Serial Killers

One of Italy’s most notorious serial killers has never (definitively) been identified. The mysterious Monster of Florence murdered couples in their cars, beginning in 1974. The crimes were so horrific that all of Florence was on edge, and the hunt for the killer was vast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 1984, Nance had revamped his reputation and settled into a comfortable routine in his hometown. But as he grew fixated on his boss, his nice-guy exterior evaporated, revealing a cold and calculating killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a teenager, Wayne Nance developed an interest in Satanism that may have led to his first murder. He became obsessed with the idea of making a human sacrifice — and in the spring of 1974, he boasted to a friend: “It’s been done.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

His victims’ deaths were often ruled “unnatural and accidental,” leaving Gilbert Paul Jordan free to perfect his M.O. — forcing Indigenous women in Vancouver to drink themselves to death. Unable to keep him behind bars, police surveilled the barber until they could catch him in the act. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An alcoholic from his teenage years onward, Gilbert Paul Jordan spent his young adulthood in 1950s Vancouver tallying up arrests for theft, assault, and drug possession. Then he discovered a crime he wouldn’t be punished for: plying a victim with alcohol until she was poisoned to death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the 1990s, Ángel Maturino Reséndiz was a seasoned murderer using America’s extensive railroad system to strike new victims, then flee. But eventually, authorities caught onto the pattern in his murders. In 1999, their investigation came to a surprising stop.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After years of incarceration, rejection, and failure, Ángel Maturino Reséndiz's most violent impulses began to surface. Between 1986 and 1999, he traveled the U.S. by freight train, murdering “sinners” in a so-called mission from God. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1984, Wilder went on a weeks-long killing spree across the U.S., abducting, raping and murdering as many young women as he could find. As he targeted malls across the country, the FBI launched a manhunt for the Australian fugitive.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Posing as a modeling agent in the 1980s, Wilder lured young girls and women to secluded places where he would photograph them in explicit poses before sexually assaulting them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By day, Robert Hansen was a devoted husband, devout Christian, and respected member of the Anchorage community. By night, he abducted young women from clubs and drove them deep into the Alaskan wilderness, where he hunted them like prey.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bullied from a young age, Robert Hansen’s resentment toward the people in his hometown manifested in different ways — most alarmingly, arson. In 1967, the troubled baker and avid hunter moved to Alaska, and developed a deadly pastime: abducting and assaulting women. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After his first murder, Keith Jesperson felt unstoppable, and went on something of a killing spree. But eventually, he got annoyed that he wasn't getting credit for his hard work, and started sending authorities chilling notes signed with a happy face. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Always shy and a little curious, Keith Jesperson lived a troubled childhood. Beaten by his father, and always struggling to make friends, Keith grew up vowing he'd never hurt children. But he made no such promise when it came to women. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the end of 1993, seven decomposed bodies had been pulled from Australia's Belanglo State Forest. The nation was terrified, and the police force was put on notice: There was a serial killer on the loose. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The bodies of two missing backpackers were recovered from Australia’s Belanglo State Forest in 1992. They weren’t the last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After killing dozens of people and getting away with it, Alexander Pichushkin got bored with his routine. So, he mixed things up — in brutal fashion. His unchecked maneuvers amounted to at least 48 murders in Moscow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of Russia’s most prolific serial killers was an avid chess player. First introduced to the pastime by his grandfather, the young Alexander Pichushkin finally found something he could excel at. But in 1992, his competitive urges were drawn to a different kind of game… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the final few months of 2006, Ipswich was shaken by the strangling deaths of several sex workers. It didn't take long for Steve Wright to relax into his new role as cold-blooded killer. But the bolder — and more bizarre — he became, the closer he got to sealing his own fate.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He was an unassuming man whose Jekyll and Hyde personality obscured increasingly violent tendencies. And in 2006, in the small English town of Ipswich, Steve Wright began targeting sex workers — abducting, strangling, and dumping the bodies of five women. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was called the crime of the century: In 1966, Richard Speck drifted into Chicago, and unleashed a whirlwind of violence and rage onto a group of student nurses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices