Serial Killers

John Christie wasn’t good at very much. Not relationships. Not even petty crime. But one evening in 1943, he strangled a sex worker to death and hid her body under the floorboards of his flat in Notting Hill, London. He’d found what he was good at, and he’d keep doing it for a decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thomas Dillon had a degree, a good job, a house, and a family. But what he wanted more than anything, was to hunt. His prey: people. Dillon would drive through the backcountry of Ohio and fire upon unsuspecting people before driving away.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He lured young models into his home with promises of fame in true detective magazines. But once they were tied up and photographed, Harvey Glatman would rape them and kill them. Then he would keep the photos of their last moments alive as souvenirs.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every time Timothy Krajcir felt the urge to kill, he would find a target and then fasten a blue bandana over his face. He committed these crimes over and over and never felt any remorse. Not for his victims. Not for their families. Not even for the man who went to jail for one of his crimes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Believing he had been reformed, the parole board released 31-year-old Timothy Krajcir from prison in 1976 after serving a little over 10 years for attempted murder and rape. He then enrolled in a criminal justice course. Not to start a new career, but to learn how to get away with murder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For over a year, Robin Gecht had been leading his own satanic cult composed of three of his own workers. But as they committed more murders, they got sloppy. When a victim left for dead survived her attack, it opened a window for police. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robin Gecht lived his public life like a model citizen. He operated his construction company, played with his kids, and went to church every Sunday. But there was a dark side he kept secret from them. One that involved Satan, torture, and cannibalistic acts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After committing his first three murders, Joseph's struggle with schizophrenia persisted. He couldn't ignore the voices. And by the time he'd done their bidding, 12 people had died, and he’d been given a new nickname: "The .22 Caliber Killer." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two years before he embarked on a killing spree in Buffalo and New York City, Joseph G. Christopher’s friends and family noticed a seismic shift in his personality. The 23-year-old was beset by mood swings and paranoia. His hold on reality was unraveling. In the end, it would prove fatal.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thanks to an unsuspecting benefactor, Duncan gets a fresh start in North Dakota. But his blog entries begin leaving chilling clues as to what lies ahead. In 2005, his violent impulses lead him to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and his worst crime yet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A teenage sex offender carried out horrific crimes against young boys in Washington in the late 1970s before being sent to a treatment program, followed by prison. Fourteen years later, Joseph Edward Duncan III was paroled, free to carry out a murder spree that claimed the lives of three kids.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1970s, after abusing his children and getting away with it, Joseph Kallinger enlists his son in a mission from God that terrorizes the suburbs of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The adopted son of cobblers began having hallucinations as early as 15 years old. They were harmless at first — but tragically, they wouldn’t stay that way.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After years of charming women into getting engaged to him, Henri Désiré Landru had perfected his system of making his fiances, and all of their wealth, disappear. But when the sisters of two of his victims catch on to his ploy, they threaten the whole complex process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In France, a con man charmed women into getting engaged before robbing them and taking them to his country villa. Where they all mysteriously disappeared. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Numerous childhood traumas led Tsutomu Miyazaki to create a monstrous character in his head named "Rat Man" that eventually took control of his thoughts and actions. "Rat Man" required human sacrifices and his preference was little girls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2010 a serial killer terrorized an area of Philadelphia known as the Badlands. Police swabbed hundreds of men for DNA before a CODIS backlog revealed they’d had what they needed all along. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mack Ray Edwards was proud of his career as a heavy machine operator. It made him important on construction sites. But the very same machine he used to build a series of freeways in Los Angeles would also be used to hide the bodies of his murder victims.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Veronica Compton met Kenneth Bianchi, she was working on a play about serial killers. She interviewed the “Hillside Strangler” as part of her process. But then he charmed his way from research subject to love interest, and Veronica found herself wrapped up in a horrifying scheme.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog went from hunting animals to preying on humans. Even as they grew older and settled down, they continued their spree. When they finally faced justice years later, their killer instincts would lead them to turn on one another. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices