Serial Killers

As a child growing up in Illinois in the 1940s and ‘50s, John Edward Robinson was obsessed with figures from the criminal underworld. When he was grown and married, he began conning his way into jobs he wasn't qualified for. It wasn't long before his scheming ways took a decidedly dark turn... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the late 1960s, Donald Henry Gaskins found himself consumed by a ravenous rage. He began stalking the highways of South Carolina, searching for victims. Eventually, he became so violent that even a maximum security prison couldn't stop him from killing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Between 1953 and 1982, Donald Henry “Pee Wee” Gaskins murdered at least 14 people, and claimed to have killed over 100. Gaskins began his crime spree early, and went from a young burglar and car thief in South Carolina to one of the most brutal serial murderers in U.S. history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1989, Danny Rolling had already gotten away with a shocking triple murder. As he tried to stay ahead of the Shreveport cops, he made his way to Gainesville, where he set about terrorizing the University of Florida Campus as the “Gainesville Ripper.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's likely that an abusive, loveless upbringing in the 1960s and ‘70s shaped Danny Rolling’s troubling violent sexual fantasies. After a young life of petty crime in Louisiana and Georgia, one incident set Danny off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are thrilled to bring you a brand new episode of Serial Killers today and for the foreseeable future. We thank you for your patience during this unprecedented time. For more than a decade, Randy Steven Kraft preyed upon vulnerable young Californian men—torturing, dismembering, and murdering dozens. His killings were made all the worse by the blasé approach authorities took to his case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are thrilled to bring you a brand new episode of Serial Killers today and for the foreseeable future. We thank you for your patience during this unprecedented time. From 1972 to 1983, the gay community of Southern California was plagued by a vicious killer. His name was Randy Steven Kraft, and he would later become known for the morbid murder "scorecard" that he kept beneath his car rug. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the 1990s, he had spent twenty years murdering dozens of women across the United States. Decades after his crimes, Samuel Little was finally brought to justice—and soon revealed to have one of the highest victim counts of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2018, he was serving a life sentence for the murders of three women in California—when he confessed to another. Then, another and another. Soon, Samuel Little had confessed to 93 murders across the U.S. over a period of 30 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a 7-month hiatus between 1918 and 1919, the Axeman jumped back into his killing spree. City officials tried to track down the mysterious killer, but their hunt led to nothing but dead ends and wrongful convictions. To this day, the Axeman's true identity remains unknown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While the U.S. was wrapped up in the final days of World War I, New Orleans was facing an enemy right in their own backyard. In the early 20th century, a wave of fear rolled through Crescent City as a mysterious man began axing people in the dead of night while they were fast asleep. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As Joseph James DeAngelo's crimes escalated from robbery to murder during the 1980s, he terrified the state of California. Despite the best efforts of authorities, he eluded capture for decades. But he couldn't run forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

His crimes earned him the moniker of the “Visalia Ransacker” and the “East Area Rapist.” But Joseph James DeAngelo would become most notorious for his final nickname, the “Golden State Killer.” Between 1974 and 1986, DeAngelo committed untold atrocities, all while leading a seemingly average life as a husband and small town cop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He was a freight hopper who rode the rails of the western United States for over a decade. Robert Joseph Silvera Jr. was responsible for more than 30 slayings in that time, most of his victims being fellow transients—earning him the nickname, “The Boxcar Killer.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the mid-1980s, serial killer Henry Lee Lucas confessed to nearly 600 murders. While most of those confessions were subsequently disproven, his case led to larger questions about United States interrogation methods. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In many ways, Jerry Brudos wasn't in it for the kill—he was in it for the body. Between 1968 and 1969, he dressed his victims up and posed them, like living dolls. After killing them, he continued to defile and manipulate the bodies, keeping trophies for himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He developed an obsession with women's clothing from a young age—a fetish which would eventually turn violent. As a teenager, Jerry Brudos started attacking young women… just to steal their shoes. But when footwear wasn't enough to satiate his desires, Brudos graduated from thief to kidnapper. And eventually, murderer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Following the string of brutal murders throughout the 1960s, the masked man known as the Zodiac Killer continued to write letters to the press and police, taunting them for their inability to catch him. Fifty years later, there is still no confirmed suspect as to the identity of the murderer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the summer of 1969, newspapers in San Francisco began receiving coded letters from a man who would come to identify himself as "the Zodiac." The killer confessed to a string of brutal murders and would go on to terrorize the Bay area into the early 1970s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Between 1891 and 1895, H.H. Holmes embarked on a vicious killing spree across the United States, terrorizing an entire nation in the process. No one knows exactly how many murders he committed. He confessed to twenty-seven, but only nine were confirmed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices