Recently I turned on MSNBC and found the program Mindhunter, lead by John Douglas. John douglas is one of the first criminal profilers for the FBI. John Douglas was talking to a serial child rapist and murderer Joseph Kondro, who is serving 55 years in prison for the rape and murder of two children in Washington State.

While interviewing with John Douglas from prison, Kondro showed absolutely no remorse for killing two young girls. The only thing expressed close to remorse was he had been caught and that has disrupted his life. The children profiled in the Kondro file were children of a friend of Joseph Kondro. Kondro does what most every child predator does, plays on the trust of those he knows, his friends. The girls Kondro killed were the children of people he considered friends.

The first girl and her family had set up a good safety system, a family code word. A code word is designed to be set up in advance, and to be used in the event someone has to pick up your child other than a parent. The problem is according to Kondro the father of the first girl who was his friend told Kondro the safe word during a conversation. Kondro in turn used that safe word to lure the young girl into his car after school one day.

In reality, safe words are only as safe as we make them. It is imperative no one shares the safe word with anyone. Even better than having a stranger use the safe word, tell your children, you will call if there is ever an emergency and someone else is going to pick him or her up, and that you will give him or her the safe word over the phone when you call so he or she will know it is really you.

Then during the phone conversation, you will also tell him or her who will pick them up and where. In all likely hood unless death or coma ensues there is really not going to be a time you cannot call a child and tell her yourself that you are sending someone to pick them up.

Several times throughout his interview Joseph Kondro referenced he first gained the trust of his victim’s families, playing on the trust he built up as a friend to gain access to the children in those families. Kondro is a father of six children, and he has never touched or hurt any of his own children. John Douglas believes Kondro sees his children as a part of himself, so harming his children would mean he was harming part of himself.

According to research people who wet the bed past five, start fires, and are cruel to animals at an early age are indicative of someone capable of harming or killing later in life. Previously mental health experts believed people who are serial killers had a history of being physically and or sexually abuse in childhood, but this has failed to pan out in many cases.

Another frightening fact Kondro shares during his interview is that once the girls got into his car their fate was sealed. Kondro may have molested 70 children, and he has likely killed other children, yet Kondro has only confessed to the murders of two little girls in Washington State. John Douglas believes Kondro knew that if he confessed to a third he would be eligible for the death penalty.

There is currently no evidence to link Kondro to any other murders. If you are aware of any information regarding a missing or murdered child, please contact your local authorities, the FBI or go to www.missingkids.com.