Shadow Cancer: The Pied Piper

Signs of Danger: A True Crime Astrology Podcast · Jul 6, 2026 · 35m

He was five foot three. He stuffed his cowboy boots with newspapers and flattened tin cans. He smeared pancake makeup across his face. He drew a fake mole on his cheek. He looked absurd -- everyone said so, later, when it was safe. It did not matter. Because what Charles Howard Schmid Jr. was selling was never appearance. It was the feeling of being near someone who did whatever they wanted. Girls competed for him. Boys followed him. Teenagers kept his secrets -- even the ones about the bodies.

Seven hundred miles west, Gerald Gallego sent a woman he had just met a dozen roses. Within weeks…