About me
Who is this chick, anyway?
I figure if I’m asking you to go along with me on my discovery of serial killers and their traits — what makes them unique, what makes them the same, what makes them an enigma, maybe — I better “better” introduce myself.
I am someone who has been writing all my life. Always knew I was going to be a writer, in some way, shape or form. And I have been, for many years and in many different ways. I’ve written for newspapers, primarily, as my degree is in journalism. I have also done creative writing (all my life, on the side of whatever day job I had). I did poetry when I was a teen and having all the feels. I did some short stories, never published, just an outlet. I wrote a sci-fi novel in college, and I only recently dug that out, edited it and published it. I wrote in the corporate world. I have done a lot of marketing and PR writing over the years — press releases, ad copy in both print and broadcast. I have written for web in the ministry culture (an Atlanta mega church, where I was the manager of communications — PM me if you want to know which high-profile TV pastor). And now, more recently, I am still doing some writing by day as I manage websites for a federal agency (U.S. Department of …). I’ve had that gig since 2009. A lot of my own projects on the side have been in the pop-culture genre, writing about classic TV shows I love, so turning to true crime was something different and enjoyable. Something that really indulged my side love of psychology (and sociology, really).
To fill in some gaps, I’ll shoot it to ya straight, from my Amazon profile. (Actually, I have two profiles, because all my other, non-true-crime writing is under my full name, no secret.) And if you have any questions, you’re always welcome to email me!
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B.R. Bates is a longtime author and journalist who has concentrated her career in the pop culture genre, with 12 books in print, numerous e-books, and years of other publications such as many, many clips from her career in newspapers. With “The ‘Baby Doll’ Serial Killer” (formerly the academic edition “Missing from Michigan Ave”) she made her first foray into true crime, returning more solidly to her journalism roots. After researching the case of convicted serial killer John Eric Armstrong, she turned to an earlier Detroit serial, Benjamin (”Tony”) Atkins, for the second title in the Murders in the Motor City series, “The Crack City Strangler.”
She graduated from Michigan State University’s accredited School of Journalism with a bachelor’s degree, and a second major of English, and spent 10 years in the daily newspaper industry before moving into the corporate world. Besides time at the Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald and The Saginaw (Mich.) News, she spent five years at The Detroit News, where she worked at the time of the Armstrong case. More recently, she has managed websites for a federal government agency while continuing her freelance writing projects.
A Michigan native who has spent a lot of time in Detroit, Bates has also lived in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
You can catch interviews with her in Oxygen’s “Twisted Killers,” S1E2, focusing on the Armstrong case, as well as S8E2 and S8E3 of “The World’s Most Evil Killers.” She has discussed the Armstrong and Atkins cases on an array of podcasts, such as True Crime Talk with Nic Edwards, Dan Zupansky’s True Murder, True Crime Conversations with Gemma Bath, and more. Find links on her social media and on the interviews / media page of her website, BRBates.