Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / 10 Most Notorious Oregon Serial Killers

Transcript

10 Most Notorious Oregon Serial Killers · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, so true crime, right, it's kind of hard to resist.
• 0:03
  You hear these stories, these things that make you wonder, like,
• 0:05
  how could someone even think to do that? And that's
• 0:09
  what we are looking at today, a deep dive into
• 0:12
  serial killers and specifically those who operated an organ We've
• 0:17
  got let's see ten cases in front of us, going
• 0:20
  way back. Each one, I think safe to say, a
• 0:22
  pretty dark look at what people are capable of. But
• 0:25
  we're trying to go beyond just being shocked.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Right absolutely, When you examine these cases these individuals, you
• 0:31
  start to see patterns, And I think that's what's so
• 0:35
  fascinating and so valuable about this kind of deep dive.
• 0:37
  What might lead someone to commit such horrific acts? How
• 0:41
  do these cases impact how we think about criminal psychology,
• 0:44
  the justice system? That raises so many questions.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: It's like trying to make sense of the darkest parts
• 0:48
  of human nature exactly. So let's get started. First up,
• 0:51
  we've got Randall Woodfield you might know him as the
• 0:53
  Ifive bandit and get this this guy he was drafted
• 0:57
  by the Green Bay Packers wild right.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: You see these dark contrasts. Sometimes you have this athlete,
• 1:03
  a seemingly normal life, and then boom, this dark turn Woodfield.
• 1:08
  He had a history of indecent exposure, maybe a warning
• 1:12
  sign there, and then he starts operating along I five,
• 1:16
  praying on women often in their late teens early twenties.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the article it says he was only charged
• 1:21
  with one murder, but some people they think it could
• 1:24
  be as many as forty victims.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: That uncertainty, the possibility that there are more victims out there.
• