Serial Killer Central

Herbert R. Baumeister

During the first several years of the 1990s, the citizens in and around Indianapolis, Indiana might have stumbled on a very brief article in the local newspapers about how certain young men were disappearing from the streets of their town never to be seen again. In each case, the episodes mirrored each other; only the names changed. But, the articles grew no larger nor attracted much attention. All the prodigal sons were gay or were suspected of leaning in that sexual direction. Being gay, they were a coming and yet steadily outcast breed of citizens in a very conservative "Bible Belt". Even the officials remained lethargic; common belief was that the "victims" might simply have gone on to other, larger, more glitzy towns like San Francisco or New York where homosexuality was not considered wayward at all. The only victims here, thought the police, were the families these young men abandoned without a goodbye.

Feast of the Assumption: The Otero Family Murders

I first heard about this documentary being made not long after Dennis Rader was arrested, and have looked forward to seeing it ever since. So now, finally, after 3 or so years I finally got my hands on a finished copy.

Was it worth the wait? Definitely. Was it everything I expected? Not really. Is that bad? Not at all. I must say, going in, I didn't realize the film was going to focus on Charlie Otero. I was expecting more of a BTK film. But, I think that's what makes this documentary unique from other true crime films. I can't remember ever seeing a show based on the victims of a crime, rather than the perpetrator.

Fernando Velazco Cota

It should have been a routine traffic stop. Two officers of the California Highway Patrol noticed the white van around 8:00 p.m. on October 14, 1984, weaving erratically in the fast lane of Highway 101, some fifteen miles north of San Jose. Suspecting alcohol at work, they stopped the van and left their cruiser, moving in on foot. The driver seemed more nervous than intoxicated. When they asked to look inside the van, their suspect suddenly erupted from the driver's seat, a pistol in his hand.

Son of a serial killer

This was sent to me a bit ago. This is Damien Siebert on his father Daniel Seibert's death.

Phillip Jablonski audio tape transcript

When Phillip Carl Jablonski was arrested in Kansas, police found a cassette recorder in the backseat of his car. Phillip had been keeping an audio diary of his murders after they happened to listen to while masturbating. This is the transcript of the tape.

Donald William Dufour

A postman's working days in middle-class Orlando, Florida, are normally as uneventful as a man could hope for. There is seldom any major deviation from routine. A snapping dog, perhaps, but nothing that a can of Mace won't cure. Except, that is, for murder.

William Pierce

In May 1970, Pierce was paroled from the Georgia state prison at Reidsville, despite a report from staff psychiatrists contending that he "may be dangerous to himself and others." The parole board chose to ignore that report, and Pierce claimed his first victim a month later, killing at least nine persons before his arrest, on March 8, 1971.

Li Wen Xian (Guangzhou Ripper)

Information about serial murder in hard-line Communist societies is difficult to come by, since—
according to official party propaganda—such heinous crime is strictly a product of decadent Western
capitalism and could not possibly exist in a people’s republic. And indeed, the world might never have
heard about the monster known as the “Guangzhou Ripper” if the hideously violated corpse of a young
woman had not floated ashore in the then-British colony of Hong Kong in March 1992.

Joseph Briggen

Born around 1850, Joseph Briggen was a product of farming stock and he followed in the family tradition, working hard to scratch a living from his remote Sierra Morena Ranch, in northern California. All things considered, he had little to show for his labor. Briggen's crop was invariably poor, and the effort might have been a complete waste of time, except for his prize Berkshire hogs.

County Fair - By Randy Kraft

Each summer in the 1950s we went to the Orange County Fair. The fairgrounds were next to Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. Almost all the grounds, except near the major buildings, were unpaved and bare dirt, and the outer reaches were acres of fields for parking. In the late 1960s or early 1970s the parking area became home to a perpetual Sunday swap meet.