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15 Infamous Serial Killers In North Carolina · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Okay, so true crime fans buckle up, because today we
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  are diving deep into the dark side of North Carolina
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  serial killers.
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  Speaker 2: Ooh scary, right.
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  Speaker 1: We're going way beyond the headlines though, getting into like
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  what makes these cases tick.
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  Speaker 2: And you know what's so fascinating about serial killers. It's
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  like we always want to say, oh, they're from this
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  one creepy town, you know, But the thing is the
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  things that make these people they're not really from any
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  one place.
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  Speaker 1: It's a bigger picture thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like a societal thing, a puzzle totally.
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  Speaker 1: And to solve this puzzle today, we're going to unpack
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  this list of fifteen infamous serial killers. Fifteen yeah, fifteen,
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  all connected to North Carolina. Don't worry, though, We're not
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  just going to read their names. We're going to make
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  them come alive. Oh okay, but just enough. You know,
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  we're not trying to give anybody nightmares here. So to
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  mix things up, we're not going chronologically. Instead, we're going
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  to group these cases by themes. Ooh, like that right,
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  makes it more like a real life detective case, you know.
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  So first up, terror in the fast lane, because honestly,
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  what's scarier than evil just lurking in plain sight.
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  Speaker 2: It's that you never know, like is the guy making
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  your coffee going to exactly?
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  Speaker 1: And for a real life example of that, let's talk
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  about Henry Lewis Wallace. You might know him as the
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  Taco bell strangler.
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  Speaker 2: The guy was.
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  Speaker 1: Literally making tacos while like planning his next kill.
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  Speaker 2: Chilling right, and he mostly targeted women. Women he knew,
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  even like coworkers.
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  Speaker 1: Which makes it even creepier. And one detail that I
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  just cannot shake. He actually strangled a woman right in
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  front of her son. Oh god, right, I mean, how
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  do you even begin to process that level of cruelty.
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  Speaker 2: It really makes you think about the families, Like the
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  victims are one thing, but they're families. The trauma just ripples.
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  Speaker 1: So true. Okay, Moving from the everyday to the great outdoors,
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  you know those places where we're supposed to feel good,
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  at peace, at one with nature, except when you run
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  into someone like Gary Michael Hilton aka the National Forest
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  serial Killer.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, talk about turning a peaceful place into something terrifying.
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  Speaker 1: Right, and his emma the stuff of nightmares, murder and
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  get this decapitation.
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  Speaker 2: Makes you think twice about going for a hike, doesn't it.
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  Speaker 1: You're telling me I'm never going alone again, that's for sure.
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  But as scary as the woods can be, you know
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  what's even more unsettling with that danger in your own home,
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  which brings us to our next theme. When home isn't safe,
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  and honestly, isn't that where we should feel the safest.
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  Speaker 2: It's like the ultimate violation.
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  Speaker 1: You know, absolutely, and few cases illustrate this better than
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  Jeffrey Robert McDonald, the Green Beret killer. We're talking about
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  a decorated US Army officer, a physician, accused of murdering
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  his pregnant wife and two daughters in their home, in
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  their home, McDonald always maintained his innocence, said some hippies
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  broke in and did it, but the evidence told a
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  very different.
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  Speaker 2: Story in the details. Yeah, knife an ice pick.
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  Speaker 1: Just awful, just bone chilling, and he even had all
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  these self inflicted wounds like he was trying to stage
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  the scene.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, did it work.
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  Speaker 1: No, he was found guilty, but that case, it just
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  stays with you. Vitality of it, you know, the betrayal.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, speak of betrayal. Let's talk about Frederick Robert Kleinner
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  Junior talk about a family affair gone wrong.
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  Speaker 1: This one's like a lifetime movie or something. Clinner killed
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  multiple members of his girlfriend's family. Can you imagine your
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  own boyfriend?
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  Speaker 2: Jealousy is a powerful drug.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me about it and it gets crazier. The whole
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  thing ends in this insane car chase with a fiery
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  explosion at the end. Took out him, the girlfriend, her
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  two sons.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, talk about collateral damage, right.
