

True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers
Dan Zupansky
Every week host Dan Zupansky will interview the true crime authors that have written about the most shocking killers of all time.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 26, 2017 • 1h 40min
A SPECIAL KIND OF EVIL-Blaine Pardoe and Victoria Hester
The Colonial Parkway Murders –the name given eight murders that took place in the Tidewater region in the late 1980’s, two of which were on the historic Colonial Parkway, the nation’s narrowest National Park. Young people in the prime of their lives were the targets. But the pattern that stitched this special kind of evil together was more like a spider web of theory, intrigue, and mathematics. Then, mysteriously, the killing spree stopped. The nameless predator, or predators, who stalked the Colonial Parkway stepped back into the mists of time and disappeared. Now, father-daughter true crime authors Blaine Pardoe and Victoria Hester blow the dust off of these cases. Interviewing members of the families, friends, and members of law enforcement, they provide the first and most complete in-depth look at this string of horrific murders and disappearances. The author-investigators peel back the rumors and myths surrounding these crimes and provide new information never before revealed about the investigations. A SPECIAL KIND OF EVIL: The Colonial Parkway Serial Killings-Blaine Pardoe and Victoria Hester. 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

Jul 25, 2017 • 1h 2min
ROOM 1203-O.J. SIMPSON'S LAS VEGAS CONVICTION-Det. Andy Caldwell
In 1995, NFL great and movie star, O.J. Simpson beat a murder rap for the death of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. But in 2007 his luck with avoiding Lady Justice ran out in Las Vegas.ROOM 1203 is the true story of the convoluted and bizarre events surrounding a violent armed robbery of a sports memorabilia collector in a Vegas hotel. On that night, Simpson put an exclamation mark on his spectacular fall from the height of Hollywood’s glamour and glitz to a shadowy world of scams and schemers in Sin City.Written by the lead detective assigned to the case, the book provides details, insights and facts not previously reported, as well as the investigation that pieced the crime together and landed an arrogant man who believed he was above the law in a Nevada prison. ROOM 1203: O.J. Simpson's Las Vegas Conviction-Andy Caldwell 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

Jul 20, 2017 • 1h 33min
LOST COAST HIGHWAY-Gray George
On July 8, 1979, two skeletons were found off a remote highway in Mendocino County, California. The skeletons belonged to a pair of murdered teenagers. For thirty-six years, the teens’ identities remained a mystery. The teens’ killer was never brought to justice. In the fall of 2015, the Mendocino teens were identified through DNA testing. The identifications raised a number of questions in the community. Who murdered the Mendocino teens? Why did the teens go unidentified for so long? Were their murders linked to a series of unsolved homicides in a neighboring county? Filled with gripping interviews and previously unreleased details about the Mendocino murders, Lost Coast Highway is the inside story of a shocking, multi-generational tragedy. It’s the story the media wouldn’t tell you—and the bureaucrats didn’t want you to know. LOST COAST HIGHWAY-Gray George 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

Jul 13, 2017 • 1h 5min
MURDER ON HIS MIND SERIAL KILLER-Anne Penn
Murder on His Mind Serial Killer is the true crime story of the Original Night Stalker aka East Area Rapist who first terrorized Rancho Cordova/Sacramento areas in Northern California as a serial rapist. Moving on to Southern California he became the serial killer and rapist he had worked to become. The Original Night Stalker carried out the murders of at least 12 people in and around Southern California. This serial rapist and murderer moved about freely as law enforcement has been unable to catch a break and have to this date been unable to apprehend him. A very deadly criminal this man was prepared to do whatever it took to be free. Many active and retired law enforcement still work the case that had become cold. The FBI has once again joined in the chase. It has been 40 years since the first known attacks in Northern California. It has been 30 years since the last senseless murder of a young woman in Irvine California. How much longer will the families have to wait for justice in this case? Will we ever match his DNA to a name? Will we ever see who has been under the mask? MURDER ON HIS MIND SERIAL KILLER: Anne Penn 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

Jul 6, 2017 • 1h 34min
MONSTER-C.L. Swinney
Peter Kurten, a German who'd been sent to prison for deserting his comrades, sat in a cell contemplating what to do when he got out. He had no control within the prison walls and it drove him mad. The things that happened to him while in custody, unlocked oppressed sadistic feelings within Peter, and forced him to unleash a level of sexual deviancy on innocent victims in and around Dusseldorf, Germany, that no one will ever forget. Young girls, women, and men would succumb to horrific attacks including being bludgeoned by a hammer and stabbed to death. In several instances, Peter admitted to drinking blood from his victims and needing the act of rape and murder to reach orgasm. Oddly, the man lived a double life and his love for his wife drove him to turn himself in. Had he not done so, 'The Monster' would have continued to keep the country locked in fear. for many more years. MONSTER: The True Story of Serial Killer Peter Kurten-C.L. Swinney 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

Jun 29, 2017 • 1h 13min
MURDER IN THE STACKS-David DeKok
On Nov. 28, 1969, Betsy Aardsma, a 22-year-old graduate student in English at Penn State, was stabbed to death in the stacks of Pattee Library at the university’s main campus in State College. For more than forty years, her murder went unsolved, though detectives with the Pennsylvania State Police and local citizens worked tirelessly to find her killer. The mystery was eventually solved—after the death of the murderer. This book will reveal the story behind what has been a scary mystery for generations of Penn State students and explain why the Pennsylvania State Police failed to bring her killer to justice.More than a simple true crime story, the book weaves together the events, culture, and attitudes of the late 1960s, memorializing Betsy Aardsma and her time and place in history. MURDER IN THE STACKS: Penn State, Betsy Aarsdma, And The Killer That Got Away-David DeKok 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

