In the 1970s, women across Texas, California, and Nevada disappeared after nights that began in bars and ended in silence.

At the center of it all was Carroll Edward Cole — a quiet, soft-spoken drifter who blended in easily. Born in 1938 in Sioux City, Iowa, Cole later described a childhood marked by instability, alleged abuse, and deep resentment toward his mother. Whether every claim was true or distorted through memory, what is certain is that his rage followed him into adulthood.

After serving in the U.S. Army and drifting between states, Cole began killing in the early 1970s. His victims were adult women, many of whom he met socially before strangling them. Authorities ultimately confirmed at least 16 murders, though Cole claimed more.

Sexual violence was confirmed in multiple cases.

Unlike many serial offenders, Cole did not deny his actions. When arrested in Las Vegas in 1980, he confessed. He waived appeals. He told authorities he would kill again if released. He asked for the death penalty.

On December 6, 1985, Carroll Edward Cole was executed in Nevada’s gas chamber.

This episode traces his life chronologically — from childhood instability to multi-state murders, to arrest, confession, trial, and execution — examining the psychology of a man who believed death was the only way to stop himself.

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Cited Sources

1. Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Checkmark Books, 2006.

2. Ramsland, Katherine. The Human Predator: A Historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation. Berkley Books, 2005.

3. “Carroll Edward Cole.” Murderpedia. Accessed 2026.

4. State of Nevada v. Carroll Edward Cole, Nevada Supreme Court records.

5. Nevada Department of Corrections – Execution Records (December 6, 1985).

6. Associated Press archives, 1980–1985 coverage of Cole’s arrest, confession, and execution.

In this episode of Three Voices One Crime, we delve into the chilling 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer by 18-year-old Christa Pike, a case that stands as one of Tennessee’s most notorious crimes. Pike, alongside her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and friend Shadolla Peterson, lured Slemmer to a secluded area under the pretense of resolving tensions. Instead, Slemmer was subjected to a brutal 30-minute assault involving stabbing, beating, and the carving of a pentagram into her chest, culminating in her death by a chunk of asphalt. Pike’s subsequent behavior, including keeping a piece of Slemmer’s skull as a souvenir, shocked the nation.

We explore Pike’s troubled background, marked by abuse and mental health issues, and discuss the legal proceedings that led to her becoming the youngest woman sentenced to death in the U.S. since the reinstatement of capital punishment. The episode also examines the disparities in sentencing among the perpetrators and the ongoing debates surrounding Pike’s scheduled execution on September 30, 2026.

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Cited Sources:

1. Death Penalty Information Center. “Tennessee’s Execution of Christa Pike Would Make Her the First Woman to be Executed in the State in Over 200 Years.” October 6, 2025. 

2. Wikipedia contributors. “Christa Pike.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed February 9, 2026. 

3. People Magazine. “Tenn. Woman Set for Execution Decades After Luring Classmate to Her Death as Teen, Carving Pentagram on Victim.” October 3, 2025. 

4. WBIR. “Only woman on TN death row sues state over execution method, claiming it violates her rights and religious beliefs.” January 13, 2026. 

5. The Guardian. “The deadliest wait: five women on death row.” November 28, 2025. 

6. AP News. “Tennessee court sets execution date for the state’s only woman on death row and 3 male inmates.” October 1, 2025. 

7. KOMO News. “Woman murdered classmate, carved pentagram into chest, kept piece of skull as ‘souvenir’.” October 5, 2025. 

8. Volopedia. “Job Corps Student Murdered on Agriculture Campus.” Accessed February 9, 2026. 

9. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. “Pike v. Gross.” August 22, 2019. 

10. Hitched 2 Homicide. “Christa Pike. The Devil in the Details.” November 6, 2024. 

Southern California, late 1970s. The freeways were supposed to represent freedom… movement… escape. But for dozens of teenage boys, stepping into the wrong car meant they would never make it home.

As hitchhiking culture thrived and thousands traveled California’s highways each day, a predator blended seamlessly into the flow of traffic. He looked ordinary. Approachable. Safe.

He wasn’t.

Over the course of several terrifying years, bodies began appearing along remote roads, construction sites, and canyon edges. Many victims were never immediately identified. Some were barely teenagers.

Investigators quickly realized something chilling:

This was not random.

This was organized.

And the killer was growing more confident.

In this episode, we follow the full timeline of the man later known as The Freeway Killer, unpacking how he found his victims, why it took so long to stop him, and the disturbing network of accomplices who helped carry out the crimes.

But even more importantly, we tell the stories of the young lives taken far too soon.

Because they were never meant to become headlines.

They were meant to grow up.

Drive those same highways.

And make it home.

This is the story of the Freeway Murders.

Listener discretion is advised.

• Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.

• Ramsland, Katherine. “William Bonin – The Freeway Killer.” Crime Library / TruTV archives.

• California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation offender records.

• Los Angeles Times historical archives (1979–1982 coverage).

• FBI Serial Killer Statistics & Behavioral Analysis resources.

On December 30, 2025, Columbus, Ohio, was shaken by the tragic deaths of Dr. Spencer Tepe and his wife, Monique Tepe, found shot in their home while their two young children remained unharmed. The investigation led to Monique’s ex-husband, Dr. Michael McKee, a vascular surgeon from Chicago, who was charged with their murders.

Court documents reveal a history of abuse and threats from McKee towards Monique, including statements that he could “kill her at any time” and that she would “always be his wife.” Surveillance footage placed McKee near the Tepe residence weeks before the murders, and his vehicle was tracked from Columbus to Rockford, Illinois, where he was arrested. A weapon linked to the killings was found in his home.

In this episode, we delve into the details of the case, exploring the events leading up to the murders, the investigation, and the broader implications regarding domestic violence and the justice system.

Sources:

• ABC7 Chicago: “Chicago surgeon threatened to kill ex-wife before fatally shooting her, her husband: court docs” 

• ABC News: “Ex-husband charged in Ohio couple’s double murder enters not guilty pleas” 

• WLWT: “Docs: Suspect threatened ex-wife, went to her home weeks before Ohio couple was killed” 

• Fox News: “WATCH: Surgeon accused of killing ex-wife and her dentist husband appears unfazed during jail booking” 

• ABC7 Chicago: “Ohio dentist and wife killed: Booking video released of Michael McKee, surgeon of Chicago charged in Spencer, Monique Tepe murders” 

The Dardeen Family Murders

Ina, Illinois is the kind of town where people sleep with their doors unlocked and expect to wake up the same way they went to bed.

In November 1987, that trust was shattered.

Inside a small home on Locust Street, police discovered one of the most disturbing crime scenes in modern Illinois history. Keith Dardeen, his wife Elaine, their two-year-old son Peter, and a newborn baby boy were all murdered inside their own home. The baby had been born just hours before the attack and never even given a name.

There were no signs of forced entry.

Nothing appeared stolen.

And no one in town reported hearing screams, gunshots, or a struggle.

The brutality of the crime stunned investigators, while the absence of clear evidence left them chasing theories for decades. Some believed the murders were the work of a serial killer passing through Southern Illinois. Others pointed to a local suspect who would later confess, then withdraw his statement, leaving behind more doubt than closure.

Despite national attention and years of investigation, the Dardeen family murders remain unsolved.

This episode walks through the family’s lives, the night everything went silent, the investigation that followed, and the theories that still refuse to disappear.

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📚 Sources Cited

• Illinois State Police – Public case summaries and historical investigative references

• The Southern Illinoisan – Original and retrospective local reporting on the Dardeen murders

• Associated Press (AP News) – Coverage of the crime and later suspect confessions

• Chicago Tribune – In-depth reporting and case retrospectives

• Unsolved Mysteries (NBC, 1989 episode) – National exposure and investigative commentary

• FBI ViCAP Program – Serial-offender pattern comparison references

• A&E / Cold Case Files – Background material on unsolved family homicide cases

• True-crime reference books and archives on unsolved Midwestern murders

The House on Cromwell Street

Behind the neat brick exterior of 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester stood one of the most violent households in modern British history.

This episode traces the lives of Fred West and Rose West from their early childhoods through the slow construction of a marriage defined by control, sexual violence, and murder. Long before police ever dug beneath the floorboards, warning signs were everywhere: fractured families, early abuse, coercive relationships, and a home that functioned less like a residence and more like a closed system designed to isolate victims.

Told in strict chronological order, this episode follows Fred’s upbringing, Rose’s adolescence, and the way their lives collided in the late 1960s. As their relationship deepened, so did the violence. Children, lodgers, and young women passed through their lives one by one, each entering the Wests’ orbit at a specific moment when power, opportunity, and secrecy aligned.

Every victim is named and situated in time, with investigators’ findings presented exactly as they became known. Sexual violence is addressed factually and clearly where confirmed. When details are unknown or disputed, that uncertainty is stated directly.

This is not a story about a single crime scene. It is the story of a house, a marriage, and the years it took for buried truths to surface.

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📚 Sources & Research References

Books

• Howard Sounes, Fred & Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors

• John Bennett, The Cromwell Street Murders

• Carol Ann Lee, Fred & Rose West: The House of Horrors

Court Records & Official Documents

• Gloucestershire Constabulary case files and excavation reports (1994–1995)

• Crown Prosecution Service trial transcripts: R v Rose West (1995)

• Home Office summaries on the Cromwell Street investigation

Documentaries & Broadcast Journalism

• Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story — BBC

• Fred & Rose West: The Real Story — Channel 5

• ITV News archival reporting on the Gloucester excavations and trial coverage

Newspapers & Long-Form Reporting

• The Guardian — contemporaneous reporting and post-trial analysis

• The Independent — investigative features on Cromwell Street

• BBC News — timeline reconstructions and court reporting

Academic & Expert Commentary

• British Journal of Criminology articles on coercive control and domestic serial offending

• Criminological analyses of partner-assisted homicide in the UK

In 1993, three eight-year-old boys were found murdered in a wooded drainage ditch in West Memphis, Arkansas. Within weeks, police arrested three teenagers. There was no DNA linking them to the crime. No reliable eyewitnesses. No clear murder weapon. What followed was a prosecution driven by fear, rumor, and a community desperate for answers.

This episode traces the case of the Memphis Three from the moment the boys disappeared, through the investigation, interrogations, and trials that followed, and into the decades-long legal battle that still divides the public today. We examine how cultural panic, flawed forensic claims, and intense public pressure shaped the outcome of the case, and why questions about the evidence have never gone away.

This is not just a story about three defendants. It is a story about how justice functions under stress, how belief can replace proof, and how a verdict can settle a case without ever settling the truth.

Sources & Citations

Books

• Douglas, John & Olshaker, Mark. Law & Disorder: Inside the Dark Heart of Murder.

New York: Pocket Books, 1999.

(Behavioral analysis; critique of investigative failures and confession reliability.)

• Meece, Gary. Blood of Innocents: The True Story of Multiple Wrongful Convictions.

Shreveport: Huntington House, 2005.

(Detailed evidentiary breakdowns and legal inconsistencies.)

• Leveritt, Mara. Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three.

New York: Atria Books, 2002; revised edition 2012.

(Most comprehensive journalistic account; interviews, court records, community context.)

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Documentaries (Primary Sources)

• Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills

Directed by Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky.

HBO Documentary Films, 1996.

• Paradise Lost 2: Revelations

Directed by Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky.

HBO Documentary Films, 2000.

• Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Directed by Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky.

HBO Documentary Films, 2011.

• West of Memphis

Directed by Amy Berg.

Produced by Peter Jackson.

Sony Pictures Classics, 2012.

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Court Records & Legal Filings

• Echols v. State, 326 Ark. 917 (1996).

• Misskelley v. State, 323 Ark. 449 (1996).

• Baldwin v. State, Arkansas Supreme Court rulings, 1996.

• Arkansas Rule 37 post-conviction filings (1998–2011).

• DNA testing motions and evidentiary submissions (2007–2011).

• Alford plea transcripts, Craighead County Circuit Court, August 19, 2011.

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Forensic & Expert Sources

• Baden, Dr. Michael. Independent forensic pathology review (court submissions and public statements).

• Spitz, Dr. Werner. Wound pattern analysis and cause-of-death critique (defense filings).

• Sturner, Dr. William. Original prosecution forensic testimony (trial transcripts).

• FBI Behavioral Science Unit commentary cited in Devil’s Knot and court materials.

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Journalism & News Coverage

• Arkansas Times. Investigative reporting series on the West Memphis Three (1993–2011).

• Associated Press. Trial reporting and appellate coverage (1993–2011).

• The New York Times.

• “3 Men Convicted in Arkansas Killings Are Released” (August 19, 2011).

• The Appeal. Legal analysis on wrongful convictions and the Alford plea.

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Case Archives & Legal Resources

• wm3.org — West Memphis Three Document Archive

(Trial transcripts, police reports, expert affidavits, exhibits.)

• Innocence Project. Case summaries, legal analysis, and DNA review commentary.

• Defense team public filings and exhibits submitted during post-conviction proceedings.

Rex Heuermann was a Long Island architect, a husband, and a father living quietly in Massapequa Park. For more than a decade, the murders known as the Gilgo Beach killings remained unsolved, with bodies discovered along Ocean Parkway and no suspect publicly identified.

In July 2023, investigators announced Heuermann’s arrest after a renewed task force investigation tied together cellphone data, burner phone usage, vehicle records, and DNA evidence. Prosecutors allege he targeted sex workers, contacted them through anonymous phones, and carefully planned the crimes while maintaining a seemingly ordinary life in plain sight.

This episode examines how investigators built the case against Rex Heuermann, what evidence led to his arrest, and why authorities believe the investigation may not be finished. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty, and the case remains ongoing.

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Sources

• Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office

Press conference and charging documents, July 14, 2023

• Suffolk County Police Department

Gilgo Beach Task Force statements and historical case materials

• New York State Court Records

People v. Rex A. Heuermann — indictment, arraignment, and bail hearing filings

• Associated Press

“Architect charged in long-unsolved Gilgo Beach killings” (July 2023)

• The New York Times

Ongoing investigative reporting on Rex Heuermann, evidence timeline, and background (July–August 2023)

• CNN

Reporting on cellphone data analysis, DNA evidence, and task force methodology

On December 6, 1991, four teenage girls were found murdered inside an Austin, Texas yogurt shop. They had been shot execution-style. The building was set on fire. And almost everything about what happened next went wrong.

In this episode of Three Voices One Crime, we examine the Yogurt Shop Murders, one of the most haunting unsolved cases in American history. We walk through the lives of Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, Sarah Harbison, and Jennifer Harbison, the ordinary end-of-day routines that brought them to the shop that night, and the brutal events investigators believe unfolded after closing.

From there, we follow the investigation as it spiraled—lost evidence, tunnel vision, and a set of teenage confessions that would later collapse under scrutiny. Years later, DNA testing would confirm what many already feared: the wrong people had been accused, and the real killer—or killers—were still free.

More than three decades later, the case remains officially unsolved. A new suspect has been publicly named. Families are still waiting. And the question that has haunted Austin since 1991 remains unanswered:

Who killed the girls at the yogurt shop—and why has justice never come?

Listener discretion advised.

This episode discusses the murder of minors and sexual violence in a factual, non-graphic, documentary context.

Sources

Primary / Law Enforcement

• Austin Police Department. Yogurt Shop Murders Case Overview & Public Updates.

• Texas Court of Appeals records related to the 1999–2002 prosecutions.

Investigative Journalism

• Pamela Colloff, Texas Monthly

• “The Yogurt Shop Murders”

• “Who Killed the Yogurt Shop Girls?”

• Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman — investigative reporting on the arrests, confessions, and dismissals.

Books

• Beverly Lowry, Who Killed These Girls? Cold Case: The Yogurt Shop Murders (Knopf, 2016).

Documentaries

• Who Killed the Yogurt Shop Girls? (HBO, 2020).

Court & Confession Analysis

• False confession analysis cited in Texas appellate rulings (re: coerced juvenile confessions).

• DNA exclusion findings reported by APD and Texas Monthly.

Secondary Reporting

• Associated Press — coverage of the case dismissals and later suspect identification.

• CNN — summaries of the HBO documentary findings and ongoing status.

A dark exploration of how John Justin Bunting shaped one of Australia’s most horrifying killing sprees — decoding his twisted motivations, the cult-like manipulation of accomplices, and the discovery of bodies in barrels that shocked a nation.

Sources

Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “Two Found Guilty of Snowtown Murders.” ABC News, 8 September 2003.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2003-09-08/two-found-guilty-of-snowtown-murders/1475874

Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “Snowtown Murders: How the Bodies in the Barrels Case Unfolded.” ABC News, 30 January 2024.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-30/snowtown-bodies-in-the-barrels-murders-life-sentence/103382696

Debi Marshall. The Snowtown Murders. Pan Macmillan Australia, 2012.

ISBN: 9781743510415

Jeremy Pudney. Snowtown: The Bodies in the Barrels Murders. Hachette Australia, 2013.

ISBN: 9780733628894

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Snowtown Murders: Bodies in the Barrels.

https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/asset/98633-snowtown-murders-bodies-barrels

Seven Network. Snowtown: The Bodies in the Barrels Murders. Television documentary, Australia, 2018.

South Australia Supreme Court. R v Bunting & Ors (Sentencing Remarks). Supreme Court of South Australia, 2003.

Wondery. Killer Psyche: John Bunting – The Snowtown Murders. Podcast episode, 2022.

https://wondery.com/shows/killer-psyche/episode/9177-john-bunting-the-snowtown-murders/