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  Speaker 1: And speaking of damage, not all of these killers stayed
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  put in North Carolina?
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  Speaker 2: You mean they traveled for their victims.
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  Speaker 1: They did, And that takes us to our next theme,
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  beyond NCA borders because crime, as they say, doesn't respect
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  state lines.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, some of these guys, their reign of terriages span
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  like the whole country exactly.
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  Speaker 1: Take Danny Rolling, the Gainesville Ripper. Ever heard of him?
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, wasn't he the one who like terrorized those
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  college students of Florida?
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  Speaker 1: That's the one. But get the His crimes actually started
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  right here in North Carolina the way really Yep, before
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  he was the Gainesville Ripper, he committed a double homicide
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  in Fayetteville.
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  Speaker 2: Crazy, right, It's insane. It makes you wonder how many
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  other killers are out there just getting started.
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  Speaker 1: It's a scary thought, isn't it?
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  Speaker 2: Like?
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  Speaker 1: Just how many more are out there right now?
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  Speaker 2: It really makes you think. And its way understanding the patterns,
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  the motives, that's so crucial.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, So let's talk motives. And for a prime example
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  of pure greed as a motive, we have Samuel Cooper.
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  This guy was like something out of a horror movie.
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  Speaker 2: Cooper's case is just it shows how desperation when you
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  mix that with zero regard for human life, it's terrifying.
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  Speaker 1: So picture this between two thousand and six and two
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  thousand and seven. Cooper kills five, count them five men
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  in North Carolina, five five and his weapon of choice
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  a gun uses during armed robberies.
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  Speaker 2: So he was eliminating witnesses.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly cold and calculated. And speaking of cold, let's talk
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  about Donald pe Wee Gaskins Junior. They didn't call him
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  the meanest man in a America for nothing.
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  Speaker 2: Gaskins was just pure evil the things he did. He
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  confessed to over one hundred murders, though only thirteen were confirmed,
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  only thirteen.
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  Speaker 1: That's still thirteen too many.
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  Speaker 2: You're telling me. And the methods stabbing, shooting, drowning, even poison.
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  He buried some of his victims in shallow graves near
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  his house.
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  Speaker 1: Just awful. The guy was a monster, plain and simple.
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  Sentenced to death, executed in nineteen ninety one. But the
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  stories they live on.
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  Speaker 2: Some things you just can't forget.
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  Speaker 1: You're right about that, And sadly, not every case has
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  a nice neat ending, like the Edgecombe County killer also
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  known as the Seven Bridges killer.
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  Speaker 2: That was still unsolved, right, still.
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  Speaker 1: Unsolved between two thousand and five and two thousand and nine.
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  This guy, whoever he is, killed ten victims. Bodies were
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  found near seven Bridges Road in Rocky Mount.
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  Speaker 2: What's crazy is most of the victims were African American women.
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  Speaker 1: Right, which again makes you think about vulnerability about who
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  these killers target.
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  Speaker 2: It's a sad pattern we see over and over.
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  Speaker 1: It really is. You know, it's not always strangers in
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  the dark or whatever. Sometimes danger wears a friendly face.
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  And for that, let's talk about Nanny DAWs.
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  Speaker 2: Ever heard of her, the Black Widow.
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  Speaker 1: The Black Widow, or the giggling Granny. This lady was something.
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  Speaker 2: Else I've heard about her. She's poisoned, right, like arsenic
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  or something.
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  Speaker 1: Poison was her go to. Between the nineteen twenties and
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  nineteen fifty four, she killed eleven people, husbands, her own mother,
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  two grandsons, sister, even a mother in law.
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  Speaker 2: What is wrong with people?
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  Speaker 1: Seriously? And the motive money life insurance money, to be exact.
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  Speaker 2: So she's profiting off their desks.
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  Speaker 1: Profiting off their deaths. It's just beyond messed up. Okay,
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  moving on, because this is a lot. Let's talk about
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  William Pierce another name for the list, right, and this
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  guy he didn't just stick to one state either. Between
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  nineteen seventy and nineteen seventy one, he killed at least
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  nine people North Carolina, South Carolina.
