Murd Up Podcast

For any true crime buff, Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole are two names that are immediately recognized, though sometimes, it’s hard to remember exactly why. Ottis and Henry claim together they killed more than 1,000 people, including during their time in a involved in a cult, “The Hands of Death”.

Beyond that, Ottis is most notably known for more than likely but odds are likely, the killer of young Adam Walsh in 1982, that helped incite the stranger danger panic of the 80s and 90s and launched a show that the majority of Americans tuned in to watch, America’s Most Wanted.

Henry is noted as being one of the most prolific serial killers known to us, however, he claims he’s not a serial killer. Henry confessed to so many murders that eventually the authorities started pinning an unsolved they wanted solved, on Henry and Ottis, which the former would confess to and the latter would deny involvement of.

However, it was later determined that Henry had access to case files which allowed him to make statements that collaborated the evidence the authorities had, allowing false confessions.

We will never know exactly how many people these two killed, though some are confirmed, and Adam Walsh’s case was closed with Ottis as the offender, though he was not officially convicted of the murder.

Henry and Ottis committed many terrible crimes and terrified the nation with their actions. As boys, both were subject to abusive home situations, including sexual abuse from family members and neighbors and both were forced to dress in women’s clothing. Henry was beaten violently by his mother, often, and Ottis was a drinker from an early age, and had an obsession with fire and animal torture. Both boys were raised in hateful environments without the tools to grow properly and we are still feeling the ramifications of this today.

Gerard John Schaefer always felt like his father hated him and that he was a disappointment to his family, solely because he wasn’t female. Early on, Gerard developed a vivid imagination and became obsessed with women’s clothing, specifically panties. He was also caught peeping at a neighbor’s daughter while she undressed and later confessed to killing animals for fun. As a teenager, Gerard’s sexual interest went to the extreme, and he lost a girlfriend because she wasn’t interested in his role playing fantasies anymore.

Gerard failed at pretty much every career he had for being too forceful or trying to push his values onto others, from the ministry to teaching. Eventually he found work in law enforcement, despite not passing his psychological tests, and within year of being a cop, he was in a pretty hairy predicament, which ultimately lead to his own department uncovering the secret being the disappearances of multiple women and girls over the last few years in the area.

James Earl Ray was a mischievous child with antisocial behaviors, including bedwetting. He continued to grow in this manner until he followed in his father’s footsteps and began robbing and stealing to make ends met.

The family had been raised in a primary white area and were known supports of the KKK viewpoints and supported George Wallace’s movement to try and re-segregate the nation.

So after James tried and failed many jobs, as well as the Army, he had nothing left but to try and help George’s campaign to Presidency. And what better way to help then to stop the voices of the Civil Rights Movement, primarily those speaking out against his mindset.

Most everyone is aware of who Charles Manson and his Family are and the terrible “Tate-LaBianca Murders” that they committed. However, when speaking of this horrific two day event, many leave out any mention of the others crimes and murders committed by the Family in order to bring on Helter Skelter, or they leave out the possibility that the Tate-LaBianca murders were committed just to cover up the previous crimes and murders of Gary Hitman, Short Shea and Bernard “Lotsapoppa” Crowe, despite the fact that both points are very important to the story.

Either way you slice it though, Charles Manson, Bobby Beausoleil, Tex Watson, Clem Brogan, Susan Atkins, Mary Brunner, and many others were involved in a series of events that alter the United States and Hollywood, forever and ending a counter-culture of peace and love.

In 2009, Emma Niederbrock was a home schooled 16 year old, obsessed with all things macabre and in love with horrorcore music. Her parents, though they didn’t understand the interests, tried their best to let Emma be Emma, whether it be a phase or not.

So when Emma met a slightly older guy named Richard McCroskey who went by his rap name Syko Sam, and then began a relationship with him despite being on opposite sides of the country, her parents supported it even inviting Sam to their house for a visit.

While Sam was visiting, Emma’s parents decided to go with the couple and Emma’s friend Melanie, to a festival to see what the whole thing was about. While at the festival, Emma and Sam get into an argument which escalates and doesn’t seem to have a resolution in sight. The group returned home on a Sunday and things still are unresolved with the lovebirds.

That night, Sam came up with a solution. But no one would find out about it for several days.

Christian Longo was born to an abusive father, who tried to beat his mother while she was pregnant in order to cause a miscarriage. Luckily, his mother left this man early on and went on to marry a man named Joseph Longo who adopted Christian.

Christian seemed to have a normal happy and healthy childhood and met a girl when he was 17 that he would go on to marry and have three children with.

But Christian wasn’t the best husband / father. He had a spending issue and ran up a ton of debt without telling his wife and eventually conned his father out of tens of thousands of dollars to try to dig himself out of a hole. However, Christian only made it worse by buying more things and causing more debt.

Eventually this lead to Christian committing check fraud. Despite his promise to be better, Christian only made things worse by skipping town and committing identity theft and other crimes such as grand theft auto in order to get more and more money.

When it seemed that he had no place else to go except prison for the crimes he had committed, Christian came up with one final solution to his monetary issue: Murder.

Bill Tilghman served for over 50 years as a lawman in the Kansas and Oklahoma territories during the late 1800s into the early 1900s and was paid well for his services and well known for capturing some of the most famous outlaws of the time. By 1915, Bill was retired from law enforcement and he made a movie of his adventures.

In 1924, during the Prohibition era, Bill was called out of retirement to Crowell, Oklahoma to clean up the town. But one man made things difficult: Wiley Lynn. Eventually, Wiley and Bill became archenemies and the feud ended with one person dead and another being charged with murder.

Charles “Smitty” Schmid Jr. was adopted at birth and though intelligent, didn’t care much for school. Smitty grew up thinking the world owed him something. He also grew up compensating for being short and thought that a fake mole would make the whole get up look better.

Smitty was popular with females but had a specific thing for teenage girls, especially blondes. Smitty didn’t like being ignored and was pretty pissed when Alleen Rowe dismissed his efforts at courting her.

And after Alleen disappeared, Smitty was suddenly over it and moved on. He met Gretchen Fritz, who was interested in him but she was more crazy than he was and when he tried to break off the relationship, Gretchen wouldn’t have it.

Then, Gretchen too, disappeared. And all eyes turned to Smitty.

Charles “Smitty” Schmid Jr. was adopted at birth and though intelligent, didn’t care much for school. Smitty grew up thinking the world owed him something. He also grew up compensating for being short and thought that a fake mole would make the whole get up look better.

Smitty was popular with females but had a specific thing for teenage girls, especially blondes. Smitty didn’t like being ignored and was pretty pissed when Alleen Rowe dismissed his efforts at courting her.

And after Alleen disappeared, Smitty was suddenly over it and moved on. He met Gretchen Fritz, who was interested in him but she was more crazy than he was and when he tried to break off the relationship, Gretchen wouldn’t have it.

Then, Gretchen too, disappeared. And all eyes turned to Smitty.

Andrew Cunanan’s mother was hospitalized for three months after Andrew’s birth, leaving him to have little to no bonding with his mother. But the bonding with his father was intense and his father decided that Andrew was the most important child and should get everything. His father also passed down a love for name brand items and put a large emphasis on wealth.

Andrew grew up needing money, no matter what. He dated older and wealthy men to keep supplied with the lifestyle he grew accustom to and eventually ran in circles that brought him into contact with Versace.

Allegedly. The other thing Andrew was known for was lying and manipulating.

So when he was cut off and left homeless and addicted to drugs, Andrew decided to visit an old boyfriend. But, things went badly and Andrew went on a killing spree instead.