break and slit her wrists; Plunkett drinks her blood before reporting the suicide. Plunkett is placed in the foster care of an LAPD officer, whom he sets about manipulating in order to gain knowledge of how to become a good criminal. He begins committing a series of fetishistic burglaries in which he breaks into women's homes, kills their pets, and steals from them after watching them engage in intercourse. Following the Tate-LaBianca Murders, Plunkett attempts to meet Charles Manson, only to improperly identify a generic hippie as Manson and break into an apartment where he is having sex. The hippie apprehends Plunkett, and he is sentenced to a year in prison. In custody, Plunkett works to perfect his body while studying under other criminals and learning their techniques. Doing janitorial work as a trusty, he encounters the recently incarcerated Manson; furious that the rambling, barely coherent Manson is being held up as a paragon of evil, Plunkett resolves to become the kind of killer truly worthy of that distinction. Upon his release, Plunkett delves further into his fantasy life, with Shroud Shifter urging him to commit more violent crimes in a series of schizophrenic visions. Finally, one night, Plunkett abruptly lashes out and kills a couple who had invited him to their apartment to smoke marijuana. Plunkett successfully covers up his crime by making the murder appear to be the work of drug dealers; now fully entrenched in a version of his fantasy life that overlaps with reality, Plunkett embarks on a road trip across the United States, picking up hitchhikers, brutally murdering them, then selling their belongings to fences to finance his lifestyle. As time progresses and his body count rises, Plunkett perfects his techniques, outfitting a Dodge van with a series of hidden compartments and living amenities so that it can act as both his mobile home and murder factory. In Wisconsin, Plunkett is apprehended by police sergeant Ross Anderson, who reveals himself to also be a serial killer, targeting young coeds. The two men become romantically involved, and Anderson uses his influence to protect Plunkett. As the murders increase in frequency and brutality, FBI Agent Thomas Dusenberg is tasked with apprehending the killers. He eventually captures Anderson, who gives up Plunkett in exchange for immunity from the death penalty. After Plunkett sees his own photo on wanted posters, he reasons—using a chain of paranoid logic—that Anderson's family