Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - The Chicago Tylenol Murders Pt. 3

Episode Date: October 10, 2022

By 2011, the FBI was ready to reexamine the evidence. A theory emerged: What if the Mad Poisoner was actually the Unabomber? Ted Kaczynski had proven he was a revenge-seeking terrorist, and he had connections to Chicago. Perhaps he traded homemade bombs for poisoned pills. Or maybe the deadly concoctions came straight from the Johnson & Johnson facility itself. In the absence of clear answers, only theories remain… and rumors that someone is still out there, replacing Halloween treats with fatal tricks. This is a crossover special with Conspiracy Theories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi listeners, it's Vanessa. Every week I take you into the minds and madness of serial killers, but sometimes we need to look beyond our initial suspect because the official story isn't always the truth. That's where I come in. I'm Carter Roy, host of conspiracy theories. This is our last episode on Chicago's Tylenol murders, which happened 40 years ago this week.

Due to the sensitive nature of today's episode, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussion. of homicide and dismemberment, we advise extreme caution for children under 13. Light snow drifted outside Michael no Tarnacola's home in Yonkers, New York. Michael and his girlfriend, Diane Ellsroth, cozied up in the den watching some late-night TV, a snug romantic evening. That is, until Diane said she had a headache.

Michael opened his pantry and fished out a bottle of extra strength Tylenol. It was February 1986. Four years had passed since the so-called mad poisoner brought the nation to its knees. By that point, Johnson and Johnson had taken extra measures to keep its product tamper-proof. Michael tore through the three layers of protection, the adhesive, the plastic band, and the aluminum foil. It was a fresh bottle. He knew it would be safe. After giving Diane the capsules, the two headed off to bed. The next morning, Diane was dead.

When the toxicologist removed the medicine lid, she could smell the almond-scented cyanide wafting up immediately. It was Chicago all over again. But how did the killer get inside the tamper-proof packaging? There initially seemed to be only one possibility. The pills must have been spiked before they left the assembly line. Welcome to the Tylenol murders. This is a 40th anniversary series presented by conspiracy theories and serial killers.

Spotify Originals from Parcast. I'm your host, Carter Roy. And I'm your host, Vanessa Richardson. This is the finale of our deep dive into the Tylenol murders of 1982. This grim series of homicides sent citizens into a nationwide panic and changed our relationship with over-the-counter medicine forever. You can find episodes of serial killers, conspiracy theories, and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free exclusively on Spotify.

Last time we investigated the life of James Lewis, who was once a suspect for the killing spree. He was eventually charged with attempted extortion, but not the murders themselves, meaning the Tylenol terrorist could still be out there. This time, we'll explore the conspiracy theories about the historic killing spree. First, we'll determine whether the poisonings were actually the work of Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber.

Then we'll hear how the mass murder spawned numerous copycats. The killing spree was so terrifying that it changed Halloween forever. We have all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the lonely hearts killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels. But you don't need to break any laws to find your perfect business partner

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Sprits on lush notes of rainforest orchid and crisp seabries with he fresco paraizzo. Embrace a floral and fruity scent inspired by Rio's nude beach with chiqui bikini or caps for sun-kissed bliss with limonada gelada, where zesty Brazilian lemonade accord meets coconut milk and golden brown sugar. Don't miss Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection only at Sephora. Six weeks after the Tylenol murders, Johnson & Johnson was hard at work to save its product from certain death. They assured everyone that the killing spree was an isolated incident, and within two months, they'd introduce something revolutionary, tamper-resistant packaging. Before, only a plastic cap and a few wads of cotton stood between a would-be poisoner and the capsules,

But the new Tylenol came in a glued box, had a heat shrunk plastic ring on the bottle cap, and a foil seal just inside. If anyone wanted to get in, it seemed far less likely they'd be able to do it without someone noticing. Congress followed Johnson & Johnson's lead, and in 1983 they passed the Tylenol bill, which made it a federal offense to tamper with consumer food and drug products. It seemed like the country was on track to protecting its citizens from poisonings, but there was still one last piece of the puzzle, bringing the Tylenol terrorist to justice. By the end of 1983, the Tylenol Task Force had virtually nothing to go on. James Lewis was in prison for extortion, but they still didn't have any real evidence to tie him to the crime. Every tip they ran from the so-called closet chemist Roger Arnold,

To the wannabe copycats turned up empty. The former Chicago Police Superintendent later said, quote, there was no evidence to pin it on anybody at that time, and there still isn't any evidence to pin it on anyone. It's the perfect crime. Chillingly, to this day, the killer has never been found. But this absence of new information might beg the question. Did the police perhaps catch the Tylenol terrorist,

and not even know it. That brings us to conspiracy theory number one. The man behind the killing spree was the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. The Tylenolterist conjures images of a shadowy figure who mix chemicals to create deadly concoctions. He targeted random, unsuspecting victims he never met. It's a chilling description, but it also matches someone else the country is very familiar. with the Unabomber. From 1978 to 1995, Ted Kaczynski mailed and delivered sophisticated explosives to computer stores, schools, and offices.

His usual weapon of choice was the homemade bomb, but it's possible he could have dabbled with other insidious tools, like poisons and painkillers. After all, Section 145 of his manifesto said that Modern Limey made people depressed, but also, quote, gave them the drugs to take away their unhappiness, which seems to be alluding to prescription drugs. Perhaps Kaczynski thought the only way to feel nothing was through a poisoned pill, and he wanted to be the one to provide the medicine. In the early 1970s, Kaczynski toiled away in a tiny 140-square-foot cabin

tucked deep in the Montana wilderness. There, he started on his insidious path, leading to two projects in the coming decades, a 35,000-word manifesto, and his quest to build the perfect, untraceable, homemade bomb. In an April 1971 journal entry, he said, quote, I act merely from a desire for revenge,

which if you'll remember, is exactly what James Lewis hypothesized to authorities about the Tylenol murderer's motive. In 1978, just four years before the Tylenol murders, Kaczynski moved to the Chicago area, and that's when his reign of terror began. In May, a woman found a package stamped sitting in the middle of a parking lot, wrapped in a brown paper bag. She called the person listed on the return address. Northwestern University professor Buckley Christ and had him pick it up.

Christ didn't know why his name was on the parcel, and as he started to open the mysterious box, he thought better of it. It's a good thing he did, because when authorities finally opened the package, a homemade bomb tore through the paper wrapping, injuring the security officer. A year later, a graduate student at Northwestern University opened what was a looked like a present, but it was no gift, another blast, and another victim maimed. Kaczynski's methods only escalated from there. That fall, 78 people boarded a flight in Chicago's O'Hare Airport bound for D.C., unbeknownst to anyone, a wooden box of flammable

chemicals was tucked in the baggage hold beneath their feet. As the flight soared to 34,500 feet, an altimeter in the box tracked the plane's height until the perfect moment. Then a loud thud interrupted the passenger's journey. Pungent smoke streamed into the cabin. Travelers grabbed the oxygen masks above and assumed crash position. Then nothing. Kaczynski had intended to blow the jet up mid-flight, but his make sure, shift bomb failed to go off as intended.

From June 1980 to July, 1982, Kaczynski delivered four more bombs to college campuses and the home of the United Airlines president. His incendiary devices were getting more sophisticated, but still they weren't getting the job done. Only injuries, no deaths. What if Kaczynski felt frustrated? All this work he put into his work he put into his job done. his homemade devices and no payoff. Later that year, what if he had tried a different method? Cyanide.

Though he mostly lived in Montana, his connections to the Chicago area are hard to ignore. If he ever was there, he would have possibly stayed with his parents in Lombard, Illinois, just a 25-minute drive from where the first victim lived. Their house also wasn't very far from the Janus's or Lynn Reiner's place in Winfield. And Mary McFarland, who collapsed after treating a migraine with tampered Tylenol, was at her job at the Illinois Bell phone center, which is in Lombard. Instead of another ill-planned homemade bomb, Kaczynski could have left his parents' house

one night in late September, purchased a bunch of extra-strength Tylenol, and filled the pills with cyanide. The chemical compound would have been tough to come by in Illinois, but Montana had a thriving gold mining industry. cyanide was used often, and Kaczynski would have been smart enough to track some down from his cabin. The Unabomber could have taken a tour around the Lombard neighborhood, picking pharmacies and grocery stores at random to place his cyanide pills.

A Frank's finer foods here, a jewel pharmacy there, a Walgreens, you get the picture. This might sound like a stretch, but it's not the only evidence against the Unabomber. Like many killers, Kaczynski had a signature. He often chose targets whose names had associations to trees. For instance, the president of United Airlines was named Percy Wood, and he lived in Lake Forest. Sometimes Kaczynski even included twigs inside his wooden-made bombs. Which is why some have pointed out that the founder and co-founder of Johnson and Johnson, were two brothers.

Robert Wood Johnson and James Wood Johnson. The forest vibes also extended to the locations of the Tylenol. The tainted pills were picked up from the Woodfield Shopping Center. Twelve-year-old Mary Kellerman lived in Elk Grove Village. After planting the toxic time bombs and pills across the suburbs, Kaczynski could have retreated to the safety of his mom and dad's house to watch the world panic, just like he'd always wanted.

That all sounds like more than coincidence, and in fact, the FBI seemed to believe so too. In 2009, the FBI's Chicago office announced it would review all existing evidence related to the Tylenol murders case with new methods and technology. And two years later, Kaczynski revealed that they were seeking his DNA in relation to the case. A former defense attorney for the Unabomber told CBS news that he wasn't surprised his client was possibly being looked at. Kaczynski definitely had the technical know-how to place cyanide into capsules and redistribute them throughout neighborhood shelves. But since we couldn't find any follow-up on the investigation, we can assume that either there wasn't a match or that Kaczynski didn't agree to submit his DNA.

He knew that comparing a partial DNA sample wasn't always accurate, and he may have feared that the FBI might try to pin the crimes on him. Kaczynski even told the FBI to check the evidence taken from his cabin in 1996, and they'll find no cyanide compounds anywhere. Clearly, the FBI didn't find enough evidence to press charges, and if this new method was so successful, it doesn't make sense why Kaczynski would go back to, using bombs for the rest of his career.

I think this is another case of the FBI and conspiracy theorists grasping at straws. Still, I can't shake the fact that his parents' house in Lombard was so close to the killing spree. So while it may not be true, it's still an interesting theory. Really the only reason the Unabomber theory works is because the real Tylenol man has been cunning enough to evade police for the past 40 years. But perhaps that's because the police were looking in the wrong place. They searched for a lone wolf going from store to store, but they also initially worried that the real poisoner was closer to the action,

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vanity fair lingerie. Find yours at Target today. Now back to the story. As soon as seven people died after swallowing extra strength Tylenol, many experts assume Tylenol was finished. A few weeks after the murders, the medicine went from making up 35 percent of the pain. reliever market to just eight. And while doctors acted quickly to save Mary Kellerman and the Janice family, the brand's owner, Johnson & Johnson, performed its own kind of triage. They recalled the medicine and changed Tylenol's packaging. Before long, they'd launched ad campaigns focused on trust in safety. And soon it became clear that Johnson and Johnson had pulled off the impossible. Not only did their sales bounce back.

to a normal level, but they were painted as the eighth victim of the tragedy. One business analyst called it the greatest comeback since Lazarus. The New York Times referred to them as heroes. But some argue that when corporations are involved, one thing's for sure. To come off looking that clean, you've got to sweep a few things under the rug. Which brings us to conspiracy theory number two. The tainted pills came straight from the Johnson & Johnson factory. In the immediate aftermath of the Tylenol murders, some officials determined that the pills couldn't have been tainted in the factory for a simple reason. Cyanide is incredibly corrosive.

The chemical can eat through just about anything, and the gelatin capsules wouldn't have lasted long if they'd been tainted more than a day or two prior to the poisoning. Because of that, as well as the varying lot numbers on each bottle and other differences, they believe the pills were. must have been poisoned shortly before the bottles were purchased. That ruled out any tampering at a Johnson & Johnson plant and absolved the company of responsibility. The Illinois Attorney General said, quote, it is a mathematical and physical impossibility. It could not have been done in the factory.

But questions still lingered for others. On February 7, 1986, 23-year-old Diane Ellsroth went to her boyfriend's parents' house in Yonkers, New York. She'd been dating Michael no Tarnacola for about three years, and those around them considered them unofficially engaged. But that evening, Diane complained of a headache and asked her partner if he had aspirin. When Michael returned, he offered her extra strength Tylenol instead. She popped the pills and went to sleep.

The next day, Diane was dead. When the lab tests revealed the presence of cyanide, many feared the Tylenol man was back. And this time his methods had become more sophisticated. The family did not report signs of tampering on the package. The medical examiner said, quote, whoever did it, it was so precise, so surreptitious, no one could suspect anything. But Johnson and Johnson told the country not to worry. The cops found this was an important.

isolated incident. They believe the pills were poisoned after they were purchased. It was not going to turn into another Chicago. However, not everyone was convinced. The Westchester County District Attorney, Carl Vergari, was a dominating force in the region's legal community. In 1986, he found himself thrown into a possible rerun of Chicago in 1982. At press conferences, Vergari spoke urgently. As far as he, he said, he was a was concerned that tamperings could have happened during shipping or even at the factory, which meant one thing. More deadly bottles could be out there. Vergari had a reason to believe this, because shortly after the original Tylenol murders,

the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office ran their own test. The staff duplicated the cyanide-laced Tylenol and monitored the capsules for signs of corrosion. And six days after being packed with poison, the pills still showed no signs of corrosion. In 1986, the medical examiner and Diane's murder tried the same test. When he examined the cyanide, he found it could have been planted up to 10 days before Diane swallowed the pills. More testing was needed to confirm these results, as well as analysis of the shipping routes and factory time.

But this led Vergari to his belief, one shared by few. few others. A week after Diane's murder, two blocks from where the first bottle was purchased, an FDA officer pulled a package of Tylenol off the shelf. Inside, they found five capsules filled with the same poison. With this new bottle, Fergari's suspicions were furthered. He told the New York Times, quote, in all likelihood, the probabilities are the contamination occurred sometime during the manufacturing process. Johnson and Johnson and the FDA reportedly asked consumers to avoid using the capsules in the days after Diane's death, though spokesman James Burke said that a recall would remind the killer that he won.

Fortunately, no other bottles were tainted. Unfortunately, whoever killed Diane did get away with murder, because just like in 1982, the case went cold. To some, it really felt like the district attorney was on to something. Perhaps authorities had the chance to find the culprit if they more thoroughly investigated the origin of the pills tampering. Exactly that happened, but not in the way Vergari predicted. A few weeks after Diane's death, the FBI ordered a second inspection of the Tylenol. And here, they squashed any doubt. An FBI spokesperson said, previously undetected some of the Tylenol.

signs of tampering have now been discovered using sophisticated scientific examinations. Our examinations have further determined it was possible to invade the bottles after packaging was complete. This threw cold water on the theory that the perpetrator was a Johnson & Johnson employee. Besides, there's no reason for the FBI or Johnson and Johnson to try to impede an investigation. Likely they wanted to find the culprit just as much as Vergari did, if not more. Luckily, no more people were hurt in the 1986 tampering case. After a market research study, Johnson & Johnson switched from capsules to a tablet form.

Now, no matter how sophisticated the would-be killer, no one could turn the painkiller into poison. Unfortunately, that didn't stop murderers from tampering with other brands. Four months after Diane took her fatal pill, 52-year-old bruising, nickel fell unconscious in a single-wide trailer home. His wife Stella immediately called 911. As the emergency workers loaded Bruce onto a stretcher, they had to work around Stella's aquarium with her tropical fish. She loved those fish, even if their supplies took up a lot of space.

Stella told them he'd taken accedrin capsules right before he collapsed. She made sure to point out the two bottles they had in their house. Bruce was flown to the hospital in a helicopter, but nothing could save him. Stella seemed sure that the pills had something to do with it, but after an autopsy, examiners missed the clues. His cause of death was deemed emphysema. Six days later in the same town, 40-year-old Sue Snow woke up early in the morning and took a few accedrin pills.

Her teenage daughter found her unconscious in the bathroom. Her pulse faint. She died soon after. During the autopsy, a whiff of almonds hung in the air, the tell-tale sign of cyanide. It wasn't long until the FBI got involved. The shadow of the Chicago murders hung heavy as authorities swept through the aisles of county grocery stores. All in all, they discovered two more deadly bottles, one of Excedrin, one of Anison. Excedrin's owner initiated a nationwide recall.

of the extra strength product. They pulled the capsule product immediately. Meanwhile, a drug industry trade association posted a $300,000 reward for information. The next day, Stella and Nicol called the police about her exhedron pills. When they arrived, they found the same kind of pill bottles that were in Snow's house.

Examiners officially changed Bruce's cause of death, and under his insurance policy, Stella got about $175,000. But something seemed fishy. Stella said she purchased the packages of toxic et cetera at different stores at different times. How did she end up with two out of five of the poison bottles? And when they looked into it more,

FBI examiners realized that Bruce's signature on his insurance documents was forged. Finally, the cyanide in the excedrin was different than what was used in Chicago, With its little flecks of small green crystals, agents realized it came from an algae killer. It was exactly the kind of product used to clean small household fish tanks. The FBI turned their attention back to nickel when they remembered she had an aquarium in her trailer. They interviewed her daughter, who revealed that Stella had recently talked of killing her husband in some way. Apparently she was more of a DIY type. She planted the cyanide into her husband's Excedrin.

But when examiners failed to notice the connection, she realized she needed to do more to get their attention. Inspired by the Chicago murders, she planted three more bottles around the area, one of which killed Susan Snow. In May 1988, nickel was found guilty of product tampering and sentenced to 90 years.

Surprisingly, she wasn't charged for murder. There's a bitter irony here. She may have gotten the idea to cover her tracks by impersonating the 1982 Tylenol man, but she was charged under the 1983 federal anti-tampering law, a bill that only existed because of the same killer. The Tylenol murder's influence went beyond over-the-counter medicine. Soon after the killing spree, copycats were injecting fatal toxins into food,

as well. Everything from orange juice to hot dogs was subject to tampering. However, there was a certain type of food that seemed to be the most at risk, candy, and once per year, kids were allowed to swallow as much as they wanted. Halloween has always been known for mischief, but now, every time a kid knocked on a door, they took a risk. Was it a trick or a treat? Coming up, a nightmare on Halloween. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session.

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And now back to the story. In June 1980, CNN launched its 24-7 news channel. This was the dawn of the 24-hour news cycle. And when the mad poisoner destroyed seven lives in the fall of 1982, the constant coverage became fertile ground to spread panic and fear. In short, America was in for a very spooky Halloween. Which brings us to our... final conspiracy theory. The Tylenol murders inspired a legion of sadists to turn

Halloween candy into deadly weapons. In the month after the murders, about 270 product tampering incidents occurred, affecting everything from eyedrops to nasal spray. After using Synex, one Wyoming man suffered acid burns. Teenagers were hospitalized after downing acid-filled Pepsi. The FDA deemed 36 incidents across the country to be so-called hardcore true tamperings. And to make matters worse, a major holiday was just around the corner, Halloween.

Two days before the holiday, a 28-year-old Long Island man bit into a candy bar. He felt a sharp pinch in his cheek. When he pulled the candy out of his mouth, he saw a straight pin tucked inside. The next day, police in Somerdale, New Jersey, said that six children needed immediate treatment after they chewed some tootsie rolls during a school celebration. The sweets were laced with PCP.

Connecticut's deputy Consumer Affairs Commissioner said, quote, this is getting completely out of control. Parents across the country were terrified. They knew that if nothing changed, their kids would soon wander through the neighborhood, collecting booby traps from strangers. Halloween had to be stopped. Abigail Van Buren sounded the alarm in her famous Dear Abby column. On October 31, she warned, quote,

somebody's child will become violently ill or die after eating poison candy or an apple containing a razor blade. The mayor of Vineland, New Jersey, wanted to make sure that didn't happen. He canceled Halloween completely. forbidding his town from trick-or-treating. He wasn't alone. Time magazine reported more than 40 communities in the U.S.

banned the door-to-door fun or imposed strict curfews. When one father asked his nine-year-old son why he didn't want to go out, the young boy said, quote, because they're putting cyanide in the candy. Families huddled in fear of a poisonous Snickers bar. Parents carefully opened every wrapper, and several hospitals offered to ask them. X-ray the treats to detect any hidden metal blades in the chocolate.

But these methods only offered a false sense of security. Aresa's peanut butter cup might not contain any razor blades, but the X-ray would miss it if it was filled with poison. The scare reached epidemic proportions. That year, costume and candy sales plummeted by more than 20%. Towns pivoted to city-sanctioned fairs and celebrations. While they might not have been as fun as trick-or-treating, they were at least safe. A police captain who investigated the Tylenol murders said, quote,

no one trusted anything. Halloween has forever changed because of this. The case actually changed a national holiday. Or at least that's how it seemed. Communities did close their doors to trick-or-treaters in October 1982. Razor blades were found in various foods, like packages of ballpark Franks, and some fell ill on Halloween. However, according to criminologist Dr. Joel Best, the idea of planting deadly poisons and needles into Halloween candy is just an urban myth. Best researched every fatal case of what he called Halloween sadism from the 1960s to the 80s,

and found that not one of them were true to the idea of Halloween sadism. In fact, he found only five deaths associated with tampered Halloween candy, and each of these reports are flawed. For instance, in 1990, a seven-year-old girl collapsed and died while trick-or-treating in Santa Monica. The police carefully confiscated her candy as if it were a murder weapon. However, the coroner found she died from heart problems, not the coroner. the sweets. Still, the case helped solidify the theory of the so-called Candy Man. However, there is one other case that people point to when they talk about candy poisonings,

and it happened eight years before the Tylenol attacks. It was Halloween 1974. It had been raining, and Ronald O'Brien, a young father, had five pixie sticks tucked inside his raincoat. O'Brien handed them to five children, including two of his own. His eight-year-old son Timothy tore off the paper top and poured the sugar crystals into his mouth where they slowly melted. However, Timothy said he didn't really like it. It tasted a little bitter.

That makes sense because along with the grains of sugar were grains of cyanide. An hour later, the young boy was dead. In a twist of fate, none of the other children went for the candy. When one boy asked his mom if he could have some, she told him to wait until school the next day. At his son's funeral, O'Brien gave an emotional eulogy, but in the investigation after the boy's death, authorities made an alarming discovery. O'Brien had taken a life insurance policy out on his kids, and the poisoning was a murder. or plot. O'Brien's story cemented the myth of the lone maniac out to poison trick-or-treaters,

because even though he targeted his own son, he was willing to risk four other children's lives to do so. And eight years later, when the Tylenol terrorist-laced painkillers with the same poison, the urban legend felt like it had become real. There's a good reason for the hysteria, though, the news media. With the daily news cycle, TV reporters are incentivized to stir panic after panic to hold viewers' attention and keep ratings high. And the Chicago Tylenol murders were the perfect story. But this constant alarm created a lot of worry.

One psychologist coined the term headline stress disorder due to the fact that the news causes hopelessness and stress. In an Israeli study, those who increased their watching of TV newscasts were one-day-one. point six times more likely to develop symptoms of anxiety. In the face of such worry, it's no wonder that so many parents chose to keep their children at home on Halloween. It gave them a feeling of control when in reality they had none. For some, the Tylenol murders were the end of America's innocence. In 2012, Paula Prince's friend Joan Ahern opened up about how it changed her view of the world. She said, quote, I lost my trust in humanity.

I was afraid to give my kids milk because there were no safety caps on milk. I kept thinking to myself, if they can open up a pill bottle and put cyanide in there, what's to stop them from poisoning all our food? Drug companies, the FDA, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission have done everything they can to keep customers safe. They've made new laws to punish poisoners and introduce tamper-prisoners. packaging. However, a spokesperson for a trade association made an ominous point.

He said, you can't make anything tamper-proof. You can't even make a vault tamper-proof. Burglars prove it all the time. And since the Tylenol terrorist was never caught, you never know when they might decide to strike again. You take pills to make your pain go away, but make sure the box is sealed. Make sure the cap is locked and make sure the tinfoil isn't torn, because otherwise, it might just work all too well.

Thanks for tuning in to our special on the Tylenol murders. You can find all episodes of conspiracy theories, serial killers, and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll be back next time with our regular episodes of conspiracy theories and serial killers. Until then, Remember, the truth isn't always the best story. And the official story isn't always the truth. Conspiracy theories and serial killers are Spotify originals from Parcast.

Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler. Sound design by Michael Motion with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Nick Johnson, Trent Williamson, and Carly Madden. This episode was written by Ben Carrow, edited by Amber von Schassen and Kate Gallagher, fact-checked by Kevin Johnson, researched by Bradley Klein, and produced by Bruce Katovich. This episode stars Vanessa Richardson and Carter Roy. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up, getting ready for bed, is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again.

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