

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

Nov 27, 2014 • 1h 25min
THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR-J. T. HUNTER
John Crutchley seemed to be living the American Dream. Good-looking and blessed with a genius level IQ, he had a prestigious, white-collar job at a prominent government defense contractor, where he held top secret security clearance and handled projects for NASA and the Pentagon. To all outward appearances, he was a hard-working, successful family man with a lavish new house, a devoted wife, and a healthy young son.But, he concealed a hidden side of his personality, a dark secret tied to a hunger for blood and the overriding need to kill. As one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, Crutchley committed at least twelve murders, and possibly nearly three dozen. His IQ elipsed that of Ted Bundy, and his body count may have as well. While he stalked the streets hunting his unsuspecting victims, the residents of a quiet Florida town slept soundly, oblivious to the dark creature in their midst, unaware of the vampire next door. THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR-The True story of the Vampire Rapist-J.T. Hunter and Detective Robert Leatherow 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

Nov 20, 2014 • 1h 12min
UNDER COVER OF THE NIGHT-Diane Fanning
It was planned to look like a suicide.But even in the best-laid plans, evidence is left behind…Jocelyn Branham Earnest was found dead on the floor of her living room in Forest, Virginia. By her side was a gun and a suicide note—typed, lacking a signature, and with one fingerprint on it. A fingerprint apparently belonging to Jocelyn’s estranged husband…Wesley Earnest was a respected high school administrator, poised to restart his life in a new community. Parents entrusted their children to his care and believed he was above reproach. But the investigation into the life the couple once shared would reveal adultery, troubled finances, and shattered dreams—enough for one man with murder on his mind to travel hundreds of miles…UNDER COVER OF THE NIGHT-A True Story of Sex, Greed and Murder-Diane Fanning 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

Nov 13, 2014 • 1h 2min
MURDER IN SUBURBIA-Emily Webb
Murder in Suburbia features the stories of more than 20 murder cases that have happened in the quiet streets of Australia’s suburbs and small towns.These stories show that the most brutal and harrowing events can happen in any street or neighbourhood.Featuring contemporary cases as well as some shocking historical murders, Murder in Suburbia proves you should never say ‘it could never happen here’. MURDER IN SUBURBIA-Disturbing Stories From Australia's Dark Heart-Emily Webb 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

Nov 6, 2014 • 1h 33min
WHY WE LOVE SERIAL KILLERS-Dr. Scott Bonn
In Why We Love Serial Killers, Drew University criminology professor Scott Bonn, PhD, simultaneously examines the public’s and media’s fascination with the monsters among us and the ways in which that attention impacts them. He writes about serial killers’ behaviors and the research—from the FBI’s original work to more recent models—that informs the law enforcement professionals charged with profiling, catching, and studying them. A real bonus: Dr. Bonn’s correspondence with Dennis Rader (BTK or “Bind, Torture, Kill”) for its insight into the mind of an especially chilling murderous psychopath. As such, it is a stark reminder that, irrespective of any deceptively benign appearances to the contrary, “they” are never like “us.” WHY WE LOVE SERIAL KILLERS-The Curious Appeal of the World's Most Savage Killers-Dr. Scott Bonn 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

Oct 23, 2014 • 1h 34min
DEATH OF A CHEERLEADER-Kevin M. Sullivan
In this Notorious USA collection, Death of a Cheerleader, New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen and true crime journalist Kevin M. Sullivan write about notorious crimes in the Bluegrass State. In a scene right out of Hitchcock’s “Rear Window,” a young woman vanishes from a beach on a summer day and a neighbor views the abduction through his telescope. A newly wed disposes of his bride but doesn’t know what to do with her head. Selling tickets at a drive-in movie theater proves deadly. And a parent’s worst nightmare becomes reality – their young daughter disappears from a sleepover. DEATH OF A CHEERLEADER-Kevin M. Sullivan 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

Oct 14, 2014 • 1h 40min
MAN OVERBOARD-Burl Barer
1982: Oregon businessman Phil Champagne, age 52, dies in a tragic boating accident off Lopez Island. He is survived by one ex-wife, four adult children, an octogenarian mother, and two despondent brothers. Phil didn't know he was dead until he read it in the paper. All things considered, he took it rather well. So did Phil's brother, Mitch, the beneficiary of a 1.5 million dollar policy on Phil's life. 1992: Washington restauranteur Harold Stegeman, famous for his thick, juicy steaks, is arrested by the Secret Service for printing counterfeit United States currency in an Idaho shed. In addition to the bogus bills, Stegeman also has a fraudulently obtained passport, a fabricated Cayman Island drivers license, and Phil Champagne's fingerprints. When the uproarious reality of Harold Stegeman's secret identity hit the headlines, the counterfeit resurrection of Phil Champagne became one of the most celebrated and hysterically funny true-crime stories of the twentieth century. And while every supermarket tabloid and television talk show hounded after the untold story, only Edgar Award winner Burl Barer captured Champagne's confidence and received permission to detail Phil's post-mortem career of fraud, deception, trickery, lies, and fine prime rib, bringing to life the exploits of a man his family thought dead over a decade ago. MAN OVERBOARD-The Counterfeit Resurrection of Phil Champagne-Burl Barer 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

Sep 11, 2014 • 1h 42min
BLOODY LIES-John Ferak
The remote farming community of Murdock, Nebraska, seemed to be the least likely setting for one of the heartland's most ruthless and bloody double murders in decades. In fact, the little town had gone more than a century without a single homicide. But on the night of Easter 2006, Wayne and Sharmon Stock were brutally murdered in their home. The murders garnered sensational frontpage headlines and drew immediate statewide attention. Practically everybody around Murdock was filled with fear, panic, and outrage. Who killed Wayne and Sharmon Stock? What was the motive? The Stocks were the essence of Nebraska's all-American farm family, self-made, God-fearing, and of high moral character. Barely a week into this double murder investigation, two arrests brought a sense of relief to the victims' family and to local residents. The case appeared to fall neatly into place when a tiny speck of murder victim Wayne Stock s blood appeared in the alleged getaway car.Then, an obscure clue left at the crime scene took the investigation down a totally different path, stretching into Iowa, Louisiana, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin. By the time this investigation was over, the charges against the original suspects were dismissed and two new individuals emerged from the shadows.Author John Ferak covered the Stock murders from the very beginning, including all of the trial proceedings. When the criminal prosecution finally ended in 2007, he remained puzzled by one nagging question: Why was the blood of victim Wayne Stock in a car that was ultimately proven to have no connection to the murders?Over the next few years, the astonishing bloody lies were revealed, culminating in a law enforcement scandal that turned the case on its head and destroyed the career of Nebraska's celebrated CSI director, David Kofoed. BLOODY LIES-A CSI Scandal In The Heartland-John Ferak 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

Aug 21, 2014 • 1h 29min
TRUE DETECTIVE-Gary Sweet
For years David Elliot Penton stalked elementary schools and playgrounds looking for young girls from low-income neighborhoods to abduct, rape and murder. He thought of them as "throwaway kids"-hardly missed, and soon forgotten, except by those who loved them. He was every parent's worst nightmare. The bogeyman they warned their children about ... the fiend who lurked outside bedroom windows.Christi Meeks disappeared during a game of hide-and-seek outside her mother's Mesquite apartment complex in January 1985 and was found dead less than three months later in Lake Texoma.Christie Proctor's body was found in a south Plano field in April 1988, more than two years after the fourth-grader was last seen walking from her North Dallas apartment to a friend's house. And Roxann Reyes was snatched from an alley while playing outside her Garland apartment in November 1987.This story focuses on the work of a team of police detectives, starting with Garland Police Detective Gary Sweet, who picked up the cases of the three missing girls after they'd gone cold.In 1996, years after the murders, he found the girls' files and information on suspect David Elliot Penton. "For some reason, out of all the stuff that was in those two boxes, I pulled out a file and started reading about him," Sweet said.Penton was in jail in Ohio for killing 9-year-old Nydra Ross. What followed was a series of fateful twists — from reviewing old tips, to conducting new interviews and gathering information shared by Penton's cellmates. By 2003, Sweet and the team had enough to indict Penton. TRUE DETECTIVE-From The Detective's Perspective-Gary Sweet 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

Aug 14, 2014 • 1h 24min
THE INNOCENT KILLER-Michael Griesbach
The story of one of the nation's most notorious wrongful convictions, that of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who spent eighteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit. But two years after he was exonerated of that crime and poised to reap millions in his wrongful conviction lawsuit, Steven Avery was arrested for the exceptionally brutal murder of Teresa Halbach, a freelance photographer who had gone missing several days earlier. The "Innocent Man" had turned into a cold blooded killer. Or had he? This is narrative non-fiction at its finest. A true crime thriller. THE INNOCENT KILLER-A true story of a Wrongful Conviction and it's Astonishing Aftermath-Michael Griesbach 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

Aug 8, 2014 • 1h 3min
THE GREAT HEIST-Jeff McArthur
On a sunny September morning in 1930, six men entered the Lincoln National Bank in Nebraska's capital city armed with revolvers and Thompson submachine guns. In eight minutes they emerged with more than 2.7 million dollars, the largest take of any bank heist in history.A nationwide search for the bandits would lead Nebraska authorities through the rough, gangland streets of Chicago and East St. Louis, and deep into the heart of the Capone organization.The Great Heist not only chronicles the search for the bandits and the trials that followed, but the incredible story of how they got the money back. THE GREAT HEIST-The Story of the Biggest Bank Robbery in History-Jeff McArthur 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