Satan in the Flesh

A serial killer terrorizes several people and their families. A good deal of it could have been prevented.

Written by Troy Larson

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=29802408
http://worsethanfictionpodcast.com/
https://www.facebook.com/WorseThanFictionPodcast
https://twitter.com/WorseTFPodcast 

Podcast Promo: Apple for the Teacher- https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/apple-for-the-teacher/id1473698720
 
Theme music by Ecdysis:
https://ecdysis66.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ecdysisofficial/ 

epidemicsound.com

Episode Transcript

(00:09):
The story you are about to hearmay contain detailed descriptions of intense violence.
It will certainly be worse than fiction. Hello, my name is Less.

(00:50):
Thank you for joining me as wetake a look at a true tale of
unimaginable horror. A morning like anyother, that's the truth of it.
When we're talking about January sixteenth,nineteen ninety five, in the area around

(01:11):
Wadsworth, Illinois. It's the north, so it was cold, of course,
like any January day on the westernshore of Lake Michigan. It has
a unique beauty in the winter,though it's a kind of rural suburbia.
Wadsworth only has about thirty five hundredresidents, but it's just off the interstate
too, normally rolling and green andobscured by heavy overgrowth in the summer,

(01:36):
it's a stark contrast. In January, the trees have inexplicably shed their outerwear
for winter and reached for the sky, all naked and naughty, but failing
to conceal that which could be easilyhidden in warmer days. In this cross
roads at the Wisconsin Illinois border,you're likely to run into a guy in

(01:57):
blaze orange gear and a baseball capat one of the convenience stores along H
ninety four, and just as likelya businesswoman traveling between Chicago and Milwaukee in
a Mercedes S Class. It's thatkind of place. Cars and trucks on
the morning commute belched visible exhaust cloudsin the brisk winter air that day,

(02:17):
and no matter where you were,a hot cup of coffee was probably a
welcome offering. According to local reports, a homeowner who lived near the intersection
of Edwards and hunt Club Roads wasenjoying morning coffee and letting his German shepherd
named Friendly roam a bit. Thereare a number of theories on why dogs

(02:38):
bring things to their owners. Somesay a dog that brings back a dead
bird is acknowledging your alpha position andthe owner dog relationship. Others say it's
your dog's way of saying thanks,or maybe that your dog is trying to
teach you to stalk and hunt prey. I've always believed it's a dog's way
of getting praise and petting and bellyrubs. After about forty minutes, Friendly

(03:02):
returned home with what he surely musthave believed was a good gift for his
owner. He's gonna call me agood boy, he must have thought.
His owner was horrified to discover Friendlyhad brought home a human leg. Now
that's a hell of a Monday morning. The homeowner called nine one one to

(03:27):
report friendlies find, and within twohours the police had mounted a massive search
of the area that included helicopters,aerial photo analysis, and the expert sniffs
and boofs of a revered one hundredforty pound police bloodhound named Sir Launcelot.
The search area was big, sixsquare miles from the Wisconsin border on the

(03:47):
north to Illinois Highway one seventy threeon the south, and between US Highways
forty one and forty five. Itwas a big area to cover cold and
rugged in places. As the searchbegan and words spread in the neighborhood,
many wondered what could possibly explain this. Did Friendly bring home part of an
uncovered burial from a lost cemetery.Investigators, however, were still expecting to

(04:13):
find the rest of a human corpsebecause they had seen the leg and they
knew it wasn't from a lost cemetery. The Lake County Coroner examined the body
part. It was the footless legof a twenty something Caucasian woman and had
been very recently severed at mid thighwith a sharp metallic instrument. We always

(04:33):
want to believe the best about ourselvesand each other. Nobody likes to face
the dark truth so readily apparent ifwe just stopped to look around, darkness
lurks in every corner, quite literally. Nevertheless, we fool ourselves with cliches
and platitudes. Sometimes we search forinnocent explanations for obviously bad things when our

(04:55):
common sense screams otherwise, We sobadly want to leave that it's not as
bad as it looks. As thepolice search went on in that third week
of January, many wondered whether therewasn't still a logical explanation. They said,
it was a recently severed leg ankleto thigh, knee and everything obviously
not a long buried cemetery interment.Some moved on to the next conclusion,

(05:21):
could it be part of a corpsefor medical research. The search party continued
until sundown Monday night, as thebuzz grew, and then resumed Tuesday and
continued for the entire day. Theauthorities apparently expected to find the rest of
a human corpse rather quickly, becauseafter a couple of days of finding nothing,

(05:42):
frustrations began to mount. One ofthe dog handlers, Lieutenant Steve Townsend,
said, there's more little itty biddypass that run here, there,
and everywhere than you can imagine.It's astronomical. Some started to question how
one leg could be found but notthe best of the body, and jumped
to the conclusion that perhaps a killerwas scattering his victims remains. The frustration

(06:06):
showed in the January eighteenth, nineteenninety five Chicago Tribune quote of Corporal Kirk
Corsi, who said, you cantheorize all you want was something throwing body
parts out of a moving vehicle.Who knows. We don't even have a
starting point. Diligent search notwithstanding,they were thwarted by their inability to recover

(06:27):
any other remains. Nothing turned up, and the authorities called off the search.
We're at a stalemate, Corporal Corsisaid, gross as it may sound,
the next thing we need to findis another body part. If you're
a fan of horror movies, youknow there are all kinds slasher, art
house, psychological, grindhouse. Butwhat they all have in common is the

(06:49):
ability to shock and horrify us ina way that we can't believe is real,
that we don't want to believe isreal, that we are afraid we
might find out is real. Whatthen do you do if you encounter one
of those moments in real life,the kind of thing that makes you say,
shut the fuck up, this isn'thappening, but it's not a movie,

(07:11):
and you can't shut it off.Five days after the first event,
Friendly the German shepherd returned home withanother human leg. The other human leg
it appeared to belong to the samecorpse that the first leg had come from,
and whereas the first leg had beenobviously fresh, the second leg appeared
to have been buried, Adding furtherclarity to the situation. Lake County Coroner

(07:36):
Barbara Richardson had by this point determinedthat the first leg had been severed at
mid thigh with a tooth blade,likely a hack saw. It was not
the kind of thing you would expectto find from a cadaver donated for medical
research. They were searching for ahomicide victim. Police conducted further searches of

(07:57):
the woods where Friendly found the humanlegs, but again could not find the
rest of a human corpse, wherethe hell is this dog getting these legs?
They had to raise their game.Investigators fitted Friendly with an electronic tracking

(08:18):
device. They would let him outfor a run and then follow him to
wherever he went wherever he was findingthese body parts. It sounds like a
great idea in concept, but itdidn't quite work out the way they hoped.
Friendly reportedly got confused by the hubbuband the tracking device and refused to
take part. He never led investigatorsto a corpse. While the investigators searched

(08:43):
parties let the local German shepherd runup a two nothing lead on him,
The forensic investigators were hard at workanalyzing the DNA of the initial leg It
took seven weeks before they were ableto trace the DNA to two local people
that they believed were the parents ofthe dead woman. She was a twenty
five year old from Carol Stream,Illinois named Stacy Frobel. As they always

(09:07):
do, investigators dug into the lifeof the victim to answer the question who
is Stacy Frobele? And as theyfrequently do, they found a troubled background
and a difficult investigation in front ofthem. Stacy Frobel had a complicated backstory,
imagine this humiliation your entire life.Your biological father denies his paternity,

(09:28):
but finally admits to a newspaper reporterthat he's your dad when the DNA from
your murderer investigation traces back to him. It was a cruel twist that they
were finally able to confirm Stacy's biologicalfather's identity through a DNA test intended to
investigate her death. The man's namewas Willard Russell, an electrician who lived

(09:54):
in the Nashville area. He toldlocal press that he had never been convinced
he was Stacy's father, but thepolice DNA test finally confirmed it for him.
There's a sense of loss. Itwas evidently my child, Russell told
the Daily Chronicle. After twenty fiveyears and not even believing it was my
child. Well, there's a lotof mixed emotions. He had been married

(10:16):
to Stacy's mother for just a fewmonths in nineteen seventy. Stacy herself had
been married before, as well asa young expectant mother. Eight months pregnant,
Stacy's husband punched her in the stomachin a fit of rage that caused
Stacy to call the police. Herhusband just twenty one years old hung himself
with his flannel shirt just fifteen minutesafter they closed the door of his jail

(10:39):
cell. Stacy was left to givebirth and raise her son, Daniel on
her own. Perhaps it's not surprising, though, after that kind of trauma,
that a few months later, Danielended up in the care of his
grandmother, while Stacy continued searching forwhat we all searched for, our happiness,

(11:00):
our place in the world. Theinvestigation was already looking daunting when investigators
discovered at the time of her disappearancenot only was Stacy married, but she
also had a boyfriend. There weremultiple avenues that detectives would have to explore,
revenge, grudges, love triangles.Stacy Froebel's husband, Jeffrey, had

(11:22):
reported her missing on January fourth,and a few who watched the local crime
blotter closely had seen her name andspeculated whether the legs found by Friendly might
belong to Stacy Frobel. In thedays leading up to the confirmation. Now
investigators wanted to know everything about theFroebel's marriage. One media account said neighbors

(11:48):
reported they fought a lot, andthat Stacy would sometimes leave the house afterward.
Likewise, the boyfriend was under suspicion. He was only ever identified in
the press as an unnamed Brewin,Illinois man. Along with her husband,
Jeffrey, Stacy's boyfriend was questioned andagreed to take a polygraph. You wonder

(12:09):
if this was the moment when policebelieved they had their man. One of
these two guys has got to bethe guy, right, Both men passed
their polygraph tests, police were forcedto admit defeat, back to square one.
The authorities issued a statement admitted themen had each passed a polygraph and
said they didn't intend to question themagain unless new information came to light.

(12:33):
The disappearance of Stacy Froble and thediscovery of her legs in the woods in
rural Lake County was a hot topicof discussion in nineteen ninety five, and
the longer the case went without answers, the more it was on the mind
of local residence. On March twentythird, it was reported a man who
owned rental property in the vicinity ofEdwards and Hunt Club Roads had become convinced

(12:56):
that the discovery of human body partsin the neighborhood was hurting his ability to
rent his property. He had athirty acre wooded property that he normally had
no trouble renting. Lately, though, things had been different. Who wants
to rent a place in a neighborhoodwhere the dogs regularly come home with body
parts but the police can't find them? Yeah, sounds great. The more

(13:20):
I hear it, the more Ilike it. Do you take bitcoin?
Frustrated, the property owner hired kWatt of Springfield and her trained cadaver search
dog, Hawthorne to search his property. He hoped the dog would clear his
property and put his mind at ease, and he could then reassure buyers that
there were no body parts still tobe discovered on the property. Within two

(13:43):
hours, the dog had discovered ahuman skull in an area that was described
as densely wooded underbrush in a swampyarea. Preliminary examination determined it resembled Stacy
Frobele's skull, and the identity ofthe skull was confirmed through dental records from
a nineteen eighty seven dentist's visit inDenver. It was the skull of Stacy

(14:05):
Frobele. These dogs, the PostCrescent observed, only dogs seemed to know
where the evidence is hidden. There'snothing rational about the case. There are
so many twists and turns, CorporalKirk Corsey said. Days later, and
a couple miles away, a homeownerworking in her Bristol, Wisconsin yard found

(14:28):
what appeared to be a human hand. It was not an old, decomposed
remnant of a human corpse. Thehand was in good enough condition that fingerprints
could be taken, and they matchedStacy Frobel's prints. Not long after,
in April, the skeletal remains ofStacy's foot were found in yet another disparate
location. Although it is possible Stacy'sremains may have been partly strewn about by

(14:54):
animals, it was clear Stacy Frobelehad been thoroughly dismembered before her body part
were scattered in the region by herkiller. Over the spring and summer of
nineteen ninety five, Illinois and Wisconsinauthorities participated in a very active investigation,
but publicly there were no immediate answersabout who killed Stacy Frobel. Behind the

(15:22):
scenes, however, police had aprime suspect they had started investigating in the
spring. Police retraced Stacy's movements onthe night she disappeared and it didn't take
long to determine she had last beenreported leaving the house of an acquaintance,
Charlene Runge in Stream with Illinois,just after midnight on the morning of January

(15:43):
fourth. Police discovered Charlene Runge wasmarried to a man named Paul Runge.
Clean cut, athletic type with abarrel chest, kind of the high school
basketball ref look if he was aconvicted sexual sadist who raped and tortured to
fourteen year old girl in his homewhen he was seventeen, because that's who

(16:03):
he was. He reportedly waited untilhis dad and brother left him home alone,
then lured the girl to his homeand tortured and raped her over fifteen
hours. He was convicted and spentfive years of a fourteen year sentence in
prison. Investigators noticed one particular thing. On the day after Stacy Frobele went

(16:25):
missing, Paul Runge called in sickto his job at Lady Footlocker and continued
to miss days until he eventually quit. The focus on Paul Runge intensified by
June of nineteen ninety five. Thepolice put the Runges under periodic surveillance as
they continued to investigate hoping for aslip up that would let them connect Paul

(16:48):
Runge to Stacy Frobele's murder. Aforensic dentist compared Runge's teeth impressions to bite
marks found on Frobele's remains and deemedthem consistent. There is some hesitancy to
view bite mark evidence as reliable inour present criminology, but in nineteen ninety
five it was considered strong evidence.They used luminol, which revealed blood on

(17:11):
the trunk liner of Runge's car.DNA was in its infancy, and the
best they could do was say itwas Type AID blood, the same as
Stacy Frobel, but also the sameas about three or four out of every
ten people period. Paul Runge wasaware he was under surveillance and damning evidence,
notwithstanding, would sometimes wave to thecameras or tip a hat to the

(17:34):
hard working investigators staking him out frombehind a newspaper in the white Mercury sable
parked at the curb. He seemedunperturbed under the lens of the magnifying glass.
Authorities would later say they surveilled theRunges on two hundred and eighty six
occasions over two years and it canonly be considered ironic that their single minded

(17:56):
focus on finding Froebel's killer would layproved to be a mistake with deadly consequences.
Zanita and Amela Pasambigovic were twenty twoand twenty years old, respectively.
Sanita's nickname was Janet, and withher sister, she had recently emigrated from
Bosnia. They hadn't even been inthe country for six months when in May

(18:19):
they moved to a new apartment onLeslie Lane and Hanover Park, Illinois.
Two months later, on July eleventh, both women disappeared on a side tangent.
It should be pointed out in researchingthis podcast, a search of Illinois
and Wisconsin newspaper archives for Stacy Frebele'sname in nineteen ninety five and nineteen ninety

(18:44):
six turned up dozens of results.Her story had been covered by dozens of
reporters and news outlets. A searchfor news on the Pasambigovic sisters turned up
three results for nineteen ninety five andzero for nineteen ninety six through two thousand
and one. When their killer wasnamed, Take from it what you will,

(19:06):
it was August eighth, a monthafter they went missing when the local
paper reported. Police suspected foul playin the disappearance because the sisters vanished without
their passports and all their belongings wereleft in their apartment. Just as they
had discovered a link between Stacy Frobeleand Paul Runge, her friendship with his
wife Charlene. Investigators made numerous linksbetween Runge and the sisters. Paul Runge's

