Serial Killers
Get a rare glimpse into the minds and methods of sadistic murderers. From notorious names like Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy to lesser-known killers like “Death House Landlady” Dorothea Puente, what turns a regular person into a predator? Serial Killers is a Spotify Original. New episodes Mondays.
Episodes
Power and Control Killer: Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy was calculated, composed, even charming. But behind the polished exterior was a predator obsessed with control. He used manipulation, deceit, and dominance to gain total power over his victims. From his carefully planned attacks t…
The Idaho Four Pt. 2 (with Kayna Whitworth)
In 2022, Six weeks after the murders of the Idaho Four, Bryan Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania. Fast forward to July of 2025, when just weeks before his trial was set to begin, he pleaded guilty. Later that month, he was sentenced to …
The Idaho Four Pt. 1 (with J. Reuben Appelman)
In the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, four students at the University of Idaho were murdered in their off-campus home. The shocking brutality of the murders garnered media attention while police searched for the killer. But for a…
The Hook Man
The Hook Man is an urban legend dating back to the 1950s. The terrifying story tells of a killer with a hook for a hand who preys on young couples parked in lovers’ lanes. The legend found new life in the 1997 slasher film, I Know What You …
The Postcard Killer: J. Frank Hickey
After a young boy vanished in 1911, police received mysterious postcards. The horrifying allegations and broad inconsistencies led them to believe the notes were a hoax – until it was too late. With one victim recovered, police faced the qu…
Phone Call From a Serial Killer: Larry Gene Bell
May, 1985. Two days before her high school graduation, Shari Faye Smith was abducted from her parents’ driveway in broad daylight. Her kidnapper taunted Shari’s family by phone for days, calling in the middle of the night and revealing bone…
The Killer Prophet: Ervil LeBaron Pt. 2
Ervil LeBaron, the prophet of a Fundamentalist LDS sect in Mexico, has grasped power after being released from prison for orchestrating his brother’s murder. Now, Ervil has a list of names of those who have turned their back against his lea…
The Killer Prophet: Ervil LeBaron Pt. 1
In the 1920s, the LeBaron family settles in Mexico to practice their own sect of Mormonism. They establish a settlement, open a church, and work the farms. But after the family patriarch dies, the settlement becomes a bloody battleground fo…
The Red Barn Murder
Happy solstice, listeners! Join our guest host this week, Sapphire Sandalo, for a summertime tale of betrayal, murder, and the bizarre journey of a criminal corpse. It's 1827, and the Marten family hasn’t seen 25-year-old Maria in five mont…
Zodiac or Bundy? The Unsolved Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders
In the 1970s, at least seven young women and girls go missing around Santa Rosa, California. Seven are found dead, and one remains unidentified. Several killers, including the Zodiac and Ted Bundy, were known to commit crimes in Northern Ca…
The Taco Bell Strangler: Henry Louis Wallace
His modus operandi is shocking: years before he strangled his victims, Henry Louis Wallace befriended them. By and large, they were his coworkers at Bojangles and Taco Bell. But under interrogation, he’d admit an even darker motive. Keep up…
The Shapeshifting Fugitive: Franklin Delano Floyd
A missing woman in Florida leads police to a fugitive who’s been on the run for 17 years. But that’s just the beginning. Franklin Delano Floyd not only becomes a suspect in that case, but he’s then tied to several unsolved murders, disappea…
A Body in the Cellar: Hawley Harvey Crippen
When a boneless torso possibly belonging to a woman named Cora Turner is found in the cellar of a London home, the culprit seems almost obvious. Her husband, Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, seems to have disappeared with his mistress. But the tr…
"The Freeway Phantom": D.C.'s First Serial Killer?
“...catch me if you can!” Police find those words written on a note left in a jacket draped over a murder victim’s body. They believe the message comes from a serial killer targeting young women in the Washington, D.C. area, nicknamed the F…
Operation Trace: The Missing Women of Ireland's Vanishing Triangle
The eighty miles surrounding Dublin, Ireland, hold a chilling mystery. Between 1993 and 1998, at least six women disappeared in the area, and their cases remain unsolved. Police investigations have targeted at least one suspect, but still n…
Golden Years Killers Pt. 2
After getting away with murder in LA, retirees Helen and Olga scheme to kill again. But when an unlikely party sniffs out their crimes, the friends turn on each other.Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast! Have a story to share…
Golden Years Killers Pt. 1
No one batted an eye at the two women who became fast friends at an LA gym in the 1990s – until years later, when it came out that they’d teamed up for a plot to kill men down on their luck.Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast…
The Doomsday Murders: Lori and Chad Daybell
In early 2020, the story of Lori Daybell and her new husband, Chad Daybell, hit national news. They’d seemingly fled to Hawaii while two of Lori’s children were missing, leaving a wake of mysterious deaths and attacks behind. The public and…
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 2
Struggling with gambling and spiraling into debt, William Palmer turned to murder. This week, we continue analyzing the deaths Palmer was accused of, and how the scheming doctor was finally caught.Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillers…
The Rugeley Poisoner Pt. 1
In 1855, Dr. William Palmer became one of the Victorian era’s most famous villains – a man who poisoned his own friends and family. But with limited evidence and only one conviction, was Palmer really a serial killer?Keep up with us on Inst…
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 2
In Texas, convicted murderer Ed Bell claimed he killed 11 girls between Houston and Galveston back in the 1970s. Reporter Lise Olsen and detective Fred Paige investigated those claims and uncovered eerie ties between Bell and several unreso…
The Eleven Who Went to Heaven: The Case Against Ed Bell Pt. 1
Edward Harold Bell was serving a 70-year prison sentence for murdering a man when he sent a letter to Houston reporter Lise Olsen. He told her he’d also killed 11 girls in and around the Interstate-45 corridor between Houston and Galveston …
Hunting a Serial Killer: The Colonial Parkway Murders
When a series of double-homicides struck Virginia in the late 1980s, authorities immediately suspected a serial killer. But it took 35 years – and random chance – to find the missing link.Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast!…
The Lewis Clark Valley Murders
Five missing people in five years. And that’s far from the only fact that aroused suspicion of a serial killer operating along the Idaho-Washington border in the early 1980s. While some victims have been found, the hunt for the killer is st…
The 10,000 Bones at Fox Hollow Farm
In the fall of 1994, a 13-year-old boy found a human skull in his backyard. Detectives later discovered thousands more bones scattered about his family's estate, a property known as Fox Hollow Farm. The remains belonged to the presumed vict…
“La Pistolera” Sharon Kinne
In 1960, Sharon Kinne is a typical housewife raising two children in Kansas City. By 1964, she’s the subject of an investigation into the deaths of three people… and an international fugitive.Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodca…
Valentine's Special: "A Couple of Kidnappers" - Wanda Barzee and Brian David Mitchell
For Valentine’s Day we’re going back into the archives to bring you some of the most infamous couples in true crime history. All Wanda Barzee wanted in life was for someone to take care of her, and in return she promised complete devotion. …
Valentine's Special: "A Couple of Gangsters" - Kathryn and "Machine Gun" Kelly
For Valentine’s Day we’re going back into the archives to bring you some of the most infamous couples in true crime history. Kathryn Kelly was running schemes long before she ever met her notorious husband. She hungered to live a life of lu…
The Legacy of Typhoid Mary Pt. 2
In 1907, George Soper located the cause of a typhoid outbreak in New York City: a cook named Mary Mallon. Mary didn’t know it, but each and every meal she cooked carried a small chance for her clients to come down with the disease. Finding …
The Legacy of Typhoid Mary Pt. 1
In the late 1800s, Mary Mallon was a cook for wealthy families in New York City. She thought her job was going well; her clients seemed pleased and she had a reputation as an exceptional chef. But then, the family members started getting si…
The Yorkshire Killer Witch Pt. 2
Mary Bateman had been playing people for fools for years. The problem was, too many of her dissatisfied customers stuck around to complain about her trickery. Her solution? Murder.Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast! Have a s…
The Yorkshire Killer Witch Pt. 1
Mary Bateman was an accomplished liar from a young age, and when she grew up, she started using that talent as a way of making money. Passing herself off as a witch, she tricked paranoid and gullible customers into handing over their hard-e…
Best of 2024: Israel Keyes Pt. 3
As our Best of 2024 selection, we're featuring our three-part series on notorious serial killer Israel Keyes. Israel Keyes died having only confessed to a handful of murders and crimes. Researchers and investigators are left piecing togethe…
Best of 2024: Israel Keyes Pt. 2
As our Best of 2024 selection, we're featuring our three-part series on notorious serial killer Israel Keyes. Over the course of six months in 2012, Israel Keyes sits down with the FBI for a series of interviews. In between toying with inve…
Best of 2024: Israel Keyes Pt. 1
As our Best of 2024 selection, we're featuring our three-part series on notorious serial killer Israel Keyes. In 2012, Israel Keyes is arrested and charged with kidnapping and killing an 18-year-old barista. Prior to that, he’d had just one…
Holiday Break: "The Grim Reaper" - Nate Boone Craft
We're continuing our holiday break, but you won't want to miss the episode we're highlighting this week. In this episode, our friends at Murder in America sit down and for an interview with a man who claims to have killed 30 people. This tw…
Holiday Break: How a Nuclear Lab Helped Catch a Serial Killer
Happy holidays, listeners! We're starting off our winter break by bringing you an episode from our colleagues at Science Vs about how a notorious murder case was solved with help from an unlikely source: a nuclear weapons lab.It’s the 1990s…
Holiday Break: What’s Hiding in the Wizard of Oz?
You may have seen the movie and heard the musical, but do you know the secrets? As we take a break from our regular programming for the holidays, we’re revisiting one of the most influential films of all time. Walk with us as Carter follows…
The Smiley Face Murder Theory (with Murder Sheet)
Three decades. Eleven states. Over 600 bodies. Across the United States, college-aged men have ended up dead in rivers, lakes, and ponds. The deaths have been ruled accidental drownings, but a team of retired detectives believes a small, sm…
The Hello Kitty Killers
In May 1999, Hong Kong police found the scattered remains of a young mother in a flat in the city’s Kowloon district. The crime scene was like nothing anyone had seen before: unimaginable brutality set against a backdrop of Hello Kitty memo…