41 John Bunting Trial Music Ban
During the 2003 trial of Australian serial killer John Bunting, the leader of the Snowtown “Bodies in the Barrels” murders, a judge took the unusual step of restricting the jury from listening to a specific music album. Court testimony revealed that Bunting sometimes played the album Throwing Copper by the band Live while torturing victims in a bathtub during the killings. Concerned that hearing the music outside court could influence the jury’s emotions or understanding of the evidence, the judge ordered jurors not to listen to the CD during the trial. Bunting was later convicted of 11 murders committed between 1992 and 1999 in South Australia and received multiple life sentences without parole.
42 Dennis Rader Closet Ambush Failed
On April 28, 1979, in Wichita, Kansas, Anna Williams, age 63, unknowingly avoided becoming the next victim of serial killer Dennis Rader, the BTK killer. Rader had already broken into her home and waited for hours inside her bedroom closet, planning to attack when she returned. Williams came home much later than expected after visiting friends, and the frustrated killer eventually left without carrying out the murder. Weeks later, Rader mailed her a poem titled “Oh, Anna, Why Didn’t You Appear?”, taunting her about the night she unknowingly escaped death.
43 Leonard Lake ID Mistake Arrest
American serial killer Leonard Lake, who abducted, tortured, and murdered at least 11 victims in California between 1983 and 1985, was caught after a small mistake during a police encounter. When officers questioned him in South San Francisco on June 2, 1985, Lake presented a driver’s license belonging to Robin Scott Stapley, a man who had recently disappeared. Police quickly realized the man in front of them did not resemble the photo on the ID and arrested him after discovering an illegal firearm in his car. While in custody, the serial killer swallowed cyanide capsules he had sewn into his clothing and died four days later.
44 Charles William Davis Ambulance Killer
In North Carolina in the early 1980s, Charles William Davis, a murderer and suspected serial killer, worked as an ambulance attendant while secretly attacking women. Davis raped and strangled his victims, then dumped their bodies along roads that fell within his ambulance service routes. He sometimes called in anonymous tips about the bodies, ensuring that his ambulance crew would be dispatched to the scene. Authorities eventually connected the crimes to Davis, and in 1982 the serial killer suspect was convicted of a murder and sentenced to life in prison.
45 Randy Kraft Victim Scorecard
American serial killer Randy Steven Kraft, known as the “Scorecard Killer,” murdered dozens of young men across California, Oregon, and Michigan between 1972 and 1983. When police arrested Kraft in 1983 in Orange County, California, they discovered a coded list in his car containing more than 60 cryptic entries believed to represent victims. Some entries described how victims were killed, such as “TWIGGIE,” referring to a victim found impaled with a tree branch. Investigators later linked many entries to confirmed murders, but several items on the scorecard have never been deciphered, leaving possible victims of the serial killer unidentified.
46 Richard Ramirez Violent Cousin Influence
Future serial killer Richard Ramirez, later known as the Night Stalker, spent part of his youth in El Paso, Texas, in the early 1970s with his cousin Miguel “Mike” Ramirez, a Vietnam War veteran. Mike often bragged about killing in Vietnam, showed young Richard Polaroid photos of severed heads, and taught him military-style tactics and survival skills. In 1973, during an argument at home, Mike Ramirez shot and killed his wife, Jessie, in front of the teenage Richard. The traumatic incident became part of Ramirez’s troubled upbringing, and his cousin later avoided criminal conviction after pleading insanity.
47 Ed Gein Inspired Horror Films
American serial killer Ed Gein shocked investigators in 1957 in Plainfield, Wisconsin, after police discovered the bodies of murdered women and disturbing human trophies inside his farmhouse. Gein had exhumed corpses from local cemeteries and fashioned items such as masks and furniture from human remains. The bizarre crimes inspired elements of several famous horror films, including Psycho (1960), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
48 Oliver Haugh Attacked Wilbur Wright
In 1885 in Richmond, Indiana, Wilbur Wright, the older of the Wright Brothers, lost his front teeth at age 18 after a violent fight with another young man. The injury derailed Wilbur’s earlier plans for college and changed the direction of his life before he later helped pioneer powered flight with Orville Wright. The attacker, Oliver Cook Haugh, would follow a far darker path. Years later, Haugh became a notorious Midwest serial killer, eventually convicted of multiple murders before his execution in Ohio in 1907.
49 Vasili Komaroff Murdered Horse Buyers
Russian serial killer Vasili Komaroff operated in Moscow during the early 1920s, posing as a horse trader to lure victims. Komaroff targeted buyers interested in purchasing one of his horses, invited them to drink vodka, and then killed them once they were intoxicated before robbing them. His wife eventually discovered the murders but reacted calmly and began helping him dispose of the bodies. By the time police arrested the serial killer in 1923, Komaroff had murdered 33 customers.
50 Bruce Lindahl Stabbed Himself
American serial killer Bruce Everitt Lindahl murdered and raped women across the Chicago suburbs between 1974 and 1981, with three murders confirmed and more than a dozen suspected. On April 4, 1981, in Naperville, Illinois, Lindahl lured 18-year-old Charles “Chuck” Huber Jr. to an apartment and attacked him with a knife. During the struggle, the victim fought back, causing Lindahl to stab himself in the thigh and sever his femoral artery, which led to rapid blood loss. Both men died at the scene, and investigators later realized the serial killer had accidentally killed himself while committing the murder.
RE: Fact #38 (Carl Panzram Wanted Execution) – That guy had a wild backstory. There is a decent documentary on him. He seemed pretty sharp and understood exactly how twisted his actions were.
RE: Fact #8 (Andrew Urdiales Victim Escaped) – She tried to report it and they just ignored her. What the fu*k.
It is sad how many tales exist where women barely get away from serial predators, only for cops to label them as dramatic. Since these guys usually target vulnerable victims, authorities frequently brush off the claims until the perp eventually gets caught.
This whole thing is wild. I’d love to see the data on how many kidnapping reports are actually faked, because I bet it is tiny. I mean, false assault claims happen, but it is hard to believe someone would just invent a story about being snatched, thrown in a trunk, and barely escaping just for the kicks.
RE: Fact #28 (Ted Bundy Forgotten DNA Evidence) – It is wild how long it took to catch Bundy. Part of it was because the systems weren’t there yet, but honestly, a lot was just plain incompetence. Letting him break out of jail not once, but twice?
RE: Fact #21 (Southside Slayer Multiple Killers) – Just sit with the fact that we don’t even know how many different killers got lumped into one name.
RE: Fact #49 (Vasili Komaroff Murdered Horse Buyers) –
See guys, a little communication goes a long way in a relationship. A couple that murders together, stays together.
RE: Fact #42 (Dennis Rader Closet Ambush Failed) – The Poem: Oh, Anna Why Didn’t You Appear T’ was perfect plan of deviant pleasure so bold on that Spring nite My inner felling hot with propension of the new awakening season Warn, wet with inner fear and rapture, my pleasure of entanglement, like new vines at night Oh, Anna, Why Didn’t You Appear Drop of fear fresh Spring rain would roll down from your nakedness to scent to lofty fever that burns within, In that small world of longing, fear, rapture, and desparation, the game we play, fall on devil ears Fantasy spring forth, mounts, to storm fury, then winter clam at the end. Oh, Anna Why Didn’t You Appear .Alone, now in another time span I lay with sweet enrapture garments across most private thought Bed of Spring moist grass, clean before the sun, enslaved with control, warm wind scenting the air, sun light sparkle tears in eyes so deep and clear. Alone again I trod in pass memory of mirrors, and ponder why for number eight was not. Oh, Anna Why Didn’t You Appear
It must be crushing for her to realize that leaving her friends slightly sooner would have spared us all from reading that dreadful poem.
RE: Fact #50 (Bruce Lindahl Stabbed Himself) – If that photo showed up in my yearbook, I would definitely vote him “most likely to accidentally stab himself in the leg while killing someone else.” He looks totally unhinged but also like a massive fu*kup.
RE: Fact #46 (Richard Ramirez Violent Cousin Influence) –
People argue about gun rights, but a loaded shotgun could have saved so many lives there. That guy was a sick fu*k and so was his cousin.
RE: Fact #4 (Clifton Bloomfield Breaking Bad Killer) – That magazine salesman who got a false confession for a murder he didn’t commit got so lucky they nabbed this guy. Just another classic case of garbage police work.
Really makes you wonder how many confessions are fake. And how many innocent people have spent years behind bars because of it.
Setting aside false confessions specifically, a study a few years back put the wrong-conviction rate at like 20%. The system they sold us in civics class or law school doesn’t exist. It’s a total sh*t show meant to turn human lives into profit. Bogus confessions are common enough, but they aren’t even the main driver for bad convictions. Personal perspective: I was once wrongly framed for murder during a self-defense incident where my ex tried to end me. I lost everything from the reputation hit despite being cleared, then I went to law school, clerked, and work in criminal defense now.
RE: Fact #33 (Lonnie Franklin Grim Sleeper Break) – I always wonder about these guys who just stop. What changes in their lives to kill that urge for so long?
It could be anything. Since he has a family, maybe life just got hectic, and then some stressor triggered those old habits again. Just guessing, though.
The Golden State Killer only got snagged because a relative used one of those DNA testing sites.
BTK was active from 74 to 91 and only got busted because he started messing with the cops in 2005. He figured the police were getting close, so he spent over a decade reliving his crimes through keepsakes. Once that wasn’t enough, he reached out to prove he was smarter than them and got caught instantly.
RE: Fact #11 (Carroll Cole Killed At Eight) –
Wow.
RE: Fact #17 (Belle Gunness Vanished After Fire) – I went down a huge rabbit hole with her. You can grab the coroner’s files at the local museum showing what they found on her land. She’d hack off limbs at the joints and bury them in the pig pen or under sheds. She’d hide the heads in the groin area. She grabbed victims from Chicago using newspaper ads. Originally from Norway, she fell for a guy back home, got pregnant, and told him at a dance. He and a buddy beat her until she lost the baby. She moved to Chicago, did illegal abortions, and eventually remarried and moved to La Porte. After that, it was husband after husband. She killed all the kids in that fire. Most people think she actually survived that fire and took off. That was in 1908. A killer with a similar style popped up in California later, but that’s not much to go on. They say she died in the fire, but the body in her bed was just a younger woman who was already gone. It’s all super creepy. A couple years ago, a family living there found a prosthetic that supposedly belonged to a victim, and a kid was actually playing with it. Nasty. As for details, she was all over the place with her methods. It was pure opportunity. She’d smash their skulls or use a hair pin. Some skeletons were just parts. She buried them near the pigs to get rid of the evidence. You can tell some remains were moved, probably because they kept getting uncovered. My theory? A guy who worked on the farm probably helped her, but nobody knows for sure. She had plenty of cash to buy silence. So much is still a mystery because the investigation back then was just terrible.
How do we even know all this? Is it all just detective notes or did a journal surface somewhere?
Did you find any guesses on how many victims were actually on that farm while you were digging?
RE: Fact #39 (Bloody Benders Serial Killer Family) – Laura Ingalls Wilder actually claimed her dad was in the mob that lynched them and dumped their bodies in the brush. So, Pa from the prairie books apparently helped finish off the Benders.
RE: Fact #38 (Carl Panzram Wanted Execution) – His wiki page is basically a record of pure trauma. Abusive parents, working the farm all night, drinking as a kid, being abused in reform school, arson, and more before he even hit fifteen. It is a nightmare.
RE: Fact #13 (Richard Evonitz Victim Escaped) – Lisa McVey Noland went through something similar when she was 17. She got kidnapped, assaulted, and managed to talk her way out of it. She’d already been abused by her grandma’s boyfriend, and then people accused her of faking the abduction.
She actually ended up in law enforcement helping others who went through the same thing. That ordeal was just brutal.
That is the story I was thinking of. I wasn’t totally sure it was the same person. I remember seeing a Lifetime movie about her. Funnily enough, the actress who played Lisa in that film, Katie Douglas, also played Kara Robinson in the 2023 movie. I guess the casting director saw the similarities between their stories and wanted her for the role.
