As investigators look for the killer of Vanessa Marcotte, a former FBI profiler says clues may be provided by the victim.

Signs of a struggle, the victim's background and day-to-day life can offer context as to how and why a person died.

Patricia Kirby is a forensic psychologist who has four decades of experience with law enforcement. She started her career with the Baltimore Police Department before becoming an FBI special agent and profiler. After leaving the bureau, she began serving as a consultant with federal, state and local agencies. She spoke with MassLive regarding the death of Vanessa Marcotte in Princeton and the possibility of a connection to Karina Vetrano, the jogger killed in Queens this month.

Marcotte is a New York City resident who grew up in Central Massachusetts before attended Boston University for her undergraduate. She was in Princeton on Sunday, Aug. 7, visiting family when she went for a run less than half a mile from her mother's home.

After she didn't return to the house by Sunday evening, Marcotte was reported missing. Her body was found around 8:30 p.m., more than seven hours after she went for a run. Sources say her body was burned and she was found by police unclothed.

Her attacker is a man who likely suffered injury while struggling with Marcotte, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr. said at a press conference Thursday afternoon. It is not currently known if her killing was a random act. Her death is Princeton's first in three decades.

She had a pattern. Marcotte would visit her mother on a weekends and go for a run before returning to the city on Sundays. If she was the intended victim and her killing was not a random act, Kirby said her weekend runs "would be the place."

She added, "If someone wanted harm for her, they'd know where to find her."

For someone seeking to hurt women, she said jogging areas are a desirable location. During her time with the FBI, Kirby investigated numerous cases of women who became victims or rape and murder while jogging. Runners are often distracted by music heard through headphones and may run alone.

"It's a very productive place for someone wishing ill will," she said.

Attacking a jogger also speaks to the character of a killer, Kirby said. Marcotte was athletic, assertive, and fought her attacker before her death.

"They're going to fight like hell to get away," Kirby said, of her and other athletic victims.

It is not publicly known how her assailant attacked Marcotte; if she saw him approach or he snuck up on her, if he attacked with his fists or a weapon.

After her death, Marcotte's body was burned. This action speaks to the killer's mindset after the crime was committed, Kirby said. "She fought him and they struggled. He had to know she had his DNA."

If he previously committed a crime, his DNA would be in the system and would lead investigators to him. The flames could destroy such evidence, though it is not believed to have achieved the killer's goal as her body was not entirely burned.

She's not the first young woman to die in such a way. A 29-year-old Ohio woman was brutally beaten, choked and dragged into an area of tall grass in 2012 where she was set ablaze. The following year, three were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for her death.

The death of Marcotte shares some eery similarities to the case of Karina Vetrano, New York City woman who was killed jogging the week prior. A man attacked Vetrano by hitting her over the head with a rock and dragging her body into a nearby wooded area.

Following a struggle, Vetrano was strangled so forcefully her neck was almost broken. "This indicates to me that the assailant was a having a difficult time and getting frustrated so he overreacted in strangulation," Kirby said.

No connection has been made between the two cases but both Massachusetts State Police and the New York Police Department have requested information from each other on their homicide cases.

It's possible that one killer committed both deaths, Kirby said, though too early to know.

"You want to look for links between cases and look for anything that can be connected," she said.

While the deaths occurred 200 miles apart, distance isn't always a deterrent for violent individuals.

"Serial killers will travel. It's a part of their ability to stay off the radar of law enforcement," she said, though cautioning no conclusions should be made.

Police are searching for men whose vehicles were seen in the area Marcotte was killed Sunday. Anyone with information about her death can call 508-453-7589. As of Friday afternoon, approximately 450 tips were reported to state police but investigators seek more.