True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History
TRUE MURDER—The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History. Every week host Dan Zupansky will interview the true crime authors that have written about the most shocking killers of all time. From true crime history, comes the preeminent true crime authorities in America and the world today. From infamous serial killers, mass murderers, cult leaders and mafia hitmen to family murderers, nazis and homicidal maniacs—True Murder is a veritable true crime archive featuring historic murder cases written about by American legendary prosecutors, judges, journalists, detectives, forensic pathologists and bestselling authors. Featuring books about infamous serial killers such as Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, BTK, Jeffrey Dahmer, Golden State Killer, Aileen Wournos, Charles Manson, Zodiac and Son Of Sam—the episode list includes 100’s more with over 850 episodes. Famous true criime authors interviewed include Marcia Clark, John Douglas, Katherine Ramsland, Joseph Scott Morgan, Harold Schecter, and hundreds more. Unsolved cold cases, wrongful convictions, death row confessions, serial killer couples, psychopathic killers, DNA breakthroughs and convictions, infamous executions, cult killings—every important true crime case ever written about—is here-in this true crime archive—TRUE MURDER—The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History
JOHN HINCKLEY JR.—WHO I REALLY AM
Jan 12, 2026
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As shots rang out on March 30, 1981 outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Ronald Reagan and three others lie seriously wounded. Just two months after Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president, John Hinckley Jr. shocked the world because of his movie star obsession. What followed was chaos. America learned of the deep psychosis that led to Hinckley’s obsession with actress Jodie Foster, and how, in his mind, he did it all for her. His trial gripped the nation. Many expected a guilty verdict, but his acquittal on grounds of insanity sparked outrage and forever changed how the law viewed mental illness. Now, for the first time, Hinckley tells his own story. He takes us through an early life of unfulfilled dreams, a music career and college degree that slipped away, and the descent into a mind overcome by delusion. He recounts the years spent in confinement at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, the slow climb toward recovery, and the people who helped him find his way back. A life defined by a single, horrific act becomes something more: a story of mental illness, redemption, and the long road to understanding the man behind one of America’s most infamous moments. JOHN HINCKLEY JR—WHO I REALLY AM
MURDER IN THE GRAVEYARD—Frank Stanfield
Jan 05, 2026
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THE 911 CALL THAT OPENED HELL'S DOOR. ONE CONFESSION. A LIFETIME OF TERROR. The 911 call was harrowing. "I accidentally killed someone. Please!" the man said, his voice rising. "Who?" "My stepmom. My name is Ian Anselmo. Sue-Ellen Anselmo, she's in the car with me. My dad is going to kill me. I guess I strangled her. I don't remember doing it. I remember the argument." The call disintegrated quickly, with the 20-year-old howling and sobbing so pitifully that the dispatcher could not understand what he was saying, except that he was calling from a cemetery. The graveyard had its own lurid past as the site of a murderous teen vampire cult initiation 20 years earlier, now it was a bloody crime scene, and would later become the site of the pregnant woman's burial, more family violence, and the removal of her body. The call was just the beginning. Investigators would discover a family cult stained with allegations of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, brain-washing, and total patriarchal control. It would end in an insanity defense, with Ian's lawyer calling the family atmosphere "crazy," and pitting psychiatrists and psychologists against each other, revealing questionable practices, motives and techniques by those experts. Frank Stanfield, a 50-year newspaperman, covered the incredible case from the very beginning. MURDER IN THE GRAVEYARD: A Family Cult Tragedy—Frank Stanfield
KILLING TIME WITH JOHN WAYNE GACY-Karen Conti
Dec 29, 2025
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John Wayne Gacy raped, tortured, and murdered 33 boys and young men, burying most of them in the crawlspace under his Chicago home. Karen Conti was in high school at the time watching the bodies being removed on the television news. Fourteen years pass. Through a twist of fate, Conti, now a young and inexperienced attorney, is called upon to handle Gacy’s final death row appeals. The serial killer soon becomes her most famous, difficult, and haunting client. Thirty years after Gacy’s execution, Conti looks back through the eyes of a seasoned professional on the legal and media circus that ensued—and her countless hours of detailed conversation with the killer clown. We hear for the first time about Gacy’s gruesome “Body Book.” Were there more victims? Conspirators involved in the murders? What secrets were buried with him? If one were to ask Conti, “How could you represent such a monster?” she would respond, “What you really want to know is, ‘What was he like?’” This book answers that question. KILLING TIME WITH JOHN WAYNE GACY: Defending America's Most Evil Serial Killer on Death Row-Karen Conti
DARK TIDE: Growing Up With Ted Bundy
Dec 22, 2025