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  Speaker 2: Georgia, so all over the southeast.
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  Speaker 1: His first victim and Goodwin. She was just eighteen years old,
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  babysitting actually when Pierce broke in, sexually assaulted her, then
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  shot her.
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  Speaker 2: Oh that's horrible.
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  Speaker 1: It gets worse. So get this. He eventually gets caught
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  for robbery totally unrelated, and while they're questioning him about
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  the robbery, he just confesses to the murders. A lucky break, right,
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  Sometimes it's just dumb luck. Now from a spree to
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  something more well targeted, I guess let's talk about Scott
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  Wilson William He terrorized North Carolina for nine years, killed
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  three women, and.
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  Speaker 2: I'm guessing he knew these women.
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  Speaker 1: He did each one. And here's the thing. Each victim
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  was found with these very specific mulations, including a gunshot
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  to the head.
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  Speaker 2: That's how they connected him to the crimes.
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  Speaker 1: Then that and DNA evidence they got him in two
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  thousand and six. Speaking of DNA is amazing, But it
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  doesn't solve everything right.
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  Speaker 2: Sadly not takes time, resources.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly in some cases, just stakehold. But let's move on
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  to Earl Richmond, another one whose crime span state lines.
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  This guy, former military man by the way, killed four
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  people New Jersey and North Carolina people and how long
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  between April and November of nineteen ninety one, So not
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  that long and two of his victims kids.
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  Speaker 2: Ugh, that's just awful.
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  Speaker 1: He got life in prison. But still it makes you think,
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  you know, like, how do we even begin to stop
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  something like this?
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  Speaker 2: That's the question, isn't it if we knew the answer
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  to that?
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  Speaker 1: No, kiddy, it's like where do you even start?
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  Speaker 2: Right? It's the million dollar question, And honestly, it's what
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  keeps people like me up at night?
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  Speaker 1: Do you and me both?
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  Speaker 2: So?
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  Speaker 1: Like, aren't these guys just born evil?
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  Speaker 2: I wish it were that simple. Yeah, but there's no
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  one answer, no crystal ball.
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  Speaker 1: But we can look for patterns, right, like red flags.
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  Speaker 2: Or whatever exactly. And one thing, we see a lot
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  of history of violence, like even as kids.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, like Wallace Gaskins, Peers, they were all pretty messed
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  up even early.
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  Speaker 2: On, which is why you know, early intervention is so important.
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  Speaker 1: For sure, But what about the guys who like didn't
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  have that, Like what about Samuel Cooper? He seemed pretty calculated,
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  pretty motivated by greed.
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  Speaker 2: Cooper's an interesting case because yeah, he was all about
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  the money. But then you have guys who they just
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  enjoy it.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, See that's what I don't get, Like the pleasure
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  in taking a life is just I don't know, beyond.
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  Speaker 2: Me me neither. And then you have the mental illness factor,
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  which again not an.
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  Speaker 1: Excuse, of course not, but you can't ignore.
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  Speaker 2: It exactly, And we can't forget about the victims in
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  all of this.
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  Speaker 1: So true, So many of these victims were like the
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  most vulnerable women, minorities, people living on the margins.
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  Speaker 2: It makes you wonder about the bigger picture, like, is
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  there something about society that enables this?
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  Speaker 1: That's what I keep coming back to. Poverty, lack of opportunity,
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  even just plain bad luck. Do those things create an
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  environment where, I don't know where evil thrives.
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  Speaker 2: It's a tough question, but it's one we have to ask.
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  Speaker 1: Because if we don't ask these tough questions, how are
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  we supposed to stop it from happening.
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  Speaker 2: Again, that's what this is all about, right, trying to
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  understand so we can hopefully prevent.
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  Speaker 1: Couldn't have set it better myself? Well that's our deep
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  dive for today into the dark side of North Carolina.
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  We hope you found it. I don't knowcinating, maybe even
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  a little terrifying, just a little, but hey, knowledge is power.
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  Right Until next time, keep those lights on and stay
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  safe out there.