True Crime Reporter

Kenneth Allen McDuff is being escorted into the Death House. McDuff was believed to be the only condemned inmate in the nation ever paroled and then returned to death row for another murder. He went to death row in 1968 for killing two teenage boys, was paroled after the death penalty was overturned, and returned to death row in 1991 for killing two women. 11/17/1998

Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff matter-of-factly described the last moments of his victims' lives as "using them up" to his accomplices in murder.

Afterward, he would dispose of the young women's bodies in unmarked burial sites at remote locations.

With time ticking down toward his execution, author Gary Lavergne met with McDuff on Texas Death Row to try to find out where the serial killer buried countless bodies.

His victim's families just wanted to give their loved ones a proper funeral.

Kenneth McDuff’s first death sentence for the broomstick murders was commuted to life when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972. 

Now, McDuff faces two more capital murder charges.

Prosecutors want to make sure that McDuff keeps his date with the executioner.

After being sentenced to die by lethal injection, Riggs asked McDuff, "What now, Kenneth?" McDuff looked Riggs in the eye and smugly said, “I guess I’m going to die. We all have to sometimes. You know.”

James Granberry Pleads the 5th In Senate Hearing

Texas inmates and their families started receiving business cards and letters from the ex-parole board chairman, promising early release for a price.

Former parole board chairman James Granberry, who played the key role in setting serial killer Kenneth McDuff free, set up a business as a parole consultant.

He solicited money from inmate's families to get his old cronies on the parole board to release his clients from prison early.

In Episode 10, Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs exposes the secret underworld of parole consultants and the release of Kenneth McDuff’s prison pal.

Kenneth McDuff’s confidential prison and parole records contained plenty of warning signs that he was a psychopathic killer who should never be released.

Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs obtains McDuff’s records.

Riggs exposes the lies the Texas Parole Board Chairman has been telling about his role in freeing McDuff.

Along the way, Riggs discovers a secret process that released a hate crime killer in exchange for giving the parole board chairman a new car for himself and his mistress at the parole board.

Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs was investigating how serial killer Kenneth McDuff and dozens of other former death row inmates in Texas got out of prison when Riggs crossed paths with U.S. Marshals.

The Marshal's nationwide manhunt captured McDuff working on a garbage truck in Kansas City.  But the question remained. 

Who in their right mind on the Texas parole board would let this diabolical killer walk out of prison?

McDuff's abduction and murder spree started shortly after he returned to Waco, Texas in 1989.

Deputy Marshall Parnell McNamara had compared McDuff to "Jack The Ripper."

After McNamara locked McDuff in a holding cell, the stern lawman looked Riggs in the eye and told the journalist, "We caught him. Our job is done. Now it's your job to find out how this monster got out of prison."

Riggs was already on the trail.

Just a few days after McDuff's capture, the daughter of one of McDuff's rape victims from when he was a high school student in his hometown of Rosebud comes forward.

The biological daughter that McDuff called "My Little Gangster" tells Riggs that she overheard the serial killer's family discussing a $25,000 bribe to grease his way to freedom.

Her allegations take Riggs deep into the corrupt underbelly of Texas parole and prison systems.

The confession to the abduction and murder of a young accountant in Austin by Kenneth McDuff's accomplice gives U.S. Marshals the evidence they need to launch a nationwide dragnet for the serial killer.

After combing every corner of Central Texas for weeks, the Texas posse realizes that McDuff has fled the state.

In Kansas City, a garbage truck worker recognizes McDuff's mug shot in a TV crime show featuring the U.S. Marshals' search.

The Marshals capture McDuff, but when they return the serial killer to Waco, Texas an angry mob wants to tear him limb from limb.

Alva Hank Worley - McDuff Accomplice

The U.S. Marshals Service Task Force locates one of McDuff’s prison pals.

Every night, Deputy U.S. Marshals Parnell and Mike McNamara, along with U.S. federal prosecutor Bill Johnston, roll through the underbelly of Central Texas rousting parolees.

Unlike the horse-bound Texas's posses of the past, the Marshals drive an SUV bristling with weapons.

It's called "Big Foot".

They use a technique called "driving them up" to break down one of McDuff's prison pals, who is also out on parole.

It pays off when the parolee admits that he was McDuff's accomplice in the abduction and murder of Colleen Reed from an Austin carwash.

You will hear the masterful confession extracted by Tim Steglich.

At that time, he was a criminal investigator for the Bell County Sheriff's Department and a crack interrogator.

Steglich extracts a confession that breaks the case wide open.

It is a blood-chilling "Journey Into Darkness."

Addie McDuff - Mother of Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff

The case of Kenneth Allen McDuff raises the age-old question about serial killers.

Was McDuff the product of nature or nurture?

Did genetics create this violent, uncaring monster, or did McDuff’s home life rob him of every ounce of compassion?

The U.S. Marshal’s posse converges on McDuff’s mother, Addie, who was known as the “pistol-packing mama."

Addie McDuff's pure hate and meanness shock all of the hard-nosed lawmen hunting for McDuff.

One thing becomes clear to them. Addie McDuff enabled a violent, sadistic psychopath.

When Falls County, Texas Sheriff Larry Pamplin heard Kenneth McDuff was out on parole, he prophetically stated, “I don’t know if will be a few days, a few weeks, or a few weeks, but bodies will start turning up.” 

Indeed, a string of abductions started happening up and down the Interstate 35 corridor between Dallas and Austin.

McDuff started a murderous crime spree that would span two and a half years.

The paroled triple killer and an accomplice circled an Austin car wash, stalking a victim.

In the words of McDuff, "They were on the hunt for a woman to use up."

It was just a few days after Christmas in 1991. 

They spotted Colleen Reed, a petite Austin accountant,  washing her new sports car. 

Neighbors hear her shrill scream.

In a split second, Colleen disappeared, never to be seen alive again.

A pair of Deputy U.S. Marshals and a young, aggressive federal prosecutor suspects that triple killer and former death row inmate Kenneth McDuff is behind the abduction of a convenience store clerk in Waco, Texas. 

When no other law enforcement organizations are willing to pursue a hot lead, the trio organizes an old-style Texas posse.

The U.S. Marshals Service's top fugitive hunters join the posse.

They recruit an Irish cop from New York City who works undercover in the Texas prison system.

You can follow their trail as they track McDuff through a filthy underworld of ex-cons with a vengeance