Serial Killers

With his caked-on makeup and pathological lies, Charles “Smitty” Schmid cut a distinctive figure among Tucson’s youth. The 22-year-old wanted to draw misfit teens to himself like moths to a flame, before holding a cultish sway over them. Schmid was a corrupting force. And by the summer of 1965, he had killed at least three young women, burying their bodies in the Arizona desert. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When The Texas Chain Saw Massacre debuted in 1974, audiences had a visceral experience so frightening, many believed what they witnessed was real. Its main villain, Leatherface, slaughtered innocent youths and wore their skin for pleasure. This depiction of violence seemed surreal, but echoed the real-life crimes of a man who inspired some of Hollywood’s most infamous characters: Ed Gein. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Premiering in 1991, The Silence of the Lambs was anything but your typical horror movie. While it made the name Hannibal Lecter famous, at its core, the film was a psychological thriller that tracked the moves of a murderer at large: Buffalo Bill. But while Bill’s methods may have seemed too gruesome to be true, the inspiration was a combination of three of the most heinous killers of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1996, a new horror movie with an innovative twist would reinvigorate the slasher genre. But behind the fictional Ghostface was an inspiration steeped in reality. A man in a makeshift mask who stalked and tormented teenage girls during a three-day murderous rampage. A man known as the Gainesville Ripper. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Andrei’s murders don’t go unnoticed. A pattern emerges: young victims, bodies mutilated, left in isolated patches of wilderness. But even with police on high alert, the serial killer eludes capture until 1990 — when his twelve-year reign of terror finally ends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the USSR, an engineer hid a secret he was deeply ashamed of — his inability to have sex with women he dated. His frustration made him withdraw from others, until he developed a proclivity for sexual violence that, at last, could satisfy him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the late 1950s, a Los Angeles native started a crime spree that would stretch into the ‘80s. John Floyd Thomas Jr. spent those decades terrorizing his hometown, targeting women aged 50 and older who lived alone, and occasionally even going to jail for his assaults. But it’s not until the early aughts, and the creation of the Cold Case Homicide Unit, that that LAPD is able to pin him with multiple rapes and murders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 2011, the FBI was ready to reexamine the evidence. A theory emerged: What if the Mad Poisoner was actually the Unabomber? Ted Kaczynski had proven he was a revenge-seeking terrorist, and he had connections to Chicago. Perhaps he traded homemade bombs for poisoned pills. Or maybe the deadly concoctions came straight from the Johnson & Johnson facility itself. In the absence of clear answers, only theories remain… and rumors that someone is still out there, replacing Halloween treats with fatal tricks. This is a crossover special with Conspiracy Theories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If Roger Arnold wasn’t behind the murders, who was? Police turn their focus to a new suspect: a disgruntled accountant named James Lewis. But the more police dig into Lewis’s life, the more questions they have. The road ahead is paved with extortion, false identities, and revenge. This is a crossover special with Conspiracy Theories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Forty years ago, cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules led to the deaths of seven people all around the Chicago area. America was gripped by paranoia and fear. Why was this happening? Who would be next? Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called “Mad Poisoner.” We’re joined by Carter Roy from Conspiracy Theories to tell the story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1972, Schaefer was the newly appointed Deputy Sheriff of Martin County. He used his badge to gain trust and wield authority over teenage girls — particularly hitchhikers, whose sudden disappearances could be explained away. Authorities connected Schaefer to nearly thirty missing persons cases, but he was only ever convicted in the murders of two.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Obsessed with moral power and control, Gerard Schaefer was a police officer in Florida who targeted teen hitchhikers in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. Schaefer spent his youth nursing deviant sexual urges, taking solo hunting trips to indulge in self-inflicted rope torture and animal necrophilia. But the most damning evidence of his descent into brutality may be the hellish fantasies he recorded in his journals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In April 1892, the man authorities now realized was Frederick Deeming was on trial for the murder of his second wife, Emily Williams. But as his story circulated the globe, media began alleging his supposed crimes resembled those of a notorious London criminal — Jack the Ripper. This is a special crossover with the hosts of Solved Murders, a Spotify Original from Parcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In March 1892, investigators in Australia were looking for an Englishman named Albert Williams who had allegedly killed his wife and buried her in their home. Once he was taken into custody, a reporter back in the UK decided to do some digging, and unearthed a terrible secret. This is a special crossover with the hosts of Solved Murders, a Spotify Original from Parcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What kind of person confesses to multiple heinous crimes — while innocent? Gerald Stano did just that, until there was nothing left to confess to. But while there was no forensic evidence linking him to the 41 murders he implicated himself in, Stano was sentenced to death three times over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a childhood of being bullied and living with a well below-average IQ, Gerald Stano's need to connect with other people was intense. When police questioned him about the stabbing death of a young woman, he wanted to impress the detective. So he confessed. But did he really kill her? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Although he had developed a sense of discipline in the military, a traumatic brain injury and deep-rooted rage inched Wayne Adam Ford closer to losing control. In 1997, over a decade after he was honorably discharged, he killed his first victim. He would kill three more over the next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1979, Wayne Adam Ford was looking for a fresh start. He arrived at boot camp for the U.S. Marine Corps leaving a childhood of chaos and negligence behind him. While the Marines did teach Ford how to curb his aggression using self-control, they also taught him something else… how to kill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elizabeth Short’s gruesome murder is the LAPD’s most infamous unsolved case. But there’s one person who thinks he’s cracked it — the alleged killer’s own son. Today, we reopen the case against George Hodel, a certified genius and once-celebrated doctor who rubbed elbows with noted surrealists... and had a vile history of abuse and terror, even against his own family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1940s Hollywood, a 22-year-old aspiring actress is found mutilated and drained of blood. Her body is posed, and her mouth has been carved into a permanent smile. The investigation takes police into the hidden sides of the city — illicit romances and gang-related crimes. But when another mutilated body is found weeks later, the hunt is on for a possible serial killer.  This is a crossover series with Unsolved Murders, looking at the murder of Elizabeth Short and other unsolved cases surrounding it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices