For more than two decades, Los Angeles was haunted by a predator hiding in plain sight. Known as the Grim Sleeper, Lonnie Franklin Jr. murdered women across South Los Angeles while living a seemingly ordinary life as a father, neighbor, and friend.

In this episode of Unlawful Acts, we examine the full scope of Franklin’s crimes — from the earliest victims to the long gaps that earned him his chilling nickname. We explore how systemic failures, overlooked victims, and advances in forensic genealogy ultimately led to his arrest, and what this case reveals about serial offenders who evade capture for decades.

This is not just the story of a killer — it’s an examination of how violence persists in the shadows, how communities are failed, and how justice can arrive far too late.

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Aileen Wuornos shocked the world when she was arrested for killing seven men along Florida highways in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Branded by the media as a monster and sensationalized as a femme fatale, Wuornos quickly became one of the most infamous figures in true-crime history.

But behind the headlines lies a far more complex and disturbing story—one shaped by severe childhood abuse, abandonment, mental illness, and life on the margins of society. As a sex worker living on the road, Wuornos claimed her killings were acts of self-defense. Prosecutors argued they were calculated murders driven by rage and desperation.

In this episode of Unlawful Acts, we examine the full arc of Aileen Wuornos’ life—from her traumatic upbringing to her crimes, trials, and eventual execution—while unpacking how gender, media narratives, and public fear influenced the way her story was told. We ask the uncomfortable questions: Was Wuornos purely a predator, a victim of circumstance, or something far more complicated?

This is not just the story of a killer—it’s a deeper look at how society decides who is beyond redemption.

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For more than 40 years, Joseph DeAngelo terrorized California — committing dozens of home invasions, sexual assaults, and murders while evading every attempt to stop him.

Known to the public as The Golden State Killer, DeAngelo operated across multiple jurisdictions, constantly evolving his methods. He stalked neighborhoods, studied victims, taunted law enforcement, and vanished without leaving evidence strong enough to identify him. Investigators suspected he was highly trained — possibly law enforcement or military — but the case went cold for decades.

On this episode of Unlawful Acts, we break down:

Who Joseph DeAngelo really was

The timeline of crimes spanning Northern and Southern California

How his behavior escalated from burglary to rape to murder

The psychological profile behind his need for control and fear

Why law enforcement failed to catch him for so long

How genetic genealogy finally exposed the man hiding in plain sight

This case reshaped criminal investigations forever and proved that time does not protect predators.

Justice didn’t come quickly — but it came.

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In Part 2 of our DC Snipers series, Unlawful Acts shifts deeper into the heart of Washington, D.C., as the attacks escalate and the city descends into fear. With the nation’s capital on edge, random shootings continue to strike gas stations, sidewalks, schools, and parking lots—turning everyday routines into calculated risks. Investigators scramble to connect the dots as conflicting witness accounts, misleading clues, and mounting political pressure complicate the manhunt.

This episode focuses on the DC-area crimes themselves: the victims’ stories, the psychological warfare created by the randomness of the attacks, and the massive law enforcement response that still struggled to stop the violence. As John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo refine their methods, the pattern becomes clearer—but only in hindsight. Part 2 exposes how close authorities were to the truth, how far off they sometimes were, and how an entire region lived under the shadow of an unseen sniper.

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In Part 1 of our deep dive into the DC Snipers, we trace the origins of the killers long before the terror began. This episode uncovers John Allen Muhammad’s troubled past, his descent into instability, and the events that set the stage for his deadly partnership with 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo. We explore their early connection, the psychological grip Muhammad held over Malvo, and the twisted father-son dynamic that fueled their path toward violence.

From their movements across the country to the planning that would later paralyze an entire region, Part 1 lays the groundwork for understanding how two lives converged into one of the most chilling criminal collaborations in American history. This is the story before the shots — the making of the DC Snipers.

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n this explosive episode of Unlawful Acts, we examine the chilling manifesto, secret life, and deadly crimes of Ted Kaczynski—the Harvard-educated mathematics genius who became one of America’s most infamous domestic terrorists, known to the world as The Unabomber.

From a remote Montana cabin, Kaczynski mailed homemade bombs to universities, airlines, and tech leaders—killing three and injuring dozens over a 17-year campaign against modern society. His writings warned of the dangers of industrialization and technological control—but his method of delivery was destruction.

We trace Kaczynski’s early brilliance, his descent into radicalization, and the FBI's years-long manhunt that ended with one of the most important forensic breakthroughs in history: linguistic profiling.

This is the story of a mind at war—with society, with progress, and ultimately, with itself.

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In this icy cold episode of Unlawful Acts, we dive into the chilling world of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer known as The Iceman. For decades, Kuklinski led a double life—devoted family man at home, and ruthless assassin for the mob by night. His nickname came not only from his emotionless demeanor, but from his method of freezing bodies to obscure time of death.

With over 100 suspected murders to his name, Kuklinski operated with brutal efficiency—poison, guns, knives, and even cyanide-laced food were all part of his deadly toolkit. But behind the calculated kills was a deeply disturbed mind shaped by childhood abuse, street violence, and an insatiable hunger for power and control.

We uncover how he kept his crimes hidden for so long, the mafia connections that fueled his killing spree, and the jaw-dropping interviews that revealed just how far a man will go to silence his conscience.

This is the story of a killer who showed no mercy—and left bodies on ice.

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In the gripping conclusion of Unlawful Acts: The Fox Hollow Farm Killer, investigators close in on Herb Baumeister, unraveling a web of lies that stretches from suburban Indianapolis to the chilling discovery buried beneath his property.

As authorities uncover bones scattered across the wooded estate, the horrifying scale of Baumeister’s crimes finally comes to light. Through forensic revelations, survivor testimony, and haunting police reports, this episode exposes how one man’s secret life became one of the most shocking serial murder cases in American history.

The search for the missing ends here — at Fox Hollow Farm.

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In this first part of a two-episode special, Unlawful Acts unearths the beginnings of one of America’s most chilling true-crime cases — the story of Herb Baumeister, the wealthy Indiana businessman who hid a horrifying secret behind the gates of his estate, Fox Hollow Farm.

Beneath the surface of suburban success, Baumeister lived a double life — one of control, deception, and deadly obsession. As young men from Indianapolis began disappearing, no one could have imagined the dark truth that would soon surface.

From his early psychological unraveling to the first signs of violence, this episode traces the disturbing evolution of a killer who hid in plain sight.

Step inside the walls of Fox Hollow Farm — where the line between respectability and evil begins to blur.

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