Transcript

The Famous Journalist Who Murdered Prostitutes | The FBI files

From The FBI Files · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 50 min · 6,336 words · 133 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "The Famous Journalist Who Murdered Prostitutes | The FBI files", an episode of The FBI Files published November 29, 2025 (50 min, about 6,336 words). It mentions 29 people, works and ideas, including Johan Jack Unveger, Greg McCra, Dr. Ernst Guyger, FBI, Austria.

What this episode is about

In the early 1990s, a serial killer targeting prostitutes in central Europe sparked a desperate manhunt as authorities struggled to track him down. The situation escalated when the FBI was called in to assist, revealing the criminal's pattern of evasion and killing that led him to the United States, where the death toll continued to rise until he was ultimately apprehended.

Key takeaways

  • Austrian authorities asked the FBI for serial killer expertise—turns out, they were woefully unprepared for the hunt.
  • Jack Unveger, a freed convict turned journalist, became an unlikely suspect—proving that redemption doesn’t always lead to good.
  • The killer didn’t just evade capture; he thrived in the press, highlighting media blind spots in criminal investigations.
  • Hiding in plain sight is a killer's best friend—Unveger covered the very murders he was committing. Talk about irony!
  • Legal prostitution in Austria didn't save lives—it just offered a different kind of vulnerability to an opportunistic predator.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Austria, Austrian authorities, Dr. Ernst Guyger, Haidarie Hammer
  2. – 10:00: Austria, Johan Jack Unveger, Austrian authorities, Blanca Bova
  3. – 15:00: Vienna, Dr. Ernst Guyger, Haidarie Hammer, Austrian authorities
  4. – 20:00: California, Austria, Fred Miller, Greg McCra
  5. – 25:00: Greg McCra, Austria, California, Lynn Harold
  6. – 30:00: Austrian detectives, Austrian police, Czechoslovakia
  7. – 35:00: Austria, FBI, Greg McCra, Fred Miller
  8. – 40:00: Austria, Austrian police, Austrian authorities, California
  9. – 45:00: Austria, California, Austrian authorities, Tom Mueller
  10. – 50:00: Austria, Johan Jack Unveger, Lynn Harold

Notable quotes from "The Famous Journalist Who Murdered Prostitutes | The FBI files"

  • Beginning in 1990, Europe found itself in the clutches of a serial killer. He became an international outlaw, hopping from country to evade capture and.
    about Austria · at
  • Austrian authorities determined that Hammer had been strangled with her own panty hose.
    about Haidarie Hammer · at
  • Until 1990, Jack Unveger had led a difficult life.
    about Johan Jack Unveger · at
  • Suspect. Through receipts and travel records, Guyger and Mueller learned that Unvear had been at each murder location.
    about Dr. Ernst Guyger · at
  • Now retired, McCra spent the last 10 of his 25 years in the FBI pioneering the science of profiling.
    about Greg McCra · at
  • Miller had received their TLEX and said that California had suffered a similar pattern of killings during the prior summer.
    about Fred Miller · at
  • Los Angeles criminalist Lynn Harold compared the knots to see if there was a pattern in the way each had been made and tied.
    about Lynn Harold · at
  • The Austrians wanted to prosecute onto Vega in their court for all 11 murders.
    about California · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Johan Jack Unveger — Person · Primary subject / suspect (later convicted serial killer) · 2 mentions · first at
    Central figure of the episode: an Austrian writer/journalist suspected and later convicted of a series of prostitute murders across Europe and Los Angeles.
  • Greg McCra — Person · Referenced expert / FBI profiler assisting investigation · 4 mentions · first at
    FBI profiler who analyzes the murders, links cases behaviorally across continents, and helps Austrian authorities build a prosecutable theory.
  • Dr. Ernst Guyger — Person · Lead Austrian investigator / case coordinator · 2 mentions · first at
    Coordinates the Austrian hunt, develops the suspect (Unveger), gathers evidence, and initiates cooperation with the FBI and U.S. investigators.
  • Haidarie Hammer — Person · Victim (first discovered Austrian victim) · 2 mentions · first at
    Her murder is the first discovered in Austria and establishes the recurring modus operandi (ligature strangulation with intimate apparel, wooded dump sites).
  • Tom Mueller — Person · Austrian criminal psychologist / investigative team member · 4 mentions · first at
    Joins the Austrian investigation, supports the suspect theory, and helps interpret offender behavior consistent with an organized offender/psychopath.
    By July 1991, after two more prostitutes were found strangled, psychologist Tom Mueller of Austria's criminal investigation division joined the team. When we started the…
  • Fred Miller — Person · Los Angeles detective (U.S. counterpart) · 4 mentions · first at
    Receives the Austrian alert (TLEX), connects LA murders to the European pattern, and coordinates evidence-sharing and DNA follow-up.
  • Blanca Bova — Person · Victim (earliest known victim; Prague) · 2 mentions · first at
    Her case anchors the timeline (Sept 1990) and provides key forensic linkage via hair/DNA found in the suspect's former car.
    She was the earliest victim in the string of murders that now totaled seven.
  • Lynn Harold — Person · Forensic analyst / criminalist (knot analysis) · 2 mentions · first at
    Provides technical comparison of ligature knot construction across victims, supporting linkage of crimes to a single offender.
  • Jim Calstrom — Person · Narrator / on-camera host (in-episode) · 1 mention · first at
    Introduces the international investigation context as former head of the FBI's New York office and frames the need for cross-border cooperation.
    International outlaw, hopping from country to evade capture and to kill again. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. Legal cooperation between countries…
  • Bianca Mack — Person · Associate of suspect / companion during flight · 1 mention · first at
    An 18-year-old who becomes romantically involved with Unveger and flees with him, enabling his temporary evasion until arrest in Miami.
    The impressionable 18-year-old met onto Vega in a wine bar where she worked as a waitress.
  • Regina Prem — Person · Victim · 2 mentions · first at
    Her disappearance and the taunting phone call to her family add behavioral evidence (control, cruelty) and mark the eighth victim in Europe.
    In Austria, another woman, Regina Prem, had been missing for months and presumed dead. Her family waited desperately for news of her fate.
  • Sylvia Zaggler — Person · Victim · 2 mentions
    Included among the first cluster of victims demonstrating repeated strangulation and body-dumping behavior.
  • Brunilda Maseru — Person · Victim · 1 mention · first at
    One of the early Austrian victims used to establish the serial pattern (strangulation with pantyhose, wooded disposal).
    Brunilda Maseru was recovered in a stream bed near Gratz.
  • Alfreda Shrimp — Person · Victim · 1 mention · first at
    Another Austrian victim reinforcing the consistent MO and geographic spread within Austria.
    Alfreda shrimp, also from Gratz, was found nearby in the woods near Vienna. Sylvia Zaggler was discovered in a stand of trees.

Companies & orgs

  • FBI — Company · Key collaborator · 1 mention · first at
    The FBI provided expertise and resources to help Austrian authorities catch the serial killer.
    The Austrians contacted the FBI because they were trying to tap into our experience of dealing with serial homicide investigations. this was the first serial murder investigation in.
  • Austrian authorities — Company · Key collaborator · 8 mentions · first at
    The local law enforcement agencies in Austria that led the investigation into the serial killer.
    Austrian authorities determined that Hammer had been strangled with her own panty hose.
  • Austrian police — Company · Key collaborator · 5 mentions · first at
    The local police force in Austria that was involved in the investigation.
    He told audiences that the Austrian police were inept at finding the real killer and had singled him out as a scapegoat.
  • Austrian detectives — Company · Key collaborator · 4 mentions · first at
    The detectives in Austria who led the investigation into the serial killer.
    In August 1992, Austrian detectives arrived at Quantico, Virginia.
  • University of Surrey — Company · Key collaborator · 1 mention · first at
    The university where forensic analysis was conducted to link the serial killer to the crimes.
    Then they received a phone call from the University of Burn.

Places & events

  • Austria — Place · Setting · 21 mentions · first at
    The primary location where the serial killer operated and where the investigation was centered.
  • California — Place · Setting · 10 mentions · first at
    The state where the serial killer committed murders during his visit to the U.S.
  • Vienna — Place · Setting · 7 mentions · first at
    A city in Austria where some of the murders occurred and where the investigation was coordinated.
    The Austrian investigators visited the US embassy.
  • Quantico — Place · Setting · 3 mentions · first at
    The location of the FBI's criminal profiling unit that assisted the Austrian authorities.
    He would help them determine if one perpetrator could have committed all the murders.
  • Malibu — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    A city in California where one of the serial killer's victims was found.
    They were from a seafood restaurant in Malibu, California, dated 9 months earlier.
  • Quantico, Virginia — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    The location of the FBI's criminal profiling unit that assisted the Austrian authorities.
    He would help them determine if one perpetrator could have committed all the murders.
  • Czechoslovakia — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at
    A country where one of the serial killer's victims was found.
    Just before a Czechoslovakian woman, Blanca Bova was strangled with her panty hose.
  • Gratz — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    A city in Austria where one of the serial killer's victims was found.
    On June 28th, 1994, a jury in Gratz, Austria, found Johan Jack Unveger guilty of nine of the murders.
  • FBI's New York office — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    The office where Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office, was based.
    International outlaw, hopping from country to evade capture and to kill again. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. Legal cooperation between countries…
  • Salsburg — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    A city in Austria where a retired policeman read about the murders.
    The first break came when a retired policeman read of the murders in a Salsburg newspaper.

Full transcript with timestamps

One by one, prostitutes die across central Europe. Austrian authorities believe one man is responsible. But they have no experience hunting serial killers. They turn to an FBI profiler for help. He finds the same killer has come to America. And the death count keeps rising until the FBI stops him.

Beginning in 1990, Europe found itself in the clutches of a serial killer. He became an international outlaw, hopping from country to country to evade capture and to kill again. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. Legal cooperation between countries and continents is not common, but neither are serial killers in Europe. Desperate to apprehend him, Austrian authorities called on the FBI for help. In Austria, the exchange of sex for money has been legal for years. Here, prostitutes walk the streets for men willing to pay for their services.

Throughout most of the 1980s, Haidarie Hammer worked in the city of Briggins as a prostitute. A licensed professional for almost 10 years,

she was used to unusual requests. But on the night of December 5th, 1990, a customer went too far. The killer hurriedly redressed his victim. Then he dragged her through a secluded forest some 10 mi away and left her body.

The crime went undiscovered for 3 weeks. On the morning of New Year's Eve 1990, a pair of hikers stumbled upon Hammer's body.

Though the body had been left exposed to the elements, the winter temperatures helped preserve the remains. Austrian authorities determined that Hammer had been strangled with her own panty hose. Her wrists were bruised from restraints. At the autopsy, they found no sexual discharge on her body, but they did find fibers that were inconsistent with her clothing. She was only the first victim. Over the next several months, three more prostitutes died violently throughout Austria. Brunilda Maseru was recovered in a stream bed near Gratz.

Alfreda shrimp, also from Gratz, was found nearby in the woods near Vienna. Sylvia Zaggler was discovered in a stand of trees. The women had all been bruised, strangled with their panty hoes, and left in various states of undress, lying face down in wooded areas. The Austrian public was shocked. On April 4th, 1991, the authorities gathered their most experienced investigators to focus on the slains. Because of the similarities in the four cases, investigators reasoned that one person was responsible.

Austria had its first serial killer in modern history. They had no experience investigating these offenders. Dr. Ernst Guyger, one of Austria's leading detectives, was assigned to coordinate the hunt.

No lead was promising. All all the the leads ended nowhere. We had no real suspect.

The first break came when a retired policeman read of the murders in a Salsburg newspaper. They reminded him of a case he solved in 1974. Detective Guyger received a phone call from the retired officer.

15 years earlier, he told Guyer a young woman had been strangled with one of her undergarments and dumped in the woods.

Just like the present victims, the killer was caught and convicted, but had recently been parrolled. Detective Geger took the name of the ex-convict Johan Jack.

Uhhuh. Chicker was parrolled after 15 years uh because he had murdered a young girl before and while uh he was in prison uh he became a writer. quite the famous writer.

But was it possible that this famous writer could be a serial killer? Guyer and his team began looking into the journalist's background.

Until 1990, Jack Unveger had led a difficult life. He was born to a German prostitute who quickly abandoned him. He suffered neglect and abuse, shuttling between various foster situations. As a teenager, Jack began to play out the rage of his dismal childhood. By age 25, that fury earned Unvear a life sentence. Untaggar continued his education and started writing while in prison. Tonka.

He published letters, plays, short stories, and an autobiography. In the book that became a bestseller, unvear painted a tragic tale of himself as victim. Critics and the public alike embraced the author for the apparent honesty with which he confronted his past. The literary community suggested that art had redeemed him. Eventually, the press and the public at large demanded that his life sentence be commuted.

On May 12th, 1990, Austrian authorities agreed. The 40-year-old Austrian walked out of prison.

Congratulations. He was a free man, determined never to spend another minute of his life behind bars. Shortly after his release, he was hired by a major German magazine to cover the prostitute murders.

He promised to use his writing in a socially conscious way. He told his editor that he wanted to give voice to the dispossessed caught in the underbelly of society as he once was. By July 1991, after two more prostitutes were found strangled, psychologist Tom Mueller of Austria's criminal investigation division joined the team. When we started the investigation against Jontig, it was pretty hard because all his friends were within the media and they couldn't understand that he could be um the bad guy.

It's good. Even among investigators, only a handful considered this celebrity journalist a possible suspect.

Through receipts and travel records, Guyger and Mueller learned that Unvear had been at each murder location.

This was not suspicious in itself since he was covering the story as an investigative journalist. Yet, he always reached those destinations before the murders took place. Investigators also discovered that Unvear had visited Prague in September 1990.

Just before a Czechoslovakian woman, Blanca Bova was strangled with her panty hose. She was the earliest victim in the string of murders that now totaled seven. And what was outstanding for us that exactly at any time where Czech hang out at any place in Prague in the western part of Austria in the south in the southern part of Austria. Exactly. In that time period, there was always a dead body somewhere in the woods.

In Austria, another woman, Regina Prem, had been missing for months and presumed dead. Her family waited desperately for news of her fate. In October of 1991, the griefstricken husband and son received a chilling phone call to their unlisted number. Hello.

The caller told him that he was Regina's killer and described what she was wearing the night she disappeared.

Director, the caller claimed that he was the executioner, that God ordered him to do it, that she was left lying on the place of sacrifice with her face turned towards hell. The phone call was cruel torture to an already traumatized family. When police recovered her body, they confirmed Regina Prem was the killer's eighth victim to date. The discovery put them no closer to stopping the killer. Vienna, October 22nd, 1991. Austrian authorities questioned Unveger for the first time. With no hard evidence to connect him to the crimes, they hoped for a confession.

He admitted to consorting with prostitutes for his writing assignments and for sex,

but he denied knowing the victims. Although his alibis were weak, investigators were forced to release him. Their evidence was merely circumstantial and his public support was growing.

But Mueller and Guyer still believed Unvega was a strong suspect and continued digging into his past. They tracked down the car Jack drove when he was first released from prison. But it had been a year since he sold it, and the likelihood of finding any usable evidence was slim. The team uncovered little except a hair fragment. Ah,

it's good. It's good. Although it was a long shot, investigators sent the hair fragment to the University of Burn for analysis. Enough of the hair route remained for lab technicians to extract a DNA sequence. That sequence was compared to those of the victims. Of the eight women slain, the DNA from the hair matched the earliest victim from Prague, Blanca Bova, killed in September 1990. It was a breakthrough, but that only proved the woman was in the car when Jack owned it. Investigators needed stronger evidence. Now, back at police headquarters, Guyger questioned Austrian prostitutes.

They recognized Unvear as a regular customer who insisted they wear handcuffs during sex.

More importantly, one recalled seeing him approach her friend Haidarie Hammerer, the first victim discovered in Brigettes.

She also remembered he wore a brown leather jacket on that night. On the strength of this identification and the hair fragment found in his car, Guyger obtained a warrant to search Unvear's apartment. Jack Unveger.

When the police arrived, Unveger was nowhere to be found. They took away clothing, including a brown leather jacket for forensic examination. Then one of the detectives discovered some receipts in a trash can. They were from a seafood restaurant in Malibu, California, dated 9 months earlier. Jack Unveger had been to the United States. But the apartment search yielded less than the investigators had hoped. They found no hard evidence that directly tied Unvear to the slayings. Since their case was still too weak to issue an arrest warrant, the investigation stalled.

Jack Unveger was still one step ahead. To stop him, Guyger needed help from those more experienced with catching serial killers. He needed the FBI. The Austrian investigators visited the US embassy.

They met with legal attache Julianne Slissco an FBI agent stationed in Vienna. Hoping you could help us with the FBI.

Certainly. Sliscoco called the criminal profiling unit in Quantico, Virginia. Hi, Agent McCra. She was patched through to special agent Greg McCra

killings here in Austria. Now retired, McCra spent the last 10 of his 25 years in the FBI pioneering the science of profiling. The Austrians contacted the FBI uh because they were trying to tap into our experience of dealing with serial homicide investigations. Uh this was the first serial murder investigation in modern history in Austria. McCra agreed to assist the Austrians. He would help them determine if one perpetrator could have committed all the murders. When Guyger told Slissco that Unveger had traveled to LA the previous summer, she authorized a TLEX to be sent to California to inform local authorities.

Over the next several days, Guyger and Mueller prepared for their trip to the FBI, packing crime scene reports, autopsy protocols, and photos. Then they received a call from LA detective Fred Miller. Miller had received their TLEX and said that California had suffered a similar pattern of killings during the prior summer.

Yeah. Now, investigators turned their attention to LA. 6,000 mi away in the hunt for the Austrian serial killer. By the fall of 1991, eight women had been found dead in central Europe. The prime suspect was Austrian celebrity writer Jack Unvear, but little forensic evidence tied him to the crimes, and the public believed the police were pursuing an innocent man. An FBI TX from Vienna to California caught the attention of Los Angeles detective Fred Miller.

He and his partner Jim Harper had been working for months on a series of unsolved murders. In style and pattern, the LA crimes resembled the ones that Unteer was suspected of in Austria. This immediately lit the fires and it was just unbelievable to go all these eight months and and without the suspect turning up or another murder. This was uh quite a boost to the investigation.

The American and Austrian investigators compared notes. The cases were clearly similar. The victims were prostitutes.

All had been strangled using intimate apparel. and all the bodies were left in remote locations. Now Miller and Harper began to reconstruct Unto's visit to California. They checked the airlines, car rental agencies, and hotel logs. From these, they created a timeline of his movements. We learned that he came to Los Angeles in June of 91 on vacation uh before right around June the 2nd or 3rd and that he left around the 17th of July in the summer of 1990. Untagger visited LAPD headquarters

and I'm a journalist and I am interested. He strolled into the public relations office, presented his press credentials, and signed up for the ridealong program.

This program allows civilians to tag along with police and their cruisers as they patrol the city.

Tonight at 8:30, as all Jack's credentials were in order, the request was accepted. It's Jack. Jack Unvega claimed he was writing a German magazine story contrasting American and European prostitution.

He asked to be shown where the city's prostitutes hung out. The officers introduced him to the sedier areas of Los Angeles. Detective Jim Harper explains.

I mean, if you come to a city as big as Los Angeles, you know, prostitutes don't hang out everywhere. You got to you got to know where they hang out. What better way to do that than get a ride along with the police department.

Witnesses last saw 21-year-old Shannon Xley in the vicinity of 7th Street and Main Street.

What's that she saying? She had been working the streets since she'd run away from home at 16. Her life ended on June 20th, 1991. Her nude body was found with her bra wrapped around her neck. Marks on her feet told investigators she had already been strangled when she was dragged some 50 ft to where she was found.

Found the lacerations across her neck. Medical technicians were able to isolate DNA sequences from the semen of seven men. noticing really.

But LA detectives had no suspects with whom they could compare the samples. 10 days later, investigators discovered a second prostitute, Irene Rodriguez. She was found behind a tractor trailer only a mile and a half from where Exley's body had been dumped. Both women had been strangled with their bras, and both were last seen in the vicinity of 7th and Main Street. The detectives discovered that Unvega was living nearby.

We learned that he stayed at the CE Hotel which is located at 643 South Main which is right on the corner of 7th and Main Street and that's the location where close proximity where both our victims were last seen.

A third victim Sher Long was found near Malibu less than 2 weeks later. Once again, Unvega was staying at a hotel in the vicinity Long was last seen. Around her neck, her bra was tied tightly. Detective Jim Harper remembers the unique method of strangulation. The way the bras were tied around their neck was nothing that I had seen before. look to me took a lot of intricate time to to really take time with the victim and and put it around her necks and tied. Los Angeles criminalist Lynn Harold compared the knots to see if there was a pattern in the way each had been made and tied.

In order for the knots to be made, the wearing apparel had to be dismantled in some form. It's not like the bras were just taken and tied in a square knot, but they were stripped of the elastic always on the left side. And if three people randomly went out and strangled three people, it is extremely unlikely that all three of them would come up with this same scenario.

Now, Digger and Mueller added the information from the Los Angeles murders to their own case and headed to Virginia. They hoped that the FBI could determine whether one man had indeed killed all 11 women.

Back in Austria, Jack Hunter maintained a high profile. The celebrity journalist continued to publish his articles and appeared on television to talk about the murders. He told audiences that the Austrian police were inept at finding the real killer and had singled him out as a scapegoat.

Winter claimed that the authorities were determined to send him back to prison, even if that meant framing him for the grizzly crimes. Untga remained popular with the public at large and in the nightclubs where he was a regular.

To his fans and especially women, he was still charming. He boasted the police had no evidence, only theories, and they would never be able to send him back to prison.

Fine. In August 1992, Austrian detectives arrived at Quantico, Virginia. They needed an experienced FBI profiler to help them capture the serial killer that had left 11 women dead in central Europe and California. The Austrians came with 12 boxes of evidence.

Yes. Report on that. Special Agent Greg McCra refused to look at any information on the prime suspect Jack Lagger that I'll give.

He didn't want any preconceived notions to interfere with his analysis. Instead, McCra wanted to focus on the victims. I wanted all the case materials on all of the homicides, uh victimology, a lot about the victims and their background, their history, uh the method and manner of death, autopsy reports, crime scene photos, uh everything that uh was available from an investigative point of view. What we didn't want is suspect information. We just wanted to take an objective look at all of the cases to see what we thought if they might be related or not and the type of offender that we thought might be most probably involved in committing these crimes.

Let's get to work. McCra did not presuppose that the crimes were linked. He examined the similarities among the cases to see if they were unusual enough to have been committed by one perpetrator. He began to look for a behavioral thumbrint, a criminal signature in each of the murders. A signature crime analysis is an assessment uh of the behavioral aspects of the crime, which can in some cases be a single event, but more often it's a constellation of behaviors that are consistent from crime to crime to crime. And this allows us to link crimes together behaviorally based on the behavior of the offender. Could you push this backwards? Yes.

McCra looked for patterns. He examined everything known about the 11 women. How similar were their lifestyles. Almost all the women were prostitutes except for the first woman slain in Prague. This time, this is a map of Fienna. A companion last saw Blanca Bokova on September 14th, 1990, leaving a bar in Prague Czechoslovakia.

Bova worked as a sales clerk at a butcher shop, but was known to trade sex for favors. Her body was left on the bank of the Vlatva River in a stretch of woods near Bova's home. The killer had strangled her with her own nylon stockings. He left her naked, covered with sticks and twigs. He threw her clothes and identification in the river.

