True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers

Baptist deacon, family man, pillar of his Florida community . . . and serial killer of prostitutes: chilling true crime from the author ofLobster Boy.By day, Sam Smithers was the deacon of his Baptist church in Plant City, Florida, a respected neighbor to many, and a devoted husband and father. But after the sun set, he became something else: a violent attacker—and killer—of prostitutes.Smithers’s twisted double life came to light when a local woman who had hired him to take care of her property found him in her garage, cleaning an ax—and then discovered a puddle of blood. Through exclusive interviews with Smithers’s wife, who described her spouse as nothing but a doting husband and father, author Fred Rosen learned why this man of God, raised in an intensely religious Tennessee home, was the last person anyone would suspect of committing these savage crimes. Rosen reveals the details behind the deaths of Christy Cowan and Denise Roach after Smithers picked them up in Tampa—and the fate of a man who seemed holier than thou, but was actually guilty as sin. DEACON OF DEATH: Sam Smithers, the Serial Killer Next Door-Fred Rosen Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

In the late summer of 1969, the nation was transfixed by a series of gruesome murders in the hills of Los Angeles. Newspapers and television programs detailed the brutal slayings of a beautiful actress--twenty six years old and eight months pregnant with her first child--as well as a hair stylist, an heiress, a businessman, and other victims. The City of Angels was plunged into a nightmare of fear and dread. In the weeks and months that followed, law enforcement faced intense pressure to solve crimes that seemed to have no connection.Finally, after months of dead-ends, false leads, and near-misses, Charles Manson and members of his "family" were arrested. The bewildering trials that followed once again captured the nation and forever secured Manson as a byword for the evil that men do.Drawing upon deep archival research and exclusive personal interviews--including unique access to Manson Family parole hearings--former federal prosecutor and former Fox News legal analyst Lis Wiehl, along with co-author New York Times bestselling author Caitlin Rother has written a propulsive, page-turning historical thriller of the crimes and manhunt that mesmerized the nation. And in the process, she reveals how the social and political context that gave rise to Manson is eerily similar to our own. HUNTING CHARLES MANSON:The Quest for Justice in the Days of Helter Skelter-Caitlin Rother Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

The Calabrian Mafia—known as the ’Ndrangheta—is one of the richest and most ruthless crime syndicates in the world, with branches stretching from America to Australia. It controls seventy percent of the cocaine and heroin supply in Europe, manages billion-dollar extortion rackets, brokers illegal arms deals—supplying weapons to criminals and terrorists—and plunders the treasuries of both Italy and the European Union.The ’Ndrangheta’s power derives from a macho mix of violence and silence—omertà. Yet it endures because of family ties: you are born into the syndicate, or you marry in. Loyalty is absolute. Bloodshed is revered. You go to prison or your grave and kill your own father, brother, sister, or mother in cold blood before you betray The Family. Accompanying the ’Ndrangheta’s reverence for tradition and history is a violent misogyny among its men. Women are viewed as chattel, bargaining chips for building and maintaining clan alliances and beatings—and worse—are routine.In 2009, after one abused ’Ndrangheta wife was murdered for turning state’s evidence, prosecutor Alessandra Cerreti considered a tantalizing possibility: that the ’Ndrangheta’s sexism might be its greatest flaw—and her most effective weapon. Approaching two more mafia wives, Alessandra persuaded them to testify in return for a new future for themselves and their children.A feminist saga of true crime and justice. Caught in the middle are three women fighting for their children and their lives. Not all will survive. THE GOOD MOTHERS: The True Story of the Women Who Took on the World's Most Powerful Mafia-Alex Perry Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

"You want to know what happened? Ask Anne."—serial killer William Devin Howell A monster was on a killing spree. In just nine months, seven people went missing; all of their bodies eventually discovered in a wooded lot behind a suburban strip mall. But the investigation that led law enforcement to their suspect, William Devin Howell, is only part of the story behind HIS GARDEN: Conversations With A Serial Killer. A practicing attorney, author Anne K. Howard first contacted Howell while he was serving a fifteen-year sentence for the murder of one of his seven victims. He was about to be charged for the remaining six murders. A unique and disturbing friendship between the two began, comprised of written correspondence, face-to-face prison visits and recorded phone calls. Howell, who had been unwilling to speak to any members of the media, came to trust Howard. In the years that follow, the suspect shared his troubled history with Howard but refused to discuss the charges against him, promising only to tell her everything when the case was over. That time has come. HIS GARDEN probes the complicated and conflicted mind of William Devin Howell--Connecticut’s most prolific serial killer. Both sacred and profane in its narrative style, the story on these pages explores the eternal question of human evil and its impact on others, including the woman he chose to hear his horrific confession. HIS GARDEN: Conversations With A Serial Killer-Anne K. Howard Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

On a fall evening in Corvallis, Oregon in 1967, 17-year-old Dick Kitchel, a senior at the high school, disappeared after attending a party. Ten days later, his body was spotted by two children as it floated down the Willamette River. He had been beaten and strangled. The investigation into his murder played out during one of the most dramatic years in America. Life in Corvallis, a college town, had offered a protective, idyllic life to many. But in 1967-68, Viet Nam, a presidential campaign, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, and the murder of Dick Kitchel changed that. His friends thought his death was ignored because Dick was from the wrong side of the tracks. Police and the District Attorney thought that they knew who had murdered the boy but never made an arrest. Decades later, a cold case detective believed he, too, had solved the case. However, once again, justice was elusive. Now nearly 50 years later, a classmate, New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Morris returns to her hometown to write about how the murder changed the town and the lives of Dick Kitchel’s friends. Rebecca Morris is the New York Times bestselling author of If I Can’t Have You – Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance and the Murder of Her Children, A Killing in Amish Country, Ted and Ann, and other books. A MURDER IN MY HOMETOWN-Rebecca Morris Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

For years Lori Orr believed her Los Angeles firefighter dad was a selfless hero. When Lori’s dad was arrested and charged with four murders and countless arson fires, it was her testimony that helped keep him from being sent to Death Row. Eventually, Lori’s search for the truth lead her to the dark secrets lurking in her family’s past and to an inescapable conclusion about the remorseless killer and arsonist known as the "Pillowcase Pyro" and his reign of terror in sunny Southern California. EXCERPT: A hardware store employee saw the flames as they roared toward him down one of the overstocked aisles. A group of employees ran by and he herded them toward a nearby fire escape. The fire was sucking all of the oxygen out of the room and when they got the door open, the group of panicked shoppers and employees running for their lives were literally pushed out of the door as though they were shot from a cannon. “It was coming. Coming fast toward us. The flame, the fire, everything.” Together with award-winning journalist Frank C. Girardot Jr., Orr looks back on the journey that took her from love to fear and the search for answers about how the father she loved could also be a thrill-seeking predator. A predator brought to justice by a dogged investigator no one wanted to believe. A master manipulator who participated in the writing of this memoir in hopes that it would redeem him in the eyes of his family and others who trusted and believed in him. BURNED: Pyromania, Murder, and A Daughter's Nightmare-Frank C. Girardot Jr. Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

In 1901 Evelyn Nesbit, a chorus girl in the musical Florodora, dined alone with the architect Stanford White in his townhouse on 24th Street in New York. Nesbit, just sixteen years old, had recently moved to the city. White was forty-seven and a principal in the prominent architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. As the foremost architect of his day, he was a celebrity, responsible for designing countless landmark buildings in Manhattan. That evening, after drinking champagne, Nesbit lost consciousness and awoke to find herself naked in bed with White. Telltale spots of blood on the bed sheets told her that White had raped her. She told no one about the rape until, several years later, she confided in Harry Thaw, the millionaire playboy who would later become her husband. Thaw, thirsting for revenge, shot and killed White in 1906 before hundreds of theatergoers during a performance in Madison Square Garden, a building that White had designed. The trial was a sensation that gripped the nation. Most Americans agreed with Thaw that he had been justified in killing White, but the district attorney expected to send him to the electric chair. Evelyn Nesbit's testimony was so explicit and shocking that Theodore Roosevelt himself called on the newspapers not to print it verbatim. The murder of White cast a long shadow: Harry Thaw later attempted suicide, and Evelyn Nesbit struggled for many years to escape an addiction to cocaine. The Girl on the Velvet Swing, a tale of glamour, excess, and danger, is an immersive, fascinating look at an America dominated by men of outsize fortunes and by the women who were their victims. THE GIRL ON THE VELVET SWING: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century-Simon Baatz Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

Forgotten Sacramento Murders 1940-1976 explores the crimes by Sacramento's Greatest Generation. The murders that shocked Sacramento two generations ago are now only remembered by a handful of people, but during its time they startled Sacramento to its very core. Including...The original Boogie Man who in 1956 murdered a young boy in a downtown movie theater's men's room.The Mad Basher of 1941 who disappeared after his spree, only to reappear in 1956 to kill five moreTeenager Raymond Latshaw grew tired of his abusive father, so he killed him, his new wife, step-brother and grandparents in 1943.From 1949 to 1951, hobo Lloyd Gomez murdered eight men, in hobo camps up and down the Central Valley. His conscious caught up to him after he murdered a fellow hobo for a couple bottles of beer in Sacramento.The despicable Robert Nicolaus, the CSU-Sacramento graduate who murdered his three small children in 1964, and was astonishingly paroled in 1977. This evil man stewed in hatred for his ex-wife, murdering her in 1985. He died in prison.The unsolved double murder of grocery store clerks Philip Latimer and Michael McCandless in 1965.In 1958, Sacramento media was turned on its head after local television personality Ogden Miles was found murdered in a stubble field near Antelope. A violent same sex tryst doomed the married, father of two. Sacramento has a long and sordid history of murder. Beginning with the murderous founder, John Sutter who thought nothing of killing Native Americans to the recently captured Joseph DeAngelo who is accused of being the Golden State Killer, Sacramento has a reputation for creepy murders. FORGOTTEN SACRAMENTO MURDERS 1940-1976-David Kulczyk Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

He was evil personified. In the Spring of 1997, a serial killer held Nashville, Tennessee in an icy grip of terror. In February, he murdered two employees at a Captain D's restaurant. In March, he struck a McDonalds just miles away, killing three people and maiming one. In April, he kidnapped and slaughtered two Baskin-Robbins employees.They called him "The Fast Food Killer" but his real name is Paul Dennis Reid, Jr. When he was caught and sentenced to seven death sentences, yet a new chapter began in the saga of one of the most heinous serial killers in our time, and the people whose lives he cut short. The victims were reduced to being called "the victims of Paul Reid." Until now. Here, for the first time, and with the approval of the family and friends, are the stories of those innocent, young people whose lives were ended far too soon. It is also the story of how a crime ripped a city apart. WHEN NASHVILLE BLED: The Untold Stories of Serial KIller Paul Dennis Reid-Judith A. Yates Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

During WWII, Lithuanian collaborator Silvestras Griekshell had been plucked from a Nazi death camp and sent on covert missions by his Allied handlers. Now during the Cold War, he'd been redeployed as Steve Griggs, a nondescript American husband and father of four serving stateside as a cook in the U.S. Army. Though still doing black-bag jobs on the side, this dangerous, volatile man was consumed by an insatiable appetite for sadistic violence and psychological torture. And now, his obsessions involved his own children. Our story begins just as Griggs and his lovely wife place Dianne and Steven in a secret multigenerational program for experimentation, study and training with psychedelic enhancement. With each episode the brave boy and his clever sister survive, we come to appreciate how they have managed to prevail, and like Hansel & Gretel, emerge from this matrix of horror, triumphant and transformed. SONDRA LONDON has published confessions of serial killers and researched some of the most depraved criminal minds of our time. After twenty-four years of studying the real-life monsters in cages where Murder Road comes to a dead end, Sondra declares that nothing in the true-crime genre compares to this vivid and intimate account of surviving mortal terror at the hands of the undetectable serial killer SILVESTRAS. GOOD LITTLE SOLDIERS: A Memoir of True Horror-Sondra London Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History   https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com