerrard Labuschagne Gerrard may refer to: People * Alfred Horace Gerrard (1899–1998), English sculptor * Anthony Gerrard (born 1986), English footballer * Edward Gerrard (footballer) (1900–1987), English footballer * James Joseph Gerrard, (1897–1991), Ameri ...

took over from her. After quitting, she wrote ''Catch me a killer'' in order to "purify" herself of her experiences while profiling. She still consults for South African government agencies, and appears in court cases as a clinical psychologist. Pistorius is recognised as one of the world's foremost psychological profilers, by people such as FBI profiler

Robert Ressler Robert Kenneth Ressler (February 21, 1937 – May 5, 2013) was an FBI agent and author. He played a significant role in the psychological profiling of violent offenders in the 1970s and is often credited with coining the term "serial killer", th ...

. Pistorius has empathy for serial killers, who she says are "not monsters; they are human beings with tortured souls. I will never condone what they do, but I can understand them." She participated in the training of nearly two hundred detectives in the investigation of serial homicides.

Books by Micki Pistorius

* ''Skimme in Die Skadu'' Penguin (SA) 2006 * ''Profiling Serial Killers and other crimes in South Africa'' Penguin SA 2005 * ''Fatal Females'' Penguin SA 2004 * ''Strangers on the street'' Penguin SA 2002 * ''Catch me a killer'' (autobiography) Penguin SA 2000 * ''Sorg'' (historical novel) Penguin SA 2012

Books about Micki Pistorius

* ''Micki Pistorius une femme sur la trace des serial killers'' by Stéphane Bourgouin. ''(In French)''

References

External links

''Who's who entry''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pistorius, Micki 1961 births Living people People from Pretoria Afrikaner people Afrikaner Roman Catholics Criminal psychologists Forensic psychologists Offender profiling South African police officers South African psychologists South African Roman Catholics South African women journalists University of Pretoria alumni South African criminologists Women criminologists South African women psychologists South African journalists Psychics