Serial Killers
Episodes
For Music History Fans: Uncharted, Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Takeover Month! Throughout December we will be highlighting the best of the true crime community, with a new episode every week from creators w...
The Perfect Mix of Horror and Crime: Heart Starts Pounding
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Takeover Month! Throughout December we will be highlighting the best of the true crime community, with a new episode every week from creators w...
Ed Gein Pt. 2
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hi listeners! After this week, we'll be taking a short break for the holiday. We'll be back in December with a special series to close out the year. U...
Ed Gein Pt. 1
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We explore the twisted mind of Ed Gein, whose gruesome killings inspired horror movies Pyscho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lam...
Halloween Special: The Candy Lady
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For Halloween this year we are bringing back one of your favorites, an urban legend about a terrifying Texas child-killer… and discussing how real-l...
Halloween Special: The 'Scream' Killer
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For Halloween this year we are bringing back one of your favorites. In 1996, a new horror movie with an innovative twist would reinvigorate the slashe...
The Smiley Face Murder Theory
13 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode first aired on November 18, 2024. Across the U.S., college-aged men have been found dead in rivers, lakes, and ponds, and while their dea...
The Doomsday Murders
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode first aired on April 14, 2025. The sordid story of Chad and Lori Daybell hit national news in 2020: missing children, suspicious deaths, ...
Albert Fish
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode first aired on August 19, 2024. He’s been called many names: the Boogeyman, the Thrill Vulture, the Moon Maniac, the Werewolf of Wyster...
Jolly Jane Toppan (And an Announcement!)
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode first aired on January 15, 2018. On the outside, Jane Toppan seemed like a loving nurse who cared deeply for her patients. But for years,...
Profit Killer: Dorothea Puente
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
She dressed like a grandmother, lied about her age, and acted like a guardian angel… while secretly killing the very people she claimed to help. At ...
Thrill Killer: Richard Biegenwald
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Biegenwald didn’t have a consistent method or a clear motive. He killed out of impulse—sometimes for attention, sometimes for no reason at...
Lust Killer: Jeffrey Dahmer
01 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jeffrey Dahmer seemed quiet, even unassuming. But beneath the surface was a man consumed by violent desire. He didn’t kill out of anger—he killed ...
Mission Killer: "Real Life Dexter" Manny Pardo
25 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This Florida cop dedicated his life to fighting crime. But in his mind, the only way to truly clean up the streets, was to become a killer himself. So...
Visionary Killer: Joe Kallinger
18 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The visionary killer blames their crimes on an external force – an apparition who commands them to kill. In Joseph Kallinger’s case, multiple enti...
Power and Control Killer: Ted Bundy
11 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ted Bundy was calculated, composed, even charming. But behind the polished exterior was a predator obsessed with control. He used manipulation, deceit...
The Idaho Four Pt. 2 (with Kayna Whitworth)
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2022, Six weeks after the murders of the Idaho Four, Bryan Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania. Fast forward to July of 2025, when just weeks be...
The Idaho Four Pt. 1 (with J. Reuben Appelman)
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, four students at the University of Idaho were murdered in their off-campus home. The shocking brutali...
The Hook Man
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Hook Man is an urban legend dating back to the 1950s. The terrifying story tells of a killer with a hook for a hand who preys on young couples par...
The Postcard Killer: J. Frank Hickey
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After a young boy vanished in 1911, police received mysterious postcards. The horrifying allegations and broad inconsistencies led them to believe the...
Phone Call From a Serial Killer: Larry Gene Bell
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
May, 1985. Two days before her high school graduation, Shari Faye Smith was abducted from her parents’ driveway in broad daylight. Her kidnapper tau...
The Killer Prophet: Ervil LeBaron Pt. 2
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ervil LeBaron, the prophet of a Fundamentalist LDS sect in Mexico, has grasped power after being released from prison for orchestrating his brother’...
The Killer Prophet: Ervil LeBaron Pt. 1
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1920s, the LeBaron family settles in Mexico to practice their own sect of Mormonism. They establish a settlement, open a church, and work the f...
The Red Barn Murder
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Happy solstice, listeners! Join our guest host this week, Sapphire Sandalo, for a summertime tale of betrayal, murder, and the bizarre journey of a cr...
Zodiac or Bundy? The Unsolved Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1970s, at least seven young women and girls go missing around Santa Rosa, California. Seven are found dead, and one remains unidentified. Sever...
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
His modus operandi is shocking: years before he strangled his victims, Henry Louis Wallace befriended them. By and large, they were his coworkers at B...
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A missing woman in Florida leads police to a fugitive who’s been on the run for 17 years. But that’s just the beginning. Franklin Delano Floyd not...
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When a boneless torso possibly belonging to a woman named Cora Turner is found in the cellar of a London home, the culprit seems almost obvious. Her h...
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“...catch me if you can!” Police find those words written on a note left in a jacket draped over a murder victim’s body. They believe the messag...
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The eighty miles surrounding Dublin, Ireland, hold a chilling mystery. Between 1993 and 1998, at least six women disappeared in the area, and their ca...
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After getting away with murder in LA, retirees Helen and Olga scheme to kill again. But when an unlikely party sniffs out their crimes, the friends tu...
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
No one batted an eye at the two women who became fast friends at an LA gym in the 1990s – until years later, when it came out that they’d teamed u...
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In early 2020, the story of Lori Daybell and her new husband, Chad Daybell, hit national news. They’d seemingly fled to Hawaii while two of Lori’s...
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Struggling with gambling and spiraling into debt, William Palmer turned to murder. This week, we continue analyzing the deaths Palmer was accused of, ...
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1855, Dr. William Palmer became one of the Victorian era’s most famous villains – a man who poisoned his own friends and family. But with limit...
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 2
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Texas, convicted murderer Ed Bell claimed he killed 11 girls between Houston and Galveston back in the 1970s. Reporter Lise Olsen and detective Fre...
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Edward Harold Bell was serving a 70-year prison sentence for murdering a man when he sent a letter to Houston reporter Lise Olsen. He told her he’d ...
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When a series of double-homicides struck Virginia in the late 1980s, authorities immediately suspected a serial killer. But it took 35 years – and r...
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Five missing people in five years. And that’s far from the only fact that aroused suspicion of a serial killer operating along the Idaho-Washington ...
The 10,000 Bones at Fox Hollow Farm
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the fall of 1994, a 13-year-old boy found a human skull in his backyard. Detectives later discovered thousands more bones scattered about his famil...
“La Pistolera” Sharon Kinne
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1960, Sharon Kinne is a typical housewife raising two children in Kansas City. By 1964, she’s the subject of an investigation into the deaths of ...
Valentine's Special: "A Couple of Kidnappers" - Wanda Barzee and Brian David Mitchell
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For Valentine’s Day we’re going back into the archives to bring you some of the most infamous couples in true crime history. All Wanda Barzee wa...
Valentine's Special: "A Couple of Gangsters" - Kathryn and "Machine Gun" Kelly
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For Valentine’s Day we’re going back into the archives to bring you some of the most infamous couples in true crime history. Kathryn Kelly was r...
The Legacy of Typhoid Mary Pt. 2
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1907, George Soper located the cause of a typhoid outbreak in New York City: a cook named Mary Mallon. Mary didn’t know it, but each and every me...
The Legacy of Typhoid Mary Pt. 1
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the late 1800s, Mary Mallon was a cook for wealthy families in New York City. She thought her job was going well; her clients seemed pleased and sh...
The Yorkshire Killer Witch Pt. 2
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Bateman had been playing people for fools for years. The problem was, too many of her dissatisfied customers stuck around to complain about her t...
The Yorkshire Killer Witch Pt. 1
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Bateman was an accomplished liar from a young age, and when she grew up, she started using that talent as a way of making money. Passing herself ...
Best of 2024: Israel Keyes Pt. 3
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As our Best of 2024 selection, we're featuring our three-part series on notorious serial killer Israel Keyes. Israel Keyes died having only confesse...
Best of 2024: Israel Keyes Pt. 2
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As our Best of 2024 selection, we're featuring our three-part series on notorious serial killer Israel Keyes. Over the course of six months in 2012,...
Best of 2024: Israel Keyes Pt. 1
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As our Best of 2024 selection, we're featuring our three-part series on notorious serial killer Israel Keyes. In 2012, Israel Keyes is arrested and ...
Holiday Break: "The Grim Reaper" - Nate Boone Craft
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're continuing our holiday break, but you won't want to miss the episode we're highlighting this week. In this episode, our friends at Murder in Ame...
Holiday Break: How a Nuclear Lab Helped Catch a Serial Killer
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Happy holidays, listeners! We're starting off our winter break by bringing you an episode from our colleagues at Science Vs about how a notorious murd...
Holiday Break: What’s Hiding in the Wizard of Oz?
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You may have seen the movie and heard the musical, but do you know the secrets? As we take a break from our regular programming for the holidays, we’...
The Smiley Face Murder Theory (with Murder Sheet)
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Three decades. Eleven states. Over 600 bodies. Across the United States, college-aged men have ended up dead in rivers, lakes, and ponds. The deaths h...
The Hello Kitty Killers
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In May 1999, Hong Kong police found the scattered remains of a young mother in a flat in the city’s Kowloon district. The crime scene was like nothi...
The Rainbow Murders: The Serial Killer Theory
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nancy Santomero and Vicki Durian hitchhiked from Arizona to West Virginia in the summer of 1980. They planned to attend the Rainbow Gathering, an annu...
True Urban Legends: Candyman, with Ashley Flowers
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Say Candyman’s name five times in a mirror and you’ll summon his vengeful spirit, then he’ll slaughter you with his hook. That’s how the urban...
True Urban Legends: The Babysitter & The Man Upstairs, with Annie Elise
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve babysat, you’ve heard this tale: While her charges sleep, a babysitter receives harassing phone calls telling her to “check the childr...
True Urban Legends: The Hex Hollow "Witch" Murder, with Kaelyn Moore
14 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a remote area of York County, Pennsylvania, a two-story clapboard house stands in Rehmeyer’s Hollow, aka “Hex Hollow” – where some say the ...
True Urban Legends: The Demon Trucker of Highway 666
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
According to the urban legends, Highway 666 is a paranormal hotspot in the remote American Southwest. The “Devil’s Highway” is cursed by ghostly...
The Menendez Brothers Pt. 2
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In August of 1989, 21-year-old Lyle and 18-year-old Erik Menendez murdered their parents in Beverly Hills after years of abuse. Afterward, they attemp...
The Menendez Brothers Pt. 1
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jose Menendez pursued wealth at the expense of everything else in his life, including his relationship with his family. He abused his wife Kitty, and ...
“The Dating Game Killer” Rodney Alcala
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On September 13th, 1978, an episode of The Dating Game aired on network television featuring a man named Rodney Alcala as “Bachelor Number One.” T...
Fallout: The Unabomber’s Crimes and Manifesto (with Candice DeLong)
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ted Kaczynski, the man better known to the world as the Unabomber, died in 2023. But his manifesto and the ideas he presented as justifications for hi...
“The Black Widow” Betty Lou Beets Pt. 2
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There was no debate over whether Betty Lou Beets killed two of her husbands. But there was great concern over her motivation. Did she do it out of fea...
“The Black Widow” Betty Lou Beets Pt. 1
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
All she really wanted in life was freedom. But Betty Lou Beets wound up trapped in abusive marriage after abusive marriage. It was only a matter of ti...
Albert Fish and the Electric Chair [500th Episode Special!]
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’re celebrating 500 episodes over at @serialkillerspodcast - come share your favorite episodes and memories from the show, and enjoy some special ...
“The Iceman” Richard Kuklinski Pt. 2
12 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After 13 years as a Mafia hit man, he found himself in the crosshairs of the New Jersey Police. There was only one thing left to do: slaughter every l...
“The Iceman” Richard Kuklinski Pt. 1
05 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
He killed over a hundred people before the police had even heard his name. So when the Mafia needed a body to drop without getting their hands dirty, ...
The Watts Family Murders Pt. 2
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In August of 2018, Chris and Shanann Watts’ marriage ended in violent tragedy. The trauma left a family broken and a Colorado community reeling, as ...
The Watts Family Murders Pt. 1
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Chris and Shanann Watts seemed to have the picture-perfect life. But in reality, an extramarital affair, financial struggles, and conflicts with exten...
The Nurse Behind the FBI’s Mindhunters (with Dr. Ann Burgess)
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1978, Ann Wolbert Burgess was a psychiatric nurse, researcher, and professor at Boston College’s Connell School of Nursing. She and her colleague...
The Honolulu Strangler
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Honolulu, on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu, is a quintessential paradise. In 1986, it was also the hunting grounds of a serial killer who was never c...
“The Brides in the Bath Killer” George Joseph Smith
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
George Joseph Smith, the “London Bluebeard,” was said to have hypnotizing eyes that lured women into marriage – and on to their untimely deaths....
“The Lethal In-Law” Dr. Bennett Clark Hyde
24 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When a Missouri real estate tycoon fell sick in 1909, he promised his family a large inheritance. But one in-law was after far more than a piece of th...
The Bolber-Petrillo Murder Ring Pt. 2
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
By 1938, Philadelphia’s Bolber-Petrillo Murder Ring had collected an estimated $100,000 in insurance payouts. But like many criminals on a lucky str...
The Bolber-Petrillo Murder Ring Pt. 1
10 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1930s Philadelphia, self-styled “doctor” Morris Bolber claimed he could fix any ailment – even a broken marriage. His poisonous prescriptions...
Giulia Tofana (with Women and Crime)
03 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An Italian woman living in Rome during the 17th century sold black-market poison to women who wanted to escape their marriages. She packaged the liqui...
The Wedding Vow Murder Pact Killers
27 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Serial killer or serial liar? Kelly Cochran is guilty of two homicides, which she blames on a pact she made with her husband, Jason. But Kelly’s his...
Was Carla Walker Murdered by a Serial Killer?
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1974, 17-year-old Carla Walker was abducted from a car in Fort Worth, Texas. Days later, her body was discovered in a remote culvert a few miles aw...
Mary Bell: England’s Youngest Female Killer
13 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At 11, Mary Bell was on trial for not one, but two murders – during which she was often considered a “bad seed” by those who couldn’t comprehe...
“The Avenging Angel” Sheila LaBarre Pt. 2
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s 2004, and Sheila LaBarre has inherited wealth, a massive farm, and animals she adores. She has everything she ever wanted…almost. What Sheila...
“The Avenging Angel” Sheila LaBarre Pt. 1
29 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila LaBarre’s childhood dreams weren’t out of the ordinary: get out of her small town, become famous, marry a wealthy man. But after a near-dea...
National DNA Day: The First Murder Conviction
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
April 25 marks National DNA Day in the US, and if you’ve been following true crime stories for a while you know how important DNA can be for solving...
“Killer Nurse” Kristen Gilbert
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1989, Kristen Gilbert started her nursing career at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northampton, Massachusetts. She impressed medical staff ...
The Murder of the Lyon Sisters
08 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1975, two young girls, Kate and Sheila Lyon, disappeared from the Wheaton Plaza Mall in Montgomery County, Maryland. Investigators assumed the wors...
“The Revenge Doctor” Anthony Garcia
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
All Anthony Garcia ever wanted to be was a successful doctor. When anyone got in his way, he attacked – resulting in four violent murders. Keep up...
Israel Keyes Pt. 3 (with Josh Hallmark)
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Israel Keyes died having only confessed to a handful of murders and crimes. Researchers and investigators are left piecing together evidence to solve ...
Israel Keyes Pt. 2 (with Josh Hallmark)
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over the course of six months in 2012, Israel Keyes sits down with the FBI for a series of interviews. In between toying with investigators and bargai...
Israel Keyes Pt. 1 (with Josh Hallmark)
11 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2012, Israel Keyes is arrested and charged with kidnapping and killing an 18-year-old barista. Prior to that, he’d had just one blemish on his cr...
The Tylenol Murders (with Brad Edwards)
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On September 29, 1982, 12-year-old Mary Kellerman took one Extra Strength Tylenol capsule to ease her sore throat and mysteriously died less than four...
Long Island Serial Killer: The Gilgo Beach Murders (with Robert Kolker)
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In July 2023, Rex Heuermann was arrested and charged with the murders of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Amber Costello. Additional charges ca...
Murder in Marlborough Sounds
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Olivia Hope and Ben Smart were partying with their friends on New Year’s Eve in the Marlborough Sounds of New Zealand. As the party was dying down t...
Who Killed Gertrude McCabe?
19 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In October 1983, police found Gertrude McCabe dead inside her San Jose home: Who would murder an 88-year-old woman in such a violent fashion? Keep up ...
The Morgans: A Fatal Love
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
During a 1972 snowstorm, musical prodigy Lee Morgan and his band played a set at Slug’s Saloon in New York City. One minute, he was entertaining the...
Deadly Exes: Domestic Violence Awareness (with Annie Elise)
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes violence comes from the people you least expect. Annie Elise, host of SERIALously and 10 to Life, joins Vanessa to discuss two shocking m...
Charles Manson Pt. 2
29 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Leading up to the Grammys, we’re covering one of history’s most infamous musicians: Charles Manson. Vanessa explores the music references Manson’...
Charles Manson Pt. 1
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Leading up to the Grammys, we’re covering one of history’s most infamous musicians: Charles Manson. Vanessa explores how Manson’s failed music c...
BTK's First Victims: The Otero Family Murders
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
50 years ago to this day, Dennis Rader, aka BTK, killed four members of the Otero family. These murders were his first of ten, and he would play cat-a...
The Killer in the Mansion Pt. 2
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A fire in the beautiful LaLaurie mansion reveals some ugly secrets. In this episode we recount the events of the night in 1834 when Delphine went from...