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Edna's world turned upside down when her close cousin, Ted Bundy, was linked to the gruesome murders that had plagued her hometown of Seattle. Both devastating and dangerous, she reveals her journey of discovering the truth about her cousin who was more like a sibling, a man she loved, admired, and thought she knew so well. Edna delves into the unbelievable and chilling episodes she experienced, from confronting Ted and discovering a side of him she never suspected to waking to the FBI at her door after he escaped jail. Whether searching memories for signs she’d missed or detailing scenes of life under the radar in a world still fixated on her cousin, Edna’s account tells the Ted Bundy story from a critical, new perspective: someone who called him family. Including never-before-seen photos and handwritten letters from Bundy, Dark Tide’s message is as gut-wrenching as it is clear, asking the question: how well do we know those we trust most? DARK TIDE: Growing Up With Ted Bundy-Edna Cowell Martin and Megan Atkinson
DIG ME A GRAVE— Dick Harpootlian
Dec 15, 2025
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The definitive true “Southern Gothic” account of the life, crimes, conviction, and execution of Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins, the charismatic, brutal, well-liked, remorseless South Carolina serial killer who was dubbed the Charles Manson of the South—written by the prosecutor who brought him to justice. Of the hundreds of murder cases that noted South Carolina attorney Dick Harpootlian has prosecuted, one in particular haunts him. Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins was a serial killer and rapist, a master manipulator who claimed to have killed over 100 people and is known to have murdered over a dozen, including a toddler, and his own teenage niece. Yet it was on Death Row that he pulled off his most audacious murder—killing another inmate with a military grade explosive. As personable as he was ruthless, Pee Wee defied easy categories. He killed to avenge minor slights as well as for pleasure, using any convenient method—including stabbing, shooting, poison, suffocation, and drowning. Evidence suggested he forced at least one victim to dig his own grave, stand in it, and be shot. With escalating callousness, Pee Wee murdered acquaintances, friends, family members, and strangers. Yet within his North Charleston community he was well-liked—a family man who took neighborhood kids to the beach and hosted cookouts. Ice-cold within but outwardly charming, he joked with judges, reporters, and Harpootlian himself, but didn’t hesitate to hatch a plot to kidnap the prosecutor’s daughter in order to extort an escape. Dig Me a Grave is a haunting look at a prolific, remorseless killer, as well as a provocative exploration of justice and the death penalty. DIG ME A GRAVE: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Who Seduced the South—Dick Harpootlian
EMPIRE CITY UNDER SIEGE—Craig McGuire
Dec 08, 2025
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Empire City Under Siege shares true stories of an FBI Special Agent spanning three tumultuous decades in New York City, beginning in the gritty 1970s when law enforcement refused to let their city be consumed by corruption and violence. Starting as an undercover operative investigating Mafia hijackers in Red Hook, Anthony John Nelson offers a gripping insider’s look at the bureau’s largest field office during one of its most transformative eras. From international manhunts, celebrity kidnappings, and late-night surveillance of Mafia hotspots with NYPD legend Kenneth “Kenny” McCabe, Nelson recounts his involvement in some of the most impactful and infamous cases of the pre-Internet age—pulling back the curtain on the dangers, strategies, and sacrifices behind the headlines. Featuring first-hand accounts from agents, officers, and prosecutors, this book honors the courage and commitment of all those like Anthony John Nelson who fought to restore order, protect the innocent, and reclaim a city once on the brink. EMPIRE CITY UNDER SIEGE Three Decades of New York FBI Field Office Manhunts, Murders, and Mafia Wars—Craig McGuire
SISTERS IN DEATH—Who Killed The Black Dahlia?—Eli Frankel
Dec 01, 2025
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Who killed the Black Dahlia? In this eye-opening shocker, award-winning producer, true-crime researcher, and Hollywood insider Eli Frankel finally solves the greatest-and most gruesome-murder mystery of the twentieth century just before its 80th anniversary. In January 1947, the bisected body of Elizabeth Short, completely drained of blood, was discovered in an undeveloped lot in Los Angeles. Its gruesome mutilations led to a firestorm of publicity, city-wide panic, and an unprecedented number of investigative paths led by the LAPD—all dead ends. The Black Dahlia murder remained an unsolved mystery for over seventy years. Six years earlier and sixteen hundred miles away, another woman’s life had ended in a similarly horrific manner. Leila Welsh was an ambitious, educated, popular, and socially connected beauty. Though raised modestly on a prairie farm, she was heiress to her Kansas City family’s status and wealth. On a winter morning in 1941, Leila’s butchered body was found in her bedroom bearing the marks of unspeakable trauma. One victim faded into obscurity. The other became notorious. Both had in common a killer whose sadistic mind was a labyrinth of dark secrets. Eli Frankel reveals for the first time a key fact about the Black Dahlia crime scene, never before shared with the public, that leads inexorably to the stunning identification of a criminal who was at the same time amateurish and fiendish, skilled and lucky, sophisticated and brutish. Drawing on newly discovered documents, law enforcement files, interviews with the last surviving participants, the victims’ own letters, trial transcripts, military records, and more, this epic true-crime saga puts together the missing pieces of a legendary puzzle. In Sisters in Death, the Black Dahlia cold case is finally closed. SISTERS IN DEATH: The Black Dahlia, the Prairie Heiress, and Their Hunter—Eli Frankel