RE: Fact #33 (Lonnie Franklin Grim Sleeper Break) – Back in 2015, I was doing community service in South LA cleaning up holding cells. That job actually pushed me toward teaching later on. I remember seeing a police board with all these photos of women sleeping. Some were clearly posing for him, maybe they were his regulars. Everyone assumed he got the nickname because of the hiatus, but I bet the media just made that up later. It is some crazy sh*t. The guy was a monster who got kicked out of the military for gang rape and then just kept it going back home. The police were accused of not caring because the victims were marginalized, and looking back, the department’s ties to trafficking in that area seem pretty suspicious.
RE: Fact #10 (Cleveland Torso Killer Ruined Ness) – There is way more to this story. The real issue was how he operated. He basically rounded up homeless folks and torched their shantytowns just to flush out the killer, wrecking the only things people had after the Depression. His squad was incredibly brutal with searches and held a secret person for a week, trying to beat a confession out of them. Even with those authoritarian moves and ignoring every law, he still couldn’t find enough proof to make anything stick.
The murderer even mocked him by dumping a body part right outside his office, yet still evaded capture.
Seems like a smart move. Why waste energy taking down one cop at a time when you can mess with half a dozen of them using just one mangled body?
I really value info like this, thanks for sharing. Can you drop some sources for that?
Look for the section on escalation. The Stuff You Should Know show also has a well-researched episode on this topic that you should check out.
RE: Fact #34 (David Berkowitz Letter To Snipers) – This is a solid example of what mental health treatment can actually do for someone. It doesn’t wipe away what he did, but you can clearly see a change in him once he got help. It’s an important perspective for anyone who thinks people can’t change.
RE: Fact #11 (Carroll Cole Killed At Eight) – They could never prove he had anything to do with that accident. He probably read about it and tried to claim it as his own. He supposedly confessed to tons of murders, but it turns out he was just lying. Killers rarely have as many victims as they brag about.
RE: Fact #10 (Cleveland Torso Killer Ruined Ness) – Ness didn’t really stop anyone. Being from the US, everyone knows it is kind of a joke that Capone went down for taxes, not his actual crimes. Ness was just a heavy hitter sent in to wreck Capone’s booze business. Since he was a fed, he was immune to local bribes or threats. While some evidence or snitches might have helped, the feds were already pursuing the tax case before Ness arrived. He didn’t fail at catching the killer; he was barely involved, mostly just enjoying his property raids.
RE: Fact #1 (Henri Landru’s One-Way Tickets) – Turns out he pulled a vintage con, reeling in lonely war widows with newspaper personal ads just to drain their accounts.
RE: Fact #27 (Edward Rulloff Genius Serial Killer) – You really buried the lede here. The guy was a carpet designer? That sh*t needs to be front and center in your fact.
RE: Fact #49 (Vasili Komaroff Murdered Horse Buyers) – Goals, right? Finding out your spouse is a serial killer and just being like “Oh, cool. Need a hand with anything, babe?”
RE: Fact #29 (Mark Essex Hotel Sniper Siege) – I was actually daydreaming about something like this recently. Imagine eight super-trained people with endless supplies barricaded in a skyscraper in NYC. If they started picking off anyone in sight, police and civilians alike, how long until the cops gave up and brought in the military or just bombed the place?
RE: Fact #11 (Carroll Cole Killed At Eight) – That read feels pretty tragic. He clearly reached out for professional help a few times but hit a wall every time.
Totally tragic. It’s like the Edmund Kemper situation. Some killers are born broken, while others are twisted by their surroundings. Both Kemper and Cole seem to have had parents set on wrecking them.
Exactly, plus all those times when cops just ignored a woman stuffed in a closet, blaming it on natural causes. Just constant, bizarre incompetence.
RE: Fact #37 (Krystian Bala Murder Novel Confession) – That is exactly why police keep secrets from the public. They share enough to get leads, but keep a few specific details tucked away. It helps them filter out the liars when someone starts talking.
Serial killers who write books are pretty rare. Cops usually hold back info to vet confessions. Anyone can claim they committed a crime, but only the real killer knows the secret details. That is how they separate the truth from the fake claims.
RE: Fact #9 (Dimitris Vakrinos Killed Over Annoyance) –
So this killer let someone stay at his house, killed the guy, and they didn’t have any leads that maybe it was the host?
RE: Fact #5 (Cayetano Godino’s Violent Childhood) – I’m from Argentina, so I saw this fact and was totally confused about who Cayetano Godino was. Once I checked the link, I realized I’ve known him my whole life, but the post didn’t mention his local nickname: “EL PETISO OREJUDO, ” which basically means “the big-eared midget.” People in my country call him that for obvious reasons… the guy was short and had giant ears. That’s really all there is to it.
RE: Fact #18 (Mariam Soulakiotis Deadly Nun Cult) – I saw the headline and assumed this was from hundreds of years ago. It’s wild that it actually happened so recently.
Wild part is barely anyone in Greece knows this. I just discovered it.
RE: Fact #43 (Leonard Lake ID Mistake Arrest) – I doubt that was just bad luck. Lake was killing folks to steal their identities and grab their benefits. He was likely dodging a gun rap, so maybe he just took on Stapley’s persona. The wild part is that Lake got busted because his buddy Charles Ng was a total shoplifter who swiped a tool. Ng escaped, but Lake got nabbed. Ng eventually fled to Alberta and got caught after a failed theft where a guard tackled him so hard he sh*t himself. Lake was one of those anti-gov survivalist types, so he kept cyanide on him for a quick exit. Too bad the stash was old and weak, so his end was long and miserable instead of fast.
Takes a massive hit to make someone sh*t themselves. Major props to that security guy.
RE: Fact #35 (Robert Pickton Pig Farm Murders) – Turns out the meat wasn’t for the shops, he just gave it to his friends.
He was always hosting huge bashes there and serving the pork to the guests.
RE: Fact #29 (Mark Essex Hotel Sniper Siege) – If video games taught me anything, it’s that you can take out choppers using rockets.
RE: Fact #6 (David Parker Ray Escape) – He turned his trailer into a torture chamber. Bodies never turned up; they say he tossed them in mine shafts. Sometimes he’d dump women out after drugging them into a stupor so they wouldn’t remember the trauma. His family were in on it too
RE: Fact #22 (John Wayne Gacy Met First Lady) – My grandpa knew a guy who kept telling my dad to go meet Gacy because he was supposedly a great role model for the community. Looks like my dad dodged a bullet there.
RE: Fact #16 (Nathaniel Bar-Jonah Cookout Suspicions) – Those dinner guests should’ve known something was up when they spotted his cookbook titled “100 ways to serve man”.
RE: Fact #34 (David Berkowitz Letter To Snipers) – This part totally caught me off guard:
RE: Fact #3 (Truck Drivers Serial Killer Pattern) – I often think about how serial killers just seemed to vanish after the 90s. From all the true crime docs, the 70s and 80s were crawling with them. It’s hard to believe they all just packed it in once Y2K rolled around.
Probably just has to do with cameras and GPS everywhere these days.
Lead poisoning.
RE: Fact #37 (Krystian Bala Murder Novel Confession) – Wait, so they murdered someone just to get material for a book? Some people are seriously twisted.
RE: Fact #32 (Ted Bundy Mother Never Believed) – Is there any way to deal with that kind of situation other than denial? I’m usually big on facing things head-on, but I get how the reality would just shatter you. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt unless she’s the reason Bundy acted that way. I know who he is, but I have zero interest in his motives, which is why I didn’t read the fact.
RE: Fact #20 (Maury Travis Torture House Discovery) – The article says the mom told the buyer about the home’s past. The buyer claims that’s a lie, saying she definitely would’ve remembered if there were murders in the basement
RE: Fact #41 (John Bunting Trial Music Ban) – The weirdest part of reading about this guy is how many victims actually helped him bump off previous ones and hide the bodies.
RE: Fact #44 (Charles William Davis Ambulance Killer) – How does that add up? Wouldn’t the police treat the body like a crime scene? It is not like he could drop it off and then come back later to pick it up.
RE: Fact #38 (Carl Panzram Wanted Execution) – Nothing says someone is serious like delivering death threats personally rather than hiring it out.
RE: Fact #7 (Neal Falls Killed By Victim) – He accounted for everything except a woman who wouldn’t give up and had a garden tool.
She legit took him out with a headshot while firing backwards blindly. That’s some legendary sh*t. I’m always impressed when I read about this.
RE: Fact #2 (Michael Madison’s Rotting Neighbor) – I bet they were all having a good laugh once they realized what was actually going on.
Maybe they should’ve hung up a sign: “Nothing to see here, just a bunch of murder victims rotting right next door!”
RE: Fact #19 (Charles Henry Williams Hidden Murders) – That felt incredibly off for a 16th-century official. Except it happened in 1985, which is crazy.
Totally. Modern cops even use it as an excuse when they kill people. During the George Floyd murder, you can actually hear another officer saying he was worried about Excited Delirium.
That was the same line they used for Daniel Prude. In reality, the RPD choked him to death.
RE: Fact #18 (Mariam Soulakiotis Deadly Nun Cult) – The Greek police grabbed him for stuff like shady olive oil exports and tire imports rather than the murders. He really shouldn’t have messed with the tire racket.
RE: Fact #25 (Wayne Nance Killed By Victim) – If you take out a serial killer early, they never get to be a serial killer.
RE: Fact #13 (Richard Evonitz Victim Escaped) – She actually ended up sitting in a criminology lecture once where the professor used her own case as an example, not realizing she was right there in the room.
Can you imagine if they had to write a paper on that lecture? Talk about being your own primary source.
Something similar actually went down with me in a college psych class. Before I dropped the course, we had to write about a formative childhood memory, and I poured out something super personal. It was supposed to be seen only by the instructor. I ended up retaking the class a year later, and the guy started telling my exact story like it happened to one of his past patients. He looked right at me while telling it, and I was just sitting there feeling like I sh*t my pants. Crazy, right?
RE: Fact #12 (Amerjeet Sada Child Serial Killer) – He was still in a kids’ home as of 2015. He’s over 18 now, so he might be a free person.
Gross.
RE: Fact #39 (Bloody Benders Serial Killer Family) – This is truly grim stuff. Thanks for sharing this fact. I’ve always heard the Harpe crew were the original serial killer family.
RE: Fact #48 (Oliver Haugh Attacked Wilbur Wright) – “Before his injury, Wilbur had plans to attend Yale and become a clergyman like his father, but the damage to his teeth and the resulting digestive and heart complications compelled him to remain home. Nevertheless, Wilbur studied. He was a voracious reader who gave himself a liberal arts education of sorts, setting the groundwork for serious flight research later in his life. It’s possible that if Wilbur had attended college as he intended, his life would have followed a drastically different path. He and his brother might never have invented the world’s first successful airplane.”
RE: Fact #23 (William MacDonald Declared Dead) – Called Aussie police stations a couple times. They acted like answering the phone was a huge inconvenience for them.
RE: Fact #16 (Nathaniel Bar-Jonah Cookout Suspicions) –
WTF?
Is everyone ignoring the part where the judge basically said the state didn’t prove he was a threat? That makes zero sense.
This kind of insanity happens more often than you’d think. A few years back, a guy at a late-night spot in St. Louis followed me and a friend to our car. We got out to tell him off because he was acting like a total jerk. He ended up attacking us, and my friend wasn’t even looking when it started. A sucker punch can easily kill someone. My friend lived, but he’s got major brain damage now. I saw it coming and managed to dodge it. Two years later, it goes to a grand jury and they rule him not guilty just because we stepped out of the car. He pretty much killed my friend and walked away free. It’s why people in Missouri want their guns. Next time, I’m just driving off. If it comes down to a fight, I’m defending myself with everything I’ve got and I won’t feel bad about it.
RE: Fact #3 (Truck Drivers Serial Killer Pattern) – That name implies the goal is to make more of them rather than catching the ones already out there.
It’s like bringing in mongooses to handle snakes. Let’s train trucker serial killers to hunt other trucker serial killers, problem solved.
It’s the Federal Bureau of “Investigation”. If they actually caught someone, they’d have to rename the whole department.
They’re too busy harassing college protesters to actually do something useful for the country like tracking down killers.
RE: Fact #40 (Genene Jones Deadly Nurse) – She was tied to a bunch of weird deaths at the pediatric unit where she worked. Staff and supervisors were wary, but the hospital worried about lawsuits if they dug too deep. So, they just handed her a good recommendation to get rid of the headache.
RE: Fact #31 (Mark Twitchell Murder Screenplay) – He didn’t start killing to be realistic. He was a serial killer because he was a total psychopath.
RE: Fact #21 (Southside Slayer Multiple Killers) – Think about how awkward that would be. You’re trying to stab someone and run into two other Southside Slayers in the same alley, all looking for the same target. I guess you’d all just laugh manically at the darkness.
“Who are you?” “I’m the Southside Slayer!” “No, that’s me.” “Guys, chill. We can all be the Southside Slayer.”
RE: Fact #8 (Andrew Urdiales Victim Escaped) – The full story:
RE: Fact #24 (Tommy Lynn Sells Survivor Sketch) – One victim’s mom was wrongly blamed and did years behind bars until he confessed and cleared her name.
Those rotten prosecutors actually tried to charge her again after she got out. Luckily, they lost.
RE: Fact #14 (Paul Dennis Reid Fast-Food Murders) –
RE: Fact #45 (Randy Kraft Victim Scorecard) – Wild that this is my first time hearing about this guy. Given the body count and the brutal way he operated, he should be more infamous.
He wiped out over 40 people, and roughly half were Marines. Check out that book Angel Of Darkness by Dennis McDougal if you want more.
RE: Fact #46 (Richard Ramirez Violent Cousin Influence) – I checked out that Netflix doc last night. The investigation was painfully amateur. That cop bragging about roughing up a witness for a name was a low point. What was his defense even? The whole thing seemed like a weak case based on what they showed.
Saw it too, but I am just getting burnt out on Netflix docs. Do we need four full episodes for forty minutes of actual substance? They just stuck the interesting bits at the end of each hour to keep you watching. Could have easily edited it down into something much tighter.
RE: Fact #15 (Joseph Paul Franklin Shot Flynt) – Also, he used to troll conservative congressmen by mailing them Hustler subscriptions for years. They’d show up at the Capitol every month just to get tossed in the trash.
He actually signed up every single member of Congress, probably without realizing or caring that the mailroom just chucked them.
RE: Fact #26 (Oakland County Child Killer KFC) – Most of that writeup needs real sources, though the bit about fried chicken has one. The killer left bodies in snowbanks. There’s no suspect, but they did link hair from the scene to a known pedophile’s car. They know he hung around those guys but not who he is. >Forensic DNA tests conducted in 2012 showed that hair found on the seat of convicted child molester Archibald “Ed” Sloan’s 1966 Pontiac Bonneville and on the bodies of victims Mark Stebbins and Timothy King were a match and came from the same unknown man. The hair DNA does not match Sloan, but implicates someone he knew or lent his car to.
You’d think they could at least check everyone who rode in that car, especially with four kids dead.
If I recall, the car had been sold to a local pedophile and the whole neighborhood was using it since they just left the keys inside. There was talk that some executive’s kid might’ve been involved, but he “killed himself” shortly after. He was found in bed with a gun, covers pulled up perfectly to his chin. They basically stopped looking into whether he was involved or murdered.
RE: Fact #13 (Richard Evonitz Victim Escaped) – It is wild how composed she remained while being that terrified at such a young age.
This reminds me of a woman who was held captive and abused for hours in a utility box inside a work van. Once he finally dumped her on the road, the cops gave her a hard time about her story simply because she kept her cool. It’s in the Van-ished episode from season 11 of Forensic Files.
That logic about calm behavior drives me crazy. It’s the reason so many people aren’t believed. Modern investigators should be taught that trauma doesn’t always look like hysteria. There is a piece about a case that turned into that Netflix show Unbelievable. A girl in Washington got raped, but the cops doubted her and she ended up charged with lying. She was actually the first target of a serial offender who kept her ID as a souvenir. He moved to Colorado later, where his next victims were actually taken seriously. The gap in skill between those detective squads was massive. They found his stash and proved the Washington police totally screwed up. The victim got a massive payout after being wrongly convicted.
I’m not trying to take anything away from how brave she was, but it’s wild how much you can handle when you’re actually facing that kind of terror. Once the initial shock fades, your mind just starts hunting for a way out, and you’d be surprised how creative you get. Don’t ask me how I know what the brain does when you’re stuck in a situation like that for a while.
She didn’t just stay sharp and level-headed to save herself and others back then, she kept on helping folks even after growing up. She even runs a show called Survivor’s Guide to True Crime. I really look up to her for coming out on the other side and building a good life.
RE: Fact #36 (Gary Ridgway Early Missed Arrest) – I can’t even imagine seeing the truck your missing relative was last seen in and having the cop just walk away. Why wouldn’t they smash the door in to check? They must have been totally convinced they had the wrong vehicle.
RE: Fact #20 (Maury Travis Torture House Discovery) – Fu*k sake lady, your kid was a psychopath who killed women on your land and you want to keep living there? If I were selling my house to head to a new town, that’s exactly when I’d bounce.
Right, he was probably a “good boy.” Must’ve gotten confused after a movie and just couldn’t fix his life before turning into a murderer. Poor guy.
Maybe she tried. Getting rid of a house where people were tortured is probably a nightmare.
RE: Fact #34 (David Berkowitz Letter To Snipers) – He claimed his dog told him to do it, but when the cops looked into it, even the dog said he was lying.
RE: Fact #35 (Robert Pickton Pig Farm Murders) – Pretty sure both the Vancouver cops and the RCMP ignored tons of tips about missing people heading to his farm. They even picked him up for attempted murder once but let him go because the victim was a drug user. They sat on evidence that could have cracked the case for seven years. It is pathetic how many deaths could have been stopped if they just did their jobs.
RE: Fact #23 (William MacDonald Declared Dead) – Lou: Look, Chief. Another body. Wiggum: Case closed, boys.
Fat Tony: Sorry, I’ll take these yard clippings elsewhere. Lou: Uh, Chief, I’m pretty sure that was a dead body. Wiggum: I thought so too, Lou, but then he said yard clippings. You really gotta listen better.
RE: Fact #9 (Dimitris Vakrinos Killed Over Annoyance) – he even burned someone alive after she wouldn’t sleep with him.
That is a huge red flag for psychopaths. They have such thin-skinned egos that they go to crazy lengths for revenge against people who supposedly slighted them. Often, the payback takes ages and is way out of proportion to the original issue. Most psychopathic killers seem like pathetic losers to me, especially guys like Bundy. I bet most of them also rank pretty high on the narcissism scale.
RE: Fact #47 (Ed Gein Inspired Horror Films) – “nine salted vulvas in a shoebox” yeah, I am done with the internet for today.
RE: Fact #7 (Neal Falls Killed By Victim) – He also made sure to have spare undies.
RE: Fact #40 (Genene Jones Deadly Nurse) – Medical pros who kill are the absolute worst. It is hard to imagine being in a situation where I would blindly follow orders from someone like that.
RE: Fact #42 (Dennis Rader Closet Ambush Failed) – “When Williams got home, she found that her house had been broken into, and that her phones were dead. She looked through the house to find … there was no one there.” Why would anyone search their own home? Just bolt and call the cops!
RE: Fact #11 (Carroll Cole Killed At Eight) – His childhood sounds like the standard origin story for a serial killer. It is like his mom was trying to build one.
That was an insane read. His mother essentially made him, yet he tried turning himself in twice after getting those dark thoughts. Cops found his second wife dead in a closet and just wrote it off as a drinking accident. Later, they caught him at his last victim’s spot and were about to let him walk for ‘natural causes’ until he spilled everything! To top it all off, the ACLU tried fighting his death penalty, but he actually fought back because he wanted it to end. He had some strange self-awareness, but what a wild story.
It is heartbreaking when someone sees their own inner demons, asks for help, and gets ignored by everyone. Things could have been so different for so many people.
RE: Fact #24 (Tommy Lynn Sells Survivor Sketch) – This absolute piece of fu*ken sh*t murdered a guy who picked him up hitchhiking after getting invited over for dinner. He shot him immediately, then beat the guy’s 3-year-old son to death. Then he beat the pregnant girlfriend so badly she went into labor and he killed the newborn too. Pure evil.
No penalty is enough for this. How can you deserve to even breathe after doing that?
RE: Fact #50 (Bruce Lindahl Stabbed Himself) – Wild how often this dude walked free after posting bail or having cases dropped. Total disaster waiting to happen.
Seriously, just look at his history. Cops kept letting him slide despite those sexual assault and rape accusations. The system really dropped the ball here.