Entertainment

Cloo-ed in to ‘Killer’ minds

Call it the real-life “Criminal Minds.”

Tonight at 9, Cloo — formerly known as Sleuth — launches its first true-crime series, “Killer Instinct,” hosted by former FBI criminal profiler Mark Safarik.

Each episode takes you behind-the-scenes on an actual homicide case that Safarik consulted on, and offers up the psychological who, what and why, while reconstructing the investigation.

Safarik’s goal is to prove that profiling “is not hocus pocus. It’s not the laying of hands on case materials and having visions,” he says. It’s “a multi-disciplinary approach to looking at violent crime that comes from education, training and experience.”

As you’ll see in the episodes — the premiere focuses on the “Spokane Serial Killer,” Robert Lee Yates — profilers aid local law enforcement by providing court testimony, creating interrogation strategies and identifying suspect characteristics to be on the lookout for while canvassing for clues. Choosing which cases to feature in “Instinct” wasn’t just a matter of picking the 13 greatest hits from Safarik’s 23-year career at the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.

To do the show, Safarik needed to find cases that the law enforcement agencies would be willing to cooperate on, otherwise “Instinct” wouldn’t be able to interview case detectives or have access to original crime-scene reports or photo evidence.

Those cases which are gruesome by nature then needed to be cleared by vicims’ family members and queasy network execs.

“I pull out cases which I think are great — not too egregious — but then my level of depravity is pretty high,” Safarik admits. “The network will look at [the cases] and then have their barf bags out.”

While “Instinct’s” images won’t be that gory, you can expect to get new insights on how cops caught a wide range of serial and mass murders, sexual murderers, spouse slayers and, the rarest of all — female serial killers.