True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers

From the author of FIRST DEGREE RAGE: The True Story of ‘The Assassin,’ An Obsession, and Murder comes the ongoing and chilling true crime saga of L. C. Underwood, the obsessively jealous police officer from North Carolina. Underwood shocked an entire city with his reign of terror in the lives of his ex-fiancé Kay Weden, a woman he refused to let go, her son Jason whom he despised, and her mother Catherine Miller who got in his way. In FIRST DEGREE RAGE, Underwood arrogantly evaded justice for his heinous crimes until Detective Paula May and her investigative team uncovered who he really was. Because of their efforts, he was convicted for First Degree Kidnapping and Murder of Viktor Gunnarsson, Kay’s new boyfriend. But was Underwood also responsible for the brutal murder of Catherine Miller that occurred mere days after Gunnarsson’s demise?Sentenced to life in prison plus forty years, Underwood has no intention of staying in prison and vows not to stop until he exacts revenge on those he blames for his current predicament. His thirst for revenge will not be quenched until more blood is shed. Underwood rages on, plotting his next move, enlisting others to perform the evil deeds he imagines. Wreaking havoc in the lives of Kay, Jason, Detective May, and others, he sends them all on an emotional roller coaster ride that never seems to end. Will they ever find peace? Will Catherine Miller’s murderer ever be brought to justice? Will Underwood’s reign of terror ever be stopped? RAGING ON-Paula May

Introducing The Grand Scheme: Snatching Sinatra Hosted and narrated by John Stamos, The Grand Scheme: Snatching Sinatra is a complicated, nuanced story of one imperfect man trying to redeem himself by pulling off the perfect crime. Did you ever feel like everything’s broken, and it’s your job to fix it? That’s how Barry Keenan was feeling back in 1963. He was broke, unemployed, hooked on booze and pills, and his family was falling apart. Barry needed a miracle. And against all odds, he got one. One day the voice of God came over the radio in Barry’s car and told him there was a simple solution to all his problems: all he had to do was kidnap Frank Sinatra, Jr. For the first time ever, Barry Keenan shares his version of the bizarre story in his own words, from beginning to end. This is just a preview of The Grand Scheme: Snatching Sinatra, but you can listen to full episodes at: wondery.fm/TheGrandSchemeMurder Hosted and narrated by John Stamos, The Grand Scheme: Snatching Sinatra is a complicated, nuanced story of one imperfect man trying to redeem himself by pulling off the perfect crime. Did you ever feel like everything’s broken, and it’s your job to fix it? That’s how Barry Keenan was feeling back in 1963. He was broke, unemployed, hooked on booze and pills, and his family was falling apart. Barry needed a miracle. And against all odds, he got one. One day the voice of God came over the radio in Barry’s car and told him there was a simple solution to all his problems: all he had to do was kidnap Frank Sinatra, Jr. For the first time ever, Barry Keenan shares his version of the bizarre story in his own words, from beginning to end. This is just a preview of The Grand Scheme: Snatching Sinatra, but you can listen to full episodes at: wondery.fm/TheGrandSchemeMurder

Sometimes the Nicest People Make the Deadliest CriminalsEnjoy a collection of non-fiction accounts by international writers and experts on crooks, criminals, and serial killers who disguise themselves among society by being what you least expect-your friendly next-door neighbor.From mild mannered coworkers to doting parents. Some might be your jack-of-all-trades friend, or others might be your family member with an altruistic persona. The Best New True Crime Stories: Well-Mannered Crooks, Rogues & Criminals takes you deeper into the unconventional criminal's psyche . The ones where their most prominent feature isn't a bloodied knife, but a bright smile and warm gaze meant to lure their next victim.Meet the real killers. You've heard about John Wayne Gacy. You've read about Jeffrey Dahmer. You've delved into the Ted Bundy fascination. It's time for you to meet the infamous Naun Briones, who struck fear into the hearts of the rich, and Freddie Brenman, a notorious street-fighter with mysterious ties to the Dillinger Gang. You'll find yourself realizing that being nice and friendly is a killer combination.Edited by acclaimed author and anthologist Mitzi Szereto, The Best New True Crime Stories: Well-Mannered Crooks & Criminals reveals all-new accounts of true crime stories featuring serial killers from the contemporary to the depression-era. The international list of contributors includes award-winning crime writers, true-crime podcasters, journalists, and experts in the dark crimes field such as Tom Larsen, David Blumenfeld, and Anthony Ferguson. THE BEST NEW TRUE CRIME STORIES: Well-Mannered Crooks, Rogues & Criminals-Mitzi Szereto

On a cold January morning in 1981, a knock on an apartment door began what would become one of the bloodiest crime sprees in Arkansas history. In the coming days the bodies of newlyweds Larry and Jawana Price, businessman Holly Gentry, and Police Detective Ray Tate were discovered. They had been executed in cold blood and discarded like so much trash. What kind of person murders four people in cold blood? Did the right one go to prison? COLD BLOODED: A Chilling, True Tale of Terror, Rape and Murder in the Arkansas River bottoms-Anita Paddock