RUNAWAY GROOM—Ron Peterson Jr
Nov 24, 2025
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Good-hearted country boy Petie Miller vanishes without a trace two days before his wedding in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley in 1983. Some speculate it’s a case of cold feet, but investigators suspect cold-blooded murder. The bride’s stepfather, a violent career criminal named Charlie Almond, is the prime suspect. Circumstantial evidence suggests that Almond killed Miller and successfully disposed of the body. But with no witnesses, no forensic evidence, and no body, Almond is allowed to walk free. Meanwhile, Miller’s father never stops seeking answers about what happened to his son. For three decades, he tirelessly pushes the investigation forward, imploring the authorities to keep his son’s case file open. Finally, thirty-two years later in 2015, new witnesses emerge and Almond, now an octogenarian, is charged with first-degree murder. Chances of a guilty verdict seem slim, but special prosecutor Phil Figura, known in courtrooms as the “Dragonslayer,” is determined to bring justice. Can Figura win a conviction in the oldest, coldest “no body” murder trial in United States history? Bestselling true crime author Ron Peterson, Jr. was provided exclusive access to the police case file to research this compelling story, interviewing over fifty sources, including family members of both Petie Miller and Charlie Almond, and working closely with prosecutor Phil Figura and lead investigator Aaron LeVeck. In a case where justice seems impossible, could the truth finally prevail—or will a killer once again slip away? RUNAWAY GROOM: Cold Feet—or Cold-Blooded Murder?—Ron Peterson Jr.
A NEED TO KILL—Mark Pettit
Nov 17, 2025
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From two-time best-selling author and three-time Emmy-winning investigative reporter Mark Pettit comes the haunting true story of Nebraska serial killer John Joubert—a case that shocked a nation and still echoes across the true-crime world. It was one of the most terrifying times in Nebraska's history. The year a young Air Force Airman went on a killing spree, leaving two young boys dead and a community gripped by fear. TV news anchorman and investigative reporter Mark Pettit managed to interview John Joubert on Death Row. In a series of exclusive, face-to-face interviews with Pettit, Joubert admits to a string of violent crimes and another killing—that sends investigators into a frenzy ending with Joubert being convicted for a third murder and ultimately executed in Nebraska’s electric chair. Pettit had also been told by Joubert about 'death row drawings' he had created, and that were to be given to Pettit. After a contentious legal battle, a confidential source came forward providing the final piece in the twisted puzzle and a rare glimpse into the mind of a sexual sadist—still fantasizing about murder as he waited to die in the electric chair. Now 43 years after the murders, Pettit returns with this final, updated edition—A NEED TO KILL: The Life and Crimes of John Joubert, Nebraska's Most Notorious Serial Child Killer—Mark Pettit
THE PEOPLE vs THE GOLDEN STATE KILLER—Thien Ho
Nov 10, 2025
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In The People vs. the Golden State Killer, Thien Ho, the current District Attorney of Sacramento, recounts his harrowing and exhilarating experience as the lead prosecutor responsible for capturing and prosecuting Joseph DeAngelo. Referred to at various times by law enforcement and the media as the Visalia Ransacker, the East Bay Rapist, the Original Nightstalker, and finally the Golden State Killer, DeAngelo, a former policeman, is widely considered “one of the most notorious serial predators in American history. Ho’s book is the first official account of how the Golden State Killer was apprehended and put behind bars for life. Ho led an elite team of law enforcement from six California prosecutor's offices, using a newly developed tool known as “investigative genetic genealogy” to connect DeAngelo to multiple cold cases stretching back nearly a half century. Many previous narratives about DeAngelo, including two bestselling books and multiple documentaries, focused largely on the killer and his heinous crimes. This book not only provides hundreds of facts and details never revealed to the public about the Golden State Killer’s crimes, it also presents the real-life story of the people who worked tirelessly to bring DeAngelo to justice. It also offers the unprecedented authorized perspective of three survivors of DeAngelo's crimes who courageously turned their pain into empowerment and activism. A portion of the book’s proceeds will be donated both by the author and Third State Books to Phyllis’s Garden, a nonprofit advocating for victims’ rights begun in honor of a GSK survivor. The People vs. the Golden State Killer also recounts Ho’s fascinating personal journey, from escaping communist Vietnam with his family as a child to working his way up from an internship to an elite homicide division and eventually becoming one of only ten Asian American district attorneys out of 2,400 nationwide. THE PEOPLE vs THE GOLDEN STATE KILLER: Sacramento District Attorney—Thien Ho
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