Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, listeners, it is Detective Emily Carter here, but you
can call me M. Grab your best cup of cold coffee,
sit back, and let me take you through the latest
headlines and ongoing mysteries in the world of serial crime.
As your rookie cop on the beat and a true
crime junkie with a badge, trust me, I have been
scouring the wires, combing through court dockets, and even pulling
up those midnight podcasts just to get you all the
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dirt and developments from the darkest corners of the criminal world.
And no nobody makes rookie cop jokes at the precinct anymore,
or at least not to my face. Today, on the
docket we have fresh updates on infamous court cases, chilling
unsolved mysteries, and twists that even my forensics instructor would
call textbook perfect. So if you are fascinated by the
minds of killers, the grind of investigative work, and the
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shifting landscape of justice in America and beyond, you are
absolutely in the right squad. Car Let us start out
Western Idaho and let me tell you this one has
sent a shiver down the spine of every rookie at
the academy the University of Idaho. Murder's case is back
in the spotlight, and if you have not followed this one,
it is about as high profile as they can. Brian
Coburger stands accused of killing four students in an off
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campus house in Moscow, Idaho, in November of twenty twenty two. Yes,
that is four counts of murder, and the entire nation
has been following the case like it was the finale
of the most disturbing true crime series on the air.
Coburger was arrested weeks after the murders at his parents'
home in Pennsylvania. Police alleged the crime scene was brutal
stab wounds, multiple victims, a timeline piece together from digital
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records and old fashioned shoe leather police work. Now Here
is where it gets interesting from a rookie's perspective. The
case hinges not just on witness statements, but on cell
phone pings, DNA evidence, and even surveillance camera footage dusted
off from local businesses. These are the kinds of details
that my instructors told us would define modern investigations. Coburger's
defense has entered not guilty, please on his behalf and
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while the trial was initially scheduled for June twenty twenty five,
it has now been moved to August eleventh of this
year and is set to run through November. The prosecution
is pushing for the death penalty if he is convicted,
which means you can expect even more forensic deep dives,
expert testimony, and psychological analysis as each side builds its narrative.
As a rookie, there is so much to unpack here.
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How you preserve evidence from a chaotic crime scene, how
you interrogate suspects who refuse to talk, and how you
balance the public's right to know with the need to
guarantee a fair trial. The stakes are enormous, both for
the families and for how we as a society respond
to the rare but real threat of a serial killer
in our midst And you bet I will be tuned
into every minute of that trial as it unfolds. Listeners,
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Each detail is a lesson in investigative diligence and what
goes wrong or right at every single procedural step four
plus seven. Now, for those of you who like their
true crime, a little less courtroom drama and a little
more mystery, unsolved active cases are where the adrenaline really
starts pumping. No surprise, the United States has the highest
documented number of serial killers worldwide, and a good chunk
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of them are still out there somewhere. This is not
just as statistic to me. It is a reality that
shapes how every officer approaches their shift and every resident
locks their doors at night. Here are some of the
current cases that keep even the veterans at my precinct
wide awake at three in the morning. Let us start
with the Long Island serial Killer, also known in the
headlines as the Gilgo Beach Killer, a case that has
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haunted investigators since twenty ten, when the bodies of several
women turned up along a lonely stretch of New York
coast line. Despite years and a couple of arrests connected
with similar crimes, there are strong suspicions more victims remain
unidentified and that the perpetrator may still be at large.
This case has it all, digital breadcrumbs like burner phones
and encrypted communications, patterns of victimology that baffle even seasoned profilers,
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and a constant tug of war between what the police
know and what the public is told. The Gilgo Beach
investigation shows just how long and winding the road to
justice can be, and it is a roadmap every rookie
cop studies because the lessons are universal. Keep your evidence
chain clean, never trust the first theory, and never underestimates
the power of new forensic technology that might break the
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case wide open years after the crime. Then there is
the Jeff Davis eight case down in luis If you
are new to this one, eight women were murdered between
two thousand and five and two thousand and nine in Jennings, Louisiana,
their bodies found in swamps and canals. Officially, the deaths
are considered unsolved, but plenty of journalists and independent sleuths
think there is more than one killer involved. The rumors
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swirling around this case involve alleged corruption in law enforcement,
missing evidence, and a community torn apart by secrecy and fear.
For rookies like me, this is a cautionary tale about
the dangers of tunnel vision and the absolute necessity of
transparency in police work. When there are rumors of police involvement,
factual or not, it poisons trust and makes it much
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harder to get those critical tips from the community that
is a lesson that textbooks can only hint at, but
the real world Hammer's home every single day. The West
Maser Bone Collector out in New Mexico is another unsolved
case that sticks with you. In two thousand and nine,
a woman walking her dog found human remains on the
edge of Albuquerque, and before long eleven bodies were uncovered.
All the victims were women, most connected to the sex
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trade and drugs. Again, the case has never been definitively solved,
and whoever the killer is or was, either got away
clean or passed away without ever facing justice. What strikes
me as a rookie is how vulnerable populations are at
increased risk, and how cases like these push law enforcement
to rethink investigative strategies and to work much closer with
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social services, outreach and advocacy groups. It is one thing
to analyze crime stats in a classroom. It is another
to see how certain victims almost vanish from public attention
without a dedicated push from both police and civil society.
Five to one, and let us not forget the world stage,
because serial killers are far from just an American phenomenon.
Let me take you to Brazil for a moment, because
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the story of the Rainbow Maniac is one of those
stories that gives you goosebumps. On a hot summer day
between two thousand and seven and two thousand and eight,
a killer stalked to the gay community in Carapi Kuiba,
near Sau Paulo, executing at least thirteen men in an
eerily consistent manner, bullets to the head and bodies dumped
in the same park. Despite one arrest, in twenty eleven,
the soul suspect was acquitted, and to this day, the
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Rainbow Maniac remains officially at large. This case highlights a
painful intersection between prejudice and violence, and for any rookie
like me learning about crime overseas, it is a gut
level reminder that as societies most marginalized often make the
easiest targets for the worst offenders. The killer's motives are
still officially unknown, but many believe homophobia played a role.
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It is a case frequently dissected in criminology courses and
a chilling reminder of how cultural and social dynamics feed
into the psychology of serial offenders. It is also a
warning that some killers can walk away scot free while
whole communities are left to grieve in fear and frustration. Five.
Now let us get a little grim ready for a
detail to Russia. Enter the Maniac with Dullies, also known
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as the Danilovsky Maniac. Between two thousand and four and
two thousand and seven in Schadupavets, the bodies of at
least seven women were found dumped in construction sites and
abandoned buildings or victims of rape and murder. The killer
left behind crude pornographic drawings at each crime scene and
macarb calling card that investigators hoped would lead to his capture.
Despite linking him to a potential seventeen murders over more
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than a decade, the Maniac was never identified or court.
This kind of case sits heavy on every CoP's conscience,
reminding us all that even in a world filled with
surveillance and digital footprints, sometimes the shadows win. It is
a reminder too that in international cases can be even
more complex, with language barriers, jurisdictional rivalries, and sometimes political interference,
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slow walking justice for years, if not decades. Five, If
you are a true crime enthusiast or a rookie detective
like me who aims to keep those cases on the
active board until there is closure. I hope you see
the running theme here. Serial crime is as much a
challenge for modern policing as ever. It forces law enforcement
to adapt to new technologies, collaborate across agencies and borders,
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and most importantly, to never lose sight of the victims
as individual people, not just statistics on a report. Switching
gears from international puzzles and unsolved mysteries, let us talk
about the court cases currently on everyone's radar in the States.
Like I said earlier, Brian Coberger is about to stand
trial for the Idaho student murders. Mark your calendars for
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August twenty twenty five. But he is not the only one.
Stephan Stearns is lined up for one of the most
closely watched trials in Florida. He faces dozens of charges
related to sexual abuse and the murder of Madeline Soto,
a thirteen year old girl who was also the victim
in a slew of disturbing crimes that shocked even the
most hardened detectives. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty,
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and the case promises to be a harrowing but crucial
look into predatory behavior and the limits of justice in
the modern era. For rookies watching this case, it is
an education in everything from evidence collection to the delicate
way you have to handle victims' families, and the ceaseless
challenge of protecting the innocent in a system that is
sometimes stretched to breaking seven. You might be asking em,
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how do these cases shape your experience as a rookie cop?
What does all this look like from the eyes of
someone new to the force who has just traded textbooks
for a badge and a beat. Here is the truth.
Every serial killer case, whether being dissected in a podcast,
litigated in a courtroom, or simmering unsolved in a cold
case file, is a crash course in the contradictions of
criminal investigation. You never truly know what you're going to
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find at a crime scene or even on a simple
disturbance call. What textbooks cannot fully convey is the tension
between wanting quick answers and needing to get every detail right.
The pressure is intense, Mistakes can be catastrophic, and yet
the calling for justice never waivers. Investigators learn to trust
their gut while backing up every hunch with hard evidence,
because the defense will pounce on any slip up, and
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the court of public opinion is always watching for me.
Cases like the Idaho killings or the Gilgo Beach murders
prove why every piece of evidence must be handled with care,
while you record interviews meticulously, and why you treat every
missing person file with urgency. Every time the public gets
restless or the media ramps up coverage, it is a
reminder of how important transparency and communication have become. Trust me,
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the world of policing is not what it was in
the eighties or even the nineties. Forensic science is advancing rapidly,
and DNA evidence that once took months to process can
now sometimes be analyzed in days or even hours. Digital forensics,
cell phone tracking, online footprints, social media, even those fitness
tracker logs have revolutionized how we build timelines and catch suspects.
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But in the end, it still comes down to dedicated cops,
analysts and forensic techts working tirelessly to piece together a
killer's movements and motives. Now, before you start thinking it
is all doom and gloom, let me share something I
have learned in my short time on the job. For
every infamous serial killer whose name gets etched international memory,
like John Wayne Gacy or the grim sleeper. There are
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hundreds of cases where early intervention, community tips, and dogged
police work have stopped predators before they became legends. The
public rarely hears about these successes because headlines love blood
and mystery, not paperwork and prevention. But prevention is what
we all go to sleep hoping for. That means more
investment in mental health services, better protections for vulnerable communities,
and a never ending commitment to collaboration between law enforcement, journalists,
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advert and yes, even amateur sleuths sharing podcasts and theories online.
One let me be real for a second. There is
a reason rookies like me get obsessed with criminal psychology
and forensic breakthroughs. We want to understand not just the how,
but the why. What turns an ordinary person into a predator?
Is it nature or nurture? Why do so many serial
offenders fly under the radar? For years, I have sat
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in on lectures where profilers break down common traits childhood trauma,
social isolation, a history of cruelty to animals, a taste
for manipulation. But even with all that data, every case
brings its own quirks and confounding variables that is why
criminal profiling is an art as much as a science,
and why I always keep my case notes open for surprises.
Take the classic organized versus disorganized killer typology. It is
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a staple of profiling, but in real life, killers rarely
fit neatly into a box. The Idaho student murders, for example,
drew from both sides. The killer showed planning, entering the
house quietly, leaving few traces, but the aftermath was chaotic,
filled with rage and lacking the full cleanup that might
signal a true mastermind. That mix is what makes these
cases so infuriatingly tough to crack. You have to look
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for both the pattern and the anomaly, never getting so
locked into one theory that you miss the curveball. But
the most important lesson, never forget the victims. Behind every
case is a pile of shattered lives, and for every
headline grabbing killer, there are families desperate for answers and
communities left to wonder if they are safe. One of
the first things an instructor told me was this, you
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are not just investigating a crime. You are restoring order,
anchoring people back to a sense of safety. That is
why we train so hard why we obsess over cold
cases and why the work never truly ends. And look,
sometimes justice moves at a snail's pace, Trials get delayed,
evidence gets challenged, and the path from arrest to conviction
can take years. But every step taken, every appeal heard,
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and every test run in the lab is a testament
to the power of determination, the same determination that gets
rookies like me out of bed in the dead of
night when that call comes in. So what should you
watch for in the coming months? Keep an k I'm
on the Coburger trial in Idaho. That one is going
to be a case study in modern forensic investigation, courtroom drama,
and the tension between old school detective work and twenty
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first century technology. Watch what happens with the unsolved cases too.
Advances in DNA and data mining could break long cold
cases wide open as new leads are developed or old
evidence is re examined. Trust me, those breakthroughs rarely happen
in a flash. They are built on years of patient
detective work and the relentless curiosity of everyone from analysts
to patrol officers like me. And remember, serial killers are
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not just a relic of the past. They are a
present day challenge for investigators everywhere. Sometimes you catch them
right away, sometimes you chase them for decades, but you
never stop searching, because that is what justice demands. Thanks
for riding along with me today. This has been Detective M.
You're rookie on the case, breaking down the latest and
the ongoing in the shadowy world of serial killers. I
hope you learned something new, felt a little of that
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same adrenaline or rookie detective's crave, and maybe got inspired
to look a little deeper, whether into the head or
your own neighborhood. Until next time, keep your eyes open,
your questions sharp, and never stop searching for the truth.