The Golden State Killer got away with 12 murders, 50 rapes, and more than 100 burglaries for over forty years before being caught. 

DNA evidence from his crime scenes never matched DNA samples in the FBI’s CODIS databases because he had never been arrested for murder or rape.

Eventually, investigators uploaded the profile to genealogy sites and identified a relative on the killer’s family tree.

It led to the conviction of James DeAngelo, a 72-year-old former police officer.

I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs from inside the crime scene tape reporting how DNA analysis, called Forensic Genetic Genealogy, also known as FGG, is solving cold cases once thought unsolvable.

You can learn more about the Golden State Killer case in my episode titled How Cold Case Investigator Paul Holes Unmasked The Golden State Killer, dated April 25th of 2022.

In this my second episode about Forensic DNA, Dr. Suzanne Bell, who served on the National Commission of Forensic Science (NCFS), returns with more insight on the subject.

She coauthored Understanding Forensic DNA and emphasizes that DNA does not solve cases by itself. DNA results are always part of an extensive investigation.

At the end of our interview, Dr. Bell also provides advice on how to get into forensic science. It’s attracting large numbers of women. 

Here’s our discussion about forensic genetic genealogy. 

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The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Before, there was Osama bin Laden. Before, there was Timothy McVeigh. There was Ted Kaczynski.  The UNABOMBER. FBI codename for “UNiversity and Airline BOMBER.”

For sixteen years, Jamie Gehring grew up next door to Ted Kaczynski. She never had a clue that the man who appeared to be a harmless hermit was one of the most notorious serial killers of the 20th Century. 

Hello. I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs here to ask you a chilling question from inside the crime scene tape. Do any of us really know our neighbor?  

Ted Kaczynski mailed and hand-delivered homemade bombs to people at scientific universities, airlines, and businesses for what he believed was their role in the over-industrialization of society and the destruction of nature. 

The former Berkley math professor, a certified genius who entered Harvard at age 15, terrorized America for seventeen years between 1978 and 1995.

The FBI called Kaczynski a twisted genius.

He killed three people and injured 23, claiming limbs and eyesight, leaving many with permanent emotional and physical scars.

Residents of tiny remote Lincoln, Montana, thought Kaczynski was an oddball, cranky loner.   He lived off the grid in a remote mountain cabin 10 feet by 12 feet. No running water. No electricity. 

It was a primitive bomb-making factory. Kaczynski handcrafted bombs from scrap materials that were impossible to trace.  He called the bombings experiments. 

He smelled foul. His hair was unruly, uncombed, and dirty.  No one could imagine that he was the anonymous author of a 35-thousand word manifesto sent to the New York Times and Washington Post in1995 threatening more bombings if it was not published.

Until then, it was the cold case of all cold cases.  It gave the FBI a big break. When it hit the press, Kaczynski’s brother and sister-in-law spotted similar semantic railings in letters written to them by their estranged relative, and they contacted the FBI.

For 16 years, Jamie Gehring lived next door to this serial killer and wanted domestic terrorists. Her late father, “Butch,” helped the FBI to find his cabin and to lure him outside. 

She has written a deeply researched book, Madman in the Woods: Life Next Door to the UNABOMBER.  Here’s our interview. 

True Crime Reporter® Website With UNABOMBER PHOTOS

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The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

She Lived Next Door To America's Most Infamous Killer: The UNABOMBER

This is the third episode in my series about how new DNA technology solves previously unsolvable cold cases.  It’s called FGG -- Forensic Genetic Genealogy.

I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs taking you inside the crime scene case into how the first use of forensic genetic genealogy in Dallas County, Texas, caught a serial rapist responsible for over 50 victims.

75-year-old David Thomas Hawkins of Fort Worth, Texas, left a trail of victims along his truck route for at least ten years.

The investigation by the office of District Attorney John Creuzot was made possible by a Sexual Assault Kit Initiative federal grant known as SAKI.

You will learn more about SAKI in this episode from cold case prosecutor Leighton D'Antoni who is solving cases once thought to be unsolvable.

D'Antoni is on the cutting edge of using sophisticated DNA technology that stems from research on the human genome project to solve murders and sexual assault cases.

You Can Reach D'Antoni at: leighton.dantoni@dallascounty.org

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The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

Reach Robert and the team of detectives that work with him: Fan@TrueCrimeReporter.com

True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

How DNA Forensic Genetic Genealogy Brought A Monster To Justice

Solving The Toughest Cold Case Murders With Forensic Genetic Genealogy

Sitting across the desk from a DNA profiler, she told me that I was leaving a trail of cells in her office that would lead back to me, especially if I committed a crime there. 

The rapid advancement of science and technology makes DNA evidence a powerful investigative tool for catching killers and rapists, solving cold cases, identifying missing persons, and clearing the innocent.

I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs here to take you inside the crime scene tape to look at how DNA plays a central role in the judicial system.

The first use of DNA typing for a criminal investigation occurred in 1986 in England. DNA evidence identified the killer of two 15-year-old girls and cleared an innocent, mentally challenged suspect who had confessed to one of the murders. 

Police conducted a DNA dragnet by collecting thousands of samples from men in the village around the crime scenes. 

I recommend watching Code of a Killer to learn more. It’s a three-part British police drama television series that tells the true story of the case, and I have placed a link to a story in the Guardian about the case. 

DNA analysis has come a long way since then.  

To bring us up to date, I asked Dr. Suzanne Bell to take me back to biology and chemistry class to help me understand the advances in science and technology.

Dr. Bell is an Emeritus Professor and Chair of the Department of Forensic and Investigative Sciences at West Virginia University.

She coauthored Understanding Forensic DNA with John M. Butler. 

This is the first of a two-part interview series with Dr. Bell. 

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The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

The Power of Forensic DNA Bringing Killers and Sexual Predators to Justice

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were two of the most notorious outlaws in American history, forever linked to the public consciousness. 

They were young, daring, and dangerous, and they captured the imagination of a country struggling through the Great Depression. But behind the legend lay the harsh reality of their lives, a story of poverty, violence, and desperation.

They met in Dallas, Texas, and were immediately drawn to each other. 

Together, Bonnie and Clyde embarked on a crime spree that would capture the nation's attention and make them both into legends.

They robbed banks, gas stations, and stores across the South and Midwest, always staying one step ahead of the law. 

The outlaw lovers became folk heroes to many Americans who were struggling to survive amid the Great Depression, seen as modern-day Robin Hoods who were sticking it to the wealthy and powerful.

Today, Bonnie, pictured in a beret and flapper-style dress with a cigar stuck out the side of her mouth, would be described as a rebellious fashionista.  Clyde wore suits and ties with a fedora cocked on his head.

The glamorous image captured in photographs of the outlaw couple taken by members of their gang riveted American newspapers.

But for Bonnie and Clyde, the fame came at a cost. They were constantly on the run, never able to settle down and live a normal life.

They were always looking over their shoulders, afraid that the law would catch up with them.

As their crimes became more violent and their notoriety grew, Bonnie and Clyde began attracting the attention of law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Texas Ranger Frank Hamer hunted them for staging a deadly escape from the Eastham Prison Farm.

Their day of reckoning came on May 23, 1934, in Louisiana, where Ranger Hamer lured them into a deadly ambush.

More than fifty thousand people came to see their open caskets at two funeral homes in Dallas. 

In death, the legend of their crimes and love affair grew, immortalized in magazines, books, and movies. 

Investigative reporter Robert Riggs separates facts from fiction in this episode.

For listeners who want to learn more, he recommends Bonnie and Clyde: The Making Of A Legend by Dallas journalist and author Karen Blumenthal. 

Photographs mentioned in the podcast can be viewed at True Crime Reporter®

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True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

The Enduring Fascination of Bonnie and Clyde: A Love Story Gone Wrong

Texas Death Row Inmates Called Them The “Macs.”

Kenneth McDuff and Jerry McFadden.  

Two violent psychopaths hated and feared by fellow death row inmates. 

Two killers with a lust for randomly abducting, raping, and murdering young people.

Two killers whose victims would still be alive if Texas had kept them behind bars. 

In this episode, investigative reporter Robert Riggs takes listeners inside the crime scene tape of one of Texas' most brutal killers.

He called himself "The Animal."

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True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

A Shocking Failure of Justice: A Serial Rapist And Serial Killer Murder Six Teens

Pastor Wayne Whiteside says, “there are people that seem to be hell-bent on being held bound.”

Whiteside knows of what he preaches after ministering to prison inmates for thirty-nine years.

He spent the last 24 years talking with death row inmates in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Mississippi.

Whiteside says he has looked evil in the eye and seen nothing but empty souls.

He has come face to face with the worst of the worst of serial killers who inflicted unimaginable pain and suffering on their victims.

Whiteside holds an unusual perspective on capital punishment.

He has witnessed 30 executions and was present as a chaplain inside the Texas death chamber for one execution.

Two hours before a lethal injection started flowing, one killer confessed to Whiteside the murder of a young convenience clerk and solved a 17-year-old cold case.

Our episodes often take listeners inside the crime scene tape.  This episode is truly a journey into darkness.

At its end, Pastor Whiteside shares advice about how to keep yourself safe from men with a lust for murder.

Note:  We have shared photographs of some inmates Whiteside discusses in this episode, including Jerry “The Animal" McFadden.”

You can view them at TrueCrimeReporter.com.

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The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Inside the Minds of Death Row Inmates: A Terrifying Journey Into Evil

Mexican cartels aided by China are poisoning the United States with deadly fentanyl overdoses.

The death toll is the equivalent of a jumbo jet load of passengers crashing every day.

What better way to undermine a country without firing a shot? 

In this episode, I conduct a wide-ranging discussion about the consequences of the war in Iraq on U.S. security. 

This is a timely conversation because March 20th of, 2023, marks the 20th anniversary of the war in Iraq.

David Grantham, an intelligence officer for the Tarrant County Sheriff in Fort Worth, Texas, joins me for an interview. 

Grantham served as an Air Force intelligence officer in Iraq and is the author of Consequences: An Intelligence Officer’s War. 

We discuss the challenges faced by U.S. law enforcement and the communities they are charged with protecting.

And we offer some practical personal safety advice stemming from the investigation and arrest of a suspect in the murder of four Idaho college students. 

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The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

China Kills Hundreds With Deadly Fentanyl - It Ought To Be A Crime

Jerry and Dava Truett lived well beyond their means in the small central Texas town of Kosse. They owned a lake house and a speed boat. They drove a pair of expensive pickup trucks and numerous recreational vehicles.

Townfolk thought they were receiving oil and gas money from their farmland or had an inheritance.

The small community of 500 people confronted the cold-blooded truth about the couple's lifestyle when 52-year-old Michael Wells was murdered inside the First State Bank of Kosse.

Williams was the bank's president and a beloved community leader.

He arrived early one morning before the bank opened to meet with a customer.

A 68-year-old business owner wanted to find out why thirty thousand dollars was missing from his account.

Before they could meet, Williams was gunned down. The bank's vault was still locked. No money was missing from it.

But in the aftermath of this tragedy, an FBI audit discovered that $700,000 was missing from elderly customers' accounts.

What happened to all of that money?

In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® Podcast investigative reporter Robert Riggs takes you inside the crime scene tape with a case from former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston.

It will leave you wondering if you can trust anyone.

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The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Women Who Kill: This Bank Robber Viciously Shot Her Victim In The Back

Homicide detectives and even killers categorize the slain four University of Idaho students as “shiny” victims. 

They were young, innocent, and attractive.  

John Moriarty, the former Inspector General of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, says such cases motivate investigators to go the extra mile to solve the crime.

“It’s the ultimate good versus evil,” said Moriarty.

Investigators used sophisticated techniques detailed in an arrest warrant affidavit, including DNA, cell phone data, and ubiquitous video surveillance cameras, to charge  28-year-old Bryan Kohberger with murdering four University of Idaho students in their off-campus home on November 13, 2022. 

If Kohberer, a Ph.D. criminology student at the University of Washington, is convicted, it will prove the old adage that some criminals return to the scene of the crime.

In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, John Moriarty and investigative reporter Robert Riggs walk listeners through details contained in the arrest warrant.

Moriarty, the former Inspector General of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, used the same means to hunt down fugitives wanted for murder and violent crimes. 

Plus, he wrote countless arrest and search warrant affidavits, and Riggs relied on such affidavits as the factual basis for his crime reporting. 

You may recall that Moriarty, a transplanted Irish cop from New York City, is featured in True Crime Reporter®’s series about serial killer Kenneth McDuff and the Telly Award-winning television documentary on Fox Nation streaming titled Freed To Kill.

Kohberger made a brief court appearance on January 5th of 2023, with cuts on his face raising questions if the suspect’s alleged victim’s had fought back.

Based on the review of the arrest warrant affidavit by Moriarty and Riggs, you will hear their thoughts about a possible motive for the murders.

Link to Arrest Warrant Affidavit

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The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Idaho Arrest Affidavit Traces Path Of Suspected Killer of 4 Students

This episode marks Part 2 of questions posed to investigative reporter Robert Riggs by true crime fan and Texas A&M architecture major Patricia Rocha.

Hopefully, listeners can take away advice about staying safe in the wake of an arrest of a suspect in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students on November 13, 2022, at their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.

Two other roommates upstairs slept through the brutal slayings.

The mysterious murder struck fear in college students across the country.

This is a continuation of our new press conference at the True Crime Reporter® podcast.

This episode marks the second part of our press conference in which the fans of the True Crime Reporter® podcast ask investigative reporter Robert Riggs questions.

If you want to come on the podcast to ask Robert questions, email Fan@TrueCrimeReporter.com. 

Tell him what you want to talk about and why.

Here’s today’s True Crime Reporter® press conference.

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

True Crime Reporter® Answers Questions About Murder Mysteries

In a new press conference-style episode, True Crime Reporter's Robert Riggs takes questions from fans. 



True crime fan Patricia Rocha turns the table on Riggs and asks what it is like to go inside the crime scene tape.

Riggs recently met Rocha, an architecture student, and her friends at a ceremony for Outstanding Alumni from the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University.

Afterward, Rocha and her friends peppered him with questions about true crime cases.

Looking on was Bill Peel, an Outstanding Alum and Executive Director of Innovation at Texas A&M’s Mays School of Business. Peel suggested that a press conference-style interview by fans should be a regular feature here.



Riggs has covered his share of press conferences at the White House, Capitol Hill, Pentagon, State Department, FBI, and breaking news at crime scenes.



But unlike the spokespersons behind those podiums, you will not find Riggs dancing around any questions.



If you want to come on the podcast for a press conference send an email to Fan@TrueCrimeReporter.com.  



Tell Riggs what you want to talk about and why.



Here’s today’s True Crime Reporter® press conference. 



We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Reporter Robert Riggs Answers Questions About Serial Killers

What goes on inside the minds of women who commit murder and other crimes?

In my previous episode on December 13, 2022, titled A Mother’s Pursuit of Justice: The Contract Murder of Dan Markel, I reported that three women are the focus of an eight-year-long murder investigation.

Markel, a distinguished law professor at Florida State University was gunned down by hitmen at his Tallahassee home in 2014.

Katherine Maguahua (phonetic pronunciation: MAC-BANA-WAH) was the go-between for the contract killing. 

In November of 2022, evidence from an FBI sting helped convict Maguahua. 

She received a life sentence plus 60 years for hiring her ex-boyfriend, the father of her children, to execute Dan Markel. Allegedly so his ex-wife could move the couple’s two sons to South Florida. 

The ex-wife, 35- year old Wendi Adelson, a fellow law professor, and her mother, Donna Adelson, have been named as unindicted conspirators in the alleged plot. 

According to criminal trial testimony, Katherine Maguahua hired the hitmen at the request of Wendi Adelson’s brother Charlie Adelson. She was a girlfriend and dental assistant in his office. Charlie Adelson has been charged with the murder and is expected to stand trial in 2023.

But back to Katherine Maguahua, was it for love or money?

I reached out to Meghan Sacks, a criminologist with a Ph.D. who teaches classes on Women and Crime at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey to explore this true crime subject. 

Sacks is also the co-host of the Women and Crimepodcast.

We discuss possible motivations in the Austin cyclist murder case that I covered on July 11, 2022, A Love Triangle Ends In An Alleged Murderous Fit Of Jealous Rage.

You will also hear me discuss interviewing female inmates at Texas prison units.

Archive News Report About Female Inmates Con Games

Links to resources about the Dan Markel murder case:

Full coverage by Paul Caron, Dean of the Pepperdine University

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2022/10/extreme-punishment-the-chilling-true-story-of-dan-markels-murder.html

Link to recent court testimony by Wendi Adelson:

https://youtu.be/KIDXVsibEJw

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Why & How Women Murder - Love Triangles and Hiring Hitmen

Murder is a life sentence for the victim’s family and friends. Closure is a myth perpetuated by the news media. 



During three decades of investigative reporting, Robert Riggs has witnessed how the victim’s families often suffer in silence and are left out of the confusing criminal justice process.



In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® podcast, Ruth Markel shares a remarkable story of grief, resilience, and hope during an eight-year murder investigation that is not over.



Her son, Dan Markel, a Florida law professor, was ambushed in a murder-for-hire conspiracy allegedly masterminded by his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, and members of her family, according to state prosecutors. 



Wendi Adelson has denied those accusations during a police interrogation and under oath in court testimony.



The anatomy of the murder has been highly publicized on television crime shows and true crime podcasts.



But Robert Riggs is here with the “rest of the story” from behind the crime scene tape.



In this interview, Ruth Markel reveals how the victim’s family can become advocates for their lost loved ones. She inspired the Florida State Legislature to pass a grandparent visitation bill titled the “Markel Act.”



Before the murders, Markel had published eight books about the advancement of women in the corporate workplace. She never expected to write about such a horrific and powerless situation as the murder of her son.



Now Ruth Markel shares her story to help others survive their grief from murders and violent crime in her book titled The Unveiling: A Mothers’ Reflection on Murder, Grief, and Trial Life.



Riggs and Markel discuss her fight for justice on behalf of her son and the struggle to be legally reunited with her grandchildren.



Riggs starts the episode by recounting the key events of the contact murder, which occurred in 2014.



Links to resources mentioned during the podcast:

Full coverage by Paul Caron, Dean of the Pepperdine University

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2022/10/extreme-punishment-the-chilling-true-story-of-dan-markels-murder.html

Link to recent court testimony by Wendi Adelson:

https://youtu.be/KIDXVsibEJw

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

A Mother’s Pursuit of Justice: The Contract Murder of Dan Markel

Chris Hansen, the journalist who created the televised series To Catch A Predator, warns that the problem of adults preying on children for sex is growing at an alarming rate. 



The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has reported that during the peak of the pandemic, inappropriate contacts between adults and children, predatory contacts, as well as the transmission of inappropriate material between adults and children shot up nearly 900%.



Indicative of the problem is the case of the former Virginia police officer accused of “catfishing” a teenage girl and murdering her grandparents and her mother.



“Catfishing” is a form of online deception in which someone pretends to be a different person.



Firefighters discovered the teen's family inside their burning home in Riverside, California. 



28-year-old Austin Edwards, the ex-cop, was killed in a shootout with San Bernadino County Sheriff’s deputies.   The teenage girl was not harmed. 



Hansen and investigative reporter Robert Riggs have encountered predators throughout their respective journalism careers. 



The journalism community has honored Chris Hansen with 10 Emmys and 5 Edward R. Murrow reporting Awards.



Chris has broken stories worldwide and is launching a new series, True Crime Nation, on the TruBlu Streaming Network. His To Catch A Predator series is now called TAKEDOWN. 



In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, Riggs and Hansen go inside the crime scene tape to remind parents that predators live online and that they need to have a conversation with their children about how to stay safe online and on social media.



We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

"To Catch A Predator" -- Reporter Chris Hansen Launches True Crime Nation

Cooking oil left over from french fries and fried chicken has become liquid gold. 

Organized criminal gangs are emptying storage tanks at restaurants and convenience stores across the United States.

Hello. I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs with an unusual story from inside the crime scene tape. 

Did you know a gallon of used cooking oil is now worth more than a gallon of gasoline?

The thefts fuel a multimillion-dollar black market.

Here to talk about it is Gary Edgington, a 40-year law enforcement veteran.

We are going to talk about a wide range of his cases from his career with the 

Beverly Hills Police Department, LA County District Attorney…we will touch on the OJ Simpson murder trial. His work on narcotics cases and a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Los Angeles. And later, his role in counter-insurgency operations in Iraq.

Now he is the author of, Outside The Wire–A Novel of Murder Love, and War.

It’s a fictional thriller inspired by his experience about Iranian operatives bent on destroying America.

I have put links to the book and his website in the show notes. 

Here’s Robert Riggs' interview with Gary Edgington. 

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Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Deep Fried Theft Rings Cash In On Blackmarket Cooking Oil

Sitting in the maternity ward of Dallas Methodist hospital, 30-year-old Nester Oswaldo Hernandez told his girlfriend that “we are both going to die today, and whoever comes in this room is going to die with us.”

Hernandez, a violent offender out on early parole in Texas, executed a social worker and a nurse as they entered the room of his girlfriend and newborn baby, according to a Dallas police arrest warrant.

Hernandez had just accused his girlfriend of cheating on him. He pistol-whipped her and fatally shot the two healthcare workers before a security officer wounded him. 

Hernandez had a long rap sheet.

He was on parole for an aggravated robbery. In 2015 Hernandez and a female accomplice attacked a woman who was returning home from work. 

They taped the victim's hands together and taped over her eyes.  They broke her nose and fractured her eye during the robbery. Hernandez stole her phone, car, and $3,000 cash from a school fundraiser. 

A year before the hospital murder, Hernandez was released early on parole with a special electronic monitoring condition.

Hernandez was granted permission to be at the hospital with his girlfriend during and after the baby's delivery.  He was wearing an active ankle monitor.

Shortly after the shooting, Dallas police chief Eddie Garcia called the killings "an abhorrent failure of our criminal justice system" and said, “we give violent criminals more chances than our victims.”

Investigative reporter Robert Riggs, former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston, and the Chief of Police of Prosper, Texas, Doug Kowalski discuss early release policies that are setting off a wave of violence across the United States.

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Whoever Comes In This Room Is Going To Die With Us

In the previous episode, we showed how homicide detectives solved 50-year-old cold cases.

They analyzed old evidence by using new DNA extraction technology pioneered by Othram, a forensic genealogy lab in Texas.

Othram provided new leads by finding relatives of suspects on genealogy databases.

As revolutionary as that seems, it was just a few years ago that the FBI pioneered the use of mitochondrial DNA in a Texas murder case.

Mitochondrial DNA is handed down from mother to child, so it can only tell you about your maternal ancestors.

In a landmark case, former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston used the mitochondrial DNA from a single hair to send a killer to prison for the rest of his life.

Here’s the backstory of how he did it. 

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

How A Single Hair Caught A Killer

14-year Stephanie Anne Isaacson left her father’s apartment in North Las Vegas on the early morning of June 1, 1989.

She walked through an empty sandlot, her usual shortcut, to the Eldorado High School.

The ninth grader never made it to her 7:30 AM class at Eldorado High School.

Later that evening, officers found her body under a piece of discarded carpet in a sandlot that Isaacson used to take a shortcut to school.

Stephanie was the victim of a blitz attack. Her black shirt was pulled up, and her jeans pulled down. Her shoes and other belongings were missing.



The freshman with shoulder-length brown hair who had last been pictured with a wide grin in her prom picture had been sexually assaulted, bludgeoned, and strangled to death. 

Investigators had little to go on besides a tiny drop of semen found on the dead girl's shirt.

They made numerous attempts to test the evidence but could not identify the killer.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police investigators never gave up.

In late 2021, they submitted a DNA sample of a mere 15 human cells to Othram, a forensic genealogy lab located in the Woodlands, a suburb of Houston.

Othram’s DNA extraction technology found a relative of the alleged killer in a genealogy database that law enforcement has the consent to search.

Forensic genealogy led Las Vegas detectives to Darren Marchand, who had never been listed among suspects.

But Marchand had committed suicide at the age of 29, six years after the murder.

Issacson’s 32-year  case represents the tip of the iceberg of a silent mass disaster–a quarter million cold cases languishing across the United States.

But as we say in Texas, there is a new sheriff in town in the form of a DNA lab built to solve cold cases.

Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs takes listeners of the True Crime Reporter® podcast inside Othram’s facility near Houston to find out how its trailblazing technology solves cases once thought to be unsolvable. 

Link To Carla Walker Podcast:

https://www.truecrimereporter.com/episodes/cold-case-justice-how-detective-jeff-bennett-used-genetic-genealogy-to-solve-a-murder/

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Murderers Can Run But They Can’t Hide From Their Forensic DNA Genealogy

I’m Robert Riggs and in this episode, I take you inside the crime scene tape of the once bank robbery capital of the world.

In 1997, I was in the Los Angeles office of the FBI’s bank robbery squad, reporting on an epidemic of violent take-over bank robberies. 

Veteran FBI Agent Bill Rehder pointed to a wall plastered with bank surveillance photos.

clad head to toe in black body armor and armed with assault rifles. 

Rehder focused on two heavily armed gunmen he had dubbed “The Hi Incident Bandits.” 

He ominously told me that they were not just dressed for a bank robbery but for a confrontation.

Indeed a month later, the pair shot it out with police after robbing a bank in North Hollywood.

The running gun battle lasted 44 minutes. The pair were armed with thousands of rounds of ammunition and fully automatic assault rifles.

It was a case of life imitating art.

Two years earlier, the movie Heat featured a similar paramilitary-style robbery and shootout in LA.

Written and directed by Michael Mann, Heat is a classic American crime film. It pits Al Pacino as an LAPD detective against Robert De Niro, who plays a career thief and the gang's leader.

Now, Mann has teamed up with award-winning author Meg Gardiner to write a suspenseful novel titled Heat 2.

It tells the back story of the character in the years before and after the iconic movie.

Meg Gardiner is my guest on this episode of True Crime Reporter®.

Links to Robert's Bank Robbery TV News Reports:

https://youtu.be/NC6QZKP_F5Q

https://youtu.be/M9BcS1DFFXc

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Heat2: The Hollywood Shootout In Which Life Imitates Art

Don Bentley’s career zigzagged from flying an Army helicopter gunship on combat missions in Afghanistan to working counterintelligence for the FBI, to now writing suspense-filled novels based on the knowledge of his previous careers.

In my last episode, former FBI agent Don Bentley took us inside the training of Special Agents at the elite FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

After the FBI, Bentley launched a successful writing career. He intimately knows the subject that he writes fiction about.

Don Bentley is the New York Times bestselling author of the Matt Drake series spinning out potboilers about terrorism and intelligence operations.

He has also written two Tom Clancy Jack Ryan, Jr. novels…the latest on bookshelves everywhere is Zero Hour.

In this second episode, we discuss Bentley’s transition to writing and our individual association with the late Tom Clancy. 

Clancy, a legendary author, was known for his precise descriptions of everything he wrote about in his best-selling novels about spycraft and military weapon systems. 

Clancy turned his books into video games and spellbinding movies starting with Hunt For Red October.

Here’s my interview with veteran decorated Army helicopter pilot, former FBI agent, and author Don Bentley.

Link To Rober Riggs Story About The Attack Submarine Dallas

https://youtu.be/QinO-HRifzo

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cybercriminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

From Gunship Pilot - To FBI Agent - To NYT's Best Selling Author Don Bentley

There’s a bank in Quantico, Virginia that gets robbed every day.

And I am going to take you there.

Hello. I’m Robert Riggs. 

In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, former FBI Agent Don Bentley takes us inside the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

New Special Agents start their career there in an intensive 20-week long training program.

Realistic training scenarios unfold in a mock town called Hogan’s Alley named after a comic strip from the 1890s.

I’ve reported there many times on stories ranging from bank robberies to weapons of mass destruction.

I’ve posted links to those stories in the show notes.

The 10-acre training facility contains a bank, post office, hotel, laundromat, barbershop, theater, homes, and everything you would find in a real urban setting.

It’s like a Hollywood set that features actors playing armed criminals.

In an homage to the deadly shootout with John Dillinger, there is a mock Biograph Theater where three FBI agents ended the gangster’s reign as “Public Enemy Number One.”

My guest, Don Bentley went through all of that training and he was well suited for it.

Before the FBI, Bentley served in the U.S. Army as a pilot for ten years and flew an AH-64 Apache helicopter gunship.

Bentley received the Bronze Star and Air Medal with V device for Valor.

He commanded a Quick Reaction Force in support of Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan.

The story of that mission can be heard on Episode 56 of Jack Carr’s podcast, Danger Close.

Carr as you may know is a former Navy SEAL and now a New York Times best selling author of The Terminal List.

The Terminal List starring Chris Pratt is an acclaimed series on Amazon Prime.

Don Bentley is also a New York Times bestselling author of the Matt Drake series spinning out potboilers about terrorism and intelligence operations.

In this episode, we discuss the focus of the FBI since 9/11.

Here’s my interview with Don Bentley.

Links to Robert's TV stories at the FBI Academy:

https://bit.ly/RobertRiggsReportsFromFBIAcademyOnWMD

https://bit.ly/RobertRiggsReportsFromFBIAcademyOnProfileOfAPsychopath

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

The True Crime Reporter®podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

This Bank Gets Robbed Every Day - Former FBI Agent Don Bentley

For many years Texas had a law and order image. 

Politicians campaigned for office about getting tough on crime.

A gubernatorial candidate’s TV ads featured actors wearing black and white overalls swinging sledgehammers in the prison yard. His voice-over pledged to teach youthful criminals “the joy of busing rocks.”

