Profile of a Killer and His Double Life

How could Altemio Sanchez have hidden his dark secrets from his family and neighbors for so many years? News 4's Jodi Hovenden takes a closer look at the profile of a killer and his double life.

It was a secret life Altemio Sanchez lived for decades.

Andrew Lotempio, Sanchez's attorney, said, "If you talked to any neighbor, co-worker, person who grew up with him, played sports with him at the Butler Mitchell Club when he was a kid, this is a guy that nobody ever, ever would have believed he did this."

Apparently, even his own wife didn't have any idea he was the Bike Path Rapist and Killer.

Lotempio said, "There is no indication she had any idea any of this was going on."

But how could he have fooled so many people for so long?

Gregg McCrary said, "It's kind of difficult to understand, but I've seen it time and again."

Retired FBI profiler Gregg McCrary, who worked on the Bike Path Rapist case in the '80s, says killers like Sanchez compartmentalize their lives so well they're able to hide their dark side.

McCrary said, "It's certainly possible that there were no clues at all, that he gave no indication at all. As a matter of fact, he may have, in a way, almost overcompensated for this, and worked to appear extra-nice, extra-good, extra-loving as a family man, as a husband, as a father, as a neighbor."

And McCrary believes eluding police for decades fueled Sanchez's ego.

McCrary said, "Every day, that narcissism and that sense of superiority was confirmed and reinforced. Now, it's come crashing down around him, and it's difficult to deal with at that point."

Sanchez's attorney, who described his client as deflated, says Sanchez confessed to spare his wife and two sons from hearing the details of his crimes at trial, but McCrary believes the confession was more self-serving than that.

McCrary said, "If he went to trial, he would be forced to face all of his failures, and he would be humiliated in court."

May 18, 2007
News4