(19:33):
co worker at a Honey Baked Hamstore in Bloomingdale, Illinois, told police
she gave Charlene Runge a phone numberfor the two Bosnian sisters. The Passambigovic
sisters were interested in finding work,and Charlene was allegedly planning to start a
cleaning business. Also, a gasstation payphone used by Charlene Runge was found
to have dialed the sister's phone numbershortly before they disappeared. Remember this is

(20:00):
before mobile phones were widespread, butthe Runges had a phone in their home.
Investigators found it odd why were theyusing a pay phone and de ja
vous. The day after the sistersdisappeared, Paul Runge called in sick to
the Honey Baked Ham store and eventuallyquit, just like he had at Lady
footlocker after the murder of Stacy Frobel. Despite the scrutiny, investigators did not

(20:26):
find the sisters remains without bodies.They did not yet feel they had enough
evidence to charge the Runges. InJanuary of nineteen ninety six, the Kenoshanews
shouted a headline, murder probe focuseson one suspect. All cards were on
the table. There was no longerany question who the police were zeroed in

(20:48):
on. Lake County Sheriff's Lieutenant ChesterEwan said, we have focused on this
individual suspect for some time. Wehave talked with him. I'm sure he's
aware of the fact that we're lookingat him. Of course, the police
made a point to investigate all likelysuspects. I'm sure they would give the
boilerplate. We considered all suspects lyingif asked, But they were practically salivating

(21:11):
at the evidence they had gathered onconvicted felon and rapist Paul Runge. By
March of nineteen ninety six, theauthorities felt they had pulled together enough evidence
for a search warrant of Runge's home. There are conflicting reports about how the

(21:32):
authorities got permission to search the Runge'shome. In one published account, a
judge simply granted the search warrant basedon the evidence. However, the Chicago
Tribune reported Paul Runge's father, Richard, who also lived there, gave the
FBI permission to search their home.Shortly afterwards, seven bags of garbage appeared
at the curb for collection, andthe police found evidence connecting Runge to the

(21:56):
Passambigovic sisters in the trash. Thesearch revealed a piece of paper with the
co worker's name on it and thephone number for the Passambigovic sisters. The
co worker had given Charline the sister'snumber, just like she said she had.
Detectives also found contact information for otherwomen with descriptions like single, mid

(22:18):
thirties, cute, easy and veryhot, blind with two hot sisters.
It was all damning, but investigatorswere seeking something, anything, to specifically
connect Paul Runge to the killing ofStacy Frobel. They found a large Viper
brand knife, a stun gun,and a crossbow with several dozen bolts,

(22:41):
but the search did not reveal anythingthat tied Paul Runge to the murder of
Stacy Frobel. Paul Runge remained afree man while investigators sat on their hands.
A madman was on the loose,murdering indiscriminately. His crimes accelerated in
early nineteen ninety seven and turned intoten weeks of terror. In January nineteen

(23:12):
ninety seven, the remains of DerodaDorothy Zubiac, a Polish immigrant, were
found in the burned ruins of afar Northwest Side home she was trying to
sell. Autopsy results showed she hadbeen raped and strangled before the home was
set on fire. Weeks later,on February third, nineteen ninety seven,

(23:33):
a killer showed up at the doorof Yolanda Gutierrez and her daughter, ten
year old Jessica Munis. He wasworking as a driver for a seven Up
bottling company. Gautierrez was selling Hookedon Phonics and had put up a notice
on a grocery store bulletin board.She couldn't know that the guy in the
seven up uniform with the hand truckwas getting an eye full of her.

(23:56):
Her killer used the ad as aruse to get in the apartment. Once
inside, he raped and murdered thewoman and her daughter by stabbing them in
the neck, then set the apartmenton fire. Six weeks later, on
March fourteenth, nineteen ninety seven,Kazimira Perouche was found dead in her burning
condo on North Kenneth Avenue. Ithad been advertised for sale in a classified

(24:19):
ad. I can't imagine there's aworse feeling than being a homicide investigator watching
a perpetrator get away with it againand again. But that's what detectives were
faced with. Paul Runge was killingat will, and everybody was powerless to
prove it to stop it. InMay of nineteen ninety seven, someone finally

(24:42):
realized they had made a gross errorin investigating Paul Runge back in March of
nineteen ninety six. Paul Runge wasa convicted felon. He wasn't allowed to
have the knife or a crossbow withAMMO. The police could have jailed him
on parole violations fifteen months earlier,but later admitted they were so focused on

(25:03):
connecting him to Stacy Froebel's murder thatthey simply overlooked the parole violation. In
those fifteen months, four more womendied. If you count the Psambigovic's sisters,
six women died while Runge was underpolice suspicion and surveillance. In June

(25:23):
of nineteen ninety seven, Paul Rungewas arrested and jailed on a parole violation
for weapons. With Runge back inprison, his wife Charlene started offering information
to the authorities in an effort tosave her own ass. As Runge's sentence
for the parole violation was about torun out in nineteen ninety nine, the

(25:45):
authorities went to court seeking to keephim imprisoned under the Sexually Violent Persons Act.
The outcome was still pending when thefinal big break came. An investigator

(26:10):
working the case for the murders ofYolando Gutierrez and her daughter Jessica had an
entirely different suspect in mind. LikeI said, they had investigate all suspects.
The detective compared their suspects DNA againstthe murderer and found it was not
a match. On a hunch,they ran the DNA against Paul Runge's profile.

(26:32):
Initial tests were ruled in conclusive dueto Runge's original DNA being analyzed with
an older, outdated technology. Theywere eventually able to adapt Runge's profile with
current technology and matches profile to themurders of Yolando Gutierres and Jessica Muni's.
Based with the evidence, Runge confessedto multiple murders, including Stacy Frobel,

(26:57):
the Passambigovic sisters, Zubiak, andCazamiria Parouche. On June fifteenth, two
thousand and one, Paul Runge wasbig news. The Chicago Tribune ran a
headline front page above the fold mancharged in seven slayings. It had been

(27:17):
six years since Friendly, the Germanshepherd returned home with the partial remains of
Stacy Frobel right from the jump.Press coverage was critical of the glaring errors
on the part of law enforcement.The subheading on the story read, he
was under surveillance after first death.It can hardly be laid bare with any

(27:37):
more savagery than the description from theChicago Tribune. Five and a half months
after the death and dismemberment of ayoung woman in January nineteen ninety five,
federal and local authorities began watching Runge. They searched his rental car and found
traces of blood. They studied hisphone records, even searched the trash bags

(28:00):
outside his Carol Stream House records showinvestigators trailed him, with Runge sometimes waving
at them tauntingly, and through itall, Runge kept killing, police say
devastating. The FBI tried to saveface and did a pretty shitty job of
it. Ross Rice, a spokesmanfor the FBI in Chicago, said,

(28:22):
we never felt that any of theseitems, including the knife, in and
of itself, would be a paroleoffense, nor were we looking to violate
his parole. We were looking forevidence linking him to the disappearances and or
linking him to the murder of Frobel. Furthermore, investigators have steadfastly justified their
inconsistent surveillance by saying they were focusedon connecting Runge to Stacy Frobel, not

(28:48):
on catching him in the act ofcommitting another crime. What about the Pisambigovic
sisters. Most of what we knowabout the murder of the Pisambigovic comes from
Paul Runge's confession. DuPage County State'sAttorney Joseph Burkett, said Runge handcuffed the
sisters, raped, bludgeoned, andstrangled them, then dismembered them, put

(29:12):
their remains in plastic trash bags,and scattered them among area trash bends.
These two beautiful young women escaped thehell of war torn Bosnia, Burkett said,
only to encounter Satan in the personof Paul Runge here in the United
States. As of this writing,their remains have never been found. In

(29:34):
October of two thousand, Runge andanother inmate were charged with escape when they
fled from a van while being transportedto a hearing in Cook County. They
were immediately recaptured by law enforcement personnelwho happened to witness the event. In
two thousand and six, the lawcaught up to Paul Runge when he was
sentenced to death for the murders ofYolande Gutierrez and Jessica Mune. The jury

(30:00):
liberated for less than an hour.Runge's sentence became something of a political football.
Illinois was under a moratorium on thedeath penalty, and proponents of capital
punishment labeled Runge as the poster boyexample of a predator that deserved execution.
From the Chicago Tribune story, CookCounty States Attorney Richard Devine called the slayings

(30:22):
vicious and brutal, saying he hopedthe case might force a decision on where
Illinois stands on capital punishment, andperhaps sper movement on whether the moratorium in
place since two thousand should end.If ever there were an appropriate candidate for
the death penalty, it's Paul Rungedivine set. Nevertheless, Illinois abolished the

(30:47):
death penalty in two thousand and eleven, and Paul Runge's sentence was commuted to
life without parole. Paul Runge awaitedtrial for the murder of Janet and Amelipusambigovic
for years, but in two thousandeleven, without bodies or other evidence,
prosecutors decided to drop charges against PaulRunge because he could not be sentenced to
any greater penalty for killing the sisters. As reported by Nancy Hardy of news

(31:14):
radio w BBM in two thousand andone, Rungi is already serving life for
the nineteen ninety seven rape and murderof a Chicago woman and her ten year
old daughter. His death sentence wascommuted by Governor Pat Quinn when he abolished
capital punishment in March. The DailyHerald reports the DuPage County States Attorney will
dismiss charges in court today against Rungifor the nineteen ninety five murders of two
sisters in Hanover Park, Who Countyprosecutors dropped three murder cases against the forty

(31:38):
one year old former Carroll Stream residentafter Quinn abolished the death penalty. There
are so many unanswered questions. Obviously, question number one seems to be what
was wrong with Paul Runge. Weknow very little about his childhood, except
that he was local raised in theYoak Forest, Illinois area, without any

(32:00):
reported incidents until some said they noticeda shift in him when his mom died
in nineteen eighty seven, not longafter he violently raped a fourteen year old
girl and went to prison at theage of seventeen. A farmer babysitter described
him as quiet but maybe a littlestrange, and noted one odd thing his

(32:20):
parents had installed a lock on Paul'sbedroom door. Was that because of who
he was a violent psychopath? Orwas that the reason he became who he
was? Cruel neglectful parents who wouldlock him in his room? What else
played a part in Paul Runge becominga monster? I'm not an educated expert

(32:42):
on the issue, but I don'tthink people become sexual sadists without experiencing some
kind of sexual trauma themselves. Thecurrent science on sexual sadists says that they
feel the pain of the people theytorture more than normal people, and they
enjoy it except when it's over.Sometimes they regret it. Statistics show sadis

(33:06):
served likely more common than you thinkthey are, and coming in every day
variety. Think about it, youprobably recognize them. The guy who blows
up an online game for no apparentreason, an internet troll or office bully.
Believe it or not, six percentof college undergrads admitted getting sadistic pleasure

(33:27):
from hurting others six percent. Sadismcomes in little swatches of gray that get
progressively darker from harmless sex play betweenconsenting adults down the stairway of depravity.
Frequently overlooked, however, is sadismas a predictor of greater aggression against both
innocent targets and perceived adversaries. Accordingto our current science, to be diagnosed

(33:52):
with sexual sadism, an individual mustbe recurrently aroused by or participating in sadistic
sexual acts for at least six months, and his or her life must be
hindered socially or occupationally by such behavior. Paul Runge was the textbook case,
the extreme end of the scale whenit came to his sadism, and it

(34:15):
was matched by his propensity for aggressionand violence. Did someone else victimize Paul
Runge as a child and has thatpredator also been brought to justice? The
answers are not clear. We askthese questions not because Paul Runge deserves our
attention or our sympathy, but because, well, you know what they say,

(34:37):
know thy enemy, and if wewant to stop monsters like him in
the future, we have to holdresponsible each and every offender who plays an
evil hand in creating monsters like PaulRunge. How do we keep ourselves safe
from monsters like Paul Runge? Goodquestion, You know the standard fair be

(34:58):
aware of your surround moundings at alltimes, don't open your door for strangers.
As you've learned in previous episodes ofthis podcast. Sadly, you can't
trust anyone anymore. And they sayyou shouldn't use grocery store bulletin boards,
post for sales signs in your yard, or try to sell your home independently,
not without taking extreme precautions at leastbasically, avoid any situation where you'll

(35:23):
find yourself alone with a stranger inisolated places, or arm yourself. This
is what it's come to. Werethere other victims police believe there were.
Runge allegedly confessed to murdering an unidentifiedprostitute, for which he was never charged,
and there may have been others.In the course of researching this story,

(35:45):
it became abundantly clear that being aloneface to face with Paul Runge,
when his otherwise absolutely normal appearance anddemeanor outside changed to homicidal psychopath right before
your eye once he was inside yourhome. It's bone chilling to imagine.
Not many who witnessed it survived it, so we can only guess how many

(36:08):
there might have been. We canbe outraged at a failed investigation that cost
too many lives, multiple officials whodropped the ball. Everyone who hears this
story is sick with anger at themonster Paul Runge, and the people in
circumstances that created him and allowed himto pray on the innocent, the troubled,

(36:30):
the unfamiliar, and the price wastoo damn high. Dorothy Zubiac was
a single mom and left behind afive year old daughter, Ashley, orphaned
to be raised by her grandparents.She reportedly has few memories of her mom.
Every one of Paul Runge's victims hada family, mothers and fathers,

(36:52):
and brothers and sisters and sons anddaughters, and none of them deserved to
have their loved one ripped away fromthem in such a nightmarish fashion. They're
survivors. They just cling to whateverit is they have and try to get
through it. In two thousand andone, Susan Eberley, who was raising
Stacy Frobel's son Daniel, said,it's hard raising a boy on my own

(37:15):
again, but he has her laugh, her mannerisms, her feet. We
would all wish that she was hereraising her son. Daniel was five when
his mom disappeared eleven at the timeof the interview. Eberley said Daniel had
some memories of his mom, likeice skating, and he could remember their

(37:36):
own New Year's Eve celebration three daysbefore his mom disappeared on January fourth,
nineteen ninety five, Stacy bought abottle of sparkling grape juice for the kids
to have as their champagne. SusanEberley said on the verge of tears,
he still has that bottle. That'lldo it for this episode of Worse Than

(38:08):
Fiction. I want to thank youfor listening, thank you for sticking through
the break. Hopefully I can startputting out more stuff more quickly. I
have enlisted the services of mister TroyLarson to help with writing. He's going
to write an episode every once ina while, so that's good. Do
all the things go, all theplaces hit, all the thumbs up and

(38:30):
whatnot. You know what to dountil you hear from me again. Goodbye.
Hi. I'm Anna Thomas, andlet me tell you about my podcast,
Apple for the Teacher. It suresounds like it's about reading, writing
and arithmetic, but don't let thetitle for you. I'm a teacher from

(38:52):
Australia until true crime stories associated withschools which go far beyond shootings and teachers
sexual misconduct. If you're like me, you may feel that you know enough
about some high profile cases such asTed Bundy and the Zodiac killer. Apple
for the Teacher presents lesser known storiessuch as albino student murder in Africa,

(39:16):
schoolgirl sexual slavery in Libya, aschool suicide bombing in Pakistan, a student
murdered and buried in his school inIndia, a teacher be headed in France,
Polish teachers executed by the Nazis,just to name a few. But
you'll also find school based tragedies suchas a school bus stranded in a snowstorm,

(39:39):
a school wiped out by a landslide, the drowning of students in a
sinking ship. It can be describedas a mixed bag of diverse stories,
so if you're looking for something alittle different in the true crime genre,
then give it a listen and Ihope you can join me soon, but
until then, remember to be agood apple.