Cold Case Murder Mysteries

By age 15, Edmund Kemper had committed two brutal murders and been locked away in a mental institution. When he turned 21, however, he was deemed fit to rejoin society. And that's when the real killing began. Join me as I open the hatch on this man's head and take a quick peek inside the mind of a murderer.

Dennis Rader, aka the BTK Killer, brutalized the Wichita, KS area with a series of vicious murders throughout the 1970s. This is the story of a woman who barely managed to escape his wrath with a single stroke of luck. But a few months later, the killer returned with a terrifying message.

In the early morning hours of May 14, 2008, a 19-year-old college student driving home from a party got his car stuck in a ditch while navigating the back roads of rural Minnesota. But as he contacted his father and attempted to meet him at a nearby location, the call suddenly dropped. And that's the last time anybody ever heard from Brandon Swanson.

Few men have inspired the disgust and awe of polite society to the extent of Ed Gein, a man possessed with a psyche so disturbing it became the backbone of the modern horror film. But while the torment might have been in his mind, the real terrors were inside his home.

February, 1957: The beaten, bruised body a of a deceased young boy is found abandoned in a cardboard box along the side of the road in an undeveloped section of northeast Philadelphia. In the six decades since the crime, nobody has been able to identify him.

July, 1974: It's a beautiful summer afternoon at Lake Sammamish in Issaquah, Washington, a great day for families to have some fun in the sun. But lurking among them is a manipulative sociopath, one with a handsome face, a charming smile, and a burning desire to murder young women.

The Nightstalker was a heartless monster who roamed the streets of Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, unleashing a reign of terror upon its citizens that was finally brought to an end on August 31, 1985, when he was pummeled by an angry mob. Here's how it happened.

On November 28, 1969, 22-year-old Penn State student Betsy Aardsma collapsed to the library floor during a study session, leaving onlookers and medical personnel rushing to her aid. But it soon became apparent this was no emergency; it was murder. Nearly 50 years have passed since, yet no one has ever been brought to justice for the crime.

On April 6, 1996, a 48-year-old New Jersey man was attacked in his apartment by two unknown assailants, and then disappeared without a trace. Soon after, it became apparent to police that his wife of more than 25 years, Rita Gluzman, was the mastermind behind the crime. But where was the body?

A harrowing discovery was made on Halloween morning, 1975, when 15-year-old Greenwich, CT resident Martha Moxley was found bludgeoned to death underneath a tree in the family's backyard. It soon became apparent a monster was lurking somewhere in the shadows of a wealthy, gated community, but more than four decades later, we're still asking one pertinent question. Who really killed Martha Moxley?

Join host Ryan Kraus for the second part of this psychological examination of the motivations behind the 1999 murder of high school senior Hae Min Lee. In this episode, we dissect the possibilities of what occurred in the controversial 21 minutes for which her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, still can't seem to account for his whereabouts, and offer theories as to why these memories escape him.

Enter the strange, analytical mind of host Ryan Kraus as Part I of this series scratches the surface of motive in this case by specifically examining the psychological impetus for 17-year-old Adnan Syed to murder his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee after school on January 13, 1999.

Gunshots rang out on the streets of LA shortly after midnight on March 9, 1997, and when the chaos subsided one of the greatest rappers to ever grace the game was dead. Twenty years later, we're still asking ourselves who killed Biggie Smalls. Who was the man in the dark suit and bowtie who reached out the window of a Chevy Impala SS with a 9mm and pulled the trigger? Was he an associate of Death Row Records founder Suge Knight? Was it retaliation for Tupac Shakur's murder only months earlier? Let's take a look.

On October 8, 2009, Bobby and Sherilynn Jamison leave their Eufaula, OK home in the family truck with 6-year-old daughter Madison and her dog Maisy in tow. They trek 30 miles away into the Sans Bois Mountains, where they supposedly scout property to buy where they could make a new life. But that's the last anybody ever hears from them. Days later, their truck is found abandoned, with all their personal belongings still inside, including the suffering dog and an envelope full of $32,000 cash under the seat. The only item missing is a .22 that belonged to Sherilynn, leading some to speculate this was a murder-suicide. But what about the ghosts? The ones Bobby and Sherilynn told their pastor about. The ones that were chasing them. Are they coming to get us, too?

July 26, 2009. A Ford Windstar minivan enters the Taconic State Parkway shortly after 1:30pm and accelerates to a speed of 85 mph ... going the wrong way into oncoming traffic. Behind the wheel is 36-year-old Diane Schuler, high on marijuana with a blood-alcohol level of .19, more than twice the legal limit. She's out of control, weaving around cars with a bottle of Vodka next to her and 5 children as passengers. The terror continues for 1.7 miles, until the van collides head-on with an SUV, killing everybody but Diane's 5-year-old son, Bryan. In the aftermath, an investigator reveals conversations with more than 50 family members and friends proves nobody had ever seen Diane drunk, or even consume more than a single drink. So, what pushed this responsible, loving mother over the edge? A panic attack? A stroke? Or was it something more sinister?

On February 19, 2013, a maintenance worker at the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles checks the 4 towering water tanks on the building's rooftop after complaints from guests about a strange taste and smell emanating from the supply to their rooms. Inside one of the structures he finds the floating dead body of 21-year-old Canadian tourist Elisa Lam, who'd checked into the hotel only weeks earlier and subsequently disappeared. In the aftermath, the LAPD releases surveillance video from the hotel's elevator the morning of Lam's death, which depicts the young woman engaging in incredibly odd behavior. And, as the footage goes viral, so do speculations of everything from foul play to paranormal activity. But was there really something hiding in the shadows?

26-year-old father and oil-field worker Brandon Lawson leaves his San Angelo, TX home shortly before midnight on August 9, 2013, at the culmination of an argument with his common-law wife, Ladessa. After calling his father, he drives north on Highway 277 toward the man's house until his truck runs out of gas in a dark, remote wilderness near the town of Bronte. Only minutes later, Brandon makes a chilling 911 call where he claims somebody is chasing him, and begs for the cops to hurry ... but the line goes dead. Shortly after, he calls his brother to say he's bleeding, yet the call drops again. And that's the last anybody ever hears from Brandon Lawson. Join me in the search for the truth.

On the morning of November 1, 2007, Amanda Knox, an American college student living abroad in Perugia, Italy, returns to her apartment to find the front door open, blood in the bathroom, and her unresponsive roommate locked inside a bedroom. Fearing the worst, she calls her boyfriend, and the two of them try to break down the door, to no avail. So, they call police, who discover the body of 22-year-old English student Meredith Kercher inside. But the nightmare has only just begun ... because now the police are looking at the couple's strange behavior. And, before long, they'll be separated and confined to jail cells, interrogated until they finally break and point the finger at each other, ultimately spawning a desperate quest for justice and redemption that would span a decade.

On July 5, 2011, Casey Anthony was acquitted of numerous charges related to the asphyxiation death of her 3-year-old daughter Caylee in Orlando, FL, drawing outrage from the media and general public that persists to this day, even garnering her the moniker "World's Most Hated Mom." But years later, still lost in the shuffle is what really happened to little Caylee Anthony. In a case predicated upon lies, join me as I endeavor to uncover the truth by way of reverse-engineering the psychology and linguistics of this madness in the absence of fact.

In the early morning hours of December 9, 2001, novelist and aspiring politician Mike Peterson makes a harrowing 911 call to report that his wife Kathleen has fallen down the stairs of their Durham, NC mansion and is barely breathing. By the time police arrive, however, they find Kathleen dead in a pool of blood, and what's been reported as an accident suddenly seems like murder. But the only other person in the house that night was her loving husband. So, did he do it? And is the truth buried in a dark secret from his past? Let's take a look.