In fact, Texas ran a revolving door prison system.  

Lawmakers passed tougher laws but refused to spend money to build prisons to hold more convicted criminals.

The public did not know about this until I exposed how serial killer Kenneth McDuff was released on parole with hundreds more violent offenders. 

You can learn more about McDuff by listening to our recent episode titled The Broomstick Killer or you can watch our Freed To Kill streaming television documentary on Fox Nation.

The episode you are about to hear illustrates how Texas turned loose monsters. And I mean monsters.

I warn you it is a graphic story about a mother who dismembered her two boys and later walked out of that revolving door.

This episode is another example of how the stories on the True Crime Reporter® Podcast are stranger than fiction.

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

The True Crime Reporter®features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mystery, homicides, cold cases, prisons, criminals, serial rapists, child abduction, kidnapping, bank robbery, and violent crime.

She Butchered Her Sons and Took A Nap.  A Case of Freed To Kill.

Was it a case of cloak and dagger among spies? Or was it a plain old case of murder driven by lust and the desire for money?

It is a mystery that lives on 50-years after a popular Czech professor vanished from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Was he a double agent or triple agent that crossed his masters in a Cold War game of spy vs. spy?

Is he living out his years on a tropical island or do his remains lie at the bottom of an abandoned gold mine?

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Eileen Welsome provides long-awaited answers to a baffling case that caused a falling out between the FBI and the CIA.

Investigative reporter Robert Riggs interviews Welsome about a mysterious case of deadly cyanide murders as revealed in her book, Cold War Secrets.

This episode is another example of how the stories on the True Crime Reporter® Podcast are stranger than fiction.

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

The True Crime Reporter®features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mystery, homicides, cold cases, prisons, criminals, serial rapists, child abduction, kidnapping, bank robbery, and violent crime.





 

 

Cold War Secrets: A Cyanide Murder Mystery Involving the FBI and CIA

Matt Baker, the charismatic Baptist minister who almost got away with murdering his wife is among our most popular episodes.

On his way to the pulpit in Waco, Texas, Baker molested young women.

An investigation of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, revealed that sexual assaults by hundreds of pastors like Matt Bakers were covered up by church leaders for twenty years.

A seven-month investigation conducted by Guidepost Solutions released in May of 2022 found that sex abusing pastors were often passed along to other churches with no notice or warnings.

Two top officials of the Southern Baptist Convention kept their own private list of abusive pastors for ten years. And the list of 703 abusers may soon become public.

We expect Matt Baker to be on that list.

Former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston, the cohost of the True Crime Reporter® Podcast, unraveled a trail of sex abuse complaints about Matt Baker during his murder investigation.

Johnston and investigative reporter Robert Riggs update their original episode titled, The Minister Who Almost Got Away With Murder, published on October 18th of 2021.

Johnston reveals how his murder investigation discovered that Matt Baker’slong history of sexual abuse allegations had been swept under the rug for years. 

Riggs discusses the mindset of sexual predators based on his experience of reporting from inside the Texas prison system.

Link To Southern Baptist Conference Investigation of Sexual Abuse Allegations

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

The True Crime Reporter®features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mystery, homicides, cold cases, prisons, criminals, serial rapists, child abduction, kidnapping, bank robbery, and violent crime.

 

 

Rev Matt Baker - The Sinister Minister Who Murdered His Wife

Can you imagine yourself falling in love with a serial killer or murderer to the point you will give up your family, career, and even your life for them?

A veteran Alabama jail officer, Vicky White did just that in April of 2022 when she staged a getaway with a capital murder suspect.

The 56-year-old White had an unblemished record.  She was on her last day of work before retirement. Her colleagues had just voted her Corrections Employee of the Year for a fifth time before she went on the run.

At first, the Lauderdale County Sheriff in Florence, Alabama, thought White had been kidnapped when she disappeared with a 36-year Casey White, no relation.

But White had been involved in a two-year-long jailhouse romance with a career violent criminal named Casey White, no relation to her. 

He certainly didn’t have fashion model looks. 

Casey White, a 300-pound, muscular, burr-headed 6 foot 9 heavily tattooed inmate, was already serving a 75-year prison sentence for murder and other charges from a terrifying rampage.  

He had a large image of a Confederate flag tattooed on his back with the words Southern Pride connected by a chain to the image of a pit bulldog. 

It signified his membership in a white racist prison gang called the Southern Brotherhood according to the U.S.Marshals Service.

The tattooed sleeve covering his right arm featured large SS symbols favored by neo-Nazi gangs

Casey White was awaiting trial for stabbing 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway to death in her apartment. It had been a cold case for five years until White suddenly confessed in a letter to investigators. 

He later pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease and was awaiting trial in the Lauderdale County Jail.  But was his confession a ploy to get back to the jail to see Vicky White, its supervisor? 

Casey White called the jailer his wife and she visited his son and grandson according to the convicted felon’s mother. Even gave them Christmas presents. 

Vicky White gave a phony cover story when she took the capital murder suspect out of jail claiming it was for a mental health examination.

A week earlier she sold her house for 95-thousand dollars, far below market value, sold her car, and applied for retirement. She also bought an AR-15 rifle, a shotgun, men’s clothes, and sex toys. 

Vicky White had been making dry runs for the escape out of the jail with Casey White handcuffed and wearing a jail-issued jumpsuit in the backseat of her patrol car. 

The couple’s getaway came to a deadly end in Indiana when U.S. Marshals rammed their Cadillac during a high-speed chase. 

Marshals pulled Vicky White out of the wreckage still gripping the handgun that she used to kill herself. 

So what could she have possibly seen in a violent felon to throw her life away?

Investigative reporter Robert Riggs searches for answers in this episode of the True Crime Reporter® Podcast.

He interviews John Moriarty, the former Inspector General of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

You may recall from our earlier episodes about serial killer Kenneth McDuff that Moriarty was an undercover prison investigator who played a major role in catching McDuff.

The tough-talking transplanted Irish cop from New York also tricked McDuff into revealing the location of the body of one of his victims before he was executed.

Moriarty is also featured in the opening of the promo about our five-part documentary news series about McDuff titled Freed To Kill on Fox Nation Streaming.

The stories of women and men falling in love with killers may sound like pulp fiction but it is all too common inside jails and prisons.

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

The True Crime Reporter®features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mystery, homicides, cold cases, prisons, criminals, serial rapists, child abduction, kidnapping, bank robbery, and violent crime.

 

Jailhouse Romances: Why Do Women Fall In Love With Serial Killers

In this vintage photo from 1993, Peabody Award-Winning Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs stands on a guard tower overlooking Texas Death Row.

Poking up behind him to the right of the large spotlight is the steeple of the prison chapel where seven condemned prisoners made their daring break for freedom five years later. 

29-year Martin Gurule, a cold-blooded killer from Corpus Christi in South Texas made it over the prison’s fence on a foggy Thanksgiving night under a hail of rifle fire from guard towers.

The last time condemned killers had broken out of prison in Texas was in 1934 when two members of the notorious Bonnie and Clyde gang made a daring escape.

Prison guards were killed by machine gunfire.

That set off a manhunt led by legendary Texas Ranger Frank Hammer that ended in the deadly ambush of Bonnie and Clyde.

Sixty-four years later, hundreds of officers scoured thousands of acres looking for Martin Gurule around the Ellis Prison Unit near Huntsville, Texas.

Robert Riggs was there until the very end.

In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® Podcast, Riggs dusts off an old reporter’s notebook about this sensational escape from Texas Death Row.

It’s an example of how we take you inside the crime scene tape.

Apple link to the episode about serial Killer Kenneth McDuff

CBS News Anchor Bob Schieffer Shocked By Broomstick Killer’s Brutality

Links To Television Show About McDuff

How was a dangerous sexually sadistic killer set free on parole?

Riggs delivers the answers.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE PROMO

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON FOX NATION STREAMING

Follow Robert Riggs on the True Crime Reporter™ Podcast to hear more real-life crime stories. 

Click Here To See The List Of Crimes That Constitute Capital Murder in Texas

The Greatest Escape From Texas Death Row Since Bonnie & Clyde

Frivolous lawsuits filed by convicted criminals flooded the federal court system in Texas.

A prison inmate who regarded himself as the "Perry Mason" of the Texas prison sued for millions of dollars because his Thanksgiving Turkey was served cold.

Another sued because his Rice Krispies Cereal did not Snap, Crackle, Pop as advertised.

This underscores why the True Crime Reporter® podcast features true crime stories that are stranger than fiction.

Investigative reporter Robert Riggs dusted off his reporter's notebook to tell the story "Convicts Court."

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

Prison Inmate Sued Because His Rice Krispies Did Not Snap, Crackle, Pop

Sheriff Parnell McNamara promised his constituents in McLennan County, Texas around Waco that he would actively pursue cold cases.

McNamara was elected for a third four-year term in January of 2021. And he has made good on his campaign pledge to open up homicide cases that had been long forgotten.

Because as McNamara sees it no one should get away with murder and the victim’s family deserves to know what happened.

The McNamara clan started in law enforcement in 1902 with Guy McNamara who President Franklin Roosevelt later appointed as a U.S. Marshal in 1933.

You may recall from our earlier episodes about serial killer Kenneth McDuff, that it was the brothers, Deputy U.S. MarshalsParnell and Mike McNamara that launched the manhunt for McDuff with my co-host former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston. 

After 36 years with the U.S. Marshals Service, Parnell McNamara reached the mandatory retirement age.  

He retired for nine years but was not willing to be put out to pasture as they say here in Texas.

He was elected Sheriff in 2011 on a campaign slogan of “Riding Herd on the Lawless.”

McNamara wearing his trademark Stetson cowboy hat is a throwback to the old West.  

The western historical decor in his office looks like a modern-day Dodge City occupied by Wyatt Earp. 

I sat down to talk to Sheriff McNamara and the Captain of his cold case unit Steve January.

They started by giving me a challenge coin for the unit.  

It features the “Dead Man’s Hand In Poker”, the combination of cards that “Wild Bill” Hickok was holding when he was shot dead point-blank in the back of the head. 

Like I said this is the old west where McNamara still forms a posse to hunt down fugitives. 

And one more thing. McNamara was the inspiration for Jeff Bridge’s role in Come Hell or High Waterwhich was written by his cousin Taylor Sheridan, best known now for Yellowstone. 

Saddle up your horse. Here’s my interview from inside the crime scene tape with Sheriff Parnell McNamara.

If you wish to make a contribution to Sheriff McNamara's Cold Case Unit, send it to:

McLennan County Sheriff's Office

Attn: Capt. Steve January

901 Washington Ave, Waco, TX 76701

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

 

Sheriff Parnell McNamara Rides Herd On The Lawless Solving Cold Cases

Cold case investigator Paul Holes played a major role in ending a decades-long reign of terror by The Golden State Killer.

First known as The East Area Rapist, a masked psychological sadist assaulted 50 women in Northern California between 1976 and 1979.

He progressed from burglaries to vicious sexual assaults in the middle of the night, to bludgeoning his victims to death.

Along the way, he called 911 to taunt the police.

Suddenly it seemed he had disappeared.

But he had moved to a new hunting ground in Southern California where he murdered 13 people and became known as the Original Night Stalker. 

And then in 1986, it stopped.

In 2011, DNA testing revealed that the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker were one in the same man.

True-crime writer Michelle McNamara gave the elusive criminal the moniker the “Golden State Killer.” 

McNamara, the wife of comedian/actor Patton Oswalt, became obsessed with the long-abandoned cold case for six years, focusing attention on it until her untimely death.

Enter investigator Paul Holes.  Holes talked with Robert about his newly released book, Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases.

They discuss the “Golden State Killer”, notorious cases in Texas, and breakthroughs in forensic genealogy. 

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

How Cold Case Investigator Paul Holes Unmasked The Golden State Killer

Doug Feldman’s resume gave no clue that a mass killer was lurking inside him.

He graduated from a prestigious university. He was a financial wizard. He was the funniest man in the room at social functions. Everything appeared to be going his way.

But beneath Feldman's cool exterior, a volcano was swelling up inside him. First, there were tremors. Then a deadly eruption against random strangers.

Feldman cruised around Dallas on his Harley Davidson motorcycle randomly shooting truck drivers to death. His reasons for the murders are beyond comprehension.

A month after Feldman was sentenced to die in the Texas death chamber, he sat down to talk with investigative reporter Robert Riggs.

It is a rare glimpse into the mind of a mass killer because they usually take their own lives at the end of their rampage.

Feldman told Riggs at the beginning of the interview that most of what he had to say would not make any sense.

And he was right.

This is a True Crime Reporter™Extra with a story from inside the crime scene tape like none you have ever heard before. 

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

 

Death Row Interview With The Mass Killer Known As The "Terminator"

Gun-wielding gang members from Houston burst into a rural bank located a hundred miles north of Houston.

The high school-age teenagers graduated from burglaries and drive-by shootings to cold-blooded murder that day.

They left behind the bullet-riddled body of an 82-year old woman who was tending her family’s graves.

They robbed a bank and shot up the small town while making their getaway. They pistol-whipped a deputy sheriff and used his gun to shoot a Texas State Trooper. 

Investigative reporter Robert Riggs covered the murder and former U.S.prosecutor Bill Johnston sent them to prison. They are back with another story inside the crime scene tape about the execution of the sweet elderly lady known as Miss Ruby.

This is a True Crime Reporter@ Confidential.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

The Teenage Gang That Graduated To Cold Blooded Murder

It was called the Ride Murder.

The bullet-riddled body of an unidentified seaman from the Port of Houston, Texas was found dumped in a ditch a few miles away.

Two men and a woman used a “honey pot” trap to lure the seaman into their car to rob him.

It was one of the most sensational murder trials ever brought in East, Texas.

School children paraded through the county jail on macabre field trips to get a look at the accused killers.

One of the defendants who had already killed a traveling salesman using a similar “honey pot” ploy sat behind bars drawing sketches about romantic encounters. 

Decades later, veteran criminal investigator Louis Fawcett was conducting genealogical research about his family tree.

Imagine his shock when Fawcett who had spent 43 years hunting down criminals, discovered that the trigger man in the Ride Murder was his uncle.

This is a True Crime Reporter™EXTRA from Dallas, Texas.

Investigative reporter Robert Riggs unfolds another story from inside the crime scene tape.

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

Do Murderous Roots Lie Within Your Family Tree?

Before Columbine. Before Sandy Hook. Before Virginia Tech.  There was the Sniper in the Tower at the University of Texas.

America’s first mass murder and school shooting unfolded on live television in Austin, Texas more than a half-century ago.

Since then the question has lingered, “Why did he do it?”

Gary Lavergne, the author of A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders, addresses the whys and the myths about the why.

In this True Crime Reporter™, Confidential investigative reporter Robert Riggs and former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston take listeners back to 1966 when a student cut down fifty people in 96 minutes.

We have placed links in the show notes to black and white film footage from the shooting and a video of Gary Lavergne following the sniper’s trail to the top of the UT Tower

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

 

A Sniper In The Tower--Why Did He Do It?

Retired CBS News Anchor Bob Schieffer was the first reporter to interview Kenneth McDuff and cover his crimes in 1966. 

Back then Schieffer was the police beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Schieffer had just returned from a combat assignment covering the Vietnam War when the call came in from homicide detectives.

The bullet-riddled bodies of 17-year old Robert Brand and his cousin 16-year-old Mark Dunnam had been found in the trunk of their abandoned car on a remote farm road south of Fort Worth, Texas.

Sixteen-year-old Edna Louise Sullivan who had been out with the boys was missing.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers and local residents started a widespread search of rough terrain. 

The triple slaying would bring Schieffer face to face in exclusive interviews with 20-year old Kenneth McDuff who became known as the “Broomstick Killer” and his accomplice 18-year old Roy Dale Green

Investigative reporter Robert Riggs would follow Schieffer's lead 27-years later. 

Their journalism careers came full circle.

In 1978, Schieffer helped Riggs move from the staff of a congressional committee to television news. 

Both reporters covered wars for CBS during their careers but never witnessed brutality like serial killer Kenneth McDuff inflicted on young women.

Besides appearing on the True Crime Reporter™ podcast, Schieffer sat down in front of a TV camera to talk with Riggs about what it was like to cover McDuff.

You can watch Riggs’ interview with Schieffer for our television documentary titled Freed To Kill on Fox Nation. 

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

 

CBS News Anchor Bob Schieffer Shocked By Broomstick Killer’s Brutality

We usually take our fans inside the crime scene tape of real-life crimes.

But in this episode, we are testing out a fictional Texas Ranger superhero named Creed True, inspired by real-life cases.

The Texas Ranger became a superhero in pop culture long before Spider-Man and fellow characters from Marvel Comics captured our collective imaginations. 

Think about how the phrase "Who was that masked man?" is now part of our vocabulary.

Superheroes possess supernatural or superhuman powers and are dedicated to fighting evil in their universe. 

Our first story is titled, The Kidnapper's Tale.

Please let us know what you think about it fan@truecrimereporter.com.

Links to the Official Texas Ranger Bicentennial Cowboy Hats

https://bit.ly/200xSBTexasRangerLimited

https://bit.ly/40xSBTexasRangerLimited

https://bit.ly/10xPecanTexasRangerLimited

Link to Texas Ranger western belts and apparel

The Hat Store

Note: You can read more about the history of the legendary Texas Rangers and see vintage photos on our blog at True Crime Reporter™.

For official historical information visit the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum online or in-person at the museum in Waco, Texas. 

Please join us in supporting the 2023 Texas Ranger Bicentennial.

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First There Was the Lone Ranger. Now There's Creed True.

Texas kicked off festivities on Texas Independence Day, to commemorate the 2023 Bicentennial of the Texas Rangers. 

As the Rangers approach their 200th year of service their legend is embodied in the following quote. 

When Texas Ranger Captain Bill McDonald was sent to Dallas in the 1890s to prevent a scheduled prizefight, McDonald was greeted at the train station by the city's anxious mayor, who asked: "Where are the others?" To which McDonald supposedly replied, "Hell! ain't I enough? There's only one prize-fight!" (credit: Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum).

The Texas Rangers are the oldest serving state law enforcement agency in the United States.

Armed with the latest technology, Rangers wear distinctive white cowboy hats, white western-style shirts with silver badges crafted from Mexican Cinco peso coins, and cowboy boots.

The event started at the Dickies Arena on the grounds of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo with special help from Brad Barnes the President/General Manager of the Exposition and Livestock Show.  

It concluded on Mule Alley hosted by Craig Cavileer in the Fort Worth Stockyards at the Hotel Drover.

One note, Mule Alley is where Robert Riggs' great uncle Bob Sims bought mules for use in the East Texas oil fields in the 1930s and 40s.

Those places are steeped in Texas history. Fort Worth known as “Cowtown” is where the West began.

In this episode of the True Crime Reporter™ Podcast’s Texas Ranger Files, Robert Riggs and Bill Johnston talk to Russell Molina, the Chair of the Texas Ranger Bicentennial in 2023.

Russell Molina is a Houston business entrepreneur and civic leader long associated with supporting the Texas Rangers.

If you are a fan of Taylor Sheridan’s TV series Yellowstone or 1883, you are going to like this episode. 

We even include tips on how to buy a Texas Ranger cowboy hat! 

Links to the Official Texas Ranger Bicentennial Cowboy Hats

https://bit.ly/200xSBTexasRangerLimited

https://bit.ly/40xSBTexasRangerLimited

https://bit.ly/10xPecanTexasRangerLimited

Link to Texas Ranger western belts and apparel

The Hat Store

Note: You can read more about the history of the legendary Texas Rangers and see vintage photos on our blog at True Crime Reporter™.

For official historical information visit the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum online or in-person at the museum in Waco, Texas. 

Please join us in supporting the 2023 Texas Ranger Bicentennial.

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

Join our true crime community and follow us here. 

True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

One Riot, One Ranger Fuels 200-Year Old Legend

Fort Worth Cold Case detectives solved the murder of 17-year old Carla Walker after it had gone cold for nearly five decades.

They analyzed old evidence using genetic genealogy and new DNA extraction technology pioneered by Othram, a forensic genealogy lab in the Woodlands a suburb of Houston. 

Othram matched the DNA to a test submitted to a genealogy site by a member of the killer’s family tree. Othram did not disclose the relative’s name. 

Cold case investigators Jeff Bennett and Leah Wagner identified 78-year old Glen McCurley who was among the original suspects. McCurley confessed to them when confronted with the DNA evidence. 

Genetic genealogy was used in the Golden State Killer case, but this was the first time the technology make it to a courtroom.

McCurley pleaded guilty after two days of testimony in his capital murder trial in August of 2021.

More than 1,000 cases remain unsolved in Fort Worth alone.  Paying for expensive DNA tests as well as travel expenses for investigators makes the task even more difficult.

In the wake of the Walker case, Detective Jeff Bennett created the FWPD Cold Case Support Group, a nonprofit foundation to accept tax-deductible donations to help solve Fort Worth’s unsolved murders.

In this episode of True Crime Reporter™Confidential Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs takes listeners inside the crime scene tape with Detective Jeff Bennett who reopened the case in 2019.

Make An Online Donation with a note that you heard about this on True Crime Reporter™ Podcast or mail a check to:

FWPD Cold Case Support Group

PO Box 185052

Fort Worth, TX 76181-0052, US

The seven members of the FWPD Cold Case Support Group Board of Directors are: Detective Jeff Bennett, Detective Leah Wagner, Jim Walker (brother of Carla Walker), Emily Dixon (Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office), Detective John Galloway, former Sgt. David Thornton (who started the cold case unit in the 2000s), and Adam Palmer (founder of the oil and gas company Resource Sense LLC.)

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

 

How Genetic Genealogy Solved The 1974 Murder Of Carla Walker

This is a story about two botched murder attempts by hired hitmen.

And what happened when 65-year old Joyce Sturdivant took matters into her own hands.

One of the most common forms of homicide is when one half of a couple kills the other.

Women are usually the victims of this form of homicide.

Only one percent of male victims are killed by a partner.

But in this case, 65-year old Joyce Sturdivant knocked off her husband after the hitmen she hired failed to kill Big Joe Sturdivant, a burly stock car racer in Central Texas. 

In this True Crime Reporter™, Confidential Robert Riggs reveals that Joyce got away with murder for two years until his cohost former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston got on her case.

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

After Hitmen Failed To Kill Her Husband She Pulled The Trigger

The Los Zetas drug cartel ambushed two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on a dangerous stretch of highway on February 15, 2011.

Special Agent Victor Avila was severely wounded. His partner, Jaime Zapata, was killed.

Zapata was the first U.S. enforcement officer killed in the line of duty in Mexico since the murder of DEA agent Enrique “KiKi” Camarena.

The ICE agents had been dispatched from Mexico City to Monterrey to pick up supplies without proper training or protection.

Warnings had been issued by the U.S. Embassy that the stretch of Highway 57 was a no man’s land controlled by the Los Zetas.

The Zetas had apparently been tipped off and unleashed a barrage of bullets from their assault rifles into their armored vehicle which could not stop the withering fire. 

The armored SUV was clearly marked with U.S. State Department diplomatic license plates. 

Murder charges against eight of the hitmen were later dismissed because of a loophole in federal law. 

Victor Avila, a native of El Paso has written a book about the incident titled Agent Under Fire - A Murder and a Manifesto.

In this episode of True Crime Reporter, we talk to Victor Avila about his crusade to find justice for his slain partner. 

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

How Mexican Cartel Hit Men Got Away With Murdering A U.S. Agent

Former NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen walked a beat in Harlem all the way into Hollywood’s greatest crime dramas of all time.

His walk of fame started when William Friedkin, the director of The French Connection asked Jurgensen to demonstrate how to put a suspect against a wall for the “pat down”.

Friedkin hired Jurgensen as the film’s technical consultant to advise him on how to realistically show the gritty side of heroin trafficking in the 1960s.

It became Jurgensen's job to turn actors Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider into narcotics detectives. 

Jurgensen turned out to be a natural on camera and was given the role of an NYPD Sergeant in film.

He appears on the poster for The French Connection flanking Gene Hackman. 

Jurgensen had been on the periphery of an undercover narcotics investigation that netted a legendary seizure of heroin. 

Robin Moore, the author of The Green Berets, wrote a book about the case, titled The French Connection. 

In those days heroin flowed into New York City from Marseille and the book was made into a movie.

A long list of credits includes Jurgensen’s work as a technical advisor on Die Hard with a Vengeance, a cop in the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, and a role in Frank Sinatra's first made-for-TV movie, Contract On Cherry Street .

A few days after celebrating The French Connection’s Oscars, Jurgensen became embroiled in the most notorious case in the history of NYPD.  

Jurgensen’s book titled,Circle of Six, details his determined effort to bring to justice 

the murderer of Police Officer Philip Cardillo who was killed in a Harlem Mosque in 1972. 

Fasten your seatbelts. 

Jurgensen takes us inside the greatest car chase ever made in this edition of True Crime Reporter™ Confidential. 

Here's the link to the one-man parody, The Godfadda Workout in which Seth Isler plays 37-characters from The Godfather.

We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Inside The Making Of Hollywood's Greatest Crime Movies

When a woman’s head bobbed to the surface on Lake Waco in Central Texas no one had the slightest clue about who she was or how she died.

An autopsy revealed that she had been decapitated and there was no sign of the rest of her body in the lake.

As veteran Texas Ranger John Aycock began to learn more about the woman’s life (profilers call it victimology), he declared the likely identity of the murder suspect.

Now he just had to prove it.

They call it a “Rangers Intuition” developed from years of investigating homicides in rural Texas and questioning killers.

Former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston and investigative reporter Robert Riggs explain how Ranger Aycock “got his man” in this episode of True Crime Reporter™ Confidential.

Note: You can read more about the history of the legendary Texas Rangers and see vintage photos on our blog at True Crime Reporter™.

For official historical information visit the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum online or in-person at the museum in Waco, Texas. 

Please join us in supporting the 2023 Texas Ranger Bicentennial.

We want to be your favorite True Crime podcast.

Please recommend us to your friends and leave a review wherever you listen.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

A Woman's Head Is Found Floating In A Lake...Who Did It?

When you hear about violent crime, do you think to yourself, “it would never happen to me?”

When 29-year old Colleen Reed went to a self-service car wash in Austin, Texas none of her family or friends thought it would be the last time they would see her. 

Reed never imagined that serial killer Kenneth McDuff was stalking her. 

McDuff is featured in the first season of True Crime Reporter™ and our story is being turned into a tv series for a major streaming channel scheduled for release in the Spring of 2022.

Bill Johnston and I want you to understand that it can happen to you, because “they walk among us.”

Sexual predators and killers don’t present themselves in a demonic manner and are not easy to recognize or avoid. 

“They walk among us” means that people who might hurt us may be unrecognizable as a threat.

More often than not they are people we see in public, go to school with, date, live with, or strangers who appear trustworthy.

In our earlier episode about the teenage girl who was rescued from her kidnappers by Texas Rangers, the ring leader of the abduction was the father of one of her school classmates.

If you were ordered to get into a car and threatened if you didn’t, what would you do?

In this episode of True Crime Reporter™ Confidential retired homicide detective David Thorton is here to explain how and why violent criminal actors target their victims and how victims' behavior may contribute to their vulnerability.

Thornton was a guest in our earlier episode about cold cases. More than 100 homicide cold cases were solved in part because of Thornton's efforts with the Fort Worth, Texas police department.

We are going to talk about the lessons in Thornton’s book, Have A Plan… Because They Do. 

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True Crime Reporter™ is a copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Protect Your Self From Sexual Predators - Have A Plan Because They Do

After listening to our episodes about serial killer Kenneth McDuff, you have no doubt that McDuff is what FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood described as a textbook psychopath.

But it’s not only criminals that are psychopaths.

CEOs of major corporations, politicians, and entertainers score high on the checklist of psychopathic behavior.

Think about your work colleagues or social circle.  

Is your boss a narcissistic manipulator with no remorse?

Do you know someone who takes pleasure in hurting others and easily lies?

Thomas Erikson reveals how we are surrounded by psychopaths.

They may not physically threaten our lives but can emotionally destroy them. 

In this episode, investigative reporter Robert Riggs talks to Erikson about his book Surrounded by Psychopaths and how we can protect ourselves from them.

 

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True Crime Reporter™ is a copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Surrounded by Psychopaths With Author Thomas Erikson

Murder Mayhem & Meth -- The Real Life Breaking Bad In Texas

If you were a fan of the Breaking BadTV series, get ready to listen to the real version in Texas.

The TV series featured a fictional high school chemistry teacher named Walter White diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor who manufactures high-grade meth in order to put away cash for his family’s future.

It is not far from the truth. 

During the 1980s, Central and East Texas were dotted with illicit meth labs set up in remote farmhouses.

But these “Walter White”  meth kingpins typically became addicted to their own chemical product and turned super paranoid.

Investigative reporter Robert Riggs and former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston flashback to the notorious trade and violence it brought to the badlands of Texas in this episode of True Crime Reporter™ Confidential.

Our true crime stories are stranger than fiction especially this one about Murder, Mayhem, & Meth. 

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True Crime Reporter™ is a copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

Murder, Mayhem, & Meth -- The Real Breaking Bad In Texas Badlands

In the previous episode of True Crime Reporter™ Texas Ranger Files, we told the story of brave Rangers who kept up the pursuit of kidnappers while their car was being riddled with gunfire and was engulfed in flames.

Thirteen-year-old Amy McNiel the daughter of the pioneer in the development of the first hand-held calculator was kidnapped by five men on the way to school in January of 1985

Retired Ranger Captain Bob Prince recalled the tension-filled 48 hour, 600 mile game of cat and mouse and a 100 mph running gun battle that ended in the safe rescue of the teen.

