Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Spider” Saeed Hanaei

Episode Date: December 16, 2021

He got a taste for killing while he was a soldier. But when the conflict between Iran and neighboring Iraq ended, his desire to kill remained. Only now, the targets were the people who Saeed Hanaei hated the most: sex workers. 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 violence and murder that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. Around 5 p.m. in Mashhad, the holiest city in Iran, most Muslims would be getting ready for the evening called to prayer. But in this particular night in July 2000, 38-year-old Saeed Hanawi did not join his family at the sound of the Adon. Instead, he was in his house, pacing around a woman named Afsane. It had been easy for Saeed to find Afsane, a 30-year-old sex worker, and convinced her to come back to his house. It took a while to haggle a price, but Saeed gave in quickly.

He didn't plan on paying anyway. Once they arrived, the two made small talk while Afsenae admired his house. She turned away from Saeed for a moment to take a closer look at some of his wife's ceramic flowers hanging on the wall. That was when Saeed struck. Said grabbed Afsane from behind and threw her on the floor, using his knee to pin her to the ground. He closed his hands around her neck but couldn't get a good grip, so he flipped her onto her back where he could see the terror in her eyes. Saeed grabbed Afzana's scarf and wrapped it around her neck, squeezing tightly. At first,

Afzanae struggled under his weight, trying to escape. But after a couple of minutes, she, She went still. Dead. Said stood up, wiping his hands on his pants, content. Thanks to him, there was one less corrupt woman roaming the streets, and he was just beginning. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parkast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers.

Today we'll discuss the life of Saeed Hanoi, A self-righteous killer determined to rid the world of sin. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. In the first part of this episode, we'll see how a combination of self-righteousness and war-fueled bloodlust led Saeed to his first kill. Later, we'll follow his string of vigilante murders. Eventually, Saeed's craving for recognition would prove to be.

be his downfall. We've got 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 because you have Shopify. It's the commerce platform that can help you with literally everything, website design, marketing, shipping, and more. So start your business. today with the best partner, Shopify, and get that. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash killers. That's Shopify.com slash killers.

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perfume, mist collection, only at Sephora. Religion and faith are at their core two different concepts, although we often use them interchangeably. Religion is a system of belief, set up for communities with shared values to come together and practice. It's often based around institutions, people, and places, but faith is something else entirely. While one religion can have hundreds of different interpretations, faith is a singular and unwavering power we all have within us. It's the belief that no matter what we do, we're on the right path. Faith is an incredible tool, but its power is also its responsibility. Each person must decide

how to use their faith. It can be used to spread love and kindness, but it can also unleash destruction. Saeed Hanawi was born in 1962 in Mashhad, the holiest city in Iran, at a time when faith and religion seemed to be at odds. On one side, an authoritarian government promoted Western values in an attempt to modernize the nation. On the other, religious leaders preached for a united Islamic identity

on behalf of the Iranians who were getting left behind by this revolution. Said himself grew up in a working-class family of devout Chia Muslims. The majority religious group in Iran, but Saeed's parents were a particular type of Shia. They identified as traditionalists, which meant they believed the Quran should be interpreted literally.

So when the secular government banned religious garments, rejected religious leaders from positions of power, and encouraged Western education, Said's parents were furious. Still, they were determined to enforce a rigid upbringing in their own house. They taught Said and his siblings that people who disagreed with their strict interpretations and practices were not only wrong, but corrupt. To prove their piety,

Said and his siblings prayed five times a day instead of the acceptable three times. They also embraced cultural traditions most Iranians found excessive. For example, Saeed was not allowed to talk to women outside of his family until he was married. This was especially challenging because his mother taught a sewing class of 15 girls. Said accepted this challenge with pride. He believed it was sinful to speak to women and he refused to interact with the girls at all. But it was hard. Saeed didn't have many friends outside of his brothers,

so he often felt isolated and uncomfortable. The loneliness stung, but it was worth preserving his honor. The only female influences Saeed had were his aunt and sister, but mostly his mother, Malakke. Maliket was the disciplinarian of the family. She routinely beat her children, biting them and scratching them with her fingernails when they stepped out of line. But instead of resenting his mother's punishment,

In other engagements, Said rationalized and even appreciated her blows. He thought Malikai was carrying out God's will to make him a better Muslim. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. In a 2003 study published in Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, researchers found that children who experienced religious-motivated abuse displayed more depression, anxiety, and hostility than those who faced non-religious abuse. This is likely because these victims had a complex understanding of their own torment.

Most of them believed the punishment was required to make them a better person in the eyes of their religion. Of those abused, many of the studies participants thought the violence was justified for religious reasons. A portion of them even claimed the abuse provided positive spiritual effects. Said later said he had happily accepted his mother's violence. In his mind, the scars on his body only brought him closer to God. And from a young age, Saeed didn't want to be just a good Muslim. He firmly believed that he was exceptional. As a teenager, Saeed began to feel that his connection with God was even stronger than most.

After all, he'd been raised to believe that Muslims were unworthy if they didn't follow very strict practices. But Saeed had another reason for thinking he was special. He was convinced that he had experienced God's miracles firsthand. Said was a rambunctious young man and got himself into trouble often. It isn't clear what kind of danger he experienced, but no matter the circumstance, Said was never harmed. Every time he escaped these accidents, he believed God had saved him.

But to the teenager, it was more than a merciful deity. Said knew with ironclad certainty that God had chosen him for something. This sort of exceptionalism could have been an early sign of narcissistic personality disorder, or NPD. While Saeed was never officially diagnosed, his faith in his own special destiny displayed some of the characteristics the DSM-5 lays out, such as grandiose illusions about the self, a feeling of uniqueness and superiority. While religion was a convenient way for Saeed to rationalize his exceptionalism, it's more likely that his real faith was in himself, not a higher power. Now all he had to do was wait to find his true purpose.

For the next several years, Said watched with interest as the national conflict between his religion and government escalated in the late 1970s. And in 1979, 17-year-old Said celebrated the official coup of dictator Mohammed Raz Shah and the Declaration of an Islamic Republic. Finally, Saeed felt like the country was going in the right direction, his direction. But before Iran could settle into its new leadership, the nation faced a new obstacle. Knowing the country was undergoing a vulnerable transition, Iraq declared war on Iran in late 1980, with the goal of seizing territory. While this was an uncertain and scary time for most, Saeed rose to the occasion with excitement. He loved the idea of defending his country.

and religion. Almost as soon as the war started, he volunteered to join. Being a soldier seemed masculine and heroic, which was exactly how Saeed wanted to present himself. Plus, he thought this could be the purpose God had saved him for. But when he got to the front lines, Said realized he was interested in more than just honor and glory. The raw violence of war thrilled him in a way he had never experienced before. Every night, Saeed found himself thinking about the people he killed in battle, replaying how the life left their eyes. But it wasn't guilt that kept him awake. It was fascination.

Saeed filled pages of his journal with graphic descriptions of the bodies that he buried. It's hard to say how many people he killed. But whether it was five or 50 didn't seem to matter. Killing sparked something inside of him. It made him feel powerful and alive. Every morning he woke up hoping for the chance to feel that way again. Said later claimed that he felt no guilt for his wartime actions because he was defending his nation and Islamic values, but the pages in his journal suggest a simpler explanation.

Said enjoyed killing, and the war gave him the perfect excuse to satiate his craving. However, this conflict didn't last forever. In 1988, after eight years of fighting, the two countries called a ceasefire, sending Saeed back to his home in Mashhad. Back in the Holy City, 26-year-old Saeed faced a different kind of challenge. According to his family, he was now old enough to get married. Saeed had always avoided women, but choosing a wife was different.

He understood the role of a wife through his own family dynamics, as well as how the Quran described marriage. So he agreed to meet the daughter of a family friend. When he met Fateme, Saeed felt more satisfaction than love. But even that was a success in an arranged marriage. Not only did they share the same religious beliefs, but they got along as a pair. Sayyid told Fateme that God had always provided him with a mental image of his future wife, but that she was even better. Over the next several years, Saeed and Fateme built a life together. They had children, and to

support his growing family, Saeed found a job as a building contractor. This position filled Said with pride. Said's brother who worked with him described him as a commander. He was a strong, well-respected leader. While this could seem like a happy, successful life to most, Saeed still felt there was something missing. He'd never given up on the idea that he was special

and God had a plan for him. He also never dismissed the thrill of violence from his military service, picturing the blood-splattered faces of the men he single-handedly destroyed. But now that he's a man, the Iran and Iraq conflict was over. Killing was just a distant memory. But it didn't have to be. All Saeed had to do was create his own war.

Coming up, Saeed turns the streets of Iran's holiest city into his hunting ground. Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid. They're all iconic Disney movies, but did you know the original versions of these stories did not not end with a happily ever after. Hi, I'm Alistair from Parkast, and I'm hosting a new Spotify original called Once Upon a Time. For nine weeks, we're commemorating the 120th anniversary of original Imagineer Walt Disney's birth by lifting the curtain and comparing some of your favorite Disney stories with their earliest tellings.

Once Upon a Time will chart Disney's career. triumphs, as well as the crushing defeats that almost ruined it all. We'll also look at what it took to bring these stories to life and why Disney's adapted versions became so memorable across generations. Follow the Spotify Original from Parkast once upon a time. Listen free and exclusively on Spotify. Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigued, ask your doctor about Zepbound. terseptite, the first and only FDA-approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep

apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15-mogram injection. Zep bound contains terseptide and should not be used with other terseptide containing products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pins or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling

in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. If you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfonel urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99 or visit Zepbound.lily.com. back to the story. By 1990, 27-year-old Saeed Hanawi was a devout conservative Muslim,

a war veteran and building contractor supporting a young family. At least that's what he seemed like on the outside. On the inside, Saeed was desperate for the feeling of violent conquest he had experienced on the battlefield. In war, Saeed was the judge, jury, and executioner. He missed the rush of power that came with taking a life he deemed unworthy. In his civilian life, Saeed tried to find comfort in Iran's new conservative government. They ruled with harsh enforcement of traditional Islamic rules, which Saeed agreed with. Plus, the government arrested, tortured, and even executed those who spoke in opposition. This was more for political control than religious righteousness.

But Saeed didn't care. He'd been waiting his whole life for the sinful to be punished. For a brief moment, Saeed could look around him and see his way. of life just the way he thought it should be. However, most Iranians stood against this harsh government, and in 1997 they overwhelmingly voted for a new president, a reformist who promised modernization, democracy, and a gentler hand. Though the new president was religious, he was nowhere close to worthy in Saeed's eyes, and

within months, the ultra-conservative Iran that Saeed loved began to fade away, becoming more progressive. As the reforms took hold, Saeed was furious to see that the strict Muslim codes that he championed were loosening up. Saeed was especially shocked by the lack of enforcement around female dress. He watched in horror as women walked around the streets of Mashad with their hair flowing out of their headscarves visible for all to see. This violation of Islamic law infuriated Saeed,

but it wasn't just out of piety. Even outside of his religious views, Saeed had a complicated relationship with women, but it wasn't just hatred that he felt. It was fear. Psychology author, consultant and educator Kendra Cherry wrote a 2021 article about gynaphobia, or the fear of women. Cherry explained that this is different from misogyny. Generally thought to be caused by abuse from a female authority figure,

gynaphobia can manifest as anxiety and distress when in the presence of women. Growing up with an extremely abusive mother, Said was already at risk for developing gynafobia. This was only exacerbated by Saeed's total isolation from women outside his family. He could understand his aunt, sister, and even his abusive mother, and his wife served a role that he could contextualize. But when facing women outside of that small, prescribed circle, Saeed felt anxious, threatened, and angry for reasons he couldn't understand. This feeling was only exacerbated when the women violated traditional Islamic law by exposing their hair. He was more than confused. He felt outraged.

There was one subgroup in particular that drew Syed's hatred, sex workers. In the late 1990s, there was a visible increase of sex workers on the streets of Iranian cities. And for many women, it was the only way to survive. Those who'd been forced out of their marriages, beaten by their families or otherwise condemned by society had nowhere to turn except sex work. Sex work was not only illegal, but seen as a terrible cultural and religious offense. But ironically, it was an extremely lucrative industry. Sex workers only had to stand outside for a few minutes before someone picked them up. The very society that degraded and condemned sex workers used their services.

This trend infuriated Said. He hated the hypocrisy of me. He hated the hypocrisy of men who considered themselves Muslim and still paid for sex. But most of his fury was directed at the women. He often ranted to his family that sex workers were so corrupt and vile. They weren't even human. Sayy's disdain became personal when his wife had a man got into a cab one day. The taxi driver mistook her for a sex worker and tried to haggle a price. It's unclear when this incident happened, but it sparked something inside of Saeed. His own wife was mistaken for someone he didn't even consider human. It filled him with anxiety, outrage, and the need to do something.

It occurred to him that if he was truly special, like he believed he was, then he could take power into his own hands. After all, he'd been a war hero for killing before. In his eyes, nothing had changed except the enemy. Every night around 5 p.m., when the rest of the city was preoccupied with even prayer, Said would drop off his wife and kids at his father-in-law's house. Then he would drive through Mashhad, looking for sex workers and their clients. At first, Saeed targeted the men. He was used to fighting men in war, and he likely believed it would be more masculine and heroic

to mimic the experience he had in battle. But whenever Saeed confronted a client, his plan went sideways. The man either ignored Saeed or ran away, escaping into the busy streets. Saeed wasted a lot of time chasing people around the city. Sometimes, Saeed challenged the client to a fight, standing in their way to block them from escape. But this wasn't war, where Saeed could use strategy and weapons to his advantage. It was a matter of brute strength, and Saeed was not a particularly strong man. More often than not, it was Saeed who ended up bruised and battered. Losing these fights meant more than failing his mission to stop sex work.

It was humiliating. Saeed thought he wanted to be a martyr, but sacrificing his body was not the honorable process he thought it would be. What Saeed truly craved was power, not justice. So after a couple of weeks, he decided to switch tactics. One night in July of 2000, Saeed dropped off his family for evening prayer and drove through Mashhad. But instead of looking for clients,

he zeroed in on 30-year-old sex worker Afzane. He invited her back to his house, and after haggling over price, Afsena agreed. She got in the car and Saeed started driving. He asked her questions about why she was a sex worker and how she could justify her actions in the eyes of God. Whatever Afzane answered, it wasn't good enough. As soon as they stepped into Saeed's home, he attacked Afzene from behind, tackling her to

the ground. He tried to strangle her while she was face down, but he wasn't strong enough. He flipped her over, so she was looking at him. But even with her eyes on him, Saeed felt nothing but adrenaline. He took off her headscarf and wrapped it tightly around her neck, choking the air out of her. Finally, Afzinei went limp. Once he was sure she was dead, Seid rolled her body into a carpet, then drove it outside of the city. With little ceremony, he dumped Afsenae's body off the side of the road. He didn't bother covering her. He wanted people to see what he'd done.

In his head, Said felt religiously justified, like he was doing God's work. But what Said was doing was actually in opposition to his own religious principles. Killing is against the most fundamental Islamic laws. There are conservative Muslims far more strict than Said who could never murder a living being, not even an animal. Saeed may have used his religion as an excuse,

but he was killing for himself. When Saeed's family returned home, he'd already tidied up the mess. Everything seemed normal, even Saeed's attitude. Killing didn't bother him in the slightest. If anything, he was in a better mood than usual. Far from remorseful, Saeed felt ready to rid the streets of more women.

He constantly planned his next move. Whether he was with his wife or spending time with his children, murder was the only thing on his mind. He could think of nothing besides his next victim. Whenever he had free time, Saeed wandered through Mashhad scouting. There were a few known hangouts where sex workers haggled with men in cars. Saeed spent a lot of time in these locations,

watching the women flirt with their clients. Saeed memorized the faces and schedules of as many sex workers as possible. He had no specific criteria for the kind of woman he wanted to target. He didn't care about her age or looks. In his mind, if she was a sex worker, she deserved to die. Once he had an idea of where he wanted to strike, Saeed waited for the right time. He didn't want to kill too often and risk getting caught.

So every couple of weeks, Saeed dropped off his unsuspecting family at his father-in-law's house during the evening prayer when fewer people were out in the streets, then he went hunting. Said developed a routine. He picked up a victim that he'd already seen on the streets, then invited them to his home.

Said often asked the sex workers about their lives, though it never seemed to help them. Instead of pity, Saeed only felt disgust. Once they were home, Saeed strangled the victims with their headscarves, waiting for the long and final sigh they let out right before they died. Then, Saeed dumped the bodies in vicarves.

various public locations across the city, designed to attract the public's attention. Nobody could miss the brightly colored fabric around their necks. Word spread quickly about what was happening to the sex workers in Mashhad. Before Saeed's killing spree, these women were largely ignored, but now they were the center of attention. People started whispering about who the murderer could be, calling him the spider because of the way he lured sex workers off the streets. But this moniker didn't bomb.

Father Said. If anything, he felt exhilarated by the attention. After Said killed his 12th victim, a drought that had plagued Iran finally ended. To Said, it was a sign from God. He believed all of Iran was being rewarded for his crusade. Said finally felt like he was on the path to his true destiny, and he had no plans of stopping. Coming up, Said's mission is threatened by his own need for attention. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime originals have everything you want.

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By July of 2001, 39-year-old Saeed Hanawi had murdered over a dozen sex workers in Iran. He told himself that this mass killing cleansed his holy city from corruption, but he couldn't deny that he enjoyed the attention, the power, and the thrill of taking someone's life. And it was more than just a desire. Saeed's killing habits became a need. He spent his free time surveying the hangouts of local sex workers, and biting his time until he could get his family out of the house. The only nights when he could sleep were the nights he murdered a woman.

In a 2014 newspaper interview with Sunday Times, criminologist and clinical psychologist Craig Traub said that serial killing can actually turn into an addiction. Addiction typically follows three phases, experimentation, abuse, and dependence. Saeed experimented by becoming a vigilante for Islamic law, from fighting in the war to chasing down men who sought out sex workers. These actions provided some satisfaction in terms of his sense of self-importance,

but Saeed wanted more. That's when killing became an addiction. Once he discovered that murdering women fit his craving for power and heroism, he abused it every time he added to his body count. But like any addiction, Saeed needed to maintain his murder habit to feel the same rush of control and entitlement. By mid-2001, he was fully dependent. Said couldn't quit even if he wanted to.

Every week, he rode his motorbike around the Mashhad prison, trying to remind himself of the consequences of his actions. He didn't like the idea of being discovered and leaving his family to fend for themselves. Plus, he had to evade capture if he wanted to keep killing. Still, it was more important to Saeed to fulfill his own exceptionalism. He wanted to be a martyr, which meant being recognized as a hero among other believers.

He wanted to be celebrated for his murders. This temptation proved to be difficult for Saeed to resist. Soon it wasn't enough to hear people gossip about the mysterious spider killer. Desperate for recognition, Saeed returned to nearly all of his crime scenes to watch the crowd react. What bothered Saeed was that most of the onlookers seemed to pity the women and scorn the killer, not the other way around. Said bit his tongue.

He was too confident in himself to be swayed by the naysayers. If anything, their shock probably strengthened Said's resolution. But Saeed did find the support he craved in a small group of extremists. Though they believed it was wrong to kill another human and wouldn't do it themselves, these people applauded the killer for getting rid of corruption. Saeed lived for this praise. But he couldn't help getting a little too close to the action. At one crime scene, Said approached a judge who was surveying the corpse.

He accused the judge of not helping to clean up the streets, making the city a more dangerous place to live. The judge pushed Said to the side, telling him to back away. Said followed these instructions, but a couple of weeks later, the same judge saw Said at a different murder scene of a sex worker. But instead of keeping his distance, Syed again got in the judge's face. He peppered him with questions and suggestions. The judge warned him to mind his own business or else become a suspect. Said backed away, but his face remained cemented in the judge's mind. Even with all the attention on the murders, police struggled to find the spider.

Sex work was a massive industry in Mashhad, which made it harder to cover all of that territory. Plus, sex workers didn't want to talk to the police and risk harsh legal consequences. But in spring 2001, the authorities came up with a plan. They dressed undercover volunteers as sex workers and sent them onto the streets. With approximately 5,000 sex workers in Mashhad, the chances were low that the spider would attack one of the agents. But there was a possibility of hearing something useful. It was just a matter of waiting.

The authorities kept their investigation hidden from the press, so there isn't a lot of information about what happened now. It's likely that the undercover sex workers spotted Said following or even abducting women. And once he was identified as a suspect, several police officers began to remember seeing him at crime scenes asking questions. Behind closed doors, the pieces were finally coming together for the Iranian police. It seems Said wasn't as untouchable as he thought. On July 27, 2001, a group of officials pounded on Syed

door, ready to put him in handcuffs. He opened the door, surprised, but not angry, to see them. As they changed his hands behind his back, Saeed didn't resist. Instead of being ashamed, he felt excited. Finally, the world would know what he had done. At last, he'd get the attention he deserved as the martyr of Mahshad. In a 2014 study published in behavioral and brain sciences, researchers found that self-destructive killers, like suicide bombers or mass shooters, expect death or punishment for their crime. But they follow through anyway.

Their narcissism drives them more than their fear of consequences. The craving of martyrdom, approval, and fame is so powerful that killers will sacrifice anything to experience it. So when Saeed was finally arrested, he treated it as another opportunity for attention. As the police carried him away, he was smiling, waving. and even joking with the people around him. As Saeed expected, there was a vocal group of supporters who agreed with his actions. His family, especially his wife and son, thought he had done nothing wrong.

In fact, Saeed's son suggested that he would carry on his father's work in the future. However, most Iranians condemned the murders. Even those who believed sex workers were corrupt, believed that murder was a much worse sin. But this majority was not as vocal as the people who thought thought Said's actions were heroic. Said could go on believing he had the full support of his people. Inside the Mashad prison, Said felt like a celebrity.

He especially liked talking to reporters. He would discuss and even physically reenact how he killed all 16 women and dumped their bodies. When asked if he felt any remorse, Said insisted he had nothing to feel bad about. He asked that people call him an anti-street-woman activist, instead of a killer. Still, with 16 dead women on his hands, Said was tried for murder. During his trial, Saeed appeared as a calm and collected man. Not at all the murderous spider killer that most Iranians expected. They assumed that such a crazed murderer would look visibly terrifying. But Saeed looked just like everyone else. In court, Saeed insisted that each woman he killed was a waste

of blood, and so he shouldn't face punishment for spilling theirs. He was a lot. He didn't. He claimed he was doing his religious duty. However, the judge dismissed every argument that claimed Said was carrying out a religious task. Murder was a crime, a sin in Islamic law. And with that in mind, the judge sentenced Said to death by hanging. 39-year-old Said put on a brave face, like he thought a proper martyr would. He proudly stated that he didn't care what they did to him. Said told reporters that he was just one person, and he was standing

for something much larger than himself. Still, there was a part of Saeed that believed his supporters would come to his rescue. But he was wrong. On April 8, 2002, almost two years after he took his first victim, guards escorted Saeed to an isolated room with a noose. There were no cameras, reporters, or protesters to inflate Said's delusional ego. Instead of dying surrounded by adoring fans and family, Saeed was a lot. alone when he stepped onto the stool.

And then it was over. If Said's true intentions were to rid the city of sex workers, his killings did have an impact. Throughout the next year, there were three copycat murders by other extremists who wanted to finish Said's so-called holy mission. But most of the psychologists who studied Said's case suggest that religion was not the root cause of his actions. ultra-conservative upbringing may have given him the excuse to kill, but the desire was inside of him all along. In the end, the spider's true faith was not to any God. It was to himself.

Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with a new episode. For more information on Saeed Hanawi, amongst the many sources we used, we found the documentary and Along Came a Spider by Maziar Bahari extremely helpful to our research. You can find more episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cuddler, sound designed by Michael Motion,

with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Joshua. This episode of serial killers was written by Kit Fitzgerald, with writing assistance by Sarah Hussein, fact-checking by Haley Milliken, and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood. Serial Killers stars Greg Polson and Vanessa Richardson. Walt Disney had a gift for storytelling that resonated with audiences. From a puppet who wanted to become a real boy to a mermaid who yearned to be part of the human world, Disney has developed relatable, and unforgettable characters.

Hi, it's Alastair from Parcast. Join me for Once Upon a Time, a special collection of Parcast episodes celebrating the original Imagineer himself, as well as the origins of Disney's most iconic characters and stories. Follow the Spotify original from Parcast, once upon a time, and catch new episodes Mondays free and only on Spotify.

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