Serial Killers

As an overweight Black kid growing up in a white suburb, Kendall Francois dealt with his fair share of bullying. His parents were hoarders, so he wasn't even allowed to have friends visit. The shame he felt as a child turned to rage as an adult, and he took it out on local sex workers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As he got older, Sean Vincent Gillis's impulses got darker. He committed murder, necrophilic rape, and even cannibalism. After eight victims, he finally made a mistake at one of the crime scenes. It was all the police needed to track down the killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a kid, Sean Vincent Gillis would visit his grandmother's funeral home and sleep in the empty coffins. He'd sometimes hold the bodies' cold hands or fondle them. The corpses gave him precisely what he was looking for: a female partner who wouldn't say "no.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For years, people had been disappearing along the Osage Mission Trail. Between their odd behavior and the horrible stench inside their cabin, the Bender family were obvious suspects. So a town trustee led 75 volunteers onto the property. But things didn’t go as planned. . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Kansas during the 1800s, people who traveled along the Osage Mission Trail began to disappear. And if people had been paying attention, they may have noticed that those who entered the Bender family cabin never came out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2005, the disappearance of 22-year-old Tamara Chipman changed everything. Her case brought enough attention to the Highway of Tears that the Canadian government was forced to act. They launched a task force to reexamine cases, hoping to find links between crimes. But despite the momentum, their investigations have stalled out — leaving residents to live under the specter of the next murder.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every once in a while, authorities would catch an extraordinary break: In 1985, a tip led to a man responsible for three murders. Then in 2010, a routine traffic stop led to a man responsible for four murders. Even still, there were so many more women unaccounted for. And more cases to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gloria Moody was 27 years old and the mother of two young children when she was found dead in Williams Lake, British Columbia. She is one of the earliest cases of indigenous women who have been found dead or have disappeared along a lonely stretch of roads known as the Highway of Tears. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He was a cannibal, a necrophiliac, and even kept his victims' dismembered body parts carefully preserved in his refrigerator. Yet, Jeffrey Dahmer's horrific crimes don't mesh with his timid personality. His pathological fear of being alone meant finding people he could make stay with him forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He kidnapped, raped, and murdered more than 30 women. There's a belief that Ted Bundy got away with these crimes because he was a confident and savvy manipulator. But a look back shows that because he was young, educated, and conventionally attractive, he could hide in plain sight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices