Serial Killers

By the end of 1993, seven decomposed bodies had been pulled from Australia's Belanglo State Forest. The nation was terrified, and the police force was put on notice: There was a serial killer on the loose. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The bodies of two missing backpackers were recovered from Australia’s Belanglo State Forest in 1992. They weren’t the last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After killing dozens of people and getting away with it, Alexander Pichushkin got bored with his routine. So, he mixed things up — in brutal fashion. His unchecked maneuvers amounted to at least 48 murders in Moscow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of Russia’s most prolific serial killers was an avid chess player. First introduced to the pastime by his grandfather, the young Alexander Pichushkin finally found something he could excel at. But in 1992, his competitive urges were drawn to a different kind of game… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the final few months of 2006, Ipswich was shaken by the strangling deaths of several sex workers. It didn't take long for Steve Wright to relax into his new role as cold-blooded killer. But the bolder — and more bizarre — he became, the closer he got to sealing his own fate.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He was an unassuming man whose Jekyll and Hyde personality obscured increasingly violent tendencies. And in 2006, in the small English town of Ipswich, Steve Wright began targeting sex workers — abducting, strangling, and dumping the bodies of five women. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was called the crime of the century: In 1966, Richard Speck drifted into Chicago, and unleashed a whirlwind of violence and rage onto a group of student nurses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early 1980s, emergency services in St. Paul, Minnesota began receiving odd calls from a distraught-sounding man. At first reporting brutal attacks on women, he quickly began taking credit for the murders, and begged police to stop him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Throughout his shocking rampage that left dozens of people injured or dead, the newly dubbed “Vampire of Düsseldorf” Peter Kürten grew more and more confident — even writing into a local paper with the location of a victim’s body. But his confidence would be his undoing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Unfulfilled by bestiality, a young Peter Kürten turned to murder — and discovered his body’s reaction to the sight of blood. As his dark desires festered, he embraced sadism in all its forms. And in 1929, a gruesome killing spree earned him a chilling moniker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices