True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History and the Authors That Have Written About Them

  In 1980 in Toledo, Ohio—on one of the holiest days of the church calendar—the body of a nun was discovered in the sacristy of a hospital chapel. Seventy-one-year-old Sister Margaret Ann had been strangled and stabbed, her corpse arranged in a shameful and stomach-churning pose. But the police's most likely suspect was inexplicably released and the investigation was quietly buried. Despite damning evidence, Father Gerald Robinson went free. Twenty-three years later the priest's name resurfaced in connection with a bizarre case of satanic ritual and abuse. It prompted investigators to exhume the remains of the slain nun in search of the proof left behind that would indelibly mark Father Robinson as Sister Margaret Ann's killer: the sign of the Devil. When Satan Wore a Cross is a shocking true story of official cover-ups, madness, murder and lies—and of an unholy human monster who disguised himself in holy garb. WHEN SATAN WORE A CROSS-Fred Rosen

In the mid-to-late 1980's, a quiet neighborhood near Tacoma, Washington was terrorized by the violence of three men: Paul St. Pierre, an alcoholic psychopath; his younger brother, Chris, who had committed unspeakable acts to be one of the boys; and Paul's childhood friend, druggie Andrew Webb. The three beat up one man before cutting his throat on a deserted beach. They decapitated another victim, whom Paul St. Pierre had killed, and buried his head in a bucket of concrete. Soon, the twisted triad turned on each other. St. Pierre shot Andrew Webb in the stomach during an argument. Chris St. Pierre called the cops. He and Webb, who survived his attack, were sentenced to life in prison. Paul St. Pierre choked to death alone in his jail cell. HEAD SHOT-Burl Barer

In June 1983, Doug and Peggy Ryen, their ten-year-old daughter and a 11-year-old house guest were brutally murdered in Chino Hills, California. Two days before, Kevin Cooper had escaped from a nearby prison and hid in a vacant house 125 yards below the murdered family's hilltop house. After the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department established that he had ben there, it focused on him as the lone assailant despite numerous eyewitness reports that implicated three white men as the perpetrators. Kevin Cooper was convicted of the murders in 1985 and has been on Death Row at San Quentin since then. SCAPEGOAT shows how the sheriff's office and the District Attorney's office of San Bernardino County framed him for the horrific murders and how the justice system has failed him at almost every turn in his long, drawn-out appeal process. As O'Conner's shocking but thorough investigation shows, the sheriff's department discarded information that pointed at other suspects, destroyed evidence that exculpated Cooper and planted evidence that implicated him. If it were not for a court-ordered moratorium on executions in California over the lethal injection controversy, Cooper-with no appeals remaining-would have been executed. SCAPEGOAT-THE CHINO HILLS MURDERS AND THE FRAMING OF KEVIN COOPER-J. Patrick O'Conner

Sarah Ludemann was new to love. The Pinellas, Florida, 17-year old was a late bloomer. When she fell for a boy she was blind to the world of sex, drugs and drama swirling around her. Soon, Sarah had a bitter enemy in 18-year-old waitress Rachel Wade. Both girls were head-over-heels with a cocky two-timer named Joshua Camacho. On a warm spring night, their passions erupted into violence. A knife flashed under the streetlights. When the fight was over one girl was dead and the other charged with murder. In an emotion-packed courtroom the whole story took shape--a troubling tale of conflicting lives, tangled sexual affairs, and the high price of having the right feelings for the wrong guy. A KNIFE IN THE HEART-Michael Benson

  The beloved son of Holocaust survivors, forty-nine-year-old George Kogan grew up in Puerto Rico before making his way to New York City, where he enjoyed great success as an antiques and art dealer. Until one morning in 1990, when George was approached on the street by an unidentified gunman—and was killed in cold blood. Before the shooting, George had been on the way to his girlfriends’s apartment. Mary-Louise Hawkins was twenty-eight years old and had once worked as George’s publicist. But ever since they became lovers, George’s estranged wife, Barbara, was consumed with bitterness. As she and George hashed out a divorce, Barbara fueled her anger into greed—especially after a judge turned down her request for $5,000 a week in alimony. Barbara, who stood to collect $4.3 million in life insurance, was immediately suspected in George’s death. But it would take authorities almost twenty years to uncover a link between her lawyer, Manuel Martinez, and the hitman who killed George. In 2010, Martinez agreed to testify against his client…and Barbara eventually pled guilty to charges of grand larceny, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder in the first degree. THE MILLIONAIRE'S WIFE-Cathy Scott

On January 23, 2000, already battered by an ice storm, the rural Alabama resort town of Mentone was about to be struck by an even more terrfying freak catastrophe. Hurtling down the highway in a Lincoln Town Car was Hayward Bissell, a 400-pound madman on a murder rampage. Ramming the pickup truck of Don and Rhea Pirch, Bissell lured Don Pirch on to the road, running him down with his car. Bissell next targeted the home of James and Sue Pumphrey. After stabbing James Pumphrey in the stomach Bissell was thwarted by two family dogs, who gave their lives to protect their owners. Their sacrifice bought the Pumpreys enough time to get a gun and scare off Bissell-who didn't know the weapon was actually inoperable. When Bissell was finally stopped, police discovered that he wasn't alone. Occupying the passenger seat beside him was the mutilated, partially dismembered body of his pregnant girlfriend, Patricia Ann Booher. In February 2002, Bissell pled "guilty but insane" and was sent to prison for life. Was he really crazy? Or was he a psychopath trying to avoid a death sentence.. BLOOD HIGHWAY-A TWISTED KILLER ON A RAMPAGE MAKES A COUNTRY ROAD A HIGHWAY TO HELL-Sheila Johnson

On November 6, 2000, paramedics answered a call to find Kristin Rossum, 24, sobbing. Her husband, Greg de Villers, wasn't breathing and she claimed he had overdosed on drugs after learning she was leaving him. But family and friends who knew of Greg's distaste for drugs weren't buying Kristin's story - particularly the idea that he would take his own life. The daughter of a well-to-do California family, Rossum was a brainy blonde beauty whose talent for toxicology had won her a post at the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office. But her sweet smile masked a dark side. She'd developed a taste for methamphetamine in high school, and six months after her marriage to Greg, she'd begun seeking secret trysts with other men. At the time of her husband's death, Rossum was engaged in an illicit affair with her married boss. Investigators found that the Medical Examiner's Office was missing supplies of meth and fentanyl, the narcotic that had killed her husband. With each clue discovered, another piece of Rossum's "good girl" facade fell away. What the world would eventually see was the true face of a murderer - and the hand of justice...POISONED LOVE-Caitlin Rother

  On June 4, 1989, the bodies of Jo, Michelle, and Christe Rogers were found floating in the serene waters of Tampa Bay, Florida. They were stripped below the waist, bound, and tied to concrete blocks. They were going on vacation! It was a trip that may seem normal to some. But to the Rogers family, it was the trip  of a lifetime. They were going to Florida to make some memories. But Florida would literally become a tourist  trap for Jo, Michelle, and Christe. They would not make it home alive. The Rogers women were going to experience Florida in the classic fashion. They would color their days with beaches,  attractions, and maybe even a visit to Mickey Mouse. This would be a welcome respite from their daily grind spent on a three-hundred-acre dairy farm in Ohio. They were determined to enjoy every moment. There were still no fresh leads by the spring of 1992. Moore decided to push harder with the media. He released information from a psychological profile that was prepared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The reward was raised to $25,000. Moore held press conferences and had the case featured on such national television shows as Unsolved Mysteries and  Diabolical Minds: Case Studies. Something clicked this time. Jo Ann Steffey of Tampa was convinced that her neighbor was the killer. Police did not act on Steffey's tip initially but she was persistent and police finally made the arrest of Oba Chandler that year. OBA CHANDLER AND THE MURDER OF THE ROGER'S FAMILY-Fred Shrum, III.  

SERIAL KILLER COUPLES: Bonded by Sexual Depravity, Abduction, and Murder chronicles the true crimes of sexually motivated serial killers who are intimates. In this latest true crime book from award winning, bestselling criminologist R. Barri Flowers, nine gripping tales examine killer couples from America, England, and Canada whose murderous reign of terror knows no end till they are brought to justice. Chapter 1: Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, Chapter 2: Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, Chapter 3: Fred West and Rosemary West, Chapter 4: Gerald Gallego and Charlene Gallego, Chapter 5: Douglas Clark and Carol Mary Bundy, Chapter 6: Alvin Neelley and Judith Ann Neelley, Chapter 7: Alton Coleman and Debra Denise Brown, Chapter 8: James Gregory Marlow and Cynthia Coffman, Chapter 9: Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. SERIAL KILLER COUPLES-R. Barri Flowers

Nancy Cooper is missing… Her husband said she went for a jog and never came home. Hundreds search for the vivacious mother of two young girls in the upscale North Carolina neighborhood. Days later, Nancy’s body is discovered facedown in a ditch a few miles from her home. It appears she’d been snatched off a jogging trail and strangled. Yet, focus immediately falls on Nancy’s smart, athletic and handsome husband, Brad, because the couple had been embroiled in a violently contentious divorce. Brad Cooper steadfastly maintains his innocence. Nancy’s loved ones know of Brad’s lies and his cheating. They know he wielded an unhealthy control over his wife. They feared, with good reason, that the strong-willed Nancy was ultimately no match for her husband’s dark side As the story unfolds in this peaceful suburb, secrets are revealed, families are torn apart, and a trail of damning evidence paves the path to final justice. LOVE LIES-A TRUE STORY OF MARRIAGE AND MURDER IN THE SUBURBS-Amanda Lamb

Jeff Mudgett is the great, great grandson of America's most shocking serial killer-H. H. Holmes. Jeff Mudgett was previously on True Murder talking about his book Bloodstains and his discovery of memoirs of H.H. Holmes which led to incredible new and shocking information about America's infamous serial killer and his murderous secrets. Jeff vowed on that program that he would also soon have the definitive evdience that would prove that H.H. Holmes was a actually Jack The Ripper. THE PROOF THAT H. H. HOLMES WAS JACK THE RIPPER-Jeff Mudgett-author of BLOODSTAINS

Veteran radio broadcaster and Edgar award-winning author Burl Barer and famed attorney Don Woldman created True Crimes Uncensored on Outlaw Radio in 2008. Don left the program in 2011 but has reunited with Barer for a 2012 syndicated television series True Crimes produced by Hart D. Fisher for the American Horrors channel. Hart is a successful horror author, a critically acclaimed poet, a horror filmmaker (Flowers on the Razorwire) and was a regular contributor to author Corey Mitchell’s In Cold Blog. Fisher has also produced music videos, currently involved with Danzig and Gorgeous Frankenstein. His first feature, The Garbage Man, was released in 2009 to critical acclaim. Hart’s opinions on serial killer culture have been sought by television programs such as Entertainment Tonight, Larry King Live, The Jerry Springer Show, CNN Headline News, A&E's Biography, as well as Time magazine and The A-Z Guide to Serial Killers. Fisher began his art career as the publisher of Boneyard Press, an independent publishing house that has garnered coverage worldwide from mass media and protest marchers thanks to books such as Jeffrey Dahmer: An Unauthorized Biography of a Serial Killer and O.J.'s Big Bust Out. Hart is the producer and on camera host for the internationally syndicated television program American Horrors.  Burl, Don and Hart will discuss the new television program, giving the audience a sneak peak as to what viewers can expect from the program. TRUE CRIMES on AMERICAN HORRORS-Burl Barer, Don Woldman and Hart D. Fisher. 

  Casper, Wyoming:1973. 11 year-old Amy Burridge rides with her 18 year-old sister, Becky, to the grocery store. When they finish their shopping, Becky’s car gets a flat tire. Two men politely offer them a hand. But they were anything but Good Samaritans. The girls would suffer unspeakable crimes at the hands of these men before being thrown from a bridge into the North Platte River. One miraculously survived. The other did not. Author and journalist Ron Franscell who lived in Casper at the time of the crime, and was a friend to Amy and Becky, can’t forget Wyoming’s most shocking story of abduction, rape and murder. The two men who violated her and Amy were sentenced to life in prison, but the demons of her past kept haunting Beck until she met her fate years later at the same bridge where she’d lost her sister. THE DARKEST NIGHT-Ron Franscell

Female prostitutes from the East Side of Vancouver were disappearing and yet police had made no arrests. One police oficer stated that a serial killer was on the loose and yet officially the police didn't think so. People came forward with incredible tales of a slow-witted pig farmer named 'Willy Pickton'. Police ignored the stories as they came from women deemed non-credible. There were protests by the families of missing women and stories in newspapers everywhere. But by the time police finally were able to search Willy Pickton's property it turned into the biggest, most comprehensive, expensive and high profile murder trial in Canadian history with Pickton charged with 33 murders. He stated in custody that one more murder and he would have hit 50! It was found that he had butchered vulnerable street women who wound up being fed to his pigs and visitors partying on the farm. Award winning and best-selling investigative journalist Stevie Cameron has penned the difinitive book about one of the most shocking cases in history. ON THE FARM-ROBERT WILLIAM PICKTON-Stevie Cameron

    Now that Joshua Komisarjevsky has been sentenced to death we revisit my interview with author Brian McDonald as we discuss In The Middle Of The Night. The affluent suburb of Cheshire, Connecticut, seemed like the perfect place for Dr. William Petit and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, to raise their two lovely daughters… Until July 23, 2007, when, according to police, two ex-cons invaded the Petit home hoping to embark on a routine robbery—one that would ultimately prove deadly. What unfolded at 300 Sorghum Mill Drive was a tragic and horrifying sequence of events that shocked a community and made headlines across the nation. Before the morning was over, Mrs. Hawke-Petit and one of her daughters would be sexually assaulted, the entire house would go up in flames, and only Dr. Petit—his head bloodied, his legs bound—would manage to escape with his life. With the help of neighbors and local police, the two suspects were soon found and captured. Now, Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes await trial for murder IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.