

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

May 13, 2011 • 1h 6min
CAUGHT IN THE ACT-Jeannie McDonough and Paul Lonardo
Adam Leroy Lane was a trucker with a passion for morbid side trips. At random truck stops along the interstates in America's Northeastern states, Lane would leave his truck and, under the cover of darkness, prowl nearby neighborhoods in search of an unlocked door and a vulnerable woman. His first known victim would be Darlene Ewalt, who was murdered on the back deck of her Pennsylvania home as she sat talking on the phone with a friend; and her husband and son sleeping inside. Monica Massaro would be next. A single woman living alone in New Jersey duplex, Monica would be the third to die at the hands of this nomadic serial killer. Lane's reign of terror would end when he crossed the threshold of the McDonough's home in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. When he entered Shea's room, he wasn't counting on a teenage girl who was a fighter, a broken air conditioner preventing a deep sleep, or nearby parents willing to do anything to protect their daughter. CAUGHT IN THE ACT: A Courageous Family's Fight To Save Their Daughter From a Serial Killer-Jeannie McDonough and Paul Lonardo 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

Apr 28, 2011 • 1h 6min
THE KING OF THE GODFATHERS-Anthony M. DeStefano
THE LAST OF THE OLD-WORLD MOB BOSSES AND THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL-For more than twenty years, Joseph "Big Joey" Massino ran what was called the largest criminal network in the U.S., employing over two hundred and fifty made men and untold numbers of associates. The Bonanno family was responsible for over thirty murders, even killing a dozen of its own members to enforce discipline and settle scores. He would be brought down by Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale, the underboss who was not only Massino's closest and most trusted friend, but also his brother-in-law. In the end, facing the death penalty and the prospect of leaving his family penniless, Massino started talking to the FBI--the first Mafia Godfather to break the sacred code of omerta, and the end of a centuries-old tradition. THE KING OF THE GODFATHERS: Big Joey Massino and the Fall of the Bonanno Crime Family-Anthony M. DeStefano. 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

Apr 23, 2011 • 1h 8min
THE BUNDY MURDERS-Kevin Sullivan
Theodore Bundy was one of the more infamous, and flamboyant, American serial killers on record, and his story is a complex mix of psychopathology, criminal investigation, and the U.S. legal system. This in-depth examination of Bundy's life and his killing spree that totaled dozens of victims is drawn from legal transcripts, correspondence and interviews with detectives and prosecutors. Using these sources, new information on several murders is unveiled. The biography follows Bundy from his broken family background to his execution in the electric chair. THE BUNDY MURDERS-Kevin 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

Apr 14, 2011 • 1h 6min
DELIVERED FROM EVIL-Ron Franscell
A 12-year-old boy cowers in his closet while a lunatic killer slaughters his family . . . a nursing student unwittingly opens her home to the serial killer on her front porch . . . an 11-year-old girl drifts alone at sea on a flimsy cork raft for almost four days after a mass murderer kills her vacationing family aboard a chartered yacht . . . a brave firefighter suddenly finds himself in the crosshairs of a racist sniper almost nine stories above the ground . . . And, astonishingly, they all survived. From Howard Unruh’s 1949 shooting rampage through a quiet New Jersey neighborhood to Louisiana serial killer Derrick Todd Lee’s reign of terror in 2002, the corpses piled up and few lived to tell their tale of horror. Award-winning journalist Ron Franscell explores the wounded hearts and minds of the ordinary people these monsters couldn’t kill. His mesmerizing accounts crackle with gritty details that put the reader in the midst of the carnage—and offer a front-row seat on the complex, painful process of surviving the rest of their haunted lives. Delivered From Evil takes the reader on a pulse-pounding dash through the murky intersection of pure evil and the potency of the human spirit, a journey into the darkest corners of the American crime-scape. DELIVERED FROM EVIL-Ron Franscell. 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

Apr 7, 2011 • 2h 2min
AGAINST HER WILL-Ronald J. Watkins
Richard and Victoria Tinyes feared the worst when their thirteen-year-old daughter Kelly Ann vanished from their quiet suburban community of Valley Stream, New York on March 3, 1989. But the nightmare to come was worse than they could ever imagine.Only five doors away, in the home of John and Elizabeth Golub, police found Kelly Ann's body stuffed in a plastic garbage bag. She'd been brutally beaten, stabbed, strangled and mutilated. After weeks of intense investigation, police arrested the Golubs' twenty-one-year-old son, Robert – a reclusive young man obsessed with bodybuilding and given to fits of rage.The sensational trial and subsequent conviction of Robert Golub shocked the nation and tore the once-peaceful community apart. Neighbors took sides. So did the media. And no one who lived on Horton Road would ever be the same.Acclaimed journalist Ronald J. Watkins takes you into the dark heart of an idyllic American suburb, where the savage murder of a young girl shattered the innocence of a town forever. AGAINST HER WILL: The Senseless Murder of Kelly Ann Tinyes-Ronald J. Watkins 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

Mar 24, 2011 • 1h 6min
THE BURN FARM-Michael Benson
Sheila LaBarre liked to troll the personal ads and homeless shelters, looking for men whom society had rejected for one reason or another - men she could easily dominate both verbally and sexually. One by one, she invited them to her remote New Hampshire farmhouse, where she engaged them in S&M. But over time, sex gave way to brutal acts of torture as she mercilessly flogged and beat her captives until they confessed to committing unspeakable acts. Once satisfied that they had paid for their sins, Sheila savagely slaughtered them and burned their remains on her farm...From the disturbing audiotapes Sheila made of her victims' confessions to her own bizarre statements in which she claimed to have returned from the dead to be God's avenger. "The Burn Farm" takes you behind the scenes of the scandal that rocked a quiet New England town, and into the twisted, depraved mind of a manipulative, cold-blooded murderer. THE BURN FARM-Michael Benson 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

Mar 17, 2011 • 56min
LOVE HER TO DEATH-M. William Phelps
In the midst of Pennsylvania's Amish country, on a peaceful summer night in 2008, the body of 45-year-old Jan Roseboro was found at the bottom of her backyard pool. Her husband Michael, a successful businessman and a member of a prominent family, showed no emotion as he learned of her death. But the next day an autopsy revealed Jan had been savagely beaten and strangled before being tossed in the water to drown. Soon Michael's secret lover, pregnant with his child, stepped into the media spotlight. And a horrifying true story of illicit passion, deadly deceit, and cold-blooded murder unfolded...LOVE HER TO DEATH-M. William Phelps 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

Mar 10, 2011 • 1h 4min
NO, DADDY DON'T-Irene Pence
Mary Jean Pearle and John Battaglia's marriage seemed picture perfect from the outside. With their two young daughters, Faith and Liberty, they made their home in a wealthy Dallas suburb. John was handsome, charming, and successful - but behind his mask of normality lay a vicious, violent abuser who'd brutally beaten his first wife - and who made Mary Jean the new target of his irrational rages. After nine hellish years, she divorced Battaglia. 'I Never Thought He'd Hurt The Children...' On Christmas Day, 1999, during a court-ordered family visit, he attacked her in front of their daughters. For the next two years, he threatened, harassed and stalked her. Mary Jean feared for her life, but not for the lives of the children, with whom Battaglia was never anything less than caring, loving, and gentle. But in spring, 2001, when Faith and Liberty were visiting their father, Mary Jean received a message to call her daughters. Helpless, horrified, she heard her older daughter's pleading cries. Then came the sound of gunshots - followed by silence. What evil impulses had driven a seemingly devoted father the ultimate act of violence and Betrayal...and how would justice be served? NO, DADDY DON'T-A Father's Murderous Rage,a Mother's Worst Nightmare-IRENE PENCE 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

Mar 3, 2011 • 1h 3min
WAGES OF SIN-Suzy Spencer
On January 11, 1995, deputies outside Austin, Texas, found a mutilated body laid across a cold campfire—head destroyed, hands cut off, skin singed by fire. In less than three days, they had the kill zone: a small apartment, where shy Christopher Hatton was shot at point blank range in his bed.Stephanie Lynn Martin, despite her devout Southern Baptist upbringing, was reborn as a sultry stripper and calendar girl. William M. Busenburg was a good-looking wannabe living his own lies. They came together in an explosion of violence and sex. Then they decided there was only one thing missing from their romance-Murder.But within days, they were under arrest and savvy prosecutors learned the ugly truth behind the senseless slaughter of Busenburg's friend. How twisted fantasies of murder fueled the couple's lust and led to the unspeakable crime. And how they both tried to cover up their heinous deed...until they finally ran out of lies. WAGES OF SIN-Murder Was Their Turn-On-SUZY SPENCER 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

Feb 24, 2011 • 1h 9min
THE LAST MEAL-Dennis Shere
It took almost 10 years for investigators to arrest two men for the brutal murders of seven workers in a fast-food restaurant in suburban Chicago. The tragic events captured headlines nationwide. When the arrests finally were made, the evidence against one man was virtually irrefutable. His DNA was found on chicken bones recovered from a trash bin at Brown's Chicken and Pasta; investigators contended that he ate pieces of chicken before killing the victims - the so-called "last meal." He confessed, indicating that he got "caught up in the moment" as he slit the throat of one victim. If someone ever deserved the death sentence, he did.The Last Meal is the story of horrific crime. It is also the riveting account of how a team of defense attorneys fought to show how their client did not commit the killings, and what happened when that failed to save him from a death sentence. This true-crime story is unique as it is written from the perspective of the defense attorneys rather than the prosecutors. THE LAST MEAL-Dennis Shere 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