Mike Winters dreamed of escaping his dead end job and living a peaceful life by the beach. His decision to start an online business unwittingly draws him into the dark world of international cyber-crime with explosive and deadly consequences. The eBay Killers is a rollicking tale of young love, assassins, suburban swingers, Interpol, bashings, AC/DC, the Australian Federal Police, Captain America, bikers, strip clubs, a stuffed fox named Tyler and the transformation of a leafy Canberra suburb into a war zone.
A deep, abiding passion for a modern-day tyrant, sociopath, or fraud might be cause for concern among the newshound's friends and family. But let the story be strange enough, and let enough time pass, and, suddenly, the subject becomes obsession-worthy: something to share at trivia night, to pore over at the library, or, as it turns out, to recommend to us. Since starting our podcast, Stuff You Missed in History Class, listeners have written in to request countless villains, tyrants, and imposters, representing all eras of history and all corners of the world. Sometimes the stories of these no-good characters turn out to be worse than imagined, like the nightmarish murders committed by the real Bluebeard, Gilles de Rais. Other times, though, the villains revealed a surprisingly human side, like the fierce female pirate Zheng Yi Sao's plans for a comfy retirement, or master thief Adam Worth's deep devotion to his family and his code. This book pulls together the exploits of these historically bad and worse-than-bad figures into one collection, arranged into chapters we thought made sense. You'll find tyrants like Caligula with conquerors like Tamerlane; the questionably bad gangster Ma Barker grouped with mastermind mobster Al Capone; and folk hero criminal D.B. Cooper paired up with the charmingly fraudulent Princess Caraboo. And if by the end you're not already losing sleep thanks to terrifying visions of the pirate Blackbeard with his beard alight, we've included some bonus content on creepy hotels and mysterious hidden passageways to kick off your next research obsession. Enjoy! -Sarah and Deblina
Take a deep dive into the rise and fall of some of the most notorious serial killers of the ‘80s, including Jeffrey Dahmer, Joseph James DeAngelo, Dennis Lynn Rader, and the Night Stalker. Neon leg warmers, big hair, rock band T-shirts, and mix tapes — 1980s’ nostalgia at its finest. But just below that saccharine facade lurked a seedy underbelly of inconceivable human monsters like no decade before had ever seen. The Golden Age of the Serial Killer brought a sharp increase in violent crime, panic, and terror, which in turn sparked a chaotic race between serial murderers and law enforcement officers tasked with both stopping the killings and delivering justice to victims and their loved ones. The Big Book of 1980s Serial Killers is for the true crime fanatic who wants to investigate these cases and discover the ins and outs of how crimes like these are solved. Drawing from meticulous research, contemporary journalistic accounts, and trial transcripts, this book traces the various ways in which law enforcement cracked some of the most challenging serial killer cases in history. Serial killers included: Doug Clark and Carol Bundy (Sunset Strip Killers) Jeffrey Dahmer Joseph James DeAngelo (The Golden State Killer) Larry Eyler (The Interstate Killer) Lonnie David Franklin, Jr. (The Grim Sleeper) Samuel Little Gary Leon Ridgway (The Green River Killer) Dennis Rader (The BTK Killer) Richard Ramirez (The Night Stalker) Tommy Lynn Sells Arthur Shawcross (The Genesee River Killer) Aileen Wournos Are you ready to hunt the worst serial killers of the 1980s?
Detective D. D. Warren must consult one killer to catch another in this taut thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling “master of psychological suspense” (Associated Press). They were daughters of a monster—a father who slaughtered eight prostitutes before dying himself. Dr. Adeline Glen left the nightmare behind, and now she specializes in pain management. Her sister, Shana Day, followed in her father’s violent footsteps, first killing at age fourteen and being incarcerated for more than twenty-five years. After a brutal attack, Boston Detective D. D. Warren needs Adeline’s professional help to recover physically. But when a new psychopath known as the Rose Killer begins a reign of terror, D. D. must also consult the insane Shana—who claims she can help catch the madman. D. D. may not be back on the job, but she is back on the hunt. Because the Rose Killer isn’t just targeting lone women; he’s targeting D. D. And she knows there’s only one way to take him down...
The social and cultural changes of the last century have transformed death from an everyday fact to something hidden from view. Shifting between the practical and the theoretical, the professional and the intimate, the real and the fictitious, this collection of essays explores the continued power of death over our lives. It examines the idea and experience of death from an interdisciplinary perspective, including studies of changing burial customs throughout Europe; an account of a“dying party” in the Netherlands; examinations of the fascination with violent death in crime fiction and the phenomenon of serial killer art; analyses of death and bereavement in poetry, fiction, and autobiography; and a look at audience reactions to depictions of death on screen. By studying and considering how death is thought about in the contemporary era, we might restore the natural place it has in our lives.
An intimate look at the internet killer featured in the Netflix true crime documentary Don’t F**k with Cats—written with the murderer’s mother. In 2012, male escort and porn actor Luka Magnotta found a gruesome path to fame. He videotaped himself murdering and dismembering Chinese student Jun Lin before posting the video online. After mailing Jun’s hands and feet to elementary schools, Luca led Interpol on a manhunt that ended in Berlin. They arrested him at an Internet café where he was reading news stories about himself. Now with a legion of twisted fans, Magnotta was brought back to Canada, convicted of first-degree murder, and sentenced to prison. During this time, Anna Yourkin, his estranged mother, troubled by Magnotta’s abused childhood and her role in it, reconnected with her killer son. With exclusive interviews, Magnotta has given award-winning journalist Brian Whitney an intimate look inside the mind of this “social media” killer. Joining Whitney to tell this unique true crime story is Anna Yourkin, who provides exclusive photos.
The Axman of New Orleans specialized in killing grocers of Italian descent in the 1910s, apparently to promote jazz music. Dorothea Puente was a little old landlady who murdered her tenants, but kept cashing their government checks. The Manson Family terrorized California in the 1960s, as did the Hillside Stranglers a decade later. Twelve serial murder cases, occurring in eight decades between the 1890s and 1990s, had one thing in common: significant presence of the mass media. This book examines these specific cases of serial murder, and the way the media became involved in the investigations and trials of each. Gibson argues that the American media plays a multidimensional and integral role in serial killings and their investigation—and that this role is not generally a positive one. Serial murder cases motivate the media in unfortunate ways, and the result is that even typically respectable media organizations can be involved in such things as document theft, or in interfering with the capture of serial murderers on the run. This link between multiple murderers and mass communication is not accidental or coincidental; rather, the relationship between the press and serial killers is one of extraordinary importance to both parties. Gibson examines the role of the media in serial murder cases; the body of knowledge on serial murder as seen through the lens of mass communication; the effectiveness of law enforcement responses to serial murderers and how they might be improved if the mass communication influence was better understood; the magnitude of the serial murder problem; and the interaction between the media, the killers, and serial murder investigations. Specific examples and numerous quotes are provided throughout to illustrate this strange and detrimental relationship between media and serial murderers.
By the creators of Criminology: a complete chronicle of the Golden State serial killer investigation, including photographs and documents. In 1976, a serial rapist terrorized California’s Sacramento County, breaking into homes and leaving a trail of destruction behind him. As the masked predator expanded his turf, his evil urges drove him to murder. In Northern California, he was known as the East Area Rapist. In Southern California, he was called the Original Night Stalker. When his crimes were finally connected, he would become known as the Golden State Killer. By 1986, he had committed a staggering tally of crimes, including at least 12 murders. In season two of their popular podcast, Criminology, veteran podcaster Mike Morford and true crime researcher Mike Ferguson unmasked this killer in a story that spans more than forty years. Joined by the investigators who hunted him, the witnesses who saw him, and the survivors who lived to tell their stories, Criminology Season Two: The Case of the Golden State Killer examines the story of the most prolific serial rapist and murderer in American history. Now, The Case of the Golden State Killer presents an even more complete chronicle of this true crime story. Based on the podcast, this digital volume features additional commentary, photographs and primary source documents.
The bestselling author of The Forensic Science of C.S.I. examines the real-life cases behind the hit television series Criminal Minds Week after week, the hit TV show Criminal Minds gives viewers a look inside the psyches of the fictional serial killers tracked by the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit). This elite team of FBI agents travels the country assisting law enforcement officials by examining the crime scene, "profiling" the perpetrator, and aiding in arrest and interrogation. In this book Katherine Ramsland reveals how reality differs from fiction and how forensic psychologists actually use their knowledge of human behavior and motivations as consultants in criminal investigations-as well as detailing the real cases that influenced some of Criminal Minds's most memorable episodes.
This book directly explores the question of why contemporary society is so fascinated with violence and crime. The Fascination with Violence in Contemporary Society posits that the phenomenon is, in part, because we have all become consumers of the sublime: an intense and strongly ambiguous emotion which is increasingly commodified. Through the experience of violence and the sense of disorientation that accompanies it, we obsessively seek out moments of intensified existence. Equally, crime continues to speak to the depths of the collective unconscious, questioning us about our transience and the model of society we wish to live in. Binik proposes that this is why the reaction to violence has become a tool with which to express and take ownership of a desire for social cohesion. This book uses interviews with viewers, dark tourists, collectors and others to further interrogate this social trend. Many of these are participants in the four key case studies explored within the study: emotional pathways while watching a true-crime TV series, the trend of dark tourism, murderabilia collecting and the fanaticism of (and for) Anders Breivik. This book seeks to answer one of the most pressing cultural trends of the modern age and fill in a gap in the criminological literature on the subject.
