Crimes Of The Times

For over forty years, the Golden State Killer terrorized California with 13 murders, 50 rapes, and 120 burglaries before vanishing without a trace. In 2018, investigators made history by using a public genealogy database to track down Joseph DeAngelo, revolutionizing criminal investigations forever and finally bringing closure to countless victims.

Both demanded newspapers publish their writings. Both taunted police with coded messages. But while the Unabomber's manifesto led to his capture, the Zodiac's ciphers kept his identity hidden forever. We explore how two of America's most infamous killers weaponized the press—with wildly different outcomes.

You'd think criminals planning elaborate crimes would proofread their messages—but you'd be wrong. From bank robbers to kidnappers, we're counting down five cases where terrible spelling became the smoking gun that cracked the case. Turns out spell-check could have kept these perpetrators out of prison.

On Thanksgiving Eve 1971, a man in a business suit hijacked Northwest Orient Flight 305, extorted $200,000, and jumped into a thunderstorm over Washington state—never to be seen again. For over 50 years, the FBI pursued thousands of leads, analyzed deteriorating evidence, and chased suspects across the country, only to officially close the case in 2016 with zero answers. We're diving deep into the only unsolved case of air piracy in U.S. history.

While the Great Depression gripped America, two criminal phenomena captured the public's imagination in wildly different ways. We examine how Bonnie and Clyde's lovers-on-the-run mystique contrasted with John Dillinger's celebrity bank robber persona, and why the FBI's hunt for these outlaws helped shape modern law enforcement—even as newspapers turned them into folk heroes.

From mob hitmen to serial killers, criminals have long used secret codes to hide their darkest secrets. We're counting down five encrypted messages that kept law enforcement in the dark for decades—and revealing what finally cracked them wide open. Some took sophisticated computer algorithms, others just needed fresh eyes on old evidence.

For 51 years, the Zodiac Killer's 340-character cipher taunted investigators, cryptographers, and amateur sleuths alike. In December 2020, a team of three codebreakers finally deciphered the message—and what it revealed was chilling. We examine the cipher's creation, the obsessive hunt to decode it, and what the solution tells us about one of America's most notorious unsolved cases.