Very characteristic. The first victim Austrian police found had been a registered prostitute for 10 years.

Hide Marie Hammerer. In the early part of her career, she had suffered several violent attacks from customers, so she was known to be cautious. Hammer was last seen outside a parking garage on December 5th, 1990. Like the first five victims, Hammer was found in the woods close to water. They all had restraint bruises on their arms and wrists. And autopsies found no semen on any of the European victims. To the profiler, this suggested that the killer struck out of impotence. He was terribly insecure about his masculinity.

When he could not perform after being sexually stimulated, the killer lashed out in anger. He strangled the women he blamed for shaming him. Then he left their bodies in humiliating positions.

Next, they focused on the LA murder victims. Did they fit the pattern that had been established in Europe? and also moved to a place to head the stand.

Shannon Exley was found face down in a grassy area near a freeway exit. She was nude except for a t-shirt and a pair of socks. She had been dragged 50 ft from the pavement to the location where she was discovered after being strangled with her breazier. Again, this crime, like the others in LA and Europe, showed the killer had preferences and that the violence itself had become erotic to him.

It became clear that there was a pattern uh to these homicides. Uh that there was sort of a ritualistic behavior that occurred in each of these crime scenes. Each woman was similar in nature, either a prostitute or a woman who traded sex for favors. They were uh uh on the street when they were contacted, when they were picked up very usually very surreptitiously. No one really saw these women get into a car. Uh they were transported out to an area. They were murdered. Uh the ligature strangled with an article of their own clothing, disposed in a similar manner

[clears throat] uh in an outdoor setting. Uh absence of sexual assault. All right. Roughly from where she was last. After a week, the study of the victimology convinced McCra that there had indeed been only one killer behind the 11 homicides.

The FBI agent and the Austrian detectives spent the following week drawing up a profile of the asalent.

The evidence suggested the killer had a good degree of mobility. He was older, intelligent, sophisticated, and an organized offender.

He just found a collusion. to criminal psychologist Tom Mueller. This described Jack Unveger.

I would say Jack was a very very good example for a typical type of organized offender and I would say he was a typical uh example for natural psychologist. He was able to understand the needs of other people. He was able um to come close to other people, to listen to other people and then to manipulate them. and we will put it in.

But the geography worked against the theory that there was one killer. The murders had occurred in Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Los Angeles.

With minor exceptions, most serial killers stay regent and pray within a comfort zone.

But enough time had elapsed between the slayings to permit one culprit to move around. Now, the profiler compared Unger's travels to the chronology of the murders.

And when I overlaid Jack Hunter's timeline on the timeline of the crimes, they fit perfectly. And that was really a dawning moment. The the aha moment, the moment that's really exciting in analysis like this because now you have a suspect whose movements correlate perfectly with each of the homicides as well as his prior homicide that he had been convicted for, bearing a lot of similarities to these homicides. We can put him in each place at each time these crimes occurred. And uh either uh Jack under was the unluckiest man in the world to have been there or he was an excellent suspect.

In Austria, Unveggger continued to enjoy his freedom and notoriety. Some women still found him appealing even though the former convict was a prime murder suspect.

This perplexed Detective Fred Miller. One of the interesting uh facets of Jack under was that he could carry on a normal relationship with a female and still be this cruel and murder other females.

High school student Bianca Mack was one of those that fell under his charm. The impressionable 18-year-old met onto Vega in a wine bar where she worked as a waitress. She was flattered by the attention from the celebrity writer. He told her he was tiring of all the publicity in Austria and might leave the country, maybe to Switzerland.

She agreed to go with him wherever he went. And August 1992, Agent Greg McCra of the FBI worked with Austrian detectives to solve a series of 11 murders.

Eight women were killed in central Europe, three more in Los Angeles. All circumstantial evidence pointed to celebrity journalist Jack Unvear is the culprit.

Then they received a phone call from the University of Burn. Austrian lab technicians had completed the fiber analysis of clothing confiscated from Hunter's apartment weeks before.

The inspection had yielded results. stood up and fibers from the lining of the brown leather jacket match those on the body of Haida Marie Hammer, the first prostitute found. It was hard forensic evidence that tied Unvear to one of the victims.

But investigators wanted to conclusively link the suspect to all the victims. The FBI had another tool that could do just that. Vic, the violent criminal apprehension program. The computer database holds the details of 10,000 solved and unsolved US homicides. A programmer inputed the particulars of the European and Los Angeles cases.

No problem. Details of the victims, their manner of death, locations where they disappeared, and where they were found were all fed into the computer. McCra ordered an extensive breakdown, a multi-dimensional search with 15 cross criteria that could show if the crimes were connected.

I certainly will, Mr. McCra. 48 hours later, the detectives were called back to the Vicam room to hear the answer. The results were stunning.

The computer statistically linked all 11 slings. Jack Unveger was the killer. I hope it's wonderful names for you. I hope it's what you

The FBI had given the Austrians solid proof for their case. But Unger was still at large. The Austrian detectives immediately returned to Vienna. Armed with the FBI profile, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Johan Jack on

again. The police descended upon the writer's residence. But Jack was gone. He had abandoned his flat. Guyger called his office and ordered his team to check all of Austria's ports of exit.

Within hours, all train stations and airports were canvased, but they found no sign of Undergar. The serial killer was gone. Montgar had already fled with Bianca Marac beyond the reach of Austrian authorities.

Bianca Jack uh Antagger is uh a very good representative of an intelligent psychopath. He became an award-winning author and playwright. But psychopaths are very very manipulative and they they have a supreme ability to con other people. Hello. Hello. Yeah. Yeah. You been here?

On a stop in Paris, Jack called into television shows and protested his innocence.

He said his flight was not an admission of guilt, but an attempt to evade a frame up by the police.

He promised to return to Austria and answer all questions if the arrest warrant was withdrawn. Despite his media appearances, the Austrian police had no idea where Unveger was hiding in Vienna. Investigators interviewed Unvear's friends.

They were unfased by the fact that he had been indicted for multiple murders. They said that Jack had run off for a holiday in America with Bianca Morac, a former waitress from the wine bar. Bianca was known to live with her mother.

So Guyer paid a visit to Mrs. Mor. Uh midway. Yeah. She acknowledged that she had been in contact with a fugitive couple, sending them money via wire transfers. They were in New York and heading down to Florida. Guyger told her to contact him if her daughter called again.

Mrs. Mora. Just days later, she got a call from Miami. Her daughter needed more money. Mrs. Morac promptly informed the Austrian police. US marshals were waiting at the Western Union. The marshals ided the couple as they drove up.

US Marshals, you're under arrest. US Marshals North Vega was quickly apprehended. This is not right.

He was jailed in Miami to await extradition. Both the nation of Austria and the state of California wanted to prosecute him. LAPD detective Fred Miller began conferring with his Austrian counterparts.

After Jack's arrest uh in Miami, we dealt almost on a daily schedule with the Austrian authorities uh trying to put the information they had on their murders together with the information on the California murders. Uh the Austrian authorities made trips to Los Angeles. They provided us with uh whatever materials we needed. Uh photographs of the crime scenes, information on the victims, information on Jack.

The Austrians wanted to prosecute onto Vega in their court for all 11 murders. But they knew that would be difficult.

The Austrian public perceived Jack as a celebrity. Was it big of a mistake? How many miles is this sort of map covered?

Detectives would have to convince them that Jack's private evil side was the reality.

Special agent Greg McCra explains right. What's interesting with Jack, if you look at different pictures from different parts of his life, many times he's Natalie attired with a bow tie and has this almost young, innocent looking face. Uh but then if you see him with his shirt off and you look at these really diabolical involved uh prison tattoos that are typical of the more violent psychopathic offenders you have in prison, you you see the dichotomy between Jack's outward appearance and and the the inner psychopathology becomes uh becomes more apparent.

I've always tried to get the LAPD detectives obtained a search warrant for tissue samples from the prisoner

in Miami. A technician drew blood, took hair samples, and swabs of saliva for DNA testing. The samples were sent back to a Los Angeles lab for analysis.

His DNA matched that found in the semen from Shannon Xley. But Exxley's body contains semen from six other men.

And there was no sexual discharge found in the other two LA prostitutes. Jack on worried that he would be transferred to California where a death penalty was possible. He did not want to die in the gas chamber. But if he went back to Austria, he could be tried for the crimes on both continents. Criminal psychologist Tom Mueller explains, "If an Austrian seriously is committing a crime wherever in the world, uh, the Austrian law is responsible for that guy." So um the American authorities uh gave the clearance to bring Mr. uh Unger here back to Austria

but Unvear could delay this by fighting extradition. We're going to Austria. You know Jack

LA detectives pressured him. They assured Unvear that he would be found guilty in California and reminded him of the state's death penalty scene of these crimes. Fearing the gas chamber, he agreed to deportation.

You'll sign the extradition. Despite the evidence, he still enjoyed popular support at home.

And Untagger believed he could persuade a jury that the authorities were wrong. But the Austrians were betting on the FBI profile. When Jack Unvega returned to his native Austria, he faced 11 counts of murder. Seven women were killed on Austrian soil, but the laws of the central European country allow its citizens to be tried for crimes committed anywhere in the world. The murder indictment had done little to diminish the writer's support in the media. As he sat in jail awaiting trial, Jack continued to lobby the press that the police had framed him. His case saturated the news.

In this highly charged environment, Austrian prosecutors prepared for trial. If they wanted to win, they had to present an airtight case. LAPD detective Jim Harper journeyed to Vienna for the trial.

