Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén
by Spotify Studios
Welcome to your weekly journey into the darkest corners of human nature. Join Harvey Guillén every Monday as he explores crimes that seized the public’s attention, from jaw-dropping heists and devastating cons to serial murders and deadly rivalries. Each episode unfolds a single case, examining not just the events themselves, but what continues to linger beneath the surface. Killer Stories is a Spotify Podcast. New video episodes on Mondays!
Episodes
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Uninstalling John McAfee
A tech pioneer who built one of the world’s biggest antivirus empires descends into paranoia, excess, and fugitive chaos—turning his life into a globe-spanning thriller that blurs the line between genius and madness. Sources for this episode include: No Domain: The John McAfee Tapes by Mark...
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The Bobbitts: What The Viral '90s Story Left Out
In the early hours of the morning, Lorena Bobbitt takes a kitchen knife to her sleeping husband’s penis. Instead of waiting to hear the real story, the world turned the tragedy into the butt of every joke. Sources for this episode include: Lorena (Docuseries; Amazon) dir. Joshua…
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The Vampire Clan Murders
A teenager who thinks he's a 100-year-old vampire leads a cult of kids to murder a girls' parents in Florida. Sources for this episode include: Kentucky Teenage Vampires (Real Stories)Court Transcript - Rod Ferrell’s Appellate Brief“Interview with ‘The Vampire’” (Orlando Sentinel)“Chronology of…
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The Pillow Pyro Who Terrorized Southern California
In the 1980s and ’90s, a serial arsonist known as the “Pillow Pyro” terrorizes California—taunting investigators and igniting fires near their annual conferences—until one detective uncovers an unthinkable truth...The culprit is one of their own. Sources for this episode include: Fire Lover: A…
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Lizzie Borden Took an Axe...Or Did She?
Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother 40 whacks… The popular schoolyard rhyme has withstood the test of time, despite it getting a few details wrong. Over 130 years later, we still don’t really know who killed Andrew and Abby Borden. Lizzie was acquitted, and yet most people assume she was...
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Secret Agent Scam: The Lies, Lives, and Wives of Will Jordan
For nearly twenty years, a charming con man poses as a globe-trotting CIA operative, seducing women and draining their savings in the name of “classified missions”—until one wife uncovers his lies and helps bring down the man she thought she would share her life with. Sources for this episode...
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Chicago's Shocking Sausage Vat Murder
The wife of the “sausage king of Chicago” disappears without a trace…until police search a suspicious vat in the basement of his factory, fueling rumors of exactly how he got rid of her. Sources for this episode include:Alchemy of Bones: Chicago's Luetgert Murder Case of 1897 by Robert...
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Sarah Jo Pender: The Female Charles Manson?
Branded "the female Charles Manson" for a double murder she claims she didn't commit, a young woman executes a daring prison escape to reclaim her life—only to find that while she can outrun the law, she can’t outrun the reputation built to bring her down. Sources for this episode include: Girl,...
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Crownless: Heist at the Louvre
In broad daylight at the world’s most prestigious museum, a disguised team of thieves breached Musée du Louvre in just seven minutes, made off with eight priceless pieces of the French Crown Jewels, and exposed how even the most iconic institution can be undone by audacity and a single overlooked...
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The Gucci Murder
When the glamorous wife of the Gucci heir faces losing her fortune and status, she trades champagne for vengeance—proving that in the world of high fashion, nothing is more cutthroat than a woman with everything at stake and nothing left to lose. Sources for this episode include: House of Gucci…
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The Young Hippies Who Hijacked a Plane
In 1972, two young hippies hijack a commercial airplane in a wild attempt to free a famous political activist from jail, setting off one of the strangest, most idealistic crimes of a radical era. Sources for this episode include: The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of...
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The Greek Robin Hood Who Kidnapped Billionaires and Escaped Prison in a Helicopter
In the craggy peaks of Greece, a modern outlaw proves that you can rob a bank, kidnap a billionaire, and still be the most beloved man in the mountains. This is the story of Vassilis Paleokostas: the 'Robin Hood' who treats his hostages like guests and uses a helicopter as his preferred...
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Stanley Alpert, the Kidnapping Victim Who Outsmarted his Captors
Kidnapped on his 38th birthday by criminals who think every federal prosecutor is secretly wealthy, a calm-under-pressure lawyer survives a chaotic 25-hour ordeal—part hostage crisis, part absurd comedy—by befriending his captors. Sources for this episode include: The Birthday Party: A Memoir of...
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Abby Catt: Born to Rob
After their mother’s death and years living under a controlling father, two Texas teens are pulled into their dad’s string of bank robberies—turning a broken family into an outlaw crew and forcing a daughter to choose between loyalty, survival, and the truth she was raised to ignore.Sources for...
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Barefoot Bandit: The Teen Felon Who Became a Folk Hero
A teenage runaway becomes a folk hero and a nationwide fugitive as he steals planes, boats, and cars—often barefoot—turning a two-year crime spree into one of the most unlikely manhunts in modern American history. Sources for this episode include:Reporting by The Daily Herald (Everett,...
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Hunter Moore: The Undoing of the Internet's Most Hated Man
A notorious internet troll builds a revenge-porn empire that terrorizes thousands—until a determined mother launches a relentless campaign to bring him down and dismantle the most toxic community on the web. Sources for this episode include:The Netflix docuseries The Most Hated Man on the...
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Gareth Williams: The Spy in the Bag
When a brilliant intelligence officer from MI6 is discovered dead inside a padlocked duffel bag in his London flat, investigators face an impossible crime scene—no signs of forced entry, no fingerprints, and theories ranging from suicide to espionage—as the shadow of secrecy around his work at…
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Hellish Nell, the Last Witch of Scotland
To some, Helen Duncan is a powerful medium who bridges the realms of the living and the dead. To others, she's a dangerous con artist blending deception and stolen top-secret information to prey on the grieving and the gullible. Try ZipRecruiter FOR FREE at https://ziprecruiter.com/KILLERS…
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The Dread Pirate Roberts and the Silk Road: Anatomy of a Darknet Killer
A libertarian idealist known only as “The Dread Pirate Roberts” builds the Silk Road—an anonymous online black market that explodes into a billion-dollar empire—until the digital kingpin is unmasked, revealing how one man’s dream of radical freedom spiraled into crime, paranoia, and downfall....
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The Missing Candy Heiress and the Chicago Horse Mafia
In 1977, candy heiress Helen Brach – one of the richest women in America – vanishes. Detectives consider the many people who might have wanted to get their hands on her money. Ultimately, the primary suspect that emerges is… the Chicago horse mafia. Sources for this episode include: Hot Blood…
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Murder on the Galapagos? Island Utopia Spirals into Death and Disappearances
A 19th-century island experiment founded by two nature-loving Germans goes from Gilligan's Island to Lord of the Flies when an entitled and eccentric heiress moves in. Sources for this episode include: Satan Came to Eden: A Survivor's Account of the "Galapagos Affair by Dore StrauchFloreana by...
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The Oesterreich Murder: Secrets in the Attic
When a lonely Milwaukee housewife lives a double life, her secret world spirals into a decade of deception — culminating in a deadly confrontation, a staged burglary, and one of the strangest true-crime scandals in American history. Sources for this episode include:“‘Bat Man’ Case: a Lurid Tale…
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The Molly Watson Case: Bride-to-Be Murdered Right Before Her Wedding
Molly Watson had waited seven long years for her happily-ever-after wedding with her boyfriend, Jim. Then, less than 48 hours before they were supposed to walk down the aisle, Molly was murdered. And Jim either had the wildest, unluckiest story ever... or he'd fabricated a strange and demented...
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Heaven's Gate: Rehearsing for the Apocalypse
A charismatic leader convinces his devoted followers that salvation awaits aboard an alien spacecraft trailing a comet—leading the Heaven’s Gate cult to a tragic, otherworldly mass suicide that exposed the dangerous power of blind faith and cosmic delusion.Sources for this episode include…
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The Convict Who Faked His Death For Love
A brilliant con man turns his life into a high-stakes romantic heist, embezzling fortunes and pulling off mind-bending jailbreaks—all to keep the man he loves in the lifestyle he thinks he deserves. Sources for this episode include: I Love You Phillip Morris : A True Story of Life, Love and…
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The Trunk Murderess Whose Gruesome Crime Captivated a Nation
26-year-old "trunk murderess" Winnie Ruth Judd killed her two best friends one hot Phoenix night in 1931. Then she stuffed both of them into trunks and loaded them on a train to Los Angeles. What the press assumed was a simple case of jealousy only got messier with each new version of the story...
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Million-Dollar Jackpots: How Uncle Jerry Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game
When McDonald’s ran its beloved 1990s Monopoly sweepstakes, Jerome "Uncle Jerry" Jacobson had one job: Protect the game pieces. Instead, he used his position as Head of Security to rig the game. For years. To the tune of over $24 million in cash and prizes. Sources for this episode include:"How…
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Killer on the Run: The Many Lies of Audrey Marie Hilley
When two members of the same family contract a mysterious illness, evidence points toward one lethal commonality: the manipulative matriarch, Audrey Marie Hilley. But once she’s caught, she escapes, evading capture for years by turning her life into a soap opera. Sources for this episode include:...
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The Torso in the Basement: The Case of Dr. Crippen
A boisterous entertainer and wannabe opera singer disappears from her London home. Before detectives find human remains in the basement, her mild-mannered husband flees across the Atlantic with his lover, in disguise.Sources for this episode include: Thunderstruck by Erik Larson Molecules of...
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Billionaire Boys Club: Wannabe Heir Makes a Killing in LA
In 1980s Los Angeles, a charismatic prep-school hustler builds the Billionaire Boys Club—part investment syndicate, part illusion—until a high-stakes con, a missing mogul, and a pair of brutal murders expose how greed, privilege, and cocaine turned a fantasy of wealth into a deadly spiral.…
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The Devil Made Me Do It: Demonic Possession and Murder in a Small Town
A small Connecticut town witnesses its first murder ever. The culprit is an unlikely, quiet teenager who swears he was not in control of his own body. His supporters, however, think they know exactly what drove the young man to kill his victim: a case of demonic possession. Sources for this…
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The Dog Lady, The Killer She Loved, and Their Prison Break
How do you smuggle a convicted killer out of a maximum-security prison? Apparently, you just need a cardboard box, some packing tape, and a dog trainer nobody suspects. Sources for this episode include: Living With Conviction by Toby DorrBreakout (Dateline NBC) Keep up with Killer Stories!...
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The Stalker on Silent Mode: Killer Sends Threatening Texts For Years
Dave thought he'd met his dream girl in Cari, but after she mysteriously breaks up with him and vanishes, Dave endures years of cruel text messages and emails. Sources for this episode include: A Tangled Web: A Cyberstalker, a Deadly Obsession, and the Twisting Path to Justice by Leslie Rule…
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Teresita Basa: The Victim Who Solved Her Own Murder
A Chicago respiratory therapist is brutally murdered in her apartment. Did her ghost solve her own case? Sources for this episode include:Teresita: The Voice from the Grave by John O’Brien and Edward Baumann“A Chicago Murder Solved By a Ghost” (Chicago Tribune)“Voice from grave names murderer…
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Buried Alive: The FBI's "Most Bizarre" Kidnapping Ever
One FBI agent called it the most bizarre kidnapping case ever investigated by the Bureau: In 1968, an escaped convict and his new girlfriend bury their hostage alive in an underground chamber. Sources for this episode include: 83 Hours Till Dawn written by Gene Miller, in collaboration with…
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Dalia Dippolito: A Black Widow, a Murder Plot, and a Web of Lies
A seemingly heartbroken newlywed becomes the face of a shocking murder-for-hire plot—caught on tape before the crime can even happen. But as the trial unfolds, the real mystery isn’t what she planned, it’s how far reality can bend when everyone knows the cameras are watching. Sources for this...
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The Cheerleader Murder: A 1980s High School Clique Turns Deadly
Desperate to fit in, a teenage girl targets the most popular student at her school. The way she sees it, they can either be friends – or enemies. Sources for this episode include:“Death of a Cheerleader” by Randall Sullivan, reprinted in Best of Rolling Stone A Killer By Design by Ann Burgess The...
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Chloe Ayling: Kidnapping Victim or Fame Hungry Model?
When a young model vanishes in Italy, the story seems disturbingly familiar—until her sudden reappearance raises more questions than answers. As investigators dig deeper, a case that looked open-and-shut twists into something far stranger.Sources for this episode include:Chloe Ayling: My...
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The Fortune Teller’s Fortune: Psychic's Scam Rakes in Millions
Plenty of scam artists have pretended to be psychics. Not many of them secretly employ their daughters to sweep a client off their feet with their own purported psychic gifts. But then again, not every con artist has $15 million at stake. Sources for this episode include:Rachel Lee Sentencing...
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The Church Lady Murder: Imaginary Love Triangle Ends in Tragedy
When a lonely church volunteer in small-town Pennsylvania becomes obsessed with her new pastor, her festering jealousy toward a kindhearted fellow parishioner twists into delusion. Sources for this episode include: Love Me or Else: The True Story of a Devoted Pastor, a Fatal Jealousy, and the...
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Diamond Wheezers: Aging Thieves Plan One Final Heist
A 76-year-old career criminal leads a crew of pensioner thieves in Britain’s biggest-ever burglary—an “Ocean’s Eleven with bad knees” that nets £14 million in loot.Sources for this episode include:The Last Job: The Bad Grandpas and the Hatton Garden Heist by Dan BilefskyHatton Garden: The Inside...
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Chippendales: Club Owner’s Paranoia Spirals Into Murder
The world’s most iconic male strip show becomes a battleground of ego, greed, and murder when its visionary founder spirals from fame into paranoia—unleashing a deadly plot that shocks the entertainment industry. Sources for this episode include: A&E’s Secret of the Chippendales Murders The…
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Talhotblond: A Catfish Tale
An online love triangle explodes into deception and murder when a middle-aged factory worker poses as a young Marine to seduce a teenage girl. Sources for this episode include:Talhotblond (2009) Directed by Barbara Schroeder“An IM Infatuation Turned to Romance. Then the Truth Came Out” (WIRED,...
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Serial Killers Is Now Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén!
After eight years sharing stories about serial killers, we’re stepping fully into a new chapter of the show. Same meticulous research and sharp storytelling you love, whole new range of gripping crimes to explore. All with the incomparable Harvey Guillén at the helm! Watch the video trailer to…
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Meet Your New Host!
Hey listeners, we’re beyond excited to introduce you to your new host, Harvey Guillén! Stay tuned as he ushers in a new era of the podcast you know and love—now with video this season!
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For Your Inner Forensic Psychologist: Psychopedia
Today is the last day of Takeover Month, thank you for joining us! We’ll be back in January with brand new episodes and a brand new host. Investigator Slater (Psychopedia) takes us into the minds of criminals and killers with an incredible attention to detail and a pop quiz to keep us on our…
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Darker Than Fiction: Crimehub
It’s Takeover Month! Throughout December we will be highlighting the best of the true crime community, with a new episode every week from creators we love. We’ll be back next month with brand new episodes and a brand new host! Crimehub is the place to go when you can’t get over a case, and you…
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A Show With Real Impact: Voices for Justice
It’s Takeover Month! Throughout December we will be highlighting the best of the true crime community, with a new episode every week from creators we love. We’ll be back next month with brand new episodes and a brand new host! Sarah Turney (Voices for Justice) inspires us to be better true crime...
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For Music History Fans: Uncharted, Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry
It’s Takeover Month! Throughout December we will be highlighting the best of the true crime community, with a new episode every week from creators we love. We’ll be back next month with brand new episodes and a brand new host! Alan Cross (Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry) usually...
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The Perfect Mix of Horror and Crime: Heart Starts Pounding
It’s Takeover Month! Throughout December we will be highlighting the best of the true crime community, with a new episode every week from creators we love. We’ll be back next month with brand new episodes and a brand new host! Kaelyn Moore (Heart Starts Pounding) knows how to make our hearts beat...
About this show
Welcome to your weekly journey into the darkest corners of human nature. Join Harvey Guillén every Monday as he explores crimes that seized the public’s attention, from jaw-dropping heists and devastating cons to serial murders and deadly rivalries. Each episode unfolds a single case, examining not just the events themselves, but what continues to linger beneath the surface.
Killer Stories is a Spotify Podcast. New video episodes on Mondays!
Hosted by
Spotify Studios
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