American Nightmares: The Canal Murders

By Gamut Podcast NetworkTrue Crime

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American Nightmares: The Canal Murders episodes

November 08, 2022 S3 E6 - Unmasked
In November 2019, detectives from Montgomery County, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., make their way to Conway, South Carolina, where investigators are certain they will find their "unknown subject." They head to a ranch house on a rural country road where a 60-year-old man is living with his girlfriend. But, what will they find when they knock on the door?
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42 min
November 01, 2022 S3 E5 - Going Down the Rabbit Hole
By 2018, investigators had tired of waiting for another DNA cold hit and decided to hand the case to a cop named 'Smugs.' A young Montgomery County police officer who had already used genealogy to solve several high profile rape and murder cases. Crimes that had stumped detectives for years. Could 'Smugs' be the one to finally give a name to the Unknown Subject?
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44 min
October 25, 2022 S3 E4 - A Cold Hit
As the nineties turned into Y2K Detectives Dean Combee and Joe Mudano were still trying to solve their cases. Years of investigating had gotten them nowhere until the FBI called with stunning news. DNA from all of the attacks had been linked to one man. A fact that floored the veteran investigators who never saw it coming.
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46 min
October 18, 2022 S3 E3 - The Case That Wouldn't Break
In the early to mid nineties, Montgomery County Police Detective Joe Mudano knew he had a ruthless rapist preying on women but he had no idea who he was. DNA linked a number of cases, but a clear description remained elusive. More maddening for Mudano was the fact the Unknown Subject seemed to have inside information. But how?
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45 min
October 11, 2022 S3 E2 - Kelly's Story
Seven years before Christine Mirzayan was murdered in Georgetown, a man cut the phone lines to a house miles outside the city and raped a teenage baby sitter. The first in a string of similar attacks spread out over several years. Kelly survived that awful night and in this episode tells her harrowing story. A crime that was nothing like the murder in Georgetown.
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35 min
October 04, 2022 S3 E1 - A Murder In Georgetown
In the summer of 1998, a brilliant scientist walking home from a party is grabbed off the street and killed. Her body is found the next day in a wooded area just steps from the Georgetown University campus. It was a gruesome scene. DC Police had no witnesses and no suspects, but they did have a valuable clue: a key piece of evidence the killer left behind.
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48 min
October 01, 2022 Trailer - Season 3: Unknown Subject
For 9 years, he terrorized women across the DC region. Breaking into homes and raping his victims before killing a brilliant scientist near the gates of Georgetown University in 1998. And then, it all stopped. Was he dead? Locked up? Before the FBI would name him the infamous Potomac River Rapist, detectives simply called him their “unknown subject” for years. A man whose DNA linked him to multiple crime scenes, but whose name and face remained a mystery to police. For decades, detectives had no idea who he was until a bike cop named Smugs began connecting the dots.
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2 min
September 29, 2022 S2 E8 - The Crandell siblings with Det. Nelson #2
Part two of host Paul Wagner’s discussion with Tiffany, Darren and Luke Crandell, and Detective Bernie Nelson. In this episode, we go behind the scenes with the team on what it’s like creating a podcast. And Detective Nelson takes us deeper into the world of using genealogy to solve cold cases.
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1 hr 1 min
September 29, 2022 S2 E7 - The Crandell siblings with Det. Nelson #1
Tiffany, Darren and Luke Crandell join podcast host Paul Wagner and Detective Bernie Nelson to discuss their mother’s case. The conversation was the first time in 23 years all three Crandell siblings were together with the man who has never stopped looking for their mother’s killer.
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48 min
September 27, 2022 S2 E6 - The Link
Ten months after Prince George's County Police Detective Bernie Nelson began using genealogy to track Sherry Crandell's killer through his relatives - the research continues on a promising family tree.
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50 min

About American Nightmares: The Canal Murders

From the publisher's feed

SEASON 6 AVAILABLE NOW. NEW EPISODES DROP EVERY TUESDAY.

Every headline hides a deeper story. American Nightmares pulls you…

into the most unsettling true crime cases—one season, one case at a time. These are the crimes that kept detectives awake, shattered families, and left entire communities on edge.Told through raw interviews, gripping investigative detail, and cinematic storytelling, each season reveals how these nightmares unfolded—and the long road to uncovering the truth. You may think you know the story. You don’t.

Season 6 - The Canal Murders

In the early 1990s, a serial killer stalked the canals of Phoenix, Arizona — a violent psychopath whose grisly methods chillingly echoed the macabre signature of Jack the Ripper. Two brutal homicides. A city gripped by fear. And a killer who hid in plain sight for decades while Arizona's most infamous cold case went unsolved. Now, host Brian Peter Falk is determined to get to the bottom of this twisted tale, digging deep into the evidence, the victims, and the secrets buried beneath the surface. Solving two murders is just the beginning — because the deeper you go, the darker it gets.

Season 5 - Gardens of Evil: Inside the Zion Society Cult

It looked like a quiet small-town neighborhood, defined by manicured lawns and flower gardens. But behind the façade, more than a hundred residents were part of the Zion Society, a secretive cult that hoarded weapons and groomed children for sexual abuse under the control of an unassuming, soft-spoken leader. When a young woman escaped and went to authorities, the truth finally began to unravel.

Season 4 - 22 Hours: A Second Look

Host Megan Cloherty returns for a new season of American Nightmares. In the upcoming season, we revisit the story that launched the series: a D.C. power couple, their 10-year-old son, and their housekeeper—held hostage for nearly 24 hours before being murdered inside their own home. Now, 10 years after the crime and 6 years since we first told the story, Season 1 returns with all-new content, fresh interviews, and exclusive updates that shed new light on a case that still resonates today.

Season 3 - Unknown Subject

For nearly a decade, he crept in the shadows, attacking women in the middle of the night — and then vanished. The 1998 murder of a brilliant scientist near Georgetown University marked a terrifying escalation. Investigators had DNA linking him to multiple crimes, but for years, he had no name — only the label “Unknown Subject.” This season uncovers the chilling case of the Potomac River Rapist, and the patrol cop who finally cracked it.

Season 2 - Murder in a Safe Place

In a quiet hospital just outside Washington, D.C., a 50-year-old nurse named Sherry Crandell was raped and murdered inside her workplace — a place that was supposed to be safe. With DNA, fingerprints, and even a witness to the crime, police had evidence — but no suspect. This season revisits the cold case that continues to baffle investigators and devastate a family, more than two decades later.

Season 1 - 22 Hours: An American Nightmare

One of the most shocking crimes in modern American history: a prominent couple, their 10-year-old son, and their housekeeper taken hostage and brutally murdered in their Washington, D.C. home. Over the course of 22 horrifying hours, they endured torture and terror before their killers tried to burn the evidence. This award-winning debut season revisits the infamous Mansion Murders, exposing new details and the twisted logic behind a senseless act of violence.