During the pursuit of the kidnappers, Texas Ranger Stan Guffey maintained surveillance from an aircraft.

Two years later when a criminal out on parole kidnapped a two-year-old girl, Guffey did not want to stand by and watch as he had before.

Guffey insisted on replacing another Ranger in a plan to surprise the kidnapper as the father of the victim delivered the ransom.

He literally pulled a fellow Ranger out of his hiding place in the back seat of a Lincoln Continental that was being used in the rendezvous with the kidnapper and took his place. 

It was the day the last Ranger Died, January 22, 1987.

In this investigative exclusive edition of the Texas Ranger Files Robert Riggs and former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston reveal a tragic case. 

Bill tells the sad ending of this story that has waited years to be told.

Note: You can read more about the history of the legendary Texas Rangers and see vintage photos on our blog at True Crime Reporter™.

For official historical information visit the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum online or in-person at the museum in Waco, Texas. 

Please join us in supporting the 2023 Texas Ranger Bicentennial.

We want to be your favorite true crime podcast.

Please recommend us to your friends and leave a review wherever you listen.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

The Day The Last Texas Ranger Died - Saving A Two-Year Old Girl

This episode marks the inaugural edition of the True Crime Reporter™ Texas Ranger Case Files.

Robert Riggs and Bill Johnston feature exclusive stories about criminal cases in interviews with legendary officers of the Texas Rangers.

The Texas Rangers constitute the oldest state law enforcement organization in North America dating to 1823.

You can read more about the history of the Texas Rangers and their influence on popular culture on our blog at the True Crime Reporter™ website.

Robert and Bill interview retired Ranger Captain Bob Prince, a legendary modern-day Texas Ranger about his most memorable case.

Our story begins with the rescue of 13-year old Amy McNiel of Alvarado, Texas from five kidnappers in mid-January of 1985.

It captures the frontier spirit and courage of the officers who wear the distinctive 5-star badge of the Texas Rangers.

The teenage daughter of Don McNiel, a pioneer in the development of the first hand-held calculator, was snatched at gunpoint on the way to school.

Kidnappers ran a jeep driven by her 17-year old brother off the road and put a sawed-off shotgun to his face as they grabbed his sister.

They demanded a $100,000 ransom for the seventh grader’s safe return but had no intention of releasing the teenage girl alive.

Throughout McNiel’s abduction, the five kidnappers snorted and injected drugs and talked about “driving” to Hawaii with the ransom money.

The teen defiantly insisted that her captors feed a hungry dog in their backyard before she would cooperate.

Their ringleader, 34-year James Wesley Foote lived near the McNiel’s mansion and his son was her school classmate but unknown to her. Foote’s son had once stabbed a fellow student in the arm with a knife. 

Two weeks before McNiel’s abduction, Foote who was wanted for attempted murder had burst into the home of a prominent businessman in Arlington near Fort Worth, Texas to kidnap his two young children.

The family’s housekeeper wrestled Foote’s gun away from him and fought him in a bloody 45-minute struggle. 

The gun discharged near her head and Foote fled.

A few weeks later, Foote and his accomplices then abducted 13-year old Amy McNiel.

Retired Ranger Captain Bob Prince remembers a tension-filled 48 hour, 600 mile game of cat and mouse and a 100 mph running gunbattle in this episode of Texas Ranger Files.

For official historical information visit the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum online or in-person at the museum in Waco, Texas. 

Please join us in supporting the 2023 Texas Ranger Bicentennial.

We want to be your favorite true crime podcast.

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True Crime Reporter™ is a copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

 

Texas Rangers Brave Bullets and Flames To Rescue 13-Year Old Girl From Kidnappers

David Grantham a former Air Force Intelligence officer encountered Al Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban during his service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now he heads up criminal intelligence operations for Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn from its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.

Grantham holds a Ph.D. in History from Texas Christian University and a Master of Science in International Relations from Troy University.

He reveals how the expiration of stimulus payments during the pandemic in the United States may be fueling a crime wave.

Grantham also warns that the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban and the loss of American weaponry poses a new threat.

Sophisticated U.S. weapons are likely to be acquired by the Mexican cartels and other international crime organizations.

Grantham is the author of Consequences An Intelligence Officer’s War which gives a unique look inside the nuts and bolts of running counterintelligence operations. 

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Criminal Intel: What Officers Learn About Crime From State Jails

46 years after the abduction, torture, and murder of a 17-year-old girl, cold case detectives with the Fort Worth police department arrested a 78-year old Glen McCurley and charged him with capital murder.

McCurley abducted Carla Walker from the parking lot of a bowling alley. Walker had been to a Valentine’s day dance with her 17-year old boyfriend.

McCurley pistol-whipped Walker’s boyfriend and tried to shoot him in the head three times but the pistol’s magazine fell out.

Walker’s lifeless body was later found dumped in a culvert.

Fort Worth Police detectives Jeff Bennett and Leah Wagner were the primary investigators who reopened this case in 2019.

New, advanced DNA testing matched McCurley's DNA to stains found on Carla Walker's clothing.

The 46-year old unsolved case came to an end in August of 2021 when McCurley pleaded guilty during his murder trial. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Retired Homicide Detective David Thornton helped start the cold case unit. At the outset, investigators faced 750 unsolved murders dating back to 1966.

Thornton put into motion an effort that is still solving cold cases in which the original investigation failed to produce sufficient evidence to support murder charges.

In this edition of our True Crime Reporter Confidential, Robert Riggs and Bill Johnston take listeners inside homicide investigations and cold cases.

It is nothing like what is portrayed on popular TV shows. That’s Hollywood. This is real life.

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How Cold Case Detectives Solved A 46-Year Old Murder

Husbands who murder their wives often go to great lengths to concoct stories about their disappearance or sudden death.

They may give tearful appeals for help on television newscasts.

They typically think that they are smarter than the police and can get away with murder.

But there are no perfect crimes.  

Murderers often slip up when they try to make the crime scene look like what they’ve seen on television shows. 

Eagle-eyed investigators can see right through it.

This True Crime Reporter™ Confidential goes inside of two cases from the career of former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston.

In the first case, a charismatic Baptist preacher in Waco initially fools the police into believing that his wife committed suicide.

In the second case, a husband tries to murder his wife by setting off a bomb in her office to kill everyone so the police won’t suspect she was the target. 

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The Minister Who Almost Got Away With Murder

Willie Nelson sings about riding in the wide-open spaces with lyrics titled “Don’t Fence Me In”.

“Don’t Fence Me In” was the ballad of Texas inmate Dennis Wayne Hope.

Hope bragged that there wasn’t a prison in the state of Texas that could hold him.

The convicted armed robber went as far as to imitate the prisoner played by Paul Newman in Hollywood’s Cool Hank Luke.

During a television interview with investigative reporter Robert Riggs, Hope demonstrated how he could use the plastic refill of a ballpoint pen to unlock handcuffs. 

This episode called “Don’t Fence Me In” chronicles Hope’s prison escapes and the fugitive hunters who get on this trail.

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Don't Fence Me In - Why No Texas Prison Could Hold This Inmate

You are about to hear how the murder of Colleen Reed on December 29th of 1991 by serial killer Kenneth McDuff impacted the life of her then ten-year-old niece.


Ms. Reed was abducted from an Austin car wash shortly after Christmas by McDuff and his accomplice Alva Hank Worley.


You can hear Worley's confession about the grizzly details of the young accountant's brutal murder in episode 6.


At the time of this recording in December of 2020, Ms. Reed’s niece had spent 29-years suffering from guilt.


It is a story that none of us that worked on the case were aware of until now. 


Bill Johnston the federal prosecutor who launched the manhunt for McDuff and I talk with Ms. Reed’s niece to give you insight into how the trauma of violent crime affects the victim’s families forever.


 We also explain why society should lock up violent offenders and throw away the key.


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If you like this podcast, we invite you to listen to our Justice Facts Podcast -- True Crime Is Stranger Than Fiction.


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

"Free To Kill" These Wounds Don't Heal: The Living Hurt Forever by Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff

The scandalous release of serial killer Kenneth McDuff and corruption inside the parole system triggered the passage of numerous legislative reforms dubbed “The McDuff Law.” 


But mysteries remain.


How many violent inmates bought their way out of prison and were free to kill again?


How many women did McDuff abduct and murder?


McDuff always liked to have an accomplice to witness his evil acts.


Did other accomplices get away with murder?


Investigators sit down with investigative reporter Robert Riggs to discuss their theories.

"Free To Kill" Mysterious Secrets About Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff

Investigative reporter Robert Riggs traces serial killer Kenneth McDuff’s footsteps from Texas’ Death Row to its Death Chamber at the Walls Unit in Huntsville, Texas.  


The day before McDuff's execution the prison system gave Riggs and his camera crew access to the Texas death chamber.


Riggs fills in precise details about how the lethal injection was administered down to McDuff’s last words. 


It's a step-by-step account that most people have never heard before now.


McDuff’s body went unclaimed by family members, and his home community protested any attempt to bury him there. 


Riggs follows McDuff’s pine box coffin to its burial in an anonymous grave in the prison cemetery. 


P.S.


If you like this podcast, we invite you to listen to our Justice Facts Podcast -- True Crime Is Stranger Than Fiction.


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

"Free To Kill" Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff Is A Dead Man Walking

Serial killer Kenneth McDuff held back on revealing where he buried Colleen Reed's body.


McDuff and his accomplice Hank Worley abducted Ms. Reed from an Austin car wash in 1991.


Seven years have passed and the clock is ticking down toward McDuff's execution for her murder and that of Melissa Northrup.


Prison investigator John Moriarty, federal prosecutor Bill Johnston, and U.S. Marshal Mike McNamara have spent hours on Texas death row trying to get McDuff to reveal the location of his victim's bodies.


The big break comes when Moriarty hears McDuff complaining about a painful toothache.


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

"Free To Kill" How A Throbbing Toothache Made Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff Talk

Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff matter of factly described the last moments of this victim's lives as "using them up" to his accomplices in murder.


Afterward, he would dispose of the young women's bodies in unmarked burial sites at remote locations. 


With time ticking down toward his execution, author Gary Lavergne meets with McDuff on Texas Death Row to try to find out where the serial killer buried countless bodies.


His victim's families just want to give their loved one a proper funeral.


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

"Free To Kill" Face-To-Face With Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff On Texas Death Row

Kenneth McDuff’s first death sentence for the broomstick murders was commuted to life when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972.  


Now, McDuff faces two more capital murder charges. 


Prosecutors want to make sure that McDuff keeps his date with the executioner. 


After being sentenced to die by lethal injection, McDuff looks Riggs in the eye and smugly says, “I guess I’m going to die. We all have to sometimes. You know.”


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

"Free To Kill" A Serial Killer Is The Only Man In Texas To Receive 3 Death Sentences

Texas inmates and their families started receiving business cards and letters from the ex parole board chairman with promises of early release for a price. 


The former parole board chairman who played the key role in setting serial killer Kenneth McDuff free set up business as a parole consultant.


He solicited money from inmate's families to get his old cronies on the parole board to release his clients from prison early. 


In Episode 10 Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs exposed the secret underworld of parole consultants and the release of Kenneth McDuff’s prison pal. 


This a 15 part series. If you’ve just joined us, be sure to subscribe to True Crime Reporter™ so you can start with the first episode.


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

"Free To Kill" How A Serial Killer's Prison Pals Received Get Out Of Jail Free Cards

Kenneth McDuff’s confidential prison and parole records contained plenty of warning signs that he was a psychopathic killer that should never be released. 


Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs obtains McDuff’s records. 


Riggs exposes the lies the Texas Parole Board Chairman has been telling about his role in freeing McDuff. 


Along the way, Riggs discovers a secret process that released a hate crime killer in exchange for giving the parole board chairman a new car for himself and his mistress at the parole board.


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

"Free To Kill" Dirty Little Secrets About The Parole Of Texas Worst Serial Killer

Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs was investigating how serial killer Kenneth McDuff and dozens of other former death row inmates in Texas got out of prison when Riggs crossed paths with U.S. Marshals.


The Marshal's nationwide manhunt captured McDuff working on a garbage truck in Kansas City.  But the question remained.  Who in their right mind on the Texas parole board would let this diabolical killer walk out of prison.


McDuff's abduction and murder spree started shortly after he returned to Waco, Texas in 1989.


Deputy Marshall Parnell McNamara had compared McDuff to "Jack The Ripper".


After McNamara locked McDuff in a holding cell, the stern lawman looked Riggs in the eye and told the journalist, "We caught him. Our job is done. Now it's your job to find out how this monster got out of prison."


Riggs was already on the trail.


Just a few days after McDuff's capture, the daughter of one of McDuff's rape victims from when he was a high school student in his hometown of Rosebud comes forward.


The biological daughter that McDuff called "My Little Gangster" tells Riggs that she overheard the serial killer's family discussing a $25,000 bribe to grease his way to freedom.


Her allegations take Riggs deep into the corrupt underbelly of Texas parole and prison systems.


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

"Free To Kill" My Little Gangster Spills The Beans About A $25K Bribe

The confession to the abduction and murder of a young accountant in Austin by Kenneth McDuff's accomplice gives U.S. Marshals the evidence they need to launch a nationwide dragnet for the serial killer.


After combing every corner of Central Texas for weeks, the Texas posse realizes that McDuff has fled the state.


In Kansas City, a garbage truck worker recognizes McDuff's mug shot in a TV crime show featuring the U.S. Marshals' search.


The Marshals capture McDuff, but when they return the serial killer to Waco, Texas an angry mob wants to tear him limb from limb.


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

US Marshals Launch Nationwide Dragnet For Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff

The U.S. Marshals Service Task Force locates one of McDuff’s prison pals.


Every night Deputy Marshals Parnell and Mike McNamara along with U.S. federal prosecutor Bill Johnston roll through the underbelly of Central Texas rousting parolees.


Unlike the horse bound Texas's posses of the past, the Marshals drive an SUV bristling with weapons.


It's called "Big Foot".


They use a technique called "driving-them-up" to break down one of McDuff's prison pals who is also out on parole.


It pays off when the parolee admits that he was McDuff's accomplice in the abduction and murder of Colleen Reed from an Austin carwash.


You will hear the masterful confession extracted by Tim Steglich.


At that time, he was a criminal investigator for the Bell County Sheriff's Department and a crack interrogator.


Steglich extracts a confession that breaks the case wide open.


It is a blood-chilling "Journey Into Darkness."


Warning: You may have to sleep with the lights on after listening to this episode.


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

"Free To Kill" Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff's Accomplice Confesses -- It Is A Journey Into Darkness

When Falls County, Texas Sheriff Larry Pamplin heard Kenneth McDuff was out on parole, he prophetically stated, “I don’t know if will be a few days, a few weeks, or a few weeks, but bodies will start turning up.”  


Indeed, a string of abductions started happening up and down the Interstate 35 corridor between Dallas and Austin.


McDuff started a murderous crime spree that would span two and a half years. 


The paroled triple killer and an accomplice circled an Austin car wash stalking a victim.


In the words of McDuff, "they were on the hunt for a woman to use up."


It was just a few days after Christmas in 1991.  


They spotted Colleen Reed, a petite Austin accountant,  washing her new sports car.  


Neighbors hear her shrill scream.


In a split second, Colleen disappeared, never to be seen alive again.


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If you like this podcast, we invite you to listen to our Justice Facts Podcast -- True Crime Is Stranger Than Fiction.


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.


Reporter™.

"Free To Kill" Bodies Start Turning Up

A pair of Deputy U.S. Marshals and a young, aggressive federal prosecutor suspects that triple killer and former death row inmate Kenneth McDuff is behind the abduction of a convenience store clerk in Waco, Texas.  


When no other law enforcement organizations are willing to pursue a hot lead, the trio organizes an old-style Texas posse. 


The U.S. Marshals Service's top fugitive hunters join the posse. 


They recruit an Irish cop from New York City who works undercover in the Texas prison system. 


You can follow their trail as they track McDuff through a filthy underworld of ex-cons with a vengeance


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If you like this podcast, we invite you to listen to our Justice Facts Podcast -- True Crime Is Stranger Than Fiction.


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Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

"Free To Kill"  An old-style Texas Posse Trails Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff 

A Texas Sheriff and a U.S. Marshal describe the violent criminal history of Kenneth Allen McDuff -- AKA  "The Broomstick Killer."


They and their fathers helped capture McDuff for the abduction and murder of three Fort Worth teenagers in 1966.


The brutality and rape of a teenage girl with a jagged broomstick handle were seared into their memories.


Twenty-five years later, they discover that McDuff is the modern-day  “Jack The Ripper” of Central Texas.  


Two days after the former death row inmate walked out of prison on parole, women’s bodies started showing up.


And women started getting snatched in plain sight, never to be seen alive again.


Click here to Subscribe to True Crime Reporter™ on your favorite podcast channel.


Please follow us on Social Media and Share with friends:


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P.S.


If you like this podcast, we invite you to listen to our Justice Facts Podcast -- True Crime Is Stranger Than Fiction.


Click here to subscribe to your favorite podcast app.


Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

"Free To Kill" Serial Killer Kenneth Allen McDuff is the Broomstick Killer

Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs created an original true crime genre podcast based on three decades of real-life stories ripped from his reporter’s notebooks.


The True Crime Reporter™  podcast tells the backstory of criminal cases using interviews with the law enforcement law officers that played key roles in the investigation.


In every episode, Riggs pulls out his reporter’s notebooks. His law enforcement sources open up their case files. And they take listeners on a journey into darkness.


Riggs set out to create serialized immersive content that is character-driven. He brings the true crime audience into the story with characters that they care about so much that they want to binge-listen.


His stories strive to create a connection between true crime fans. The next phase of the production is to roll out a True Crime Reporter® Fandom where the community contributes to solving cold cases and organizes digital neighborhood watches.


True Crime Reporter™ features stories that are compelling to provide a new source of scripts for Hollywood screenwriters.


During his journalism career, Riggs never settled for standing outside the yellow crime scene tape. He went inside by knocking on doors, digging through records, and cultivating sources to get to the bottom of the story.


He is a recipient of television’s prestigious Peabody Award for investigative reporting and three coveted Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Awards for Investigative Reporting.


The American Bar Association honored Riggs with its Silver Gavel Award for his investigation of corruption in Texas’ parole and prison systems.  The Dallas Crime Commission in conjunction with the FBI awarded Riggs its first-ever “Excellence In Reporting Award” for his investigation of teenage heroin deaths in Plano, Texas and a landmark series on identity theft.


Riggs was appointed Chief Investigator for the Joint Committee on Defense Production by the late Congressman Wright Patman during the Watergate scandal.  Patman as Chairman of the House Banking Committee launched the first Watergate investigation. Riggs held a Top Secret Security clearance from the Department of Defense.


True crime stories reach into our consciousness and make us want to know how and why it happens.


The 5,300-year-old frozen skeleton named the Ice Man found in a European glacier was murdered by an arrowhead.  It seems plausible not only that murder has ancient roots in human history but also that fascination with murder does as well.


The public appetite for true crime dates back to the British daily newspaper, The Daily Courant, a single-sheet news flyer that debuted in 1702. It spawned the lurid “True Detective’ magazines. The Victorian Age spun out the “penny dreadfuls”.


Now the True Crime Reporter podcast takes listeners on a journey into darkness featuring interviews with prosecutors, investigators, victims, and ex-cons directly involved in the case.


P.S.


If you like this podcast, we invite you to listen to our Justice Facts Podcast -- True Crime Is Stranger Than Fiction.


Click here to subscribe to your favorite podcast app.


Bill Johnston, the federal prosecutor featured in "Free To Kill" and Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs, the host of True Crime Reporter™ talk about criminal cases from their careers and dissect cases making news.

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