Dark Desires: Inside a Detective's Most Twisted Cases - Doug Fifer

Doug Fifer pulls back the curtain on humanity's darkest corners with unflinching honesty and professional insight. A retired Alaskan police officer with 25 years of experience investigating the most twisted crimes imaginable, Fifer reveals what drives sexual predators and how the intersection of power, psychology, and deviance creates perfect storms of criminal behavior.

"Sex isn't about sex, it's about power," Fifer explains, offering a profound glimpse into the mindset of those who cross the line from consensual kink into criminal territory. His experiences negotiating with a necrophiliac serial killer who had taken hostages showcase the psychological chess match between law enforcement and perpetrators—a delicate balance of rapport-building while working toward resolution without endangering lives.

Alaska's unique environment, with its isolation and punishing winters, creates what Fifer describes as the perfect conditions for extreme criminality. The state has the highest per capita rate of serial killers in America, a statistic he attributes to both the vast wilderness where evidence can disappear and the psychological toll of extended darkness. Through Fifer's lens, we see how environmental factors combine with individual psychology to create particularly dangerous situations.

Perhaps most surprising is Fifer's revelation about who consumes true crime content. Approximately 85% of his readers are women aged 40-65, who seem particularly drawn to detailed accounts of sexual crimes. This fascinating demographic insight raises questions about why certain stories both terrify and captivate us. Fifer doesn't stop at simply recounting horrific cases—he concludes his book with "Teachable Tidbits," legal insights for enhancing intimate relationships that he learned throughout his career, including one particularly surprising tip involving cough drops.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Dog Fifer and His Book
• 2:42 Psychology Behind Sexual Deviance
• 5:42 Criminal Mindset and Alaska's Dark Side
• 8:05 Negotiating with a Serial Killer
• 10:37 Fetishes vs Criminal Behavior
• 13:45 Women's Fascination with True Crime
• 16:14 Teachable Tidbits and Book Details
• 19:13 Closing Remarks and Where to Find the Book

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Pleasure Principles, the podcast where we dive into the depths of human desire, uncovering the raw, the real and sometimes the downright terrifying. Terrifying. Today we are peeling back the layers of a world most of us that can't even think about or can't even fathom so, a world where crime, sex and extreme deviance intersect in the darkest corners of society. And who better to take us on this ride than Dog FIFA? So welcome to the show, Dog.

Speaker 2: 0:50

Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate being here.

Speaker 1: 0:53

Lovely, lovely. So, dog, like before we start, I'd quickly love to introduce you to all of our listeners. Dear listeners, dog is a recently retired Alaskan police officer who has spent 25 years solving some of the most twisted crimes imaginable. So he is a hostage negotiator, a crime scene analyst, a specialist in deviant sexual crimes and now the author of 50 shades of of True Crime, a book that will make you question everything that you thought you knew about the human nature. So I think, much of your time, dear listeners, I'll quickly delve into this with one and only Dog. So, welcome to the show again.

Speaker 2: 1:42

Hey, I appreciate it. I'm ready to talk about it so unveiling the darkness.

Speaker 1: 1:55

I mean, your book isn't just a kind of another true crime collection, but it's a, it's an uh expose on the most bizarre and uh perverse crimes that you have encountered. So what was the case that first made you realize that how extreme human disasters can be?

Speaker 2: 2:12

Yeah, I think in my 25-year career you work everything homicides, robberies, burglaries, everything but really the sexual deviance stuff is what people want to know about, want to talk about it they're really interested in. That's where the book came from. So in Alaska I took the most deviant, weird, wild crimes. I put it all into the book and that's why you get the sex, drugs and killer kink. Talks a lot about fetishes, paraphilias, how far humans will go in their sexual desires, even criminal type stuff. So that's what the book's about. It's a unique twist on true crime. It's not your traditional book. It's really far out cases Quite entertaining though.

Speaker 1: 2:53

Okay, Okay so. I mean, did you ever come across cases that made you question that your own perception of morality?

