True Crime Serial Murders

On September 5th, 1934, a young beachcomber made a gruesome discovery on the shores of Cleveland’s Lake Erie: the lower half of a female torso, neatly severed at the waist. The victim, dubbed “The Lady of the Lake,” was only the first of a butcher’s dozen. Over the next four years, twelve more bodies would be scattered across the city. The bodies were dismembered with surgical precision and drained of blood. Some were beheaded while still alive.

On May 31, 1985, two days before her high school graduation, Shari Smith was abducted from the driveway of her family home in South Carolina. Based on the crime scene and the abductor’s repeated and taunting calls to the family, law enforcement quickly realized they were dealing with a sophisticated and highly dangerous criminal.

Ann Rule, who shared her own nerve-jangling account of unknowingly befriending sadistic sociopath Ted Bundy in The Stranger Beside Me, chronicles other fateful encounters with the hidden predators among us in this riveting collection, fifteenth in the best-selling series drawn from her personal files. First in line is a stunning case that spanned thirty years and took a determined detective to four states - ending, finally, in Alaska - where he unraveled not one but two murders.

Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, the Toolbox Killers, brought a level of terror that changed the way people carried out their daily lives. It was a time of innocence in California, where young girls could walk the streets or hitchhike along the freeways without a care or concern for their own safety, day or night. But that innocence and trust were to be shattered as five girls made the fatal mistake of accepting a ride from Bittaker and Norris. What started as a chance meeting in prison of these terrible men resulted in a murder spree that was planned right down to the finest details. They knew the type of victims they wanted, how they were going to abduct them, and what they were going to do to them. And they did everything they could to make their depraved fantasies come true. This true crime book includes chapters that explore the psychological make-up of these killers, and factors that may have influenced their twisted minds. How could these men inflict such horrific pain and suffering on their victims, and get away with it until five victims are left dead and scattered in a desolate canyon? What would have happened if Bittaker and Norris had never met? These famous serial killers were organized and sexually sadistic, and were responsible for some of the most horrendous true murders involving unimaginable torture in history. This is one of those true crime stories that will make you question humanity, and look twice at those who live among us.

How do you defend your mind from those who exploit it without you even knowing? Serial killers, master manipulators—they don’t only happen on TV. By the time they’re part of a true crime documentary, it’s too late. Understanding the dark psychology behind them is your best defense.

20 Shocking True Crime Cases of Women Who Kill, including Beth Carpenter: When a male stripper turns up dead, the last person you’d suspect is an up-and-coming young lawyer. Penny Bjorkland: A demure and pretty teen with an odd obsession – she wants to know what it feels like to kill someone. Kelly Silk: When mental health problems take over a young mother’s life, no one is safe – not even her loving husband and precious children. Joyce Chant: Joyce had endured years of abuse at the hands of her sadistic husband. At some point, a woman has to say, “enough.” Sandy Cain: A bored ...

In September 2001 Carmen Rodriguez, a beautiful 32-year-old Hartford mother of four, went missing. At first police were stymied - until a killer's crucial mistake led investigators down a long, dark road of cold, calculated murder.

Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members for insurance money in the 1970s. With the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative shot him dead at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell's murderer was acquitted—thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend. Casey Cep brings this story to life, from the shocking murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South.

Murderers or monsters, normal people turned bad or people born with the desire to kill; it doesn’t matter where they come from, serial killers strike dread into our hearts with a single mention of their names. Hunting in broad daylight or stalking from the shadows, we are their prey and their hunt is never done until they are caught or killed. With a worrying number of them living in our communities, working alongside us at our places of employment and sharing the same spaces where we spend time with our families, serial killers are just another neighbor that we barely think about.

During his nearly fifteen-year reign of terror, Ronald Lloyd Bailey’s depraved obsession with sexual sadism held communities across southeast Michigan in a shroud of fear. From the early 1970’s to the mid-1980’s, the former patient at one of Michigan’s foremost psychiatric hospitals, abducted as many as fifteen teens and over time became a sadistic serial killer.

