On a quiet July night in 1966, a stranger with a gun and a knife walked into a Chicago townhouse where nine student nurses lived. By morning, eight were dead. One survived by hiding under a bed—and her courage would bring a killer to justice.

Host Alexander Lawson tells the full story of Richard Speck, the mass murderer whose brutal crime shocked America and became known as the “crime of the century.” From the terror inside the house to the dramatic courtroom identification that sealed his fate, this episode examines one of the most infamous nights in true crime history.

In April 2023, a Salvadoran court sentenced Cristian Alexander Vigil Campos—alias Petra, a homeboy of MS-13’s Los Ángeles clique—to 1,216 years in prison for his role in 27 aggravated murders, conspiracies, and attempted killings across Usulután and San Miguel.

Host Alexander Lawson examines the Shulton program’s reign of terror in eastern El Salvador from 2002 to 2019, the network of gang members and corrupt officials who enabled it, and the landmark convictions that followed the 2020 mass arrests.

A story of extreme sentences, vanished victims, and a country fighting to reclaim control from one of the world’s most violent gangs.

A man walks into a Colorado Springs bank with his face covered and a gun drawn. He does it again. And again. Eight times in three months.

When police finally catch Daryl Lamont Keener, the judge doesn’t give him life—he gives him 1,256 years in prison.

In this episode of A True Crime Podcast, host Alexander Lawson unpacks the aggressive takeover-style bank robberies that terrorized Colorado Springs between December 2010 and March 2011, the partnership with co-defendant Gary Cyprian, the dramatic arrest, the weapons cache, and the extraordinary habitual-offender sentence designed to ensure Keener never walks free again.

Imagine a judge handing down a prison sentence longer than recorded human history.

In December 2025, Marvin Abel Hernández Palacios — better known as Nocturno de Teclas — received 1,335 years behind bars as part of a massive trial that convicted 248 members of MS-13’s Teclas Locos Salvatruchos clique. The charges spanned more than eight years of terror in El Salvador’s La Libertad department: dozens of aggravated murders, enforced disappearances, femicides (including the killing of a young soccer player), and a vast extortion network that strangled local communities.

Host Alexander Lawson unpacks the rise of one of the gang’s most feared figures, the victims left in his clique’s wake, and a sentence designed never to be fully served.

A story of power, fear, and a justice system that answered centuries of violence with centuries of punishment.

July 25, 2003. Craigsville, Virginia. 18-year-old Christopher Bennett enters a house, raises a gun, and leaves a man dead. He claims he caught his mother’s boyfriend molesting his 6-year-old sister. The state charged him with capital murder. He took a plea and received 1,800 years in prison.

Host Alexander Lawson examines the killing, the extraordinary sentence, the family’s claim that Bennett is a hero, and the questions that still divide everyone who hears this story.

Listener discretion advised: This episode discusses allegations of child sexual abuse and violence.

At just 18 years old, Lawrence Jacob Stephens walked into a York County, Virginia home with a gun. No one was killed. No one was seriously injured. The judge sentenced him to three consecutive life terms plus 23 years — a total of 1,823 years behind bars.

Host Alexander Lawson unpacks the 2001 armed home invasion, the staggering disparity between Stephens’ sentence and those of his co-defendants, the questions of race and fairness that followed the case for two decades, and the conditional pardon that finally set him free.

A story of one night, one courtroom, and a sentence measured in centuries.

In the coffee fields and cane thickets of Colombia, children vanished. Boys no one was watching closely enough followed a stranger who offered a few pesos, a job, or a kind word—and never came home.

Host Alexander Lawson examines the case of Luis Alfredo Garavito, known as La Bestia (“The Beast”), one of the most prolific serial killers and child sex offenders in modern history. Between 1992 and 1999 he murdered at least 193 minors across Colombia and beyond, using disguises and false promises to lure his victims. This episode covers his methods, the investigation that finally stopped him, the record-breaking sentence that Colombian law could not fully enforce, and the lasting questions his crimes left behind.

Listener discretion is strongly advised.

In 1988, an Oklahoma jury looked at a 47-year-old inmate already serving two life sentences and 2,000 years… and decided it still wasn’t enough. They added another 2,260 years.

His name was Billie Glenn Woolsey. The latest victim was a 15-year-old girl.

Host Alexander Lawson unpacks the little-known case of a man whose criminal record became pure arithmetic—centuries stacked on top of centuries—in a rural Oklahoma courtroom that decided he should never walk free again.

A story about extreme justice, permanent incapacitation, and the cases that never make the headlines.

In the dusty fields of Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Cleveland, the bodies of young women kept appearing—strangled with their own underwear after answering a promise of work that never existed. Between 1994 and 1995, Moses Sithole, a charming and well-spoken man posing as a charity recruiter, raped at least 40 women and murdered 38 people, including a two-year-old child.

In this episode of A True Crime Podcast, host Alexander Lawson examines the crimes of South Africa’s most prolific serial killer: how Sithole turned desperate hope into a hunting ground, the investigation that finally stopped him, and the 2,410-year sentence that followed.

Listener discretion is advised.

In the dead of night on December 11, 1987, a car bomb tore through a Guardia Civil barracks in Zaragoza, Spain, killing eleven people—including five children. The order came from Francisco Mujika Garmendia, better known as Pakito, one of ETA’s most powerful leaders during its bloodiest years.

Host Alexander Lawson traces Pakito’s rise through the Basque terrorist organization, the high-casualty attacks carried out under his leadership (including the Hipercor bombing), the dramatic 1992 capture in Bidart, and the long legal reckoning that followed. A story of calculated terror, insulated command, and the lasting scars left on Spain.