Grandmotherly private investigator also a published author

Police have sought sleuth's advice on tough cases

Joyce Spizer's life is crime. As a private investigator, she's been involved at some level on major cases and "unofficially, of course" consulted by the FBI. She's known among police-types for her dead-on profiling.

At least 20 radio stations, for example, contacted her for comment when the Washington, D.C.-area Beltway sniper was on the loose. She correctly predicted there were two shooters, one younger with a propensity for hero worship, the other older with a military background, and she dismissed the white van as irrelevant. But she also said the snipers were white.

"That was the only time I didn't listen to my instincts," Spizer said. "The note was written with a West Indies lilt but I also knew there are few black people on death row who are serial killers. So I dismissed it because the numbers just weren't there to back it up."

Spizer is also an author. On Saturday, she will be the guest speaker at West Charleston Library, 6301 W. Charleston Blvd. Her topic is creative writing is an art.

The following day she will speak on how to get published. And on April 12, she will lecture on forensics, which actually deals with investigating techniques, not biology. All three lectures are free, begin at 1 p.m. and are scheduled for two hours.

Spizer grew up in Texas and intended to become a lawyer. That goal got sidetracked in college when two lawyers hired her to gather information on a case.

Her thoroughness and observations impressed the lawyers and soon she was given more cases. So many more, she opened her own private investigation business and hasn't looked back. After she married, husband Harold became her partner in the business.

Perhaps Spizer's biggest asset is her grandmotherly looks -- looks that tend to make people so comfortable around her they tell her things they won't tell the police.

"When people learn what I do, they say, 'You don't look like a private investigator,' " Spizer said. "And I say to them, 'Yes, and doesn't that work well?' "

Early cases involved skip tracing, insurance fraud and locating children abducted by estranged spouses. She also documented infidelity trysts ... until the night an angry man shot at her as she staked him out.

As her reputation grew, she was called upon to work more cases and eventually worked in 11 states. With each one, she learned more of the dark side of human nature.

One case involved a missing 8-year-old girl. Spizer was at the sheriff's office when a box mailed by the abductor arrived. The two opened it to find the bloody spleen of the child.

She was called in to help with another case, this one to locate the killer of a pregnant wife. The woman's throat had been slashed as she stood in the basement laundry room. Even more bizarre, her legs had been sawed off and were missing.

Police suspected the husband. Spizer did not.

She profiled the killer as an older man with a menial job and no vehicle, who was a high school dropout, did drugs and had a previous record of crime. Sure that the killer had no car, she advised the immediate use of bloodhounds. The dogs led police to a bowling alley and the custodian who slept in its back room. It was later determined he rode a bicycle to and from the scene, the legs carried in its basket.

"It was (payback for) a drug deal with the husband that went bad," she said. "The legs were a message. He was saying, 'You can't get away from me.' "

When a case vexes her, sometimes she'll wake up in the middle of the night with sudden insight. For those moments, she keeps a tape recorder by the bed.

Spizer uses her 37 years of experience for more than solving crimes. She has written five books including two mysteries and a true crime about Glen Rogers, a serial killer now on death row in Florida. Her next book will focus on the case with the mailed spleen.

Spizer's lecture is part of the Clark County Library District's Reading Las Vegas, a free reading program for adults ages 18 and older. It runs through April 30.

Participants may sign up at www.lvccld.org or visit any area library branch to receive an entry coupon book to begin the program. Read or listen to a book or tape, attend any "Reading Las Vegas" author event, writing workshop or book discussion at a library branch, then complete the entry coupon and turn it in to be eligible for prizes.

For more information, call 734-READ or visit the Web site.


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