The Family That Cried at Their Victim’s Funeral

Killer Calls Police Crying While Choosing His Next Victim: The Serial Murders of Paul StefanJanuary 1981, early morning. A man dials 911 sobbing, confessing to an attack he just committed. Minutes later, police find a young woman barely alive near railroad tracks. But the caller vanishes into the city, and the emergency recordings become the only evidence he exists.In this investigation, we explore the impossible contradiction at the heart of this case: a man who called police to confess his crimes in real time, who promised to stop and to kill himself, yet continued attacking for over four years. How could the same voice on multiple 911 recordings be dismissed in court? Why did an innocent man's suicide in prison give the true killer six more months of freedom?Victim: Karen Potak, Kimberly Compton, Bárbara Simmons, Denise WilliamsDate: January 1981 - August 1982Location: Saint Paul and Minneapolis, MinnesotaStatus: Paul Stefan convicted of murder; cases legally incomplete- Killer called 911 at 3 a.m. on January 1, 1981, minutes before police found his first victim with a fractured skull and stab wounds to the neck- Before any media reported details, he called again and mentioned the ice pick used on victim Kimberly Compton, a fact only the killer could know- Kimberly Compton received 61 stab wounds; the brutality was so extreme investigators recognized it as something beyond functional attack- Stefan's ex-wife and sister independently identified his voice on the 911 tapes in court, but the judge excluded the recordings as evidence due to technical standardsPaul Stefan, Saint Paul Minnesota murders ice pick 1981 serial killer emergency calls voice identification forensic investigation true crime EnglishTo listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected] listen ad-free and access premium episodes, start your 30-day free trial at obomedia.comOBOMEDIA presents true crime storiesa true crime podcast built on real cases.Every true crime story in our crime files follows the crime investigation from the missing person report to the trial: investigators and police building a murder case, a police investigation gone cold, justice for the victim and those who survived.We open the unsolved murder, the cold case reopened decades later, the mysterious death, the disappearance, the serial killer, the family murder, the murder mystery; the missing persons  a missing woman, a missing girl, a missing man found dead and the missing and murdered.From the infamous case to the unsolved case, from classic true crime to dark true crime and disturbing true crime: true crime reports, real crime stories, real murder cases, true murder stories and unsolved mysteries one true crime case at a time, from the OBOMEDIA true crime vault.© 2026 Created with OBOMEDIA technology. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text and related materials) are the property of their respective creator and are distributed under the OBOMEDIA name on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing and business inquirie