Serial Killers

Henry Busch had a love-hate relationship with maternal figures. Perhaps it was because he lacked one growing up. He had already killed a 74-year-old family friend when he saw “Psycho” in 1960. Identifying with the film’s main character, Henry left the screening with his 65-year old date sure of one thing: he needed to kill again.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Throughout 1989 and 1990, elderly women in Sydney were being preyed upon. But because investigators were wrongly looking for a young man, John Wayne Glover was free to kill without suspicion. Until one day, a simple mistake led police right to him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He started by stealing and shoplifting as a teenager in the UK. When he was 24, John Wayne Glover moved to Australia, where he became a peeping tom and eventually escalated into physically assaulting older women. It was an obvious red flag, and yet nobody realized he would become Australia's worst serial killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As an overweight Black kid growing up in a white suburb, Kendall Francois dealt with his fair share of bullying. His parents were hoarders, so he wasn't even allowed to have friends visit. The shame he felt as a child turned to rage as an adult, and he took it out on local sex workers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As he got older, Sean Vincent Gillis's impulses got darker. He committed murder, necrophilic rape, and even cannibalism. After eight victims, he finally made a mistake at one of the crime scenes. It was all the police needed to track down the killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a kid, Sean Vincent Gillis would visit his grandmother's funeral home and sleep in the empty coffins. He'd sometimes hold the bodies' cold hands or fondle them. The corpses gave him precisely what he was looking for: a female partner who wouldn't say "no.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For years, people had been disappearing along the Osage Mission Trail. Between their odd behavior and the horrible stench inside their cabin, the Bender family were obvious suspects. So a town trustee led 75 volunteers onto the property. But things didn’t go as planned. . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Kansas during the 1800s, people who traveled along the Osage Mission Trail began to disappear. And if people had been paying attention, they may have noticed that those who entered the Bender family cabin never came out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2005, the disappearance of 22-year-old Tamara Chipman changed everything. Her case brought enough attention to the Highway of Tears that the Canadian government was forced to act. They launched a task force to reexamine cases, hoping to find links between crimes. But despite the momentum, their investigations have stalled out — leaving residents to live under the specter of the next murder.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every once in a while, authorities would catch an extraordinary break: In 1985, a tip led to a man responsible for three murders. Then in 2010, a routine traffic stop led to a man responsible for four murders. Even still, there were so many more women unaccounted for. And more cases to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gloria Moody was 27 years old and the mother of two young children when she was found dead in Williams Lake, British Columbia. She is one of the earliest cases of indigenous women who have been found dead or have disappeared along a lonely stretch of roads known as the Highway of Tears. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He was a cannibal, a necrophiliac, and even kept his victims' dismembered body parts carefully preserved in his refrigerator. Yet, Jeffrey Dahmer's horrific crimes don't mesh with his timid personality. His pathological fear of being alone meant finding people he could make stay with him forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He kidnapped, raped, and murdered more than 30 women. There's a belief that Ted Bundy got away with these crimes because he was a confident and savvy manipulator. But a look back shows that because he was young, educated, and conventionally attractive, he could hide in plain sight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The "Killer Clown" likely contributed to people's fears of makeup-wearing jesters. But the truth is, John Wayne Gacy's personas, "Pogo" or "Patches," didn't harm a soul. It was the successful suburban businessman hiding in plain sight who was preying on young men and boys. This is the second episode in our 5-year anniversary special, looking back on the serial killer boom of the 1970s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s been five years since the Serial Killers podcast debuted, and to celebrate the anniversary, we’re reexamining a grisly time in America: the serial killer boom of the 1970s. Edmund Kemper was one of the first serial killers to be profiled by the FBI. His deep-rooted issues with his mother, extremely high IQ, and ability to outsmart police allowed him to kill all the co-eds he wanted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Even while on the lam, Gary Ray Bowles continued to kill. The FBI posted flyers in gay communities near Interstate 95. Just as the police closed in, he assumed a new identity and went back into hiding. Detectives had to wait for a mistake. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At age 13, he had his first violent outburst. It was a sign of things to come for Gary Ray Bowles, who preyed on men he met in gay communities. When police traced his first murder back to him, he went on the run. From town to town along Interstate 95, he wanted to kill as many people as possible before the law caught up to him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After four horrific murders, a joint task force was no closer to identifying the Last Call Killer. But improvements in crime technology allowed them to send the killer's fingerprints to law enforcement nationwide. The one murder Richard Rogers got away with in Maine wound up putting him behind bars for his other murders. Parcasters, we have exciting news! Our first book hits bookshelves July 12th. Don’t miss this chilling summer read that takes you deep into the darkest sides of human nature. Learn more at www.parcast.com/cults! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before he became a cardiac surgical nurse, Richard Rogers killed his grad school roommate and got away with it. Twenty years later, he turned local NYC watering holes into his hunting ground.  Parcasters, we have exciting news! Our first book hits bookshelves July 12th. Don’t miss this chilling summer read that takes you deep into the darkest sides of human nature. Learn more at www.parcast.com/cults! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He was the picture of rehabilitation. After serving 13 years in prison, Mark Goudeau re-entered society with a steady construction job, passed every drug test, and checked in with his parole officer. And he used this new reputation to fly under the radar of law enforcement for years. Countdown to the CULTS book release! Parcast’s first book hits shelves July 12th. It’s an unflinching exploration of shame, secrecy, power, exploitation, and destruction. Learn more at www.parcast.com/cults!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices