In under seven minutes, a team of thieves walked into one of the most secure museums in the world and stole nearly $100 million in diamonds and royal jewelry from the Louvre in Paris. Wearing construction uniforms and using a stolen truck and crane, they took France’s crown jewels, including a diamond necklace once gifted by Napoleon.

But the flawless heist was not as perfect as it seemed. A jewel fell during the getaway, security systems were mysteriously ignored, and investigators soon uncovered the truth. This was not a Hollywood-level mastermind operation. It was an inside job.

With two suspects in custody, others still on the run, and the jewels missing to this day, the question remains: was this one of the greatest art heists in history, or one of France’s biggest security failures?

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Jeffrey Manchester, known as “The Roofman,” wasn’t your typical criminal. A former Army Reservist, he used military precision to rob nearly forty fast-food restaurants across nine states, always polite and disciplined. But his boldest move came after his arrest.

Serving a forty-five-year sentence, Manchester escaped prison by hiding under a delivery truck. For months, he vanished. Then police uncovered the unbelievable truth: he had been secretly living inside the ceiling of a North Carolina Toys “R” Us.

Manchester raided snacks, played video games, and even watched the store’s security cameras from his secret hideout. By day, he lived a normal life under a new identity. By night, he ruled the roof.

His story ended in a dramatic sting operation when he tried to rob the very store he had called home. Hidden bedding, stolen supplies, and a copy of Catch Me If You Can told investigators everything they needed to know.

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It was Halloween night, 1973, when 9-year-old Lisa Ann French left her home in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, dressed as a little hobo and carrying a paper sack. She was only three houses away when she disappeared.

Three days later, her body was found in a rural field. The killer wasn’t a stranger. It was her neighbor, Gerald Turner, the man everyone thought they could trust. The crime horrified the nation and changed how parents let their children trick-or-treat forever.

The murder of Lisa French didn’t just destroy a family; it changed a community. Decades later, Turner remains in state custody, and Fond du Lac still remembers the little girl whose final Halloween changed everything.

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Sometimes truth is far scarier than fiction. In this episode, we uncover the real killers whose crimes inspired some of the most terrifying horror films ever made, proving that true fear often begins long before the opening credits.

In Gainesville, Florida, Danny Rolling, the “Gainesville Ripper,” murdered five college students in 1990, leaving behind a trail of brutality and fear. His crimes became the blueprint for a new era of slasher films.

Across the Atlantic, Robert Maudsley, dubbed “Hannibal the Cannibal,” killed multiple inmates and was confined to an underground glass cell in the UK. His chilling calm and precise confessions blurred the line between reality and horror fiction.

These stories show how real-life crimes have shaped our darkest nightmares. But it raises one haunting question: are we honoring the victims, or turning their killers into legends?

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Tonight, we step inside the minds of killers who crossed the final line—turning murder into a meal. These aren’t movie plots or campfire stories. They are real crimes that shocked the world.

Kevin Bacon, a 25-year-old hairstylist from Michigan, trusted someone he met on a dating app and vanished on Christmas Day 2019. What police found in the basement of Mark Latunski’s home was horrifying.

In California, rapper Antron “Big Lurch” Singleton’s drug-fueled psychosis led to one of the most disturbing crimes in hip-hop history. And in Paris, Issei Sagawa’s 1981 murder exposed a chilling mix of obsession and fantasy that still fascinates and horrifies the public today.

These cases prove that sometimes, the darkest monsters aren’t from horror movies—they’re real people driven by madness and desire.

Follow True Crime Recaps for the chilling finale to our Halloween Week series, where we reveal the true crimes that inspired some of your favorite horror films.

In 1984, 16-year-old Theresa Fusco was fired from her job at a Long Island roller rink and vanished while walking home. Weeks later, her body was found brutally murdered. Police arrested three local men—John Kogut, Dennis Halstead, and John Restivo—and despite a lack of physical evidence, all three were convicted. They spent nearly twenty years behind bars for a crime they didn’t commit.

Decades later, advances in DNA technology uncovered the truth. Evidence from the crime scene matched Richard Bilodeau, a man who lived near the rink and ran a coffee truck in the area. Detectives confirmed the match using DNA from a discarded smoothie straw Bilodeau used, finally solving the 40-year-old case.

After all this time, has justice finally been served for Theresa Fusco?

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They are three of the most infamous names in true crime history: Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the Menendez Brothers. From Gein’s grave robberies and macabre trophies to Dahmer’s horrific apartment crimes and the Menendez brothers’ shocking family murder, these cases shattered any sense of normalcy and redefined what horror means in real life.

Ed Gein’s crimes inspired Hollywood’s darkest creations, from Psycho to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and now he is the subject of a new Netflix series. Jeffrey Dahmer’s story blurred the line between human and monster, while the Menendez brothers’ trial exposed the disturbing mix of privilege, trauma, and violence that lurked behind a mansion’s walls.

This is night two of True Crime Recaps’ Halloween Week, and the darkness is only getting deeper. We began with Richard Ramirez, but it all leads to our Halloween Day finale.

Which case do you think Netflix should tackle next?

Before he became the “Night Stalker,” Richard Ramirez was already showing signs of the evil that would define his name.

While working at a Holiday Inn, he used a master key to sneak into guests’ rooms and was caught attempting to assault a woman before her husband intervened. That early crime was ignored, but it revealed what was coming.

In 1984, Ramirez began his first known murder, killing 79-year-old Jennie Vincow in her own home. Over the next year, he unleashed a reign of terror across Los Angeles and San Francisco, breaking into homes at night, attacking strangers, and leaving communities frozen in fear.

By 1985, his recklessness left behind evidence that helped police close in. When his face hit the news, it was the public that finally caught him. Convicted of 13 murders and dozens of other crimes, Richard Ramirez became one of America’s most feared serial killers.

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On December 6, 1991, four teenage girls—Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers—were closing up a North Austin yogurt shop when a horrific crime unfolded.

Just before midnight, firefighters arrived to find smoke pouring from the store. Inside, they discovered a nightmare: three of the girls were bound, gagged, stripped, and shot execution-style.

The case quickly became one of Texas’s most infamous investigations. Police chased dozens of suspects, from local teens to a serial killer on death row. In 1999, two men, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, confessed after grueling interrogations. But years later, DNA evidence proved they were innocent, and both were released.

Now, more than thirty years later, the Austin Yogurt Shop Murders remain unsolved. With new HBO coverage reigniting interest and advances in DNA technology offering fresh hope, investigators still wonder: is the killer still walking free?

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In 2014, Russell and Shirley Dermond seemed to have the perfect retirement life in a quiet Georgia lake community. But when neighbors stopped by one morning, they found Russell decapitated in his garage. Shirley was gone.

Ten days later, her body surfaced in Lake Oconee, weighed down with concrete blocks. There was no forced entry, no robbery, and no clear motive. Russell’s wallet and Shirley’s jewelry were still in the house. But investigators found gunshot residue on Russell’s collar and signs of a violent struggle before Shirley was drowned.

In 2024, a new DNA profile was discovered on Russell’s clothes — the first major lead in a decade. But the killer remains unidentified. Was it a professional hit, a personal vendetta, or someone hiding in plain sight?

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