Crime Adjacent
Thirty years ago, someone began snatching men from a small Bay Area town and dumping their bodies in a quiet lovers’ lane just off Interstate 80.But just as quickly as the killings began, they suddenly stopped. The killer simply vanished. No suspects. No arrests. No headlines. These men and their murderer were forgotten, overshadowed by other notorious serial killers prowling the same Bay Area roads.In this season of Crime Adjacent, host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick returns home to Ridgewood to answer the question once and for all: “How could the most prolific serial murderer in American history slip...
Episodes
Margie Miller
Margie Miller spent her life trying to escape Ridgewood. But a series of unfortunate events always pulled her back home, and right back into the heart of this case.At 18, she was accepted into the University of Chicago, but her family just …
The Lake
On Sept. 27, 1969, the Zodiac killer donned a black hood and approached a young couple on the shores of Lake Berryessa — just a few miles north of Ridgewood.Once he tied up the couple, he stabbed them mercilessly. I told you the Zodiac kept…
Michelle Diaz
The disappearance of Michelle Diaz happened at the worst possible time in a small town with limited resources and in a media environment desperate for information about a different case altogether. So although her death would eventually lea…
Going Home
It was Mollie Miller who alerted me to the death of Gary Pugh. It was Mollie Miller who said the Rest Stop Killer was back, who said the Palmer family was involved somehow, and that the police were covering for them. And yet, she now refuse…
A Show You'll Love: Kingscreek
Curiosity is a dangerous thing. Kingscreek is a weekly horror semi-anthology podcast, with weekly episodes. Follow Damien Bachman as he reads through his late uncle's old research, centered around the strange and paranormal occurrences in K…
Gary Pugh
The killer disappeared for nearly 30 years. Police thought he moved or was caught or just decided to call it quits, which happens occasionally with serial killers. Then Gary Pugh was abducted from a quiet street in Ridgewood on December 11,…
Len Macy
When Len Macy arrived in San Francisco in 1967 for the Summer of Love, he was immediately tempted by the cults and charismatic narcissists who preyed on young people at the time. Charles Manson. Jim Jones. Synanon. They were everywhere.But …
Daniel Palmer Jr.
Three Ridgewood men have been abducted and murdered, their bodies found in a valley on the outskirts of town. And the same man found two of them. This is Daniel Palmer Jr., a millionaire housing developer who owns the valley land.On the nig…
Gone Cold
One man built a flamethrower and patrolled the town’s sewer system, positive the killer lurked underground. A posse of women formed an armed vigilante group and roamed the streets at night. Neighbors reported other neighbors to police. Kids…
Panic
After the abduction and murder of Bobby Briggs on Jan. 20, 1996, Ridgewood exploded. There was a killer among them, taking men. Off busy streets. Stomping them to death.Just as it has done all over the country for ages, panic set in. And Ri…
A new Zodiac victim?
The similarities between the abduction of Bobby Briggs and one Zodiac survivor were so striking that Detective Jones had to check it out. Briggs was kidnapped in the middle of Ridgewood, on a busy thoroughfare. And yet, there were no witnes…
Bobby #2
With the discovery of a third body in the valley just off Interstate 80 in Ridgewood, police realized the killer emerged every other Saturday night. Only this time, instead of abducting a man at Hunter Hill rest stop, he was in Ridgewood. A…
The Doodler Links
Detective Ida Jones had seen this before. Gay men were being murdered while the police and the entire town looked the other way. Like a nightmare she couldn’t escape, she couldn’t stop this from happening in Ridgewood. Crime Adjacent is the…
The Timeline
Bobby Calvin had everything going for him. Smart, handsome, a former D1 star quarterback at Stanford, where he almost led the team to a national title in the 1980s. An actor with big dreams of Hollywood. An early adopter of the Internet. So…
Bobby #1
Exactly two weeks after the discovery of Tommy Coulet, another man was found on the outskirts of Ridgewood.Same valley. Same injuries. Same horrible manner of death.This is the story of Bobby Calvin, who would soon become known as Bobby #1.…
The Profile
With no leads, no clues, and no suspects, Tommy’s case went cold, almost instantly. But as more men were abducted in Ridgewood, investigators reached out to the FBI for a profile.The profile has never been publicly released.Until now.Crime …
Tommy
Tommy Coulet left home at 9 p.m. on Dec. 23, 1995 and would never return. His body was discovered the next morning in a known lovers’ lane spot on the western edge of Ridgewood just off Interstate 80.Investigators wouldn’t know it at the ti…
Crime Adjacent. New season: The Rest Stop Killer
Thirty years ago, someone began snatching men from a small Bay Area town and dumping their bodies in a quiet lovers’ lane just off Interstate 80.But just as quickly as the killings began, they suddenly stopped. The killer simply vanished. N…