Dr. John Locke was a psychologist and director of the Psychohormonal Research program at the University of Southern California . He contributed a psychological profile to the Westside Strangler Task Force in 1990, and later wrote the books The Private Sex Life of the Public Porn Princess and Black Hearts. His profile of the Westside Strangler differed in several significant respects from Norman Church, the actual killer. However, he admits that his profile was not 100% accurate, and he does not doubt that Church was the Strangler.
In November of 1993, he testified in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Deborah Church against LAPD detective Harry Bosch. He later met with Bosch and profiled a potential second killer (the Follower) whose murders had been attributed to the Dollmaker four years earlier. Locke noted similar copycat cases, notably the Freeway Killer in the 1980's in LA. and Orange Counties.
For a short time Locke was suspected of being the Follower because he had visited many of the porn film sets where the victims had worked. When Honey Chandler was killed, Locke was in Las Vegas with one of his students, providing him with a solid alibi.
Allusions[]
Locke shares his name with a 17th Century English philosopher.