Serial Killers

In the 1980s, “Satanic Panic” was a mass hysteria that consumed communities and ruined lives—all over things that never even happened. In this new five-part series, we’re examining the origins of the panic, tracing back through the decades to see how the fear of Satan’s influence in society swept across North America.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the fall of 1977, Los Angeles was on high alert, so 43-year-old Angelo Buono Jr. and 26-year-old Kenny Bianchi knew they had to play it safe. But as their death toll grew even higher, their relationship began to crumble.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

These killer cousins terrorized Los Angeles in the late ‘70s. Despite very different upbringings, Angelo Buono Jr. and Kenny Bianchi both formed sadistic attitudes toward women that led to them cruising the streets of Hollywood, posing as undercover cops, patrolling for victims.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After their first brutal murder, Suzan and Michael Carson fled San Francisco, intent on continuing their quest to rid the world of witches.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They set out to murder witches in the early 1980s, moving up and down the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Suzan Carson believed she was destined to rid the world of evil… All she needed was a willing follower to wield the knife. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the outside, Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo appeared to be a perfect couple—but they held a dark secret: Paul’s sadistic aggressions were seemingly unstoppable, spurred on by Karla’s compliance. The secrets—and the bodies—piled up.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Paul Bernardo met his bride-to-be Karla Homolka in October 1987, he had already raped his first victim. But Paul's sadistic sexual appetite only seemed to deepen Karla's desire for him. And when his sick interest turned toward her 15-year-old sister, Karla let one thing guide her next move: her unrelenting need to please him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By torturing and killing his fellow inmate, Robert Maudsley won his escape from Broadmoor Mental Hospital. But when confronted with more pedophiles at Wakefield Prison, he knew he couldn't stay there. Unfortunately, no one was listening to him. And the only thing that had ever gotten him attention was killing... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Abused by his parents from a young age, Robert Maudsley spent his childhood bouncing around orphanages and foster homes before running away in 1969. He spent years living on the streets of London, where he met a man with a dark secret… and decided that man couldn’t live. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1959, Eric Cooke committed his first murder in the sleepy city of Perth, Australia. And, having gotten away with the crime, it seemed nothing would slow down his bloody rampage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Born in 1931 to a caring mother and alcoholic father, Eric Edgar Cooke had a turbulent home life. His string of break-ins and petty thefts were met with sympathetic authorities who gave Cooke second and third chances… But their leniency was cast aside in favor of more violence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While Joseph Swango’s patients died at alarming rates, few people seemed capable of connecting the mysterious deaths with the doctor-in-training. The alarm bells only rang once he began poisoning his colleagues…  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a teenager in the ‘70s, Joseph Swango had an intense fascination with the macabre, even keeping a scrapbook full of newspaper clippings about murder and car crashes. As he got older, he realized that one career in particular would give him daily contact with death: medicine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the late ‘80s, Aileen trolled the highways outside of Daytona, Florida looking for johns. But these days, she was interested in more than sex work. Her johns had always treated her as disposable. Now, armed with a .22 caliber handgun, she was ready to return the favor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More abused than loved, Aileen Wuornos suffered through her childhood in 1960s Michigan. She became a sex worker and petty thief, eventually hitchhiking to Florida—where the work that made her an outcast led to the murder that made her infamous. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For decades, it seemed like Charlie Brandt's first murder was a shocking, unexplainable anomoly—something he would never repeat. But in 2004, another violent crime would make headlines, and unearth secrets no one ever saw coming. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In January 1971, 13-year-old Charlie Brandt retrieved his father's gun and committed a shocking murder, saying it was like he “was sort of programmed to do it.” After 17 months in a mental health facility, he was free, and everything returned to normal… Or so it seemed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the early 1980s, Watts had stabbed three women to death. As police closed in on him, setting up tails and even bringing him in for questioning—but unable to detain him—he fled to Texas, where he disappeared into the city then known as “The Murder Capital of the U.S.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Unable to contain his dark fantasies and suppressed rage, Coral Eugene Watts targeted women in Michigan and Texas starting in 1974, and continuing for nearly a decade. His crime sprees were a reign of terror that for him, brought a perverse kind of relief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Still desperate to ignite a race war in the United States, Joseph Paul Franklin sought more prominent targets, hoping to draw attention to his cause. But he also found satisfaction in impulsive, isolated murders. When it seemed no one would ever catch him, he got careless. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices