True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History

Dan Zupansky

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

  1. 1d ago

    TROPHY KILL:The Sequel—Dan Zupansky

    The Ravenous Paparazzi had descended on Winnipeg, anxious for any photos, or any story involving Jennifer Lopez and her castmates, Susan Sarndon and Richardf Gere, in the Miramx 's followup to "Chaicago", being filmed in Winnipeg, instead of Toronto—because of the fear of the SARS epidemic,     On July 1st, 2003, Winnipeg Police were called by a representative for the "Shall We Dance" movie, to report that a gold necklace belonging to Susan Sarandon had been stolen from Sarandon's trailer on a outdoor movie shoot location near the Legislative Building that morning.. The next morning, July 2nd, around 9:30 a.m., Sidney Teerhuis walked calmly through the visitors entrance into the Winnipeg Remand Center.. He said to a guard there, "I would like to speak to someone. I found a body chopped up in my bathtub, and I've turned myself in because I've killed somebody".       On July 1st, Susan Sarandon and her assistant, called police from the set of "Shall We Dance".to report the theft of some of Sarandon's jewelry, including her gold chain necklace, with amber amulet depicting the 3 saint Christophers , featured prominently. in the film.  The next morning, July 2nd,phers around 9:30 a.m., Sidney Teerhuis walked through the visitors entrance into the Winnipeg Remand Center.. He said to a guard, "I would like to speak to someone. I found a body chopped up in my bathtub, and I've turned myself in because I've killed somebody". At the rented room police found the victim dismembered, beheaded, sawn in half, disemboweled and castrated with the chest sliced open and all of the internal organs missing! One eye had been removed and the body was posed, almost entirely bloodless, crudely reassembled. Hollywood mega-celebrity Susan Sarandon's stolen gold necklace was found a few feet away from the True-Murder-, Shocking-Serial-Killer Spectacle. Obsessed with celebrity, his role models, legendary serial killers, Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy—armed with Susan Sarandon's stolen jewelry, Sidney, suddenly takes his next shocking.step in fulfilling his diabolical plan—to achieve his ultimate fantasy...TROPHY KILL:The"Shall We Dance" Murder—The Trial and Revelations of a Psychopathic Killer—Dan Zupansky

  2. Aug 10

    THE VAMPIRE'S CULT—-Chet Hardin

    A self-proclaimed vampire. His harem of “witches.” And the small-town murder that shocked America. When twenty-four-year-old Sydney Loofe disappeared after a Tinder date, the quiet town of Wilber, Nebraska was stunned. Days later, her dismembered body was found scattered across nearby fields—and the horrifying truth began to emerge. Sydney hadn’t just met the wrong man. She had crossed paths with a deeply disturbed psychopath and his dangerous accomplice. In The Vampire’s Cult, investigative journalist Chet Hardin exposes the twisted world of Aubrey Trail, an aging con man who presented himself as an all-powerful being, and Bailey Boswell, the woman who called herself his “queen.” Together, they lured vulnerable young women into a spiral of sex, theft, and psychological manipulation—with deadly consequences. Through exclusive interviews, firsthand reporting, and chilling detail, Hardin unravels the making of a modern cult—and the social desperation that feeds it. In an era defined by false realities and toxic charisma, The Vampire’s Cult reveals just how easily darkness can disguise itself as devotion. THE VAMPIRE'S CULT: The Untold Story of Obsession, Control, and a Small Town Murder—Chet Hardin

  3. Jul 27

    BLOOD AND FAME—Peter Rowe

    A riveting new look at the parallel lives of Charles Manson and Roman Polanski reveals connections beyond the notorious Tate-LaBianca murders.Since the horrific murder of Sharon Tate in 1969, the names Charles Manson and Roman Polanski have been brutally linked. But new analysis of the parallel and intertwining stories of these two men reveals a connection that preceded that fateful day. Manson and Polanski shared remarkably similar, and similarly awful, childhoods. In their early years they both developed a hatred of the establishment and of authority—Manson, from being abused by relatives, school staff, and jailors, and Polanski from living under the Nazi regime and then Polish Communists in the 1950s. Manson was released from prison and promptly went to the wildest place in North America (San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury) at around the same time as Polanski got out of communist Poland and headed for the wildest place in Europe (swinging London). Both men went overboard with the new freedom of the era. Their paths crossed in Hollywood in the late 1960s, where Polanski had wild success, Manson utter failure. Then on August 8, 1969, Manson orchestrated the murder of Polanski’s wife, actress Sharon Tate, and her unborn son. Combining international celebrity biography, analysis of a high-profile murder, and in-depth consideration of the lasting legacy of the crime in Polanski’s directorial work, Blood and Fame is a riveting investigation that will appeal to both film lovers and true crime readers alike. BLOOD AND FAME: The Intersecting Lives of Roman Polanski and Charles Manson—Peter Rowe.

  4. Jul 20

    CONFESSIONS OF THE GREEN RIVER KILLER—Maria DiLorenzo

    A startling profile of one of the most prolific serial killers and the disturbing experience of the journalist who earned his trust for the sake of justice. When crime journalist Maria DiLorenzo mailed a letter to Gary Ridgway, she never expected him to reply. He refused to speak to reporters and would send only religious materials back to anyone who contacted him in prison—if he replied at all. But instead of silence or a boilerplate letter, Maria’s phone rang–and it was the Green River Killer calling. Over the next several years, Ridgway would call Maria hundreds of times, using all of his free time in prison to speak with her. Her goal: to pry the details of his dozens of unidentified and unsolved murders from him. His motivation in speaking to her: unknowable. Through these hundreds of hours of phone calls, Ridgway revealed new details about his life, his crimes, and his motives – and manipulated Maria much like he tormented his victims. An insightful and deeply personal profile of a dangerous mind, Confessions of the Green River Killer is the closest depiction of Gary Ridgway ever seen and a disturbing glimpse into what it’s like to truly know a killer. Experience Gary Ridgway through the eyes and ears of a woman he came to deeply trust—and deeply covet. CONFESSION OF THE GREEN RIVER KILLER: A True Story of Manipulation, Madness and A Search for Justice-Maria DiLorenzo

  5. Jul 13

    SERIAL CITY—G.H. Cliff

    At the turn of the twenty-first century, Detroit investigators faced a nightmare few police divisions ever encounter: multiple serial predators operating at the same time, in the same city, often targeting vulnerable victims in overlapping neighborhoods. To the public, the crimes appeared scattered. A schoolgirl attacked on her way to class. A woman assaulted before dawn. A victim deceived, coerced, or ambushed. A body discovered. Separate incidents. Separate headlines. Inside Detroit’s Major Crimes Division, a more disturbing picture began to form. As detectives compared reports, victim statements, timelines, geography, and behavior, the investigation became something far more difficult than a search for a single suspect. The city was not hunting one predator. It was hunting several. SERIAL CITY: Detroit and the Hunt for Multiple Serial Predators—G.H.Cliff

  6. Jul 6

    DEPUTY KENT McGOWEN and REASONABLE DOUBTS—Jerry Langton

    Jerry Langton is a veteran investigative journalist and bestselling author, writing primarily about outlaw motorcycle gangs and organized crime. Former Harris County Sheriff's Department Deputy Joseph Kent McGowen was sentenced in 2002, to 20 years, his second conviction—for murdering Susan Diane White, in her home, August 25, 1992. In 2021, after almost 20 years—Kent McGowen was released. A bestselling book and documentary, depicting McGowen as a killer had been widely seen by the public. In 2025 McGowen contacted Langton—he wanted to set the record straight and have Langton tell his story.. Langton was very skeptical but decided to conduct his own investigation—and what he discovered—was a man wrongfully convicted of murder. Author Jerry Langton joins me to discuss his new book, Reasonable Doubts: How Rumor and Innuendo Convicted Deputy Kent McGowen of Murder.

  7. Jun 29

    REASONABLE DOUBTS—Deputy Kent McGowen

    Texas Deputy Kent McGowen shot and killed Susan White after she pulled a gun on him.It seemed like an open-and-shut case of an officer acting in self-defense. But before his first court date, the Houston region was inundated with rumor, innuendo and speculation about the case. Many believed those fabrications and half-truths to be fact. And an unsubstantiated-but-persistent story of how McGowen allegedly set up White as a murder victim because they had a relationship, or that she refused to have one, sealed his fate. McGowen was found guilty, Twice. He's already done his almost 20 years in prison, with this case worth examining for all the incredible ways criminal courts can be manipulated by media, fast-talking lawyers and dubious witnesses. REASONABLE DOUBTS: How Rumor and Innuendo Convicted Deputy Kent McGowen of Murder—Deputy Kent McGowen

  8. Jun 22

    GOD'S NOT HERE, ONLY DEVILS—Laura Brand

    The District Attorney began his opening statement with, "If you don't know what hell is like, you're about to find out." In 1979, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris went on a rape and killing rampage. The pliers, screwdrivers, hammers, sledgehammers, and ice picks they used on their victims became their calling card and moniker: The Toolbox Killers. They were soon apprehended and convicted for their atrocities, but for decades, refused to reveal the location of their victims' bodies. More than two decades later, criminologist Laura Brand had the opportunity to interview this sadistic pair as they sat behind bars, probing the depths of their depravity right up to the days of their deaths. Over this relentless six-year period, Bittaker finally gave Brand what he had withheld from law enforcement and families alike: the precise locations of two victims' remains. Brand's investigation tore open sealed police reports, court transcripts, and witness accounts, and unearthed brutal and shocking new findings: undisclosed victims, forgotten evidence, and chilling new insights that resurrected this nightmare in unimaginable ways. God's Not Here, Only Devils is told through a powerful blend of narratives: the voices of Bittaker himself, his victims, traumatized witnesses, the tenacious lead detective, and the hardened District Attorney.. A visceral retelling of the horrors that unfolded and the legacy of terror the Toolbox Killers left behind. GOD'S NOT HERE, ONLY DEVILS: Revelations From The Toolbox Killers—Laura Brand

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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

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