Psychopedia: True Crime & Criminal Psychology

Trigger Warning: This episode discusses SA, child homicide, and graphic violence. Listener and viewer discretion advised.

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Paul John Knowles is an American serial killer linked to the deaths of at least 18 people. He recorded a chilling "kill tape" confession detailing his murders and carried out one of the deadliest multi-state killing sprees in American history in...

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of domestic abuse and child SA.  Please listen with caution.

Five wives. A revered spiritual leader. A celebrated actor whose role in Dances with Wolves made him famous around the world. For decades, Nathan Chasing Horse cultivated an image as a respected medicine man and cultural figure - but behind the scenes was a sprawling web of sexual abuse, manipulation, and ...

FOLLOW/SUBSCRIBE to Psychopedia wherever you are listening!This week I was joined by special guest Kaelyn Moore of Heart Starts Pounding and Clues podcasts!In 1897, in a small town in West Virginia, a 23-year-old woman named Elva Zona Heaster Shue was found dead under mysterious circumstances and quickly laid to rest. Her tragic story might have ended there, if not for what happened next. According to local legend, Zona return...

TRIGGER WARNING: Please note that this episode contains discussions of pedophilia, grooming, and graphic violence involving a 14-year-old girl.  Additionally, please note that this investigation remains active and ongoing. Ergo (noice): all statements regarding alleged conduct discussed in this episode are allegations only, and all individuals mentioned are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court ...

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains discussions of child sexual abuse.  Please listen with caution.

According to 18-year-old killer Miranda Barbour, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen she participated in a cross-country satanic killing spree that claimed at least twenty-two victims. While those claims have never been substantiated, what was proven in court was the brutal murder of 42-year-old Troy LaFe...

Former beauty queen, ex-Mormon, and alleged “love-obsessed” Joyce McKinney flew across the world, handcuffed her ex-lover to a bed in rural England, and forced him into what the British press dubbed “sex in chains.” But beneath the campy headlines and late-1970s media circus was something far darker and stranger: a disturbed woman who insisted she was rescuing the man she loved from a religious cult, a kidna...

On April 22, 2018, a partially naked young man named Travis Reinking opened fire with an AR-15 rifle at a Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee, killing four innocent people and injuring others. He had a documented history of erratic behavior, including delusions that Taylor Swift was stalking him, as well as a 2017 arrest in Washington, D.C., after attempting to breach White House security. That incident led to hi...

Looking for more mystery to fill your week? While this isn’t a Psychopedia production, we're excited to introduce you to another podcast we think you’ll enjoy. Family Lore is a weekly narrative podcast that celebrates and investigates ancestral mystique. Each episode begins with a guest sharing a fascinating family legend, followed by a historical deep-dive to uncover the truth and meaning behind the tale. Available now...

In May 2016, Blake Leibel - a Canadian comic book creator and aspiring Hollywood filmmaker -brutally murdered his girlfriend, Iana Kasian, in their Los Angeles apartment. Iana’s body bore injuries so horrific they seemed ripped from the pages of Blake’s own graphic novel, Syndrome, which depicted eerily similar acts of torture and mutilation.  This tragic case is widely regarded as one of the most gr...

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains discussions of suicide and may be distressing to hear.  Please listen with caution.In 2017, a series of disappearances began to ripple through Zama, just outside Tokyo. The victims were young women between the ages of 17 and 26 who all left behind the same digital footprint: Twitter posts expressing a desire to die. What no one realized at the time was that those posts had ...

From 2022 to 2023, 19-year-old Madison Russo documented what she claimed was a relentless fight for her life, drawing in thousands of followers and raising nearly $40,000 on GoFundMe. She said she was battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Stage 2 pancreatic cancer, and a tumor “the size of a football” wrapped around her spine. The story was catastrophic by design, and people responded exactly as you woul...

Abbess Mariam, better known as “Mother Rasputin,”  has been described as one of the most prolific female serial killers in modern history.  She cloaked herself in the authority of a Greek Old Calendarist Orthodox abbess while running something far darker than a monastery. Between 1939 and 1950, she was found guilty of a staggering range of crimes, including multiple murders and fraud, but the charges barely ca...

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains discussions of suicide and may be distressing to hear.  Please listen with caution.

In the tragic and recent case of Sonia Exelby, a vulnerable woman in the UK went online to arrange for her own death.  Sadly, she connected with a sadistic man in the U.S. named Dwain Hall, who framed her murder as mercy while investigators uncovered evidence of manipulation, coercion, internet predat...

This is the extraordinary case of Judy Malinowski, the first person in American history to testify from beyond the grave at her own murder trial.  In 2017, Judy's life was shattered when her boyfriend doused her in gasoline and set her on fire.  She was left to endure nearly two years of relentless pain, dozens of surgeries, and the heartbreak of not being able to raise her two children. Determined to be heard and to...

In Part 2 of our in-depth coverage of the "Devilsdorp" cult, the brutal murders introduced in Part 1 take on a new meaning.  What initially appeared to be isolated, occult-linked attacks starts to reveal a far more calculated pattern.  Because this was never about religion.  As the case progresses into trial, Part 2 unpacks the roles of those involved in the gruesome murders of 11 individuals and explores the psychol...

A pentagram-shaped town.  A string of cult murders.  Between 2012 and 2016, the town of Krugersdorp became “Devilsdorp.”  At the center was Cecilia Steyn, a manipulative, "Ted Bundy-esque" figure who claimed to be a 42nd-generation witch with supernatural powers, infiltrating a Christian ministry and slowly tightening her grip on a group of devoted followers. Through staged attacks, psychological control,...

This is the devastating case of Chris Benoit - aka The Canadian Crippler - a man once internationally revered in the wrestling ring, whose final act shattered the illusion completely. Over one horrifying weekend in June 2007, thirty-time champion Chris Benoit murdered his wife, Nancy, and their seven-year-old son, Daniel, before taking his own life - leaving behind a trail of questions that stretched far beyond the c...

On May 1, 2021, 19-year-old Sarah M. stabbed 39-year-old Zayed in the neck after pretending to be on a date with him. Sarah had joined dating apps under the name “Domina Cherry,” using the alias to gain access to hundreds of men she planned to murder in an effort to become the most prolific serial killer to ever live. Reportedly obsessed with notorious murderers, including Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper, and ...

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In the mid-1980s, the streets of Tampa, Florida became hunting grounds for one of the most ruthless pre...