Speaker 2: 3:04

You know you question it with humankind on how far some of these criminals will go. The book gets into really extreme things bestiality, necrophilia. It covers the gamut of all sexual deviancy. So it is hard, as a, you know, in law enforcement. You wonder how how can people do this Like they're out there, they're predators, they're seeking these types of sexual behaviors. So while it may not question your own morality, it does question the morality of our fellow humans with that psyche and why they act upon these things like they do.

Speaker 1: 3:34

Exactly, definitely, and like for this deviance, the psychology. What drives someone to take their sexual desires to such extreme that they end up committing crimes? I mean, are they born in the way or do you think it's a kind of result of environmental factors?

Speaker 2: 3:58

It's hard to tell. I wish I knew that we could stop most of the crime, but we don't Some of it. I think you could be born your brain's just simply hardwired incorrectly and you have those deviant tendencies. I think environmental and society can, some of those can contribute as well. But ultimately I state in my book that sex isn't about sex, it's about power. So on these crimes, these individuals, it's an overwhelming sense of power to dominate victims or to do what they're doing. It's biological, with the sex of course, that's, you know, human nature. But the power is really what drives them. So they seek out that, that power trip that they're on by dominating victims or or whatever they're doing. So that's really unique, it's a and it's fascinating to law enforcement, because we want to know more, we want to get in the minds of these perpetrators and that way we can solve the crimes better.

Speaker 1: 4:49

Okay. So have you ever encountered someone who was aware of their dangerous impulses and sought help before acting on them?

Speaker 2: 5:03

sought help before acting on them. Typically in my profession you're going to find these individuals once they commit a crime. So in my career I really didn't have that where they self-disclosed or came out for help. Typically when law enforcement or cops get involved, that's at the point there's criminality or somebody's injured or they're a threat to others and then we, we become involved. But I never had it where they just self turn themselves in. Sexual predators are quite unique. They certainly never want to be caught. They're actively prey upon, you know, fellow citizens in society, so it's rare that they would turn themselves in.

Speaker 1: 5:39

Uh-huh, okay, okay and um. Like Alaska, is breathtakingly beautiful, but also dark, cold, isolated, so does think it attracts individuals that may want to harm others.

Speaker 2: 6:07

There's vast territories For serial killers. We have the most per capita in Alaska and I think that's kind of because of the size of the state. You can dispose of bodies. You think there's plenty of room. You think law enforcement may not be as sophisticated in Alaska. It certainly is, but I think we get a lot of criminals. The eight months of winter really weighs heavy on people's emotions and anxiety, so I think that doesn't help. There's a lot of darkness, there's a lot of cold and that contributes to crime in Alaska. It's a beautiful place but the winters are tough and it's long and that kind of wears people down and then they commit acts of violence or other crimes.

Speaker 1: 6:45

Okay, okay, got it Lovely Understood. So, and then also, like you have negotiated with the serial killers and the criminals with extreme fetishes, so what's the most chilling negotiation you have ever had, if we can?

Speaker 2: 7:04

share. Yeah, one of them was with a serial killer. He also practiced necrophilia. But I got a call. We had a manhunt for him in the state of Alaska and as a hostage negotiator I got a call out he had run from the police and then taken two hostages in an apartment to avoid arrest. So I was called out to interact with him, contacted him via cell phone and we had to negotiate. It was the hostage negotiator and a serial killer with a couple of hostages and over the course of time I had to earn his respect, rapport build and then ultimately get him out safely where the other hostages weren't harmed, and luckily we were able to do that. But that's a chilling conversation when you get in the mind of a serial killer and you have to have that kind of chess match back and forth to get him out and keep others safe. So it's real tricky, real stressful, but that's what negotiators do.

Speaker 1: 7:59

Got it Understood, yeah, so I mean.

Speaker 2: 8:17

Did you ever have a moment where you felt like you were getting inside the mind of a killer or kind of deviant? You have to say things are okay, that they did that. You know that they're not okay and you have to kind of walk through them. It's almost an odd friendship, but the goal is to get out and get them arrested. So you do think a little bit like them in that mindset, to calm them, to relax them. Truthfully, you don't believe any of it, but your outward appearance is that because you want them to come out safely, you want to relate to them, you want them to relate to you. That's the best way to do it.

Speaker 1: 8:55

So you have to kind of act and think like they're thinking at the time. Okay, got it. So I mean on this side, like society's double standard, like let's talk about the fine line between the sexual freedom and the criminal behavior. We live in a world where BDSM and kink are becoming more mainstream. So how do we kind of distinguish between what's healthy and what's dangerously deviant? So what is it?

Speaker 2: 9:24

Yeah, that's a great question. So there's. The two things I cover in the book are fetishes and paraphilias. We all have fetishes and paraphilias. We all have fetishes. And I make the example if you, if you go to Pornhub and you're going to look something up, that's probably your fetish and it can be very mild. It can be, you know, more hardcore that's. That's pretty much normal and a fetish for everybody. The paraphilias go to the extreme extent and that's where you harm somebody else or you might harm yourself. That's when it gets extreme. So that's really the fine line. Everybody has fetishes. Do what you want in your own bedroom. But as soon as it's harming somebody else, that's when it crosses the line, and that could be anything from BDSM to any of those type of fetishes that you have. So, as you harm yourself or others, that's typically where law enforcement gets involved.

Speaker 1: 10:11

That's true, yeah, so okay, and have you seen any cases where consensual kink escalated into something criminal?

Speaker 2: 10:24

Yeah, there's. We had autoerotic asphyxiation. That's where you're restricting your breath flow for a better orgasm. That happens a lot. So we've got cases where partners might engage in that. One partner may die, or it may be by themselves and die. As long as it's accidental, it doesn't go into that criminality. If it becomes forced or something, it may become criminal, such as a homicide. If it becomes forced or something, it may become criminal, such as a homicide. But typically it's those type of fetishes where couples are restricting breath like oxygen. That's where we find that people unfortunately accidentally die, but it's during those sexual encounters.

Speaker 1: 11:04

Yeah, exactly so. Your book mentions the role of drugs in fueling extreme sexual behaviors. So in your experience, what substances are most commonly linked to these crimes?

Speaker 2: 11:22

and why gamut and things. You know they're kind of become retro. They're ebb and flow in society. Heroin is a drug that I've always seen in my career. It just always stuck around. In our prison systems we have massive amounts of heroin. I kind of walked the story on a on a drug dealer that sold heroin uh, kind of his plate, on what happens in his life. You know it's sexually based but it was all driven by the use of the drug. So I do talk about drugs throughout the book, but heroin is really the one that wreaks the most havoc on society.

Speaker 1: 11:56

OK, ok, and OK, and like that. I'm curious about the nature of true crime fans. I mean, let's be real. I mean people are obsessed with true crime, and your book takes it to the another level. So why do you think we as a society are so fascinated by the darkest parts of human behavior?

Speaker 2: 12:21

Yeah, I think it's our human nature, it's our psyche we want to know the unknown. What I find with my book predominantly is women are much like the book, much more than men. It's not that men don't like it, but women really get into the details. So as far as being invited to book clubs my website, where fans contact me it's 85% women and they really want to know the details, the deep, dark details of these sexual crimes. I think they're fascinated by it. It could be a little fantasy play in it too, but they're really intrigued and and the sales of my book are probably between the ages of 40 to 65, female predominantly understood.

Speaker 1: 13:05

So like uh. Also like have you ever had someone who uh approach you and say they were turned on by the cases in your book?

Speaker 2: 13:17

well the website. Uh, it's a beautiful thing because you have email and you have social media with uh messages that can be sent, and I do get some rather interesting emails and requests, uh, via the website with females they do. I think they certainly are turned on by a lot of the material in the book or they fantasize about it. They may not go to that extreme, but there's no doubt there's some of that going on. At the end of the book I do a chapter called Teachable Tidbits because the book is pretty extreme, hard to read. Teachable Tidbits because the book is pretty extreme, hard to read. I mean, it's real life stuff, the sexual deviancy. So Teachable Tidbits is something that your listeners or readers can use in their personal sex life. That's not criminal, that won't harm anybody. That I've learned throughout my career investigating cases that maybe your listeners can incorporate into their own sex life things you would have never thought about.

Speaker 1: 14:09

So I get a lot of requests on that on my website to know more about those type of things from female readers okay, okay, got it and then, um, okay, and like, uh, as we're discussing on this, so, uh, I mean I have to say that that teachable tidbits you mentioned, like, uh, you end this book on a lighted note with some, some of this, so, from uh, your time as a cop, like safe, legal, uh, naughty nuggets, uh, people can apply to their own sex lives, but without giving too much away. What's the one tip that uh, you would say, like that might surprise people what that would be yeah, this will be an easy one, and I was.

Speaker 2: 15:00

I was shocked. I didn't know about it, but I went on a call with a with a couple and domestic violence. They were in an argument. You know it was during the wintertime in Alaska, so you're closed up and you know you can't go outside. It's 20 below zero and they'd been in a fight and typically what we do is we ask one to leave. That way everybody stays safe, nobody gets in trouble.

Speaker 2: 15:21

And as I was following the one gentleman around, he had a duffel bag and he was grabbing his clothes, things like that. But he opened a drawer and he was dumping all these cough drops into the bag, and I mean just tons of cough drops. So I asked him do you got a bad cough or something? Because I didn't know. So he told me, no, that the cough drops used during oral sex and really, uh, you know it makes the oral sex much, much better because it heats it up and, you know, is tremendous. But I never thought about that. I was like, wow, a cough drop during oral sex. So that's one of the stories in the book Seems pretty minor that you can go to the drug store and get cough drops to improve your sex life. But when you read the story you'll see why that's something interesting.

Speaker 1: 16:14

Yes, I mean yeah, and and, and, um, like uh, have you, have you ever been, uh ever given someone advice that you learned from a crime scene?

Speaker 2: 16:22

as far as citizens or fellow cops uh, I from a crime scene probably not, because you know those are. We like to keep that internally, just with police officers or investigative, so I probably haven't ever shared anything in the crime scene. In the book I walk you through the crime scene so you'll know from a inside cop's perspective how these crimes were committed. What happens at the end and again throughout. There's about 16, 18 stories. They're all sexual, deviant stories, some much more extreme than others. So it kind of starts off a little bit slower and then builds to these, these cases that are very, very extreme uh-huh, okay, okay, that's great.

Speaker 1: 17:03

I mean, I mean dog, like this conversation, really wild, eye-opening and disturbed Not disturbing, I'd say. It's from where it's to learn from, I would say. And even a little more fascinating, like Fifty Shades of True Crime is not just a book, it's reality. Take on the extremes of human behavior. So for those who brave enough to read it, where can they get a copy?

Speaker 2: 17:30

Well, you can find it anywhere books are sold Amazon, barnes and Nobles, your local bookstores. There's audio books, e-books, so whatever you like to read or if you like to listen, the audio book is tremendous. I highly recommend that you can go to my website at dougpfeifercom that's just D-O-u-g-f-i-f-e-rcom. You can watch the book trailer, listen to some audio clips. You can also order the book from the website as well. So anywhere books are sold, you can get 50 shades of trooper wow, lovely.

Speaker 1: 18:00

So, dear listeners, what I'll do is I'll put the link into the show notes for your easy reference. And uh, doug, like uh, thank you so much for sharing your these stories with us. And uh, for keeping it real with the uh, that that dark humor that probably kept you sane through it all. So for all the listeners, like if you have ever wondered just how far some people will go in the pursuit of pleasure, then this episode should be your wake-up call, I would say. But if you are looking for some legal ways to spice thing up, doug's got you covered. They do.

Speaker 2: 18:41

So, doug's anything you want to mention to the listeners yeah, no, I think your listeners will love the book again. It it's a very unique twist on true crime and it does get extreme. But get to that last chapter Teachable Tidbits and then you can incorporate some of that stuff with your partner and I think everybody will love it and let us know your thoughts, because pleasure, crime and morality are the topics that is worth discussing.

Speaker 1: 19:11

So, with this hope, until next time, stay curious, stay safe and keep exploring the depths of human nature. So thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 19:30

Thank you Bye.