The OJ case here in LA is the only thing I can kind of equate it to. It was that big over there. It was all over the newspapers, headlines. I mean, and when we came into into this town to testify, uh, it was a big deal. We were all over the front page of the paper, the whole deal.

The trial was held before a three judge tribunal. The prosecution argued their case with minimal physical evidence.

They were counting on Agent McCra's behavioral profile. could you say why there's so many different places?

So, it became increasingly important uh to link these crimes together behaviorally. Uh that really was the only way that Jack could be linked to this this entire series of crimes. So, that became the critical uh component in the prosecution of Jack and where we were most able to assist the Austrian authorities.

Taken to a different spot. McCra related to the judges what he had deducted at Quantico. The killer always chose prostitutes or those who traded sex for favors.

He was criminally sophisticated, older, at least in his late 30s. He wasn't panicky nor disorganized. He possessed inner rage, but it was very controlled. The victims had bruises on their wrists as if they had been restrained with handcuffs. McCra was convinced Unvear would ask the prostitutes to wear them to fulfill his sexual fantasy. But it was about control. The killer wanted their hands secured to prevent them from resisting. The bodies were found.

McCra's testimony linked the victims together to where they were across two continents. The trail of deaths followed Jack on where he went. Women died. While he visited Los Angeles, three prostitutes were murdered and their slayings mimicked those in Europe. Shannon Exley and the other two American women were strangled to death. The offender used their bazeers as liatures and unvear tied the knots on the liatures in exactly the same way as he had on the ones in Europe.

McCra pointed out that the probability was infantessimal that more than one killer committed the crimes. And

what are the chances that more than one offender would be not only choosing to liature strangle a victim with an article of her own clothing? Uh but he would tie the knots in exactly the same way. Very very remote chance that we've had different offenders committing the crime in that manner.

But the defense argued there was a difference. You say that the victims in Los Angeles had been strangled with their bazeers and women in Europe had been strangled with their panty hoes. But McCra countered that European prostitutes do not wear bazars.

What mattered to the killer was that he used an intimate article of the victim's clothing.

The prostitutes, I'm sure that he was much more hurried. LA criminalist Lynn Harold was asked to compare the knots from the panty hose to those from the bras.

Very intelligent. In the case of the panty hose, you had one leg. The second leg was doublebacked on itself and used as the third segment for the weaving or braiding in a manner extremely similar to one of the bra cases where the two pieces of elastic formed two segments and the left strap was pulled through as the third braid.

In all, the trial lasted 2 and 1/2 months. On June 28th, 1994, a jury in Gratz, Austria, found Johan Jack Unveger guilty of nine of the murders. The remaining victims were found too badly decomposed to convict Unvear beyond a reasonable doubt. The verdict meant life in prison to a man who swore he would never spend another day behind bars. and he never did.

Winter strangled himself with a nylon cord stripped from his uniform. We normally think of suicide as coming from depression or someone who feels uh shame or guilt or remorseful in some way. This is not at all what was going on when Jack uh committed suicide. More psychopathic offenders like Jack do it to exert control. And it's the last great defiant act that that that he exercised to rest control of this situation away from the government, away from the the authorities. He would not allow himself to be imprisoned uh for the rest of his life.

Jack Oddger proved that serial killers are not just an American phenomenon. European law enforcement agencies realized that to fight criminals of this sort, they would have to follow the FBI's example. What we learned out of their case was that uh in Austria and even in Europe, we didn't had a a similar system like YAP violent crime apprehension program. The criminal psychology service tried to get a similar system here to Austria and therefore we can work with all uh sex crime cases and homicide cases. Now, thanks to the lead of the FBI, many countries have adopted profiling and a computerized criminal database in the hopes that open borders and conflicting jurisdictions will no longer allow these predators to escape justice.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The Famous Journalist Who Murdered Prostitutes | The FBI files"?

Jim Calstrom (Host), Dr. Ernst Guyger (Guest), Tom Mueller (Guest), Greg McCra (Guest), Jack Unveger (Guest).

What is "The Famous Journalist Who Murdered Prostitutes | The FBI files" about?

In the early 1990s, a serial killer targeting prostitutes in central Europe sparked a desperate manhunt as authorities struggled to track him down. The situation escalated when the FBI was called in to assist, revealing the criminal's pattern of evasion and killing that led him to the United States, where the death toll continued to rise until he was ultimately apprehended.

What is mentioned in this The FBI Files episode?

29 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Johan Jack Unveger, Greg McCra, Dr. Ernst Guyger, FBI, Austria, Haidarie Hammer. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Famous Journalist Who Murdered Prostitutes | The FBI files"?

The episode runs 50 min; the transcript is about 6,336 words in 133 timestamped sections.

More from The FBI Files

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 25, 2026.