Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Hitchhiker Killer” Thor Nis Christiansen

Episode Date: June 29, 2020

Growing up in the California town of Solvang, Thor Nis Christiansen was the quiet son of Danish immigrants. As he grew older, Thor began harboring dark, disturbing fantasies about women. Before his 20th birthday, he would strike for the first time—and it wouldn't be the last... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder and sexual violence that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. On a cool evening in January of 1977, cars whizzed through a busy intersection near the community of Ila Vista, California. Patty Laney, a bright 21-year-old college student from the nearby UC Santa Barbara, sucked in a deep breath and approached the road. In her hands, she gripped a stack of missing person flyers. As Patty approached a corner light post,

she looked down at the pictures of the two missing women. They looked so much like her. Patty shook away the unpleasant thought, pulled out a roll of tape, and got to work hanging the flyers. She didn't want to be at the intersection longer than she had to. It was the same place one of the women vanished from, six weeks earlier. Once the flyers were up, Patty waited a few minutes.

A friend was supposed to pick her up and take her to a play rehearsal, but there was no sign of them. Patty shrugged her shoulders. There was nothing else to do. She stepped up to the curb and stuck her thumb out. Immediately as if it had been waiting, a car pulled over. Patty peered inside. A young man with blue eyes and blonde hair smiled and motioned for her to get in.

As the man merged back into traffic, Patty looked down at her flyers and wondered who the next woman to go missing would be. Hi, I'm Greg Paulson. This is serial killers, a podcast original. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're telling the story of Thorneiss Christensen, also known as California's hitchhiker killer. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other podcast originals for free on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. To stream serial killers for free on Spotify, just open the app and type serial killers in the search bar. This is a one-part episode covering the killing spree of Thorneiss Christensen.

First, we'll take a look at what might have turned the quiet, blonde boy into an impulsive killer. Later, we'll focus on the investigation into his slayings, and learn about the would-be victim who lived to tell the tale. Stick around for the full hitchhiker killer story after this. 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.

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That's ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice.

Off campus, L, every year after, The Love Hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. In 1963, the five-year-old Thor, Nis Christensen, and his parents, Anna Marie and Miss Christensen,

arrived in the United States. The family had immigrated from Denmark in search of better opportunities in an ever-expanding economy. After arriving on the West Coast, the family decided to settle in the California town of Solvang. The move made the move made. sense. Solvang was founded by Danes and is known as the Danish capital of America. There,

people spoke Danish, and the traditional architecture and windmills reminded the newly arrived family of their homeland. Not only would it feel almost like home, it might help young Thor settle in easier. Thor's parents didn't waste any time and set out to start a business. On a busy street near the middle of town, they opened a restaurant that specialized in authentic Danish food. Almost overnight, the restaurant was a success. It was just the thing the town's locals who were proud of their Danish heritage had been missing. The restaurant's success brought the family a degree of prosperity, just as they'd hoped. Comfortable and financially secure, Thor had everything he needed to excel.

The cherubic blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy performed well in his academic subjects and was notably well-behaved. Thor's teachers considered him one of their brightest students. But around 6th or 7th grade, Thor's friends noticed a change in him. He was no longer the innocent, quiet boy they knew. While playing games like basketball, Thor would snap for no reason. Overcome with anger, he would lash out by kicking the ball away, forcing others to retrieve it. In the TV documentary series Born to Kill, Thor's childhood friend Ron, said that Thor was just not a very nice person.

He'd be fine, then all of a sudden he'd snap, and he'd just be mean and nasty. Ron also recalled that around this time, Thor began to hurt small animals. After receiving a butterfly net, Thor grew bored with trapping small insects. Before long, he was catching sparrows and bullfrogs. Thor meticulously taped firecrackers to the trapped animals.

Then he would light the fuse, and watch them explode. While Thor's behavior was startling, it may have been prompted by childhood trauma. A friend admitted that Thor's father was a hardcore alcoholic, who would often beat up on Thor for little or no reason. Vanessa's going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode.

Please note, Vanessa's not a licensed psychologist or a psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. In an article titled, risk factors among adult children of alcoholics by Kathy W. Hall and Raymond E. Webster, the authors discuss the effects of growing up with an alcoholic parent. They explain that in this type of dysfunctional family system, children often fail to learn the emotional tools necessary to deal with their anger. When Thor's father was irrationally angry with him, Thor's perpetual

fear of making a mistake may have led him to develop inappropriate coping mechanisms. These are unconscious strategies, which were hardwired into Thor's brain, might explain certain behaviors, such as his propensity for killing animals. It's also possible that Thor had an undiagnosed mental illness, which was exacerbated by his father's alcoholism. Whatever was happening in the Christensen house was a recipe for disaster. Now, instead of excelling in a productive environment, Thor floundered in a dysfunctional Perhaps in an attempt to cope with his troubled home life, Thor himself began drinking alcohol. His friend Ron remembered Thor giving him his first beer in the seventh grade.

As Ron sipped the warm, bitter beer, Thor downed his own like a seasoned drinker. It was obvious to him that Thor was no stranger to the bottle. By the time he started high school, Thor's drinking had become routine, and he was combining alcohol with other drugs. Thor was spiraling out of control, and he was enabled in his addiction by his mother, Anna Marie. Thor's mother spoiled him. It's possible she did so out of a feeling of guilt for her husband's actions. Or perhaps she simply liked to give her son nice things.

When he turned 16, his parents gifted him a new Audi. His mother would also leave a $20 bill on Thor's dresser for him to take whenever he needed. Then she would replace it with another. It was a never-ending cycle. And those 20s weren't used for the wholesome fun as mother might have envisioned. In a television interview, Thor's high school friend Guy said, The first thing we'd do is get a fifth of scotch, and he'd have a couple of shots before class. Unsurprisingly, the alcohol wasn't good for Thor's already slipping grades.

The once-innocent boy with a promising future had now turned into the troubled young man who struggled with addiction. As Thor's interest in school waned and his grades declined, he cut class more frequently. When he was at school, Thor struggled to fit in with his classmates. Thor had also gained a lot of weight and was reportedly too embarrassed to talk to girls. In a later interview, Thor's friend Norman noted how the rejections, perceived or actual, affected Thor. Over time, Thor became increasingly reclusive. Instead of joining friends at the beach or other social gatherings, Thor spent most of his time alone in his car, smoking pot and drinking.

It was here, parked on a bluff overlooking the ocean, that Thor began to harbor dark thoughts. He was angry over the rejections of his peers, and his relationship with his parents was chaotic. Feeling powerless, he imagined a situation in which he had complete control. In these disturbing fantasies, he would have sex with the corpses of young women. In the building blocks of necrophilia, Jack Pemond explains that while the causes for this disorder are complex, necrophilia is often born from the universal desire for acceptance. A deceased partner is incapable of rejecting or emotionally hurting anyone. Thor might have craved that unconditional compliance.

To try and quiet these thoughts, Thor drank more, which only worsened the fantasies. His mood darkened to the point that friends started calling him cloudy and overcast Christensen. The nickname only pushed him away more. In the middle of his senior year, Thor dropped out of high school. During the day, he worked at a gas station pumping gas and fixing cars. At night, he drove around, searching for isolated places to park and drink. It was these nightly excursions that led him to the town of Ila Vista. 40 miles from Solvang, Ila Vista was an idyllic beachside community,

home to the University of California, Santa Barbara. Many residents were students who made the most of the peaceful, carefree town. People in Ila Vista felt safe. Few outsiders visited, and most of the students knew each other. In 1976, it still was common to see young students out on the streets late at night, and it wasn't at all unusual for them to hitchhike in and out of town. What they didn't know was that 18-year-old Thor Christensen was spying from the shadows. Something spurred Thor to shift his nightly routine from sitting alone in an isolated area

to cruising through the bustling college town. He watched the young women going to and from their social events and fantasized about them lying on the side of the road dead. And now, instead of pushing these thoughts away, Thor began to embrace them. On a chilly November day in 1976, Thor finally gave in to his dark impulses. He drove up the coast to the outskirts of Isla Vista. There, at a busy intersection, he saw a young woman standing at the edge of the curb. Jacqueline Rook was a 21-year-old UC Santa Barbara student.

She was considered a leader among the student body. Jacqueline had spent the day shopping in town, and when it was time to head home, She approached a busy intersection and stuck out her thumb. Again, hitchhiking was something students did regularly. It was considered a safe way to get around. She wasn't waiting long before a car pulled over and offered her a lift. Jacqueline bent down to check who was driving. Thor was a little unkempt, but his blue eyes and blonde hair made the young man look like

just about any other beach-loving college student in Isla Vista. In other words, Thor didn't throw up any red flags, so Jacqueline opened the car door and got in. While driving, Thor made small talk. He liked to brag to strangers about his parents' restaurant and his car. He hoped Jacqueline wouldn't notice when he turned off the main highway and into Refugio Canyon. The back road was a well-known cut-through for people who lived in Solvang, but it was also dark and isolated. Looking around, Jacqueline became concerned. Thor knew that it was now or never.

Thor parked on the side of the desolate road. As Jacqueline turned to look out the window, Thor pulled out a 22-caliber pistol and shot her in the side of the head. Thor's ears rang and his vision blurred. In the seconds following the gunshot, he knew he had crossed a line that could never be uncrossed. To keep blood from getting all over his car, Thor acted fast. He pulled Jacqueline's body out of the vehicle and dragged her into the woods. There, hidden from the road and spurred on by his heinous fantasies, Thor undressed her. He had sex with Jacqueline's still-warm body. When he was satisfied, Thor got back into his car and drove away. In one fateful evening, Thor's life had changed forever. And he was only just getting started.

Next, Thor's horrifying urges drive him to kill again. In November of 1976, 18-year-old Thor Christensen abducted and murdered 21-year-old university student Jacqueline Rook. He then had sex with her corpse before leaving her in the woods on the side of the road. At first, her friends weren't that worried by her disappearance. In an age before cell phones, it was not uncommon for a person to seemingly go missing for a day or two, only to turn up safe and sound. Friends, students, and the police hoped this was true for Jacqueline. But while others wondered about the whereabouts of his first victim, Thor was already fixated on finding his next. On December 6, 1976, Marianne Saris, a 19-year-old waitress from the area,

left a doctor's appointment in Isla Vista. She stepped to the curb and held out her thumb. According to her friends and family, Mary was an avid hitchhiker. For her, getting into a stranger's car wasn't something to fear. Instead, it was an opportunity to meet someone new and save time traveling. Mary waved her thumb high above her head to catch the attention of an approaching driver. As he pulled over, she noticed that he was driving a luxury car. Perhaps this was her lucky day. Thor Christensen leaned over and asked her if she needed a ride.

As he had done with Jacqueline, Thor drove Mary to a desolate area. As she looked out the window, Thor pulled out his 22-caliber pistol and shot her in the head. He took Mary out of his car, undressed her, and defiled her dead body. She wouldn't be found until May the following year. According to a 1989 study of necrophilia by Jonathan P. Rosman and Philip J. Resnick, 68% of necrophiliacs were motivated by a desire for an unresisting and unrejecting partner. Researchers theorize that necrophiles suffer from poor self-esteem, perhaps developed from an early age. If Thor's father was an alcoholic who beat him, that might be one explanation for why Thor was susceptible to these dark fantasies.

Thor's low self-esteem diminished his confidence, which caused even lower sense. self-esteem. Like his drinking, this was another negative feedback loop that left unchecked, propelled Thor down a ruinous path. Back in Isla Vista, fear had settled over the community. Students began protesting violence against women, the lack of campus bus services, and the dangers of student hitchhiking. One by one, the students of UC Santa Barbara became activists. One of these student activists was 21-year-old Patricia Lainey, a talented actor, juggler, and mime. Patty was heavily involved in community groups. In a television interview, Patty's close friend John fondly remembered her as someone who was always smiling.

She would brighten up a room by walking into it. It didn't surprise anyone then when, on January 18, 1977, Patty volunteered to help distribute flyers for the missing women. On them were photos of Jacqueline and Mary, as well as a number to call with any information. Patty decided the best place to put up the flyers would be the exact place Mary had disappeared, the intersection of Patterson and Hollister. Patty made plans with a theater friend to pick her up and went down to the intersection just outside of town. She taped flyers to traffic poles, junction boxes, and the bus stop. When she was done, she looked at. worked around for her friend, but he wasn't there.

Patty had a rehearsal that night. She was excited to play the part of Wendy in a student theater group's performance of Peter Pan. She couldn't be late. So rather than miss her rehearsal, Patty held out her thumb. Perhaps she thought if the person picking her up seemed dangerous at all, she wouldn't accept the ride. Maybe she had promised herself that she would only accept a ride from another student. way, when Thor Christensen pulled over at the intersection of Patterson and Hollister, Patty got into

his car. Thor told Patty he knew a shortcut to the theater and turned off the main highway and into Refugio Canyon. It was the same back road which he had taken Jacqueline Rook down. Not far from where he had murdered Jacqueline, Thor pulled over to the side of the road. He pulled out his 22-calibur pistol and shot Patty in the side of the head. As he had done with Jacqueline and Mary, Thor pulled Patty out of his car, undressed her, and had sex with her body. When Thor was done, he made no attempt to conceal the corpse. He threw Patty's backpack out of his car and drove away. Then he noticed blood on the car seat. Thor quickly pulled over and with a stack of napkins wiped up the blood. Then he

threw the napkins out of the window and drove home. Less than 24 hours later, a deputy police officer pulled over to the side of a Fugio Canyon Road to take a break. When the deputy looked out his window, there in the grass was Patty Laney's body. When detectives arrived on the scene, they searched the area for evidence. A short way from Patty, they eventually found Jacqueline Rook's body in the undergrowth. Police scoured the surrounding area for clues. It didn't take them long to find the bloody napkins Thor used to wipe up Patty's blood.

Detectives managed to lift a fingerprint from them, but there wasn't a match in their database. Still, investigators expressed confidence to the press that the fingerprint would lead to an arrest. With the police now investigating two of his murders, Thor feared getting caught and needed to clear his mind. Everything had changed so quickly. Less than three months before, Thor had never committed a crime.

Now, just days after his 19th birthday, he was a serial killer. For once, Thor didn't want to be alone. Perhaps he was afraid of what he might do. So he called up his old friend Guy and asked him if he wanted to get a drink. The friends picked up some beer from the liquor store and drove to a spot overlooking the ocean. While they were drinking and smoked a drink, weed in the car. They were approached by a sheriff. After ordering the young men to pour out their alcohol, he asked Thor to open the trunk. Inside the trunk was a brown paper bag containing Thor's

22-caliber pistol. When the police questioned him about the pistol, he said it was for target practice. A 22-caliber pistol was pretty common in rural California, and the officer didn't think there was anything particularly suspicious about it. He confiscated, the weapon and let Thor and Guy go with a warning. This run-in with the police was the final straw for Thor. The authorities were closing in, and to him, his arrest seemed inevitable. He decided to leave town. He packed up his car and hit the road.

He headed north and didn't stop driving until he was in Oregon. There he planned to start over, far away from his family, away from the girls who rejected him in school, and most importantly, away from the three women he had murdered. Next, Thor's inner demons bring him to the city of angels. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot Machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package.

The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale. May 29th. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. UN. Details at Yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Now back to the story. At the beginning of 77, 19-year-old Thor Miss Christensen was running from his past. Within the span of three months, he'd murdered three young women and had sex with their corpses. As the police and the police and and FBI hunted for a killer around the Santa Barbara area, Thor drove north.

He moved to Oregon and planned to start a new life there, away from his crimes. He got a low-paying job on a farm, plowing fields and planting crops. He worked hard, kept to himself, and stayed out of trouble. He also lost a great deal of weight, and his muscles filled out. It seemed that Thor was doing everything he could to reinvent himself. wanted to be a different person than the one that left California. Back in Isla Vista, life returned to normal. Although police had not arrested anyone for the murders of Jacqueline Brook, Mary Saris, and Patty Laney, no other women went missing. Students returned to their classes, and before

long, the community started to forget about the murders. Although police had pulled fingerprints from the bloody napkins, there were no matches. After months of searching, there were no eyewitnesses, no leads and no suspects. The case went cold. After laying low in Oregon for nearly two years, Thor felt it was finally safe to return home. He packed his few possessions into his car and drove south. When he arrived back in Salve, his friends and family were shocked by his appearance. It was like looking at a completely different person. Thor's transformation had also given him some confidence. He carried himself differently and wasn't as often. around people, specifically women.

And women weren't the only ones giving Thor more of a chance now. He'd grown distant from his parents as a teenager. But after returning from Oregon, they welcomed him home with open arms and even gave him a job at their restaurant. On the surface, Thor appeared to have improved for good, but really, he'd just gotten better at hiding his darker side. Thor continued to drink and abuse drugs. He also continued to have terrible fantasies about raping dead women. Soon after he moved back home, he picked up another hitchhiker. Carrie Solis was in her early 20s when Thor picked her up.

He introduced himself with a natural smile and offered to take her wherever she wanted to go. But something about this time was different than with the last three women. The two hit it off. Instead of taking her to a deserted piece of highway, Thor brought Carrie back to his apartment. There, he asked her to be his girlfriend. She accepted. According to Carrie, Thor was very, very nice.

Carrie also admitted that Thor's sexual appetite was insatiable. According to an investigator, Carrie stated that she and Thor had sex three to five times a day. It's possible the sexual activity was another coping mechanism, or desperate attempt to keep his demons at bay. When he wasn't with Carrie or working at his parents' restaurant, Thor tried to stay busy. In quiet moments, he methodically cleaned his car. His friend Guy noticed that he paid particularly close attention to the trunk. But when Guy asked about it, Ford changed the subject. The 1977 run-in with the police had spooked Thor. Now that he was back in town, it seems his fears of being caught had returned. They still had his gun after all. It's possible that his fear of the

local police motivated Thor to start taking trips to Los Angeles. It had been just over two years since Thor had murdered Patty Laney and dumped her body on the side of a lonely road. Since then, he managed to contain his wicked urges, but he couldn't eliminate them. In his article, Wicked Deeds examining criminal motives, criminologists Scott Bond talks about the period of time between serial murders as crucial to the serial killer pattern. He states that serial predators reemerge from a cooling off period to strike again when the urge to kill becomes overwhelming to them.

He also says that a serial killer may not even understand his or her compulsion to kill, but knows that it is both undeniable and uncontrollable when the urge arises. In Thor's case, it seemed he tried to drown out these undeniable and uncontrollable urges with drugs and alcohol. But when that didn't work, he moved to Oregon and stayed busy as a farmhand. After returning to Solvang, he tried to live a normal life by getting a girlfriend. But for Thor, the urge to kill young women and have sex with their corpses never left. As much as he tried, Thor couldn't change who he was.

The only thing he could change was where he hunted his victims. Thor figured Los Angeles was the best place to act upon his urges. He knew he had a lower chance of being caught in a big city. For Thor, it seemed like the perfect hunting ground. While Kerry stayed at the apartment, Thor frequented Hollywood area bars. There he approached women on the street, offering them money for sex. One of those women was 22-year-old Laura Benjamin, after a brief negotiation, Laura, who was reportedly a sex worker, got into his car.

Once he had her trapped, Thor pulled out a 22-caliber pistol and shot her in the head. Thor then drove to a rural area north of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains. There, near a small culvert, he raped Laura's dead body. When he was done, Thor cleaned his car and drove home to his girlfriend. He made several more trips to Los Angeles in 1979. On April 18th, 24-year-old Lydia Preston walked down the sidewalk of a busy street in West Hollywood. A car slowed down beside her.

Lydia flashed the driver a flirtatious smile, hoping to entice him. When the car pulled over, Lydia bent down to look inside the window. Thor asked if she was looking for a date. Lydia, who was a sex worker, inquired how much money he was willing to spend. some haggling, Thor handed Lydia $45, and she got in. As Thor explained that he was a construction worker on vacation, Lydia gave directions to a cheap hotel. She wasn't interested in his story. To her, he was just another John. But when Lydia pointed out the hotel, Thor drove past it. Thinking Thor was just nervous,

Lydia gave directions to a different hotel. Thor passed that one. When Thor turned into the Hollywood Hills neighborhood, Lydia's instincts told her something was very wrong. The road wound around a bend where the houses were few and far between. Lydia became anxious and she felt her senses on high alert. As she looked out the window to gauge their location, she heard a bang. Lydia's vision blurred and her ears rang. She reached up to touch her left ear and was surprising.

to find blood. She realized that she'd been shot, but somehow she was still alive. Instinctually, she grabbed the steering wheel. Thor lost control of the car, and they spun off the road. When the car came to a stop, Lydia flung open the door and ran for her life. Blood poured from her head as she ran towards the lights of a nearby house. Behind her, tires squealed. Lydia couldn't tell if Thor was fleeing the scene or driving her down. She had no choice but to keep running. Lydia stumbled through the front yard of a home and desperately banged on the door. When the owner answered, she collapsed.

The homeowners called an ambulance and Lydia was rushed to the hospital. There, surgeons removed the bullet from her head. She survived. A few days later, Lydia walked out of the hospital. She was deaf in one ear and her skull was fractured, but she was alive. It's unclear if Thor knew that Lydia had survived the attack. If he had followed her, he might have realized she would make it. But having shot her point blank in the head, it's hardly surprising he assumed her dead.

But someone like Thor Christensen wasn't going to slow Lydia down. She was back in her usual haunts in no time. A few months after the attack, on July 11, 1979, Lydia was drinking at the bottom line bar in Hollywood. As she sat at the bar, she noticed the front door open. To her utter disbelief, 21-year-old Thor Christensen walked in and took a seat. Lydia quickly ducked behind some other patrons and snuck to the back of the bar. There was no exit, but there was a payphone. She picked it up and called the police.

Lydia explained to the police dispatcher that she'd recently been shot in the head, and the man responsible had just walked into the bar. Lydia worried that Thor would see her, but she stayed on the line until police arrived. With relief and triumph, Lydia watched detectives place Thor in handcuffs and walk him out at the bar. The police brought Thor to jail

and booked him with felonious assault, noticing that Lydia's attack was similar to the Isla Vista murders, police in L.A. and Santa Barbara started adjoin, joint investigation. When checking an old evidence locker, investigators in Santa Barbara found the pistol seized from Thor's trunk in 1977. A ballistics test proved that it was the weapon used in the Isla Vista murders. Authorities also revisited their most significant piece of evidence. The fingerprint pulled from the bloody napkins discovered near Paddy Laney's body. The Prince matched Thor's.

When friends, family, and neighbors, heard that Thor had been arrested for the Isla Vista hitchhiker murders. They were in disbelief. According to a Los Angeles Times article, Thor's girlfriend, Carrie, was convinced that local deputies were incapable of responsibly handling the case. Thor's father told a reporter that the police had accidentally arrested the wrong man. But Thor's school friend, Guy, was less skeptical.

In an interview, he said that at first he couldn't believe it, But then, too many things started adding up. In jail, Thor called Mike Kirkman, a police sergeant who had worked the murder cases in 1977. Kirkman was shocked by the call. He was even more shocked when Thor asked to see him. Kirkman drove to the jail, and there, in a small interview room, Thor told him everything. In a later television interview, Kirkman said that Thor became a different person as he spoke. He said his eyes got focused.

The muscles in his face changed, and he was telling me that the girls deserved it. Four went on to explain that the three young women he murdered around Isla Vista had made fun at his weight. Thor showed no remorse and felt entirely justified in his actions. Thor then had the audacity to ask Kirkman to help him. But to Kirkman, Thor was beyond help. In February 1980, Thor's trial started. In the courtroom, he stood before a judge and described the murders of Jacqueline Rook, Mary Saris, and Patricia Lainey in frightening detail. He then, frankly, confessed to the murder of Laura Benjamin, whose body he dumped north of Los Angeles.

Laura's body had remained there undiscovered for over a month. When the judge asked Thor why he had killed and raped his victims, he said that while he couldn't prove it medically, he was obviously insane. Thor pleaded guilty in June 1980 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Some experts involved with the case speculate that Thor may have had more victims. During his time in Oregon, several young women in the area went missing. Forensic psychiatrist John M. Stalberg interviewed Thurnexie. about the matter, but he refused to talk about it.

After the interview, Dr. Stalberg said, I think he's responsible for a lot more than we know of. Thor was ordered to carry out his life sentence at California's most notorious prison, Folsom. But it wasn't to be a long sentence. Even at the prison, Thor was an outsider, just as he had been his whole life. Less than a year after he arrived, Thor stood alone in the exercise yard, another prisoner snuck up behind him and stabbed him in the chest with a shank. Thor was rushed to the prison hospital and pronounced dead on March 30, 1981.

Thor's friend Ron summed up how those close to Thor felt about his death by saying, I think it's the best thing that could have happened. He didn't need to live. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back soon with a new episode. You can find more episodes of serial killers and all other Parcast originals free on Spotify. Not only does Spotify already have all of your favorite music, but now Spotify is making it easy for you to enjoy all of your favorite podcast originals,

like Serial Killers for free from your phone, desktop, or smart speaker. To stream Serial Killers on Spotify, just open the app and type Serial Killers in the search bar. We'll see you next time. Have a Killer Week. Killers was created by Max Cutler and is a parcast studio's original. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler, sound designed by Juan Borda, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Carly Madden, and Joshua Kern. This episode of serial killers was written by Adam Boland, with writing assistance by Abigail Cannon, and stars Greg Paulson and Vanessa Richardson.

Want to hear something spooky. Some monster, it reminded me of Bigfoot. Monsters Among Us is a weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal. One of the boys started to exhibit demonic possession. Stories straight from the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very snake-like lifted its head out of the water. Hosted by me, your guide, Derek Hayes. Somehow I lost eight whole hours. Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast.

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. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.