After Jack the Ripper and before Son of Sam there was only one name their equal in terror: the deadly, elusive, and mysterious Zodiac. Beginning in 1968 the hooded mass murderer terrified the city of San Francisco and the Bay Area with a string of brutal killings. A sexual sadist, his pleasure was torture and murder.

On July 15, 1997, Gianni Versace was shot and killed on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. But months before Versace’s murder, award-winning journalist Maureen Orth was already investigating a major story on Cunanan for Vanity Fair. Culled from interviews with more than four hundred people and insights gleaned from thousands of pages of police reports, Vulgar Favors tells the complete story of Andrew Cunanan, his unwitting victims, and the moneyed world in which they lived . . . and died.

United States of True Crime is an anthology series with books devoted to the most disturbing cases in each of the 50 states. This book focuses on twenty of the most chilling crimes in Florida history.

When Chris Bryson was discovered nude and severely beaten stumbling down Charlotte Street in Kansas City in 1988, police had no idea they were about to discover the den of one of the most sadistic American serial killers in recent history. This is the true story of Robert Berdella, nicknamed by the media the Kansas City Butcher, who from between 1984 and 1988 brutally raped, tortured, and ultimately dismembered six young male prostitutes in his unassuming home on a quiet street in Kansas City.

A master of deception, he was a rapist, arsonist, bank robber, and a new breed of serial killer, one who studied other killers to perfect his craft. In multiple states, he methodically buried kill-kits containing his tools of murder years before returning and putting them to use. Viewing the entire country as his hunting grounds, he often flew to distant locations where he rented cars and randomly selected his victims. Such were the methods and madness of serial killer Israel Keyes. Such were the demands of the “Devil in the Darkness.”

In the pantheon of serial killers, Belle Gunness stands alone. She was the rarest of female psychopaths, a woman who engaged in wholesale slaughter, partly out of greed but mostly for the sheer joy of it. Between 1902 and 1908, she lured a succession of unsuspecting victims to her Indiana “murder farm". Some were hired hands. Others were well-to-do bachelors. All of them vanished without a trace.

More than 40 years ago Charles Manson and his mostly female commune killed nine people, among them the pregnant actress Sharon Tate. It was the culmination of a criminal career that author Jeff Guinn traces back to Manson’s childhood. Guinn interviewed Manson’s sister and cousin, neither of whom had ever previously cooperated with an author. Childhood friends, cellmates, and even some members of the Manson family have provided new information about Manson’s life. Guinn has made discoveries about the night of the Tate murders, answering unresolved questions.

The lush, green hills that mark the border of North and South Carolina are home to a close-knit community. When the savaged remains of high-spirited Heather Catterton and sweet-natured Randi Saldana were found and a local man was linked to their murders, residents were forced to face an evil in their midst. The killer was one of their own….

“Murder’s Always Murder: 67 Shocking True Crime Stories” is a gripping true crime collection that takes you deep into the darkest corners of human nature. Featuring a chilling array of true crime cases, this book explores the horrifying acts committed by ordinary people and notorious killers alike. From gruesome homicides and serial killings to twisted crimes of passion, these stories span decades and delve into some of the most shocking and disturbing cases from across the globe. 67 Shocking True Crime Stories The Murder of Rebecca Landrith The Murder of Ronda Mechelle Blaylock The ...

20 Shocking True Crime Cases of Women Who Kill, including; Alice Arden: Alice wanted out of the marriage; Thomas was against a divorce. Never mind, there are other ways to rid oneself of an unwanted spouse. Shirley Allen: A deadly Black Widow, Allen sent three husbands to an early grave. Her weapons of choice? Arsenic-spiked Tylenol and anti-freeze. Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore: Abraham had never won a thing in his life until the day he landed a $30 million Lotto. But here’s the thing with that much money. It draws out the predators. Shelly Arndt: Opposites may attract but they can also ...