Showing results by narrator "John N. Gully" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

In January 1994, Eileen Tessier told Jack McCullough's half sister Janet Tessier that he, her son, kidnapped seven-year-old Maria Ridulph from their neighborhood in Sycamore, Illinois, and killed her in December 1957. It was a case that tore the child’s family apart as well as dividing and terrifying the town as the days, then the months, and finally the years passed with no arrest. In 2008 the Illinois state police reopened the case against Jack after receiving an email from Janet Tessier about their mother's deathbed confession. 

What makes someone become a serial killer? What goes through the mind of these coldblooded killers while they pretend to be normal like the rest of the world? We can't say for sure for every single one of them - but for those who were caught and told their stories, we can. Plunge yourself into the dark and chilling abyss, and peek inside the minds of the world's most dangerous monsters - the infamous and cold-blooded serial killers.

Elliot Rodger considered himself to be intelligent, refined, handsome, fashionable, and charming. He spent years trying to be cool so women would like him. He thought if he just wore expensive and fashionable clothing, had a better car, or if he were rich, then women would throw themselves at him. In fact, he thought himself to be “The Supreme Gentleman”.

Ed Morrison's brother, Michael, and his spunky girlfriend, Debra Means, never made it home from the Mascoutah Community High School prom held on May 3, 1969. Two days later, their bodies were discovered near an abandoned strip mine on the outskirts of town. In this true crime memoir, Ed Morrison chronicles his journey nearly 50 years after that fateful night to learn the truth of what happened, illuminate the evil within a murderer, and find resolution.

Dual Mission is a true story that at times seems like a novel. It is the account of one ordinary person who vanishes into the “uncharted waters” of long term investigations at an agency where such work is an unknown....

Gladys needed something even she didn’t understand. She married her first husband when she was 20, and her second husband only 14 months later. The second marriage lasted only two years, the third less than 16 months. Leslie Lincoln was her fifth, and Dr. Broadhurst became her sixth. But what desperate need drove her to go from marriage to marriage? Then what dark mindset moved her and her young cowboy chauffeur to commit murder?

In 1971 and 1972, a deadly predator stalked the streets of the nation’s capital. His targets were young girls who he kidnapped, raped, and left their remains along busy roadways in plain view. Some of his victims he held captive for days, others only a few minutes. Seven victims ranging from the ages of 10 to 18 died in his hands. Then, as mysteriously as he started, the Freeway Phantom stopped.

Paul John Knowles, nicknamed the Casanova Killer, went on a four-month killing spree in 1974. He still remains one of the lesser known serial killers of his generation. Learn all about this psychopath who wanted fame before his life ended.

Joe Silvestri was a tough kid from the mean streets of New York. He went from street brawler to wearing a tux at the glamorous Copacabana. He eventually provided “muscle” for the Mob, a highly respected and feared fixer - the guy you went to if you had a problem that needed to be resolved. Award-winning Mob author Dennis Griffin joins forces with Joey “the Fixer” Silvestri to tell a tale of a bygone era when organized crime dominated New York City.

Brian Stidham fell in love with Tucson, Arizona, the minute he came to town. A young and talented eye surgeon, he accepted a job with an established eye surgeon to take over his pediatric patients. Brad Schwartz, the doctor who hired Brian, was ambitious and possessed surgical skills few others had. But he was a troubled man. Within a year of Stidham’s arrival in Tucson, the medical relationship would be severed by Schwartz’s personal troubles.  

There is something nefarious going on in 1966 Monte Carlo. The extravagant casino owner Gerard Legrand has been charged with human trafficking. But coincidentally, all the evidence is destroyed. Unable to accept the ruling, two judges join together with a team of ex-military special services men to bring Legrand to justice by any means necessary. 

As the sun rises over the quiet city of Kingston, New York, on July 12, 1988, a local transient discovers the remains of 19-year-old Anna Kithcart. She was strangled and beaten to death, with the letters "KKK" carved into her thighs. While her heartbroken family mourns, and the police work around the clock to uncover the truth, the investigation is complicated by the entrance of the Reverend Al Sharpton who insists that a racist killer is responsible. Only solving the crime can quell the chaos that threatens to ignite a powder keg of racial tension to catch the real killer.

Was it because they were subconsciously trying to kill the drunken, violent man that was their father that brothers Luke Karamazov and Tommy Searl from Kalamazoo became serial murderers? Addressing this and other questions, author Conrad Hilberry presents an unusually vivid and detailed portrait of two contrasting psychological types in this account. In 1964, Luke confessed to a five-week murder spree in which he killed five men. Tommy was convicted of the rape and murder of four women in 1972.

On the evening of December 3rd, 1957, seven-year-old Maria Ridulph and her eight-year-old friend, Kathy Sigman, were playing in the new fallen snow on a street corner in the sleepy town of Sycamore, Illinois. A stranger approached the girls, introduced himself as "Johnny" and offered them piggyback rides. When Kathy Sigman ran home to get her mittens, she left Maria and Johnny behind on the street corner. Little did she know that she would be the last person to see Maria Ridulph alive.

For those who are in any way interested in the depths of human morality, the Wests represent some of the most depraved and sadistic murderers ever to have lived. Not only did they prey on unsuspecting young girls, but their attentions were even turned toward their own daughters. In a case involving kidnap, rape, and murder, Fred and Rose went beyond the realms of what many of us consider possible as people.