Jun 27, 2017 • 1h 36min
A DANGEROUS PLACE-Simon Farquhar
IN SEPTEMBER 1970, two boys met in the playground on their first day at secondary school in North London. They formed what would be described at the Old Bailey thirty years later as 'a unique and wicked bond'. Between 1982 and 1986, striking near lonely railway stations in London and the Home Counties, their partnership took them from rape to murder. Three police forces pooled their resources to catch them in the biggest criminal manhunt since the Yorkshire Ripper Enquiry. A Dangerous Place is the first full-length account of the crimes of John Duffy and David Mulcahy. Told by the son of one of the police officers who led the enquiry, exhaustively researched and with unprecedented access, this is the story of two of the most notorious serial killers of the twentieth century and the times they operated in. It is the story of the women who died at their hands. It is the story of the women who survived them, and who had the courage to ensure justice was done. And it is the story of a father, told by a son. A DANGEROUS PLACE: The Story of The Railway Murders-Simon Farquhar 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

Jun 22, 2017 • 1h 34min
Queen City Gothic-J.T. Townsend
Losing a loved one to murder is life's ultimate tragedy. But when the killer is never captured, a family's paralyzing grief only compounds. Years pass. Pain grows. Time heals nothing. Parents, spouses, and children of the victims never find peace. Investigators continue to lie awake night after night, year after year, thinking, "If only..." Cold cases fascinate us because of the endless possibilities. What if Alice Hochhausler hadn't driven her daughter home from work while a strangler was running loose? What if Oda Apple's wife hadn't sent him to the corner drugstore? What if Linda Bricca hadn't been so beautiful - and her husband not a workaholic? J. T. Townsend takes us on a sinister journey through thirteen cases, which took place in Cincinnati, Ohio, between 1904 and 1971. You'll meet Frances Brady, a pretty bride-to-be gunned down at her own front door. Tommy Coby, age eight, who arrived home to an empty house, and learned later his parents were lying dead in their car. Patty Rebholz, a popular cheerleader, who was bludgeoned in a neighbor's backyard while walking to break up with her teenage boyfriend. What do these cases have in common? A fleeting, irrational act of violence with no resolution. Somebody literally got away with murder. Each episode took place in sheer moments--but hundreds of innocent people still remember, still mourn, and are still haunted by horrible, unbearable images. Townsend's riveting accounts include never-before-published details from police files and insights from both investigators and witnesses. Whodunit? We'll never know for sure--but we can certainly make some informed, calculated guesses. Meanwhile, on these pages, each victim returns to vibrant life, becomes as real to us as to those loved ones they left behind--and still cries out for justice. QUEEN CITY GOTHIC: Cincinnati's Most Infamous Murder Mysteries-J.T. Townsend 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

Jun 15, 2017 • 1h 21min
SHE IS EVIL-Judith A. Yates
That woman is evil. She is evil!” Ejaz Ahmad was handsome, charismatic, and a self-made businessman. He arrived in the United States from Pakistan determined to fulfill his mother’s dying wish: to come to America, complete his education, and make his mark in the world. Settling in Memphis, Tennessee, Ejaz became owner of several businesses, father to a handsome boy, and a devout Muslim. The only thing missing in his life was a wife, someone special to protect, honor, and love. Leah Ward was a pretty girl, but a prison parolee with a history of drug charges, petty crime, and a questionable past. She led a flotsam life, drifting from town to city to state. When she was introduced to Ejaz Ahmad, she believed she had found the ultimate answer: a place to live, someone to take care of her, and money to spend. But what began idyllic soon became abusive and then dangerous for Ejaz. His friends and family warned him. And in May of 2003 Ejaz paid the ultimate price when family members found his mutilated body in a shed. SHE IS EVIL is a story of trust, abuse, religion, and murder. Of a kind man who tried to help a troubled woman and became the victim of abuse and, eventually, a heinous murder. SHE IS EVIL: Madness and Murder in Memphis-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

Jun 8, 2017 • 1h 38min
MY SISTER'S KEEPER-CD Newton
Cleveland Strangler's best-kept secrets revealed! A man fights for justice and closure for an ex-girlfriend, an unknown survivor, the first to report to the authorities her brutal attack, by the then nameless emerging Cleveland Strangler. Sadly, her case was suspended in 4-months. A year later, Anthony Sowell, would begin his killing spree, the infamous 11-Women of Imperial Avenue, all strangled and stashed in and around his home. Why didn't the Cleveland Sex Crimes Unit show her his recently registered sex offender photo? Did the City of Cleveland fail to comply with federal "Megan's Law?" Was there Community Notification when a registered sex offender moved into the neighborhood? Is the County Psychiatric Court liable for a faulty sexual evaluation predictor? "Mr. Sowell is a low risk. A 6% chance to re-offend?" (September 2005) The Cleveland Strangler lured and attacked Ms. Crutcher June 2006 and the Imperial Avenue murders occurred in 2007-2009. Was this cold case covered-up? Never seen photos, serial killer letters to the author, compelling documents, and phone transcripts. A gripping true crime memoir and captivating legal thriller. MY SISTER'S KEEPER: The Cleveland Serial Killer Untold Story-CD Newton 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