April 11, 2011
Echols to sign copies of his book about serial killer
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Paul Echols, a retired police lieutenant and former investigations commander for the Carbondale Police Department, was just a rookie cop when he set his sights on the then-unknown serial killer Timothy Krajcir.
Now Echols, a lecturer in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is also an author.
Echols will be at the University Bookstore in the SIUC Student Center on Tuesday, April 12, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. signing copies of his book, “In Cold Pursuit: My Hunt for Timothy Krajcir, the Notorious Serial Killer.” The book is his in-depth analysis of how he doggedly pursued, investigated and researched until he identified Krajcir as a serial killer responsible for nine murders in Southern Illinois and southern Missouri. Proceeds from the event will fund a scholarship for criminology and criminal justice students.
Echols applied breakthroughs in criminal investigation technology to evidence already in police possession as part of his methodology for solving the cold cases involving Kracjir. He was motivated by his sympathy for the victims and their families, and the need to bring some measure of justice into their lives by finding, even many years later, the person responsible for the sexual assaults and murders that for so long had gone unsolved. He teaches some of these techniques in his course work.
Echols wrote his book with co-author, the journalist Christine Byers.