Explore every episode of the podcast Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén

There was no debate over whether Betty Lou Beets killed two of her husbands. But there was great concern over her motivation. Did she do it out of fear or for money? Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast! Have a story to share? Email us at serialkillerstories@spotify.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All she really wanted in life was freedom. But Betty Lou Beets wound up trapped in abusive marriage after abusive marriage. It was only a matter of time before she would strike back. Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast! Have a story to share? Email us at serialkillerstories@spotify.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When a Missouri real estate tycoon fell sick in 1909, he promised his family a large inheritance. But one in-law was after far more than a piece of the pie. Dr. Bennett Clark Hyde wanted the whole fortune, even if it meant using his medical knowledge for murder. Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast! Have a story to share? Email us at serialkillerstories@spotify.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was the late 1960s when Bill Suff, the oldest of five children, was forced into a co-parenting role after his dad walked out on the family. His lack of control over the world around him made him angry. And one day, he would let out all that anger in a violent fashion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the weeks after their third murder, Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky disappear into the woods of northern Manitoba, over a thousand miles away from where their killing spree began. The RCMP throws their resources into the investigation, but the biggest headway comes from a local man named Billy Beardy — an expert hunter and Cree Nation trapper who knows the land better than anyone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the start of a new special series on Serial Killers, we’re delving into the minds of killers on the run — cracking open some of the largest manhunts ever undertaken. Our first episode takes us into the vast wilderness of Northern Canada, where the discovery of three bodies along remote highways begins an unprecedented search for a pair of killers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 1980s, Richard Angelo was a Long Island native working as a nurse in the ICU. He’d found his passion — emergency medicine — in college. But somewhere along the way, his drive to be a hero took an ugly detour. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Today Vanessa is joined by Haesue Jo, Licensed Therapist & Head of Clinical Operations at BetterHelp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While the Stocking Strangler terrorized a Georgia suburb, another killer stalked military bases in the state. William Henry Hance was an army officer with an eruptive temper who was charged with the murders of three women. Police caught onto his crimes in part because Hance wrote them letters blaming the attacks on an evil cabal named the Forces of Evil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a confession leads police down the wrong path, they establish the Strangling Task Force and redouble their efforts. 27-year-old Carlton Gary keeps up appearances, until he’s arrested for the last time. For police, it’s an open-and-shut case. Yet Carlton maintains his innocence until the very end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For several terrifying months in the 1970s, elderly women in a Georgia suburb were turning up dead or brutally injured in their homes. The murders set the community on edge as police reckoned with a serial strangler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1946, the mysterious Phantom Killer who had terrorized the town of Texarkana for months disappeared just as quickly as he'd appeared. With little evidence to go on, the police home in on one suspect. But justice proves harder to come by than they'd hoped. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1946, the city of Texarkana was plagued by a series of attacks and murders on couples parked in their cars. Police, however, failed to act quickly enough, potentially giving the murderer enough time to get away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The spree continues into Christmas Day and beyond, during which the teen gang murders their third, fourth, fifth and sixth victims. After a tip, police catch the group wearing victims’ clothing, driving a victim’s stolen car, and in possession of the guns they used in their murders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 1938, Philadelphia’s Bolber-Petrillo Murder Ring had collected an estimated $100,000 in insurance payouts. But like many criminals on a lucky streak, they got sloppy. As investigators unraveled the threads of the ring’s vast conspiracy, Dr. Morris Bolber put on one last show. Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast! Have a story to share? Email us at serialkillerstories@spotify.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early hours of Christmas Eve 1992, a senseless murder in Dayton, Ohio, marks the beginning of a rampage. What started as a desire for Christmas cash turns into a three-day killing spree that leaves six people dead. Even more shocking was that the brazen killers were just teens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eddie’s crimes escalated in the ‘90s as he continued to dodge police. By 1996, he had attacked eight people, killing three of them. But unlike the original Zodiac Killer, Eddie didn’t stay anonymous for long.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twenty years after the notorious Zodiac Killer terrorized San Francisco, someone else picked up their mantle. Heriberto “Eddie” Seda was a Brooklyn native and one-time street preacher who began targeting victims and taunting police with cryptic letters. His plan: kill twelve people — one of each Zodiac sign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Once back in the U.S., Maust serves time for manslaughter before regaining his freedom. He continues befriending teenage boys who fill his need for companionship. But time and again, Maust caves to his violent urges. Despite his guilt, and his spontaneous ability to stop himself mid-murder attempt, he takes four more lives by 2004. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A volatile childhood and stints in a hospital psych ward set the stage for a violent killer who murdered teenage boys in Germany and the U.S. from the 1970s to the early aughts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over the ages, arsenic has had many lives — beauty fad, household product, medical prescription… and weapon of choice wielded by killers everywhere from Alabama to ancient Rome. Brine your turkey, knead your dough, and listen to our Thanksgiving Special on the regime-changing, assassination-aiding King of Poisons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With his caked-on makeup and pathological lies, Charles “Smitty” Schmid cut a distinctive figure among Tucson’s youth. The 22-year-old wanted to draw misfit teens to himself like moths to a flame, before holding a cultish sway over them. Schmid was a corrupting force. And by the summer of 1965, he had killed at least three young women, burying their bodies in the Arizona desert. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When The Texas Chain Saw Massacre debuted in 1974, audiences had a visceral experience so frightening, many believed what they witnessed was real. Its main villain, Leatherface, slaughtered innocent youths and wore their skin for pleasure. This depiction of violence seemed surreal, but echoed the real-life crimes of a man who inspired some of Hollywood’s most infamous characters: Ed Gein. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Premiering in 1991, The Silence of the Lambs was anything but your typical horror movie. While it made the name Hannibal Lecter famous, at its core, the film was a psychological thriller that tracked the moves of a murderer at large: Buffalo Bill. But while Bill’s methods may have seemed too gruesome to be true, the inspiration was a combination of three of the most heinous killers of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1996, a new horror movie with an innovative twist would reinvigorate the slasher genre. But behind the fictional Ghostface was an inspiration steeped in reality. A man in a makeshift mask who stalked and tormented teenage girls during a three-day murderous rampage. A man known as the Gainesville Ripper. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1930s Philadelphia, self-styled “doctor” Morris Bolber claimed he could fix any ailment – even a broken marriage. His poisonous prescriptions for unhappy housewives killed dozens of men. When the prescriptions didn’t work, Bolber called a pair of conman brothers who were guaranteed to get the job done – as long as they got a chunk of the life insurance money. Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast! Have a story to share? Email us at serialkillerstories@spotify.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Andrei’s murders don’t go unnoticed. A pattern emerges: young victims, bodies mutilated, left in isolated patches of wilderness. But even with police on high alert, the serial killer eludes capture until 1990 — when his twelve-year reign of terror finally ends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the USSR, an engineer hid a secret he was deeply ashamed of — his inability to have sex with women he dated. His frustration made him withdraw from others, until he developed a proclivity for sexual violence that, at last, could satisfy him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the late 1950s, a Los Angeles native started a crime spree that would stretch into the ‘80s. John Floyd Thomas Jr. spent those decades terrorizing his hometown, targeting women aged 50 and older who lived alone, and occasionally even going to jail for his assaults. But it’s not until the early aughts, and the creation of the Cold Case Homicide Unit, that that LAPD is able to pin him with multiple rapes and murders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 2011, the FBI was ready to reexamine the evidence. A theory emerged: What if the Mad Poisoner was actually the Unabomber? Ted Kaczynski had proven he was a revenge-seeking terrorist, and he had connections to Chicago. Perhaps he traded homemade bombs for poisoned pills. Or maybe the deadly concoctions came straight from the Johnson & Johnson facility itself. In the absence of clear answers, only theories remain… and rumors that someone is still out there, replacing Halloween treats with fatal tricks. This is a crossover special with Conspiracy Theories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If Roger Arnold wasn’t behind the murders, who was? Police turn their focus to a new suspect: a disgruntled accountant named James Lewis. But the more police dig into Lewis’s life, the more questions they have. The road ahead is paved with extortion, false identities, and revenge. This is a crossover special with Conspiracy Theories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Forty years ago, cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules led to the deaths of seven people all around the Chicago area. America was gripped by paranoia and fear. Why was this happening? Who would be next? Police grasped for suspects who might be the so-called “Mad Poisoner.” We’re joined by Carter Roy from Conspiracy Theories to tell the story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1972, Schaefer was the newly appointed Deputy Sheriff of Martin County. He used his badge to gain trust and wield authority over teenage girls — particularly hitchhikers, whose sudden disappearances could be explained away. Authorities connected Schaefer to nearly thirty missing persons cases, but he was only ever convicted in the murders of two.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Obsessed with moral power and control, Gerard Schaefer was a police officer in Florida who targeted teen hitchhikers in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. Schaefer spent his youth nursing deviant sexual urges, taking solo hunting trips to indulge in self-inflicted rope torture and animal necrophilia. But the most damning evidence of his descent into brutality may be the hellish fantasies he recorded in his journals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In April 1892, the man authorities now realized was Frederick Deeming was on trial for the murder of his second wife, Emily Williams. But as his story circulated the globe, media began alleging his supposed crimes resembled those of a notorious London criminal — Jack the Ripper. This is a special crossover with the hosts of Solved Murders, a Spotify Original from Parcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In March 1892, investigators in Australia were looking for an Englishman named Albert Williams who had allegedly killed his wife and buried her in their home. Once he was taken into custody, a reporter back in the UK decided to do some digging, and unearthed a terrible secret. This is a special crossover with the hosts of Solved Murders, a Spotify Original from Parcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An Italian woman living in Rome during the 17th century sold black-market poison to women who wanted to escape their marriages. She packaged the liquid in glass vials and used labels that claimed it was a healing ointment. It was said to be slow-acting, tasteless, odorless, and completely undetectable. Warnings claimed just four to six drops were “sufficient enough to destroy a man.” But with the right dosage, aspiring widows could prolong their husband’s suffering — long enough for them to, say, get their affairs in order. Is Giulia Tofana history’s most prolific killer? Vanessa is joined by the hosts of the podcast Women & Crime, Doctors Meghan Sacks and Amy Shlosberg. Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast! Have a story to share? Email us at serialkillerstories@spotify.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What kind of person confesses to multiple heinous crimes — while innocent? Gerald Stano did just that, until there was nothing left to confess to. But while there was no forensic evidence linking him to the 41 murders he implicated himself in, Stano was sentenced to death three times over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a childhood of being bullied and living with a well below-average IQ, Gerald Stano's need to connect with other people was intense. When police questioned him about the stabbing death of a young woman, he wanted to impress the detective. So he confessed. But did he really kill her? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Although he had developed a sense of discipline in the military, a traumatic brain injury and deep-rooted rage inched Wayne Adam Ford closer to losing control. In 1997, over a decade after he was honorably discharged, he killed his first victim. He would kill three more over the next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1979, Wayne Adam Ford was looking for a fresh start. He arrived at boot camp for the U.S. Marine Corps leaving a childhood of chaos and negligence behind him. While the Marines did teach Ford how to curb his aggression using self-control, they also taught him something else… how to kill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elizabeth Short’s gruesome murder is the LAPD’s most infamous unsolved case. But there’s one person who thinks he’s cracked it — the alleged killer’s own son. Today, we reopen the case against George Hodel, a certified genius and once-celebrated doctor who rubbed elbows with noted surrealists... and had a vile history of abuse and terror, even against his own family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1940s Hollywood, a 22-year-old aspiring actress is found mutilated and drained of blood. Her body is posed, and her mouth has been carved into a permanent smile. The investigation takes police into the hidden sides of the city — illicit romances and gang-related crimes. But when another mutilated body is found weeks later, the hunt is on for a possible serial killer.  This is a crossover series with Unsolved Murders, looking at the murder of Elizabeth Short and other unsolved cases surrounding it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Henry Busch had a love-hate relationship with maternal figures. Perhaps it was because he lacked one growing up. He had already killed a 74-year-old family friend when he saw “Psycho” in 1960. Identifying with the film’s main character, Henry left the screening with his 65-year old date sure of one thing: he needed to kill again.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Throughout 1989 and 1990, elderly women in Sydney were being preyed upon. But because investigators were wrongly looking for a young man, John Wayne Glover was free to kill without suspicion. Until one day, a simple mistake led police right to him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He started by stealing and shoplifting as a teenager in the UK. When he was 24, John Wayne Glover moved to Australia, where he became a peeping tom and eventually escalated into physically assaulting older women. It was an obvious red flag, and yet nobody realized he would become Australia's worst serial killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As an overweight Black kid growing up in a white suburb, Kendall Francois dealt with his fair share of bullying. His parents were hoarders, so he wasn't even allowed to have friends visit. The shame he felt as a child turned to rage as an adult, and he took it out on local sex workers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Serial killer or serial liar? Kelly Cochran is guilty of two homicides, which she blames on a pact she made with her husband, Jason. But Kelly’s history of lies and manipulation may have concealed up to thirty-two murders and at least one case of cannibalism. Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast! Have a story to share? Email us at serialkillerstories@spotify.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As he got older, Sean Vincent Gillis's impulses got darker. He committed murder, necrophilic rape, and even cannibalism. After eight victims, he finally made a mistake at one of the crime scenes. It was all the police needed to track down the killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a kid, Sean Vincent Gillis would visit his grandmother's funeral home and sleep in the empty coffins. He'd sometimes hold the bodies' cold hands or fondle them. The corpses gave him precisely what he was looking for: a female partner who wouldn't say "no.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For years, people had been disappearing along the Osage Mission Trail. Between their odd behavior and the horrible stench inside their cabin, the Bender family were obvious suspects. So a town trustee led 75 volunteers onto the property. But things didn’t go as planned. . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices