As the autumn of 1982 began to descend, an alarming series of tragedies would begin to unfold in the suburban communities in and around Chicago, Illinois. The aftermath of the incident—which would leave seven people dead and an entire nation terrified and paranoid—would lead to sweeping changes in U.S. law, as well as a significant … More The Chicago Tylenol Murders

At approximately eight a.m. on the morning of August 28th, 1981, a phone call came in to the offices of the Ripon police in North Yorkshire. “Near Scawton Moor House, you will find a decomposed body among the willow herbs,” said the voice on the line. The officer who had taken the call, PC John … More The Nude in the Nettles

As the holiday season of 1988 approached, a transgender performer would be savagely murdered in a New York City hotel room in a crime that would be immortalized in an iconic 1990 documentary. Born Thomas Pellagatti in New Jersey, Venus Xtravaganza moved out of her conservative family home in the early 1980s and made her … More Venus Xtravaganza

In 1984, the murder of a small child in the rural backwaters of France would kick off an almost unbelievable saga of family jealousy, suicide, and murderous revenge that would come to be known as the Grégory Affair. Four-year-old Grégory Villemin lived with his parents, Christine and Jean-Marie, in the small, working-class village of Lepanges, … More Grégory Villemin

In early March of 1983, within the hip, underground music and film scenes of Los Angeles, California, a murder would take place that snatched from the world a man whose name is not all that well known today, even though at the time he stood at the nexus of everything that was experimental and up-and-coming … More Peter Ivers

On the day before Valentine’s Day of 1983, a body was found alongside a West Virginia highway, and although law enforcement weren’t aware of it yet, the dead woman may have been the first discovered victim of a possible serial killer who seemed to target red-haired females. An elderly couple was traveling along Route 250 … More The Redhead Murders

Thirty-six-year-old Glenna Sharp, more commonly known as Sue, was originally from Connecticut, but in late 1980, she left her husband James, and subsequently moved with their five children—fifteen-year-old Johnny, fourteen-year-old Sheila, twelve-year-old Tina, ten-year-old Rick, and five-year-old Greg—to cabin twenty-eight at the Keddie Resort in northern California. Sue chose this location in particular because it … More The Keddie Murders

It was around nine p.m. on the evening of Tuesday, February 10th, 1987 when thirty-seven-year-old Peggy Hettrick left her job at a clothing store called the Fashion Bar at the Foothills Mall in Fort Collins, Colorado, and began walking back to her nearby apartment. Her regular roommate, Barb Kohler, was out of town, but another … More Peggy Hettrick

In the last summer of 1982, a little girl would be abducted only a few feet from her home and be found dead weeks later. Her murder would become instrumental in the establishment of a more codified law enforcement response to missing children cases, and serve as the basis for the 1983 passage of the … More Rachael Runyan

In the Midwestern United States, in the summer of 1981, an extraordinary case would make headlines around the nation, a crime that would explore the uncomfortably gray area between the arguable breakdown of the rule of law and the conspiratorial actions of an alleged group of fed-up vigilantes. Residents of the tiny town of Skidmore, … More Ken Rex McElroy