Hulu true crime documentary Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer gives us the fascinating true story of Ann Burgess

A new true crime documentary called Mastermind: How to Think Like a Killer will begin streaming on Hulu in July. Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer is the story of Ann Burgess, a psychiatric nurse and professor who was at the early forefront of serial killer profiling.

Burgess worked with profilers Robert Ressler, John E. Douglas and other agents as part of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit in the 1970s. As you can imagine, women were not usually involved in the darker parts of law enforcement in the 70s, and Burgess worked on the cases of such prolific killers as Ted Bundy and Ed Kemper.

Her unique method involved studying not only the killers themselves, but also the after affects suffered by potential victims, allowing her and her team mates to piece together a full picture and catch the killer.

If all of this sounds a bit familiar, it should, because Douglas, Ressler and Burgess were loosely portrayed in the popular Netflix series Mindhunter. The character of Dr. Wendy Carr, played by Anna Torv, is based on Ann Burgess.

There were, of course, some fictional aspects of Dr. Carr’s life depicted in Mindhunter – for example, she was portrayed as a lesbian, and Burgess does not identify as such. And Burgess’s work with sociologist Lynda Lytle Holstrom was not touched on. Together, the two women were instrumental in the understanding of rape trauma syndrome. In a time when women were not really taken all that seriously academically, their work was strong enough that William Webster, one-time director of the BFI, insisted that his agents be trained in understanding the trauma suffered by victims of sexual assault.

The fact that all of this took place during the fight for women’s rights makes it even more important that women were involved, and makes Burgess a very important figure in that part of history.

Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer will begin streaming on Hulu July 11

Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer is executive produced by Dakota and Elle Fanning, directed by Abby Fuller, and the showrunner is Dani Sloane. The Hulu press release describes the documentary like this: “With unprecedented access to the mastermind behind the development of modern serial-killer profiling, the series tells Burgess’ tenacious story and her compassion for victims which puts her at the center of America’s most infamous true-crime cases.”