‘Bobby called. He’s coming to California. He wants to see me.’Drawing on secret police files, Marilyn Monroe's private diary and never before published first-hand testimony, this book proves that Robert Kennedy was directly responsible for her death. It details the legendary star's tumultuous personal involvement with him and his brother, President John Kennedy, and how they sought to silence her.The new evidence and testimony is provided by Mike Rothmiller who, as a detective of the Organized Crime Intelligence Division (OCID) of the LAPD, had direct personal access to hundreds of secret LAPD files on exactly what happened at Marilyn Monroe’s Californian home on August 5, 1962.With his training and investigator’s knowledge, Rothmiller used that secret information to get to the heart of the matter, to the people who were there the night Marilyn died – two of whom played major roles in the cover-up – and the wider conspiracy to protect the Kennedys at all costs.There will be those with doubts, but to them, the lawman – who directed international intelligence operations targeting organized crime – says the printed, forensic and oral evidence are totally convincing. He insists: ‘If I presented my evidence in any court of law, I’d get a conviction.’ BOMBSHELL: The Night Bobby Kennedy Killed Marilyn Monroe-Mike Rothmiller

When a shocking crime occurs, people ask “WHY?” Was it about power, ego, or revenge? On KILLER PSYCHE, retired FBI criminal profiler Candice DeLong draws on her decades of experience to reveal why these murderers and criminals committed these acts. She will reveal fascinating new details about what drove these people, including cases she worked on first-hand. Candice has been called the FBI’s “real-life Clarice Starling,” and she will share specific psychological methods and profiling techniques that experts use to understand the deepest part of the most complex, fascinating, and twisted minds, from the Unabomber to Dr. Death to El Chapo.Listen to Killer Psyche: wondery.fm/KP_TrueMurder

On February 21, 1992, 22-year-old Brian Bechtold walked into a police station in Port St. Joe, Florida and confessed that he’d shot and killed his parents in their family home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He said he’d been possessed by the devil. He was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and ruled “not criminally responsible” for the murders on grounds of insanity.But after the trial, where do the "criminally insane" go? Brottman reveals Brian's inner life leading up to the murder, as well as his complicated afterlife in a maximum security psychiatric hospital, where he is neither imprisoned nor free. During his 27 years at the hospital, Brian has tried to escape and been shot by police, and has witnessed three patient-on-patient murders. He’s experienced the drugging of patients beyond recognition, a sadistic system of rewards and punishments, and the short-lived reign of a crazed psychiatrist-turned-stalker.In the tradition of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Couple Found Slain is an insider’s account of life in the underworld of forensic psych wards in America and the forgotten lives of those held there, often indefinitely. COUPLE FOUND SLAIN: After A Family Murder-Mikita Brottman

Seattle's Jungle Killer takes you inside a world where depravity and evil are met by some of the best homicide detectives in the Seattle Police Department. One of them, author and retired detective Mike Ciesynski, was one of the guys whose mission it was to "hunt the men who hunt women". In this real-life murder investigation, you discover how Det. Ciesynski and his partners pursued a serial killer's trail, and how technique, persistence -- and luck -- prompted the killer to confess the truth. SEATTLE'S JUNGLE KILLER: A Detective's Account of the First Serial Killer Convicted in Seattle

In the late hours of July 22, 1991, Detective Patrick "Pat" Kennedy of the Milwaukee Police Department was asked to respond to a possible homicide. Little did he know that he would soon be delving into the dark mind of one of America's most notorious serial killers, the "Milwaukee Cannibal" Jeffrey Dahmer.As the media clamored for details, Kennedy spent the next six weeks, sixteen hours a day, locked in an interrogation room with Dahmer. There the 31-year-old killer described in lurid detail how he lured several young men to his apartment where he strangled, sexually assaulted, dismembered, and in some cases, cannibalized his victims.In GRILLING DAHMER: The Interrogation of "The Milwaukee Cannibal" the reader is taken on a horrifying tour into the mind of evil as Kennedy patiently, meticulously, listened to unspeakable horrors so that a monster would be taken off the streets forever. GRILLING DAHMER: The Interrogation of "The Milwaukee Cannibal"-Robyn Maharaj

In this second edition of The Murder of Biggie Smalls, Cathy Scott delves behind the scenes to pore over police records, coroner reports, FBI files, and interviews Biggie’s mother, Voletta Wallace, to reveal new facts surrounding the gangsta rapper’s murder. The Notorious B.I.G. exploded onto the hip-hop scene in 1995 with his platinum-selling album Ready to Die. Biggie Smalls, born Christopher Wallace and performing as Notorious B.I.G., grew up in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, where he dropped out of high school to pursue street culture and his rapping style. Biggie began emceeing his original raps, which were discovered by producer Sean “Puffy” Combs, who took Biggie’s gangsta image to the next level. Fame followed two successful rap albums earning million of dollars, a 1996 Billboard Rapper of the Year Award, marriage to R&B singer Faith Evans, a public affair with rapper L'il Kim, and hanging out with Tupac Shakur. The high life for Biggie tragically ended March 9, 1997, after a Los Angeles post-awards party, where he was gunned down in a drive-by, much like friend-turned-enemy Shakur six months earlier. Twenty-four years later, L.A. police still have made no arrests, despite their early confidence that the case would be solved quickly, and after revealing identities of persons of interest who worked for the police department. They dropped the investigation before it ended, stalling the case. Bestselling True Crime author Cathy Scott shares it all in this second edition. The Murder of Biggie Smalls-Cathy Scott

In March 2015, Denise Huskins and her boyfriend Aaron Quinn awoke from a sound sleep into a nightmare. Armed men bound and drugged them, then abducted Denise. Warned not to call the police or Denise would be killed. Aaron agonized about what to do. Finally he put his trust in law enforcement and dialed 911. But instead of searching for Denise, the police accused Aaron of her murder. His story, they told him, was just unbelievable. When Denise was released alive, the police turned their fire on her, dubbing her the “real-life ‘Gone Girl’” who had faked her own kidnapping. In Victim F, Aaron and Denise recount the horrific ordeal that almost cost them everything. Like too many victims of sexual violence, they were dismissed, disbelieved, and dragged through the mud. With no one to rely on except each other, they took on the victim blaming, harassment, misogyny, and abuse of power running rife in the criminal justice system. Their story is, in the end, a love story, but one that sheds necessary light on sexual assault and the abuse by law enforcement that all too frequently compounds crime victims’ suffering. VICTIM F: From Crime Victims to Suspects to Survivors-Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn

Police Chief Greg Adams was out on patrol. Christmas was coming to Saxonburg, Pennsylvania—a quaint borough of just 1,300—in three short weeks. The winter air was crisp. Colored lights sparkled on houses. He was only a block and a half from the Police Department, and this was just an average traffic stop.Until it wasn’t.The devoted husband and father of two little boys was about to meet any law enforcement officer’s nightmare. Moments later, he would lay dying in a pool of his own blood on that white winter snow, while his killer vanished like an apparition into thin air.Despite his many aliases, the true identity of the murderer was quickly found. The killer himself, was not. As State Police and FBI investigators peeled back the twisted layers of low-level mobster Donald Webb’s life, the path to the killer would wind through decades … toward a shocking conclusion. After all, secrets can only be kept for so long. THE GHOST: The Murder of Police Chief Greg Adams and the Hunt for his Killer-Maureen Boyle

Rochester, N.Y., is known for many things, great food, lilacs, innovative supermarkets, minor league baseball, and—unfortunately—crime. This heavily-illustrated book covers some of the most spectacular crimes in the Rochester area’s history, written by true-crime master Michael Benson, who grew up in the town of Chili. Read about serial killers Arthur Shawcross and Robert Bruce Spahalski, the savage murders of Kathy Bernhard and George-Ann Formicola, the all-in-the-family murders of Tabatha Bryant and Jim Tan, the hunt for Bucky Phillips, the disappearance of Flossie Wilbur, plus much more. Many shocking photos. ROCHESTER'S MOST STARTLING CRIMES-Michael Benson

It’s a case that has haunted Jefferson Township, New Jersey, for more than 30 years. On a snowy January night, 14-year-old Tommy Sullivan did the unthinkable: he murdered his mother in cold blood, set fire to their house, and then took his own life.Out of the flames of this horrible tragedy, investigations revealed that Tommy was, himself, a part of a Satanic Cult, sparking a nationwide hysteria now known as the “Satanic Panic” This monumental moment in American culture led to communities nationwide enforcing draconian measures to protect their children from what they perceived to be the devil’s influence. Even the Catholic church was convinced this was a case of demonic possession. On the new podcast, THE DEVIL WITHIN, the truth of the grisly murder is finally revealed. Did Tommy act alone? Did he really commit suicide? Is his cult still in power? THE DEVIL WITHIN finally sheds light on questions left unanswered for decades...Listen Here: wondery.fm/TDW_TrueMurderPod

Longtime author Stephanie Dickinson straddles the lines of true crime and memoir in “Razor Wire Wilderness,” (June 1, 2021, Kallisto Gaia Press) as she examines the lives of those affected by violence in this immaculately assembled account that takes readers directly inside incarceration and face to face with inmates.Krystal Riordan watched as her boyfriend beat a teenage Jennifer Moore to death in a vermin-infested New Jersey hotel room. Could she have stopped it? Or could she be his next victim? Now, Krystal is serving a maximum 30-year sentence, while the man who beat Jennifer to death received only a 50-year sentence. So what does it take to survive in a maximum security lockdown for 30 years? Is it possible to thrive? The answers only lead to more questions in Dickinson’s raw and emotional look into the criminal justice system and how it’s failed not just one but countless victims of violence. And what unfolds is a beautiful depiction of moral ambiguity, loss and redemption within the confines of the prison walls and beyond. RAZOR WIRE WILDERNESS-Stephanie Dickinson