For years, John Wayne Gacy was the kind of man communities trust without question. A local businessman. A political volunteer. A neighbor who hosted parties and shook hands with police officers. Parents let their sons work for him. Politicians posed for photos beside him.

And beneath his house on Summerdale Avenue, dozens of boys and young men were disappearing.

In this episode, we trace Gacy’s life from a violent childhood and early warning signs to the calculated double life that allowed him to murder at least 33 victims while hiding in plain sight. We examine how power, respectability, and institutional failure created the perfect cover — and why so many warning signs were ignored until it was far too late.

This is not the story of a clown costume.

It’s the story of how authority, charm, and silence buried the truth under one ordinary suburban home.

Listener discretion advised.

Sources & Research

• Kolar, John Douglas, The Clown and the Candyman: The Murders of John Wayne Gacy and the Man Who Got Away With It (Dutton, 2021).

• Rule, Ann. Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders (Signet, 1980).

• Sullivan, Kevin. The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer (Doubleday, 1993).

• Illinois Supreme Court Records, People of the State of Illinois v. John Wayne Gacy (1979–1980).

• Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office reports and victim identification records.

• Chicago Tribune archival reporting on the Gacy investigation and trial (1978–1994).

• FBI Behavioral Science Unit commentary on John Wayne Gacy (archival interviews and case analyses).

What begins as a small religious movement in rural America slowly transforms into something far more dangerous.

In this episode, we examine the Lebanon cult—a secretive group built on faith, absolute obedience, and psychological control. Behind closed doors, members were isolated from their families, stripped of independence, and taught to fear the outside world. Loyalty was demanded. Doubt was punished.

As allegations of abuse, coercion, and manipulation surfaced, authorities and loved ones struggled to understand how an entire community could fall under the influence of a single belief system—and why so many stayed even when warning signs were everywhere.

We break down:

• How the cult formed and recruited members

• The leader’s methods of control and indoctrination

• Life inside the group—and what leaving really meant

• The investigation that finally exposed the truth

This is a story about belief pushed to the extreme, and the devastating cost when faith becomes power.

Sources

• Lebanon Daily News.

“Children have died from Lebanon’s Faith Tabernacle for 100 years.”

Gannett, March 10, 2017.

(Investigative reporting documenting decades of child deaths tied to Faith Tabernacle’s faith-healing doctrine.)

• Lebanon Daily News.

“Charges refiled against Faith Tabernacle pastor.”

Gannett, May 1, 2017.

(Coverage of felony involuntary manslaughter charges involving the death of a child from untreated pneumonia.)

• Associated Press.

“In sect that shuns medicine, case against pastor is novel.”

AP News, 2017.

(National reporting on the legal implications of prosecuting religious leaders for faith-based medical neglect.)

• People Magazine.

“Faith-Healing Pastor Charged in Granddaughter’s Death.”

People.com, 2017.

(Summary of criminal charges and background on Faith Tabernacle’s beliefs.)

• NBC Philadelphia.

“Faith Healing Churches Linked to Dozens of Child Deaths.”

NBCUniversal, 2017.

(Regional investigative reporting connecting multiple child fatalities to faith-healing congregations in Pennsylvania.)

• TIME Magazine.

“Religion: In Lebanon.”

TIME, 1924.

(Early historical documentation of Faith Tabernacle’s rejection of medical treatment.)

• Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty (CHILD USA).

“Religion-Related Medical Neglect.”

childrenshealthcare.org.

(Contextual analysis on faith-based medical neglect and child-welfare law.)

In April 2011, a quiet home in Nantes, France concealed a crime that would haunt investigators for more than a decade.

Beneath the patio, police discovered the bodies of Agnès Dupont de Ligonnès and her four children, carefully wrapped and buried. There were no signs of forced entry. No struggle reported by neighbors. And one person was already gone.

Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès — husband, father, and the family’s only surviving member — had vanished.

In the days following the murders, Xavier withdrew cash, traveled across southern France, and was last seen on surveillance footage walking toward a remote mountain area. What happened next remains unknown. No body was ever found. No confirmed sightings followed.

Was this a meticulously planned escape? A final act of suicide? Or one of the most successful disappearances in modern criminal history?

In this episode of Three Voices One Crime, we reconstruct the timeline leading up to the murders, examine Xavier’s psychology and financial collapse, and trace every confirmed movement before he disappeared — leaving behind six graves and a question that still has no answer.

Sources

Books

• Renaud Pila, Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès: La Traque

• Society of Journalists (France), L’Affaire Dupont de Ligonnès (investigative collective reporting)

• Bernard Nicolas, Sans traces: L’énigme Dupont de Ligonnès

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Documentaries / Television

• Netflix – Unsolved Mysteries, Volume 1, Episode: “House of Terror”

• France 2 – L’Affaire Dupont de Ligonnès (Cash Investigation / Envoyé Spécial segments)

• BFMTV – Special reports on the Nantes murders and disappearance

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Newspapers & Investigative Journalism

• Le Monde – In-depth reporting on the murders, disappearance, and false sightings

• Le Figaro – Timeline and investigative analysis

• Libération – Psychological and behavioral profiling coverage

• AFP (Agence France-Presse) – Official police statements and verified developments

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Police & Judicial Sources

• Nantes Public Prosecutor’s Office (Procureur de la République de Nantes)

• French National Police (Police Nationale) press releases and case briefings

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Additional Reporting / Analysis

• BBC News – Coverage of the 2019 Glasgow misidentification and international manhunt

• The Guardian – Long-form analysis on the disappearance and public fascination

On December 30, 2000, an entire family was brutally murdered inside their home in Setagaya, Tokyo.

What makes this case different isn’t just the violence — it’s what happened after.

The killer didn’t rush.

He stayed inside the house for hours.

He ate food from the refrigerator.

He used the bathroom.

He left behind fingerprints, DNA, clothing, and countless clues.

And then he vanished.

More than two decades later, the Setagaya family murders remain one of the most confounding unsolved cases in modern history. Despite overwhelming physical evidence, no arrest has ever been made — and the man responsible has never been identified.

In this episode of Three Voices One Crime, we walk through the night of the murders step by step, explore the family’s final hours, examine the unprecedented amount of evidence left behind, and ask the haunting question investigators still can’t answer:

How does someone leave everything… and still disappear?

Sources

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. (n.d.). Setagaya family murder case (Seijo incident). Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

https://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/multilingual/english/safe_society/wanted/seijo.html

ABC News. (2019, December 29). The killer without a face: Japan’s most baffling unsolved murder. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-29/the-house-of-horrors-in-setagaya-japan/11771304

Japan Today. (2024). Setagaya family murders remain unsolved after more than two decades.

https://japantoday.com/category/crime/setagaya-family-murders-remain-unsolved-after-24-years-1

The Mystery Box. (2021). What we really know about the Setagaya family murder. Medium.

https://medium.com/the-mystery-box/what-we-really-know-about-the-setagaya-family-murder-a87389875e71

Red Web. (2022). What happened in Japan’s most mysterious unsolved crime? YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC4Y8dzvt0E

The Mystorian. (2023). The killer without a face: The Setagaya family murders. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmEmHOeV0lQ

The Monster of Florence is one of Europe’s most disturbing and unsolved serial-killer cases. Between 1968 and 1985, a killer the press nicknamed Il Mostro—“The Monster”—stalked the hills and countryside outside Florence, Italy. His victims were young couples seeking privacy in parked cars, unaware that someone was hunting them in the dark.

This episode takes you through the full timeline, from the first double homicide in 1968 to the final murders in 1985. We break down the killer’s method, the forensic patterns linking each attack, and how investigators pursued suspects ranging from local farmers to voyeurs, to the now-infamous theory of a “Sardinian connection.”

We’ll cover the chaotic police work, political pressure, wrongful convictions, and the massive investigation that spanned decades—yet still ended with no confirmed Monster ever identified.

Why did the killer stop?

Did the police target the wrong men?

And could Il Mostro still be alive?

This is the chilling and complex story of The Monster of Florence, a case that shaped Italy’s criminal history and remains shrouded in mystery to this day.

Sources

• Preston, Douglas & Mario Spezi. The Monster of Florence. Grand Central Publishing, 2008.

• Cornwell, Patricia. The Monster of Florence: A True Story. St. Martin’s Press, 2014.

• The Guardian. “The Monster of Florence: Inside Italy’s Most Notorious Unsolved Serial Killer Case.”

• Time Magazine. “The True Story Behind the Monster of Florence Murders.”

• La Repubblica (Italy). Coverage of the Monster of Florence investigation and trials.

• Corriere della Sera (Italy). Reporting on suspects, court proceedings, and appeals.

• RAI Italian Television – Investigative specials on Il Mostro di Firenze.

• CBS / 48 Hours – “The Monster of Florence” segment.

• Crime Library (Archived) – “Monster of Florence” case overview.

• Murderpedia – Victim list and case summaries.

On a rainy night in Columbus, Ohio, 27-year-old medical student Brian Shaffer walked into a packed bar—and was never seen walking out. No struggle. No panic. Just a man who seemed to erase himself inside a building crawling with people and surrounded by cameras.

In this episode, we dive deep into one of the most baffling disappearances in modern true crime. We walk through Brian’s final hours, the unexplained gaps in surveillance, the clues that went nowhere, and the unsettling theories that have followed this case for nearly two decades.

Was this a calculated escape? A tragic accident? Or something far darker hidden in the blind spots of the early 2000s?

Join us as we explore the timeline, the relationships, the leads investigators chased—and the gaping silence left behind. Brian Shaffer didn’t just go missing… he slipped into a mystery that refuses to give answers.

Sources

• Columbus Police Missing Persons Unit case information

• The Columbus Dispatch – archival reports on Brian Shaffer’s disappearance (2006–present)

• The Lantern (Ohio State University) – coverage of the investigation and campus impact

• Dateline NBC: “Missing in America” – Brian Shaffer segment

• Interviews with friends and family quoted in ABC News and local Columbus media

• FBI ViCAP Bulletin on Brian Shaffer

• Court records connected to follow-up investigative warrants (Franklin County, OH)

• Timeline documents released through public-records requests to Columbus PD

In the early 1970s, California was terrorized by a string of murders committed by a man who believed he was preventing a catastrophe. Herbert Mullin wasn’t killing for pleasure, profit, or power — he was killing because he thought the voices in his mind were warning him of an imminent earthquake, one that would destroy the state if he didn’t offer human sacrifices first.

This episode dives deep into Mullin’s unraveling psyche, tracing his journey from a once-promising student and athlete to a young man consumed by untreated schizophrenia. We examine his early warning signs, his fixation on natural disasters, and the intense delusions that ultimately guided his violent actions.

Inside this episode:

• ​ Mullin’s childhood, mental health struggles, and the first signs that something was wrong
• ​ His belief that murder would “stabilize the earth’s plates” and prevent massive loss of life
• ​ The connection between his crimes and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
• ​ How his killing spree collided with the same era and geography as serial killers Ed Kemper and John Linley Frazier, earning Santa Cruz the disturbing nickname “Murder Capital of the World”
• ​ The investigation that revealed a chilling pattern of calculated, delusion-driven killings
• ​ Mullin’s trial, where insanity, responsibility, and mental illness clashed in one of California’s most controversial cases
• Sources:
• • Vann, Ethan A. The Life and Crimes of Herbert Mullin. Crime Archives Publishing, 2017.
• • Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Checkmark Books, 2006.
• • Ressler, Robert K., and Tom Shachtman. Whoever Fights Monsters. St. Martin’s Press, 1992.
• • Douglas, John, and Mark Olshaker. Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit. Scribner, 1995.
• • “People v. Herbert W. Mullin.” California Court of Appeal Records, 1973–1974.
• • Santa Cruz Sentinel Archives – Coverage of Mullin’s arrest, trial, and sentencing (1972–1973).
• • Los Angeles Times Archives – Reporting on the Santa Cruz murder cases of the early 1970s.
• • “Herbert Mullin – Serial Killer Profile.” Murderpedia.org.
• • “The Santa Cruz Killings: Mullin and Kemper.” American Justice (A&E Documentary Episode).
• • Hickey, Eric W. Serial Murderers and Their Victims. Wadsworth Publishing, 2013.

Edmund Kemper III grew up in a home defined by fear, humiliation, and emotional violence long before he became known as “The Co-Ed Killer.” Standing 6’9’’ with a calm, almost gentle demeanor, Kemper hid a darkness that even seasoned investigators struggled to comprehend. In this episode, we dive deep into his early life, the fractured family that shaped him, and the warning signs that appeared years before his first murder.

We follow Kemper’s path from a troubled childhood, to the shocking killings of his grandparents, to the series of murders that terrorized California’s college communities in the 1970s. Through his chilling confessions, manipulative intelligence, and unsettling cooperation with law enforcement, Kemper became one of the most disturbing figures in American criminal history.

This episode breaks down:

• Kemper’s childhood and early psychological patterns

• His murders at age 15

• The escalation into the Co-Ed Killer era

• How he evaded suspicion despite inserting himself into police circles

• His relationship with his mother and the final crimes that ended his spree

• His eerie calmness as he turned himself in and described his actions in detail

Sources:

• Ressler, R. K., & Shachtman, T. Whoever Fights Monsters. St. Martin’s Press, 1992.

• Douglas, J., & Olshaker, M. Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit. Scribner, 1995.

• Cheney, M. L. The Co-Ed Killer: A Study of Murder. Pinnacle Books, 1976.

• Merril, C. Edmund Kemper III: The Life of the Coed Killer. Crime Publishing, 2015.

• “Edmund Kemper Case File.” California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

• Los Angeles Times Archives – Coverage of the 1972–1973 Santa Cruz murders.

• Santa Cruz Sentinel Archives – Reports on Kemper’s arrest and trial.

• FBI Behavioral Science Unit Interviews with Edmund Kemper, Quantico (1973–1974).

• “The Co-Ed Killer.” AHC / Investigation Discovery Documentary.

• “Edmund Kemper — The Coed Killer.” Murderpedia.org entry.

Israel Keyes is one of the most calculated, unpredictable, and terrifying serial offenders in American history. In this episode, we walk through his life from childhood to his final days in custody — and trace the crimes he thought he’d buried forever.

You’ll hear how Keyes built a double life: a quiet father and construction worker on the surface, but a roaming predator who traveled the country, buried “kill kits,” chose victims at random, and struck wherever he felt opportunity. We cover the abduction of 18-year-old Samantha Koenig in Anchorage, his cross-country movements, his hidden caches, the disturbing tapes from his interrogations, and the long-suspected crimes that investigators still believe he committed.

This episode follows the full timeline — his early life, military years, the Koenig case, the Currier double homicide, his years of planning, his interrogation strategy, and what investigators uncovered after his death. No dramatics, no embellishment — just the verified, documented story of one of the most elusive serial killers the FBI has ever investigated.

Sources

• Callahan, Maureen. American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century. Viking Press, 2019.

• Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Israel Keyes Case Files and Interrogation Transcripts.” FBI Records/The Vault.

• Anchorage Police Department. “Koenig Abduction and Investigation Timeline,” 2012–2013.

• United States Department of Justice. “United States v. Israel Keyes — Court Documents & Exhibits,” 2012.

• Vermont State Police. “The Currier Homicide Investigation Summary,” 2011–2013.

• KTVA 11 News (Anchorage). “Full Coverage: The Disappearance of Samantha Koenig,” 2012.

• The Anchorage Daily News. “Timeline: Israel Keyes’ Activities, Confession, and Death,” 2012–2013.

• CBS 48 Hours. “Alaska Wilderness Murder: The Case of Israel Keyes,” Season 26 Episode 47.

• Department of Defense. “Service Records: Israel Keyes, U.S. Army 1998–2001.”

A man who seemed to appear and disappear at will. He crept into homes, watched victims for days, terrorized entire communities, and evaded police across multiple counties. He was first known as the Visalia Ransacker, then the East Area Rapist, then the Original Night Stalker — and eventually, the world came to know him as the Golden State Killer.

This episode follows the full evolution of his crimes: the escalation from burglaries to assaults to murder, the fear that gripped neighborhoods, the survivors who refused to stay silent, and the investigative failures that allowed him to continue unchecked. Finally, we trace the scientific breakthrough that changed everything: the use of genetic genealogy to identify Joseph James DeAngelo, a former police officer hiding in plain sight.

Told through detailed research and narrative storytelling, this is the story of how one of America’s most elusive predators was finally unmasked after more than four decades of terror.

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CITED SOURCES McGough, Matthew. “The Hunt for the Golden State Killer.” Los Angeles Times, 2016, https://www.latimes.com/projects/man-in-the-window/.

St. John, Paige. Man in the Window: The Golden State Killer. Wondery, 2019, https://wondery.com/shows/man-in-the-window/.

Earley, Pete. Sudden Terror: The Hunt for the Golden State Killer. Berkley Books, 2018.

Holes, Paul, and Robin Gellman. Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases. Celadon Books, 2022.

Sharon, Michallove. “The Golden State Killer: Joseph James DeAngelo and the Power of Genetic Genealogy.” The New York Times, 28 Apr. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/us/golden-state-killer.html.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Golden State Killer Case Files and Timeline.” FBI.gov, 2018, https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/sacramento/news/press-releases/fbi-seeks-information-in-golden-state-killer-case.