American Criminal

On July 27, 1981, six-year-old Adam Walsh was kidnapped from a Sears parking lot in Florida. Just days later his remains were found in a drainage canal over 100 miles away. The case captivated America, and started a national conversation about how to respond to cases of missing children. But investigators had no leads and the case eventually went cold. Then, in 1983, drifter Ottis Toole confesses to the crime out of the blue. At the same time, Ottis’s friend Henry Lee Lucas is making some confessions of his own. He’s been telling police that he and Ottis have killed hundreds of times over the last few years. But as the number of deaths attributed to the men got higher and higher, some started to wonder just how trustworthy these two admitted killers were. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Keith Raniere felt the women in his cult slipping out of his control, he came up with a way to keep them under his thumb. The secret group known as Dominus Obsequius Sororium, or DOS, was designed to turn women into his literal sex slaves. But it would also be his undoing. To listen to all four episodes of 'NXIVM' right now and ad-free, subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AmericanCriminal.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We'd like to hear from you! Take a short survey about the show: ⁠⁠⁠theshowsurvey.com/criminal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Keith Raniere's company hits its stride, he lures billionaire heiresses and hollywood actresses into the fold. But not everyone is content to stay under his thumb, and when people speak out against him, Keith goes scorched earth. To listen to all four episodes of 'NXIVM' right now and ad-free, subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AmericanCriminal.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We'd like to hear from you! Take a short survey about the show: ⁠⁠theshowsurvey.com/criminal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By the turn of the century, Keith Raniere had launched a new company that would not only bring him vast sums of money, it would also give him access to vulnerable people in search of ways to improve themselves. They’d willingly share their deepest secrets, their insecurities, and Keith would use that insight to control them all. To listen to all four episodes of 'NXIVM' right now and ad-free, subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at ⁠⁠⁠⁠AmericanCriminal.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ We'd like to hear from you! Take a short survey about the show: ⁠theshowsurvey.com/criminal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover the shocking rise of NXIVM, a consulting firm turned cult, revealed through gripping conversations. Explore the dark corner of psychological manipulation where members sacrificed their secrets for acceptance. Delve into the chaotic upbringing of a boy burdened with caregiving, juxtaposed with Keith Raniere's ambitious yet predatory early ventures in multi-level marketing. Uncover how he transformed from a vulnerable young man into a manipulator, setting the stage for NXIVM's notorious legacy.

Obviously, most of us don’t use the internet as a search engine for murder. But there are bad apples in every bunch. Richard Beasley was one of those bad apples. When he decided he wanted to kill people, he sought the desperate, the lonely, and the forgotten. And thanks to modern technology, there was one place he could go to cast as wide a net as possible: Craigslist. On her show, The God Hook, journalist Carol Costello traces the origins of this serial killer, and the lives of the people touched by his evil. To listen to all three episodes of 'To Kill A Cheerleader' right now and ad-free, subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at ⁠⁠⁠⁠AmericanCriminal.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After her daughter Shanna was disqualified from the cheerleading tryouts, Wanda Holloway was seeing red. In her mind, there were two people responsible for Shanna not being a cheerleader: Verna Heath and her daughter Amber. And there was only one thing she could do. Both of them had to go, so it was time for Wanda to find a hitman. To listen to all three episodes of 'To Kill A Cheerleader' right now and ad-free, subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at ⁠⁠⁠AmericanCriminal.com⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2017, a little-known consulting firm called NXIVM became the center of an international scandal. One day, no one had heard of the group at all. The next, people were calling it a cult. There were accusations of a secret society, psychological manipulation, imprisonment, occult sexual abuse. Then there was the group’s founder, Keith Raniere – a self-styled genius whose followers worshipped him and called him “Vanguard.” Suddenly, everyone wanted to know: where had this group come from? Who was Keith Raniere? And how had he hoodwinked so many people in this day and age? Subscribe to American Criminal in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at ⁠⁠⁠⁠AmericanCriminal.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Wanda Holloway married, divorced, and remarried, one thing in her life remained constant: her obsession with making her daughter a cheerleader. But when it came time for tryouts, Wanda discovered that the path to glory would be rockier than she expected. To listen to all three episodes of 'To Kill a Cheerleader' right now and ad-free, subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at ⁠⁠AmericanCriminal.com⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was a case that made headlines around the world: Texas mother hires hitman to kill her neighbor -- over cheerleading. But how did it get to that point? What was it that drove Wanda Holloway to believe that killing the mother of her daughter's rival would get her what she wanted? To listen to all three episodes of 'To Kill A Cheerleader' right now and ad-free, subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at ⁠⁠AmericanCriminal.com⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices