'No Man of God': Who Is Bill Hagmaier and Where Is He Now?

No Man of God is a gripping true-crime film about FBI agent Bill Hagmaier's encounter with infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. Between 1974 and 1978, Bundy kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls. He received three death sentences for the Florida 1978 murders of Kimberly Dianne Leach, 12, Lisa Levy, 20, and Margaret Elizabeth Bowman, 21, and was executed on January 24, 1989.

The film takes audiences through the conversations between Hagmaier and Bundy, with Hagmaier on a quest to "understand" why Bundy committed the heinous crime. The film is based on the real transcripts of death-row interviews between Hagmaier and Bundy, which took place over the four years before Bundy's execution. They also include Hagmaier's personal recollections and his own writings.

Who is Bill Hagmaier?

Bill Hagmaier is a former FBI analyst. He was one of the five original FBI agents in the Behavior Analysis Unit (BAU).

He would go onto become the chief of the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crimes.

Hagmaier was tasked with visiting Bundy in what would turn out to be his final years on death row at Florida State Prison.

As part of the BAU, Hagmaier met with Bundy to try to gain an insight into why Bundy killed.

As seen in No Man of God, over the years of interviewing Bundy, an unlikely friendship formed, leading Hagmaier down a dark and complicated path.

After over 200 hours of interviews and his execution date looming, Bundy began to confess to Hagmaier the extent of crimes, revealing new details about what he did to his victims after their deaths.

Bundy's ultimate confession came after all appeal avenues regarding his execution date were exhausted. In a bid to avoid the electric chair and stay his execution, he began confessing to the murders he was suspected of to Hagmaier.

He confessed to an estimated 30 murders across seven states between 1974 and 1978. On the eve of his execution, he went into great detail on all 30 murders, confirming them on a state-by-state basis. Hagmaier spent around 20 hours a day hearing the killer's confessions.

Bundy also detailed how he would return to the murder sites and often engage in sexual acts with his victims.

He also confessed that he decapitated the heads of 12 of his victims and kept some severed heads at his home before disposing of them.

Hagmaier told Buffalo News in 1990: "[Bundy told me] 'I'm going to take you inside a murder. I'm going to take you where no policeman has ever gone before.' And he did. Bundy told me, 'I became their God.' He felt that when he killed somebody, he took over their body and soul, and no force on heaven or earth could stop him."

In Washington, Bundy reportedly had 11 victims, but three remain unidentified. In Utah Bundy killed eight, with three unidentified. In Colorado Bundy murdered three women, in Florida, he also killed three and in Oregon, he killed two, both of who remain unidentified.

In Idaho, Bundy confessed to killing two with one female victim unidentified and he admitted to killing one woman in California, whose identity remains unknown today.

As seen in No Man of God, Hagmaier helped Bundy draft a will and write letters to his mother, wife, and daughter.

Hagmaier also listened to Bundy as he shared his overwhelming fear of dying.

"He did not want to give the state the satisfaction of watching him die," Hagmaier said.

"We had some discussions about morality and the taking of another life and his concerns about trying to explain to God about his actions.

"He wanted to rehearse his execution. I talked him through it, the mechanics of it."

Despite sitting with Bundy the evening before his execution, Hagmaier chose not to attend.

Bundy was executed by the electric chair at 7.16 a.m on January 24, 1989.

Speaking to The Buffalo News back in 1990, Hagmaier said: "During his last days, Ted Bundy called me his best friend.

"I don't know how I feel about that. Here you have a guy giving you a warm handshake, and you're thinking, 'This is the same hand that held a hacksaw while he cut off a young girl's head.'"

On January 20, 1989, just hours before his execution Bundy gave an interview with Christian psychologist James Dobson, known for his campaign against pornography.

In the interview, Bundy blamed pornography as one of the causes of his murder spree but Hagmaier felt differently.

He told The Associated Press: "The bottom line was, he said, 'I did it because I enjoyed doing it and I wanted to do it" on the first anniversary of Bundy's death.

Where is Bill Hagmaier today?

Outside of Bundy's case, Hagmaier also worked on the cases of Richard "The Night Stalker" Ramirez and Gary "Green River Killer" Ridgway.

Hagmaier went onto become the chief of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, helping to shape the FBI's profiling database.

Hagmaier also served as the executive director of the International Homicide Investigators Association (IHIA).

Recently, Hagmaier served as a producer on No Man of God.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, director Amber Sealey revealed Hagmaier worked closely on the film, which contributed to the film's authenticity.

She said: "I became quite good friends with him. "He was wonderful and so available. I would call him and ask, 'What did this feel like?' I could ask him about the emotional stuff, the family stuff, and then all the way down to, 'What color belts would you wear?'"

No Man of God is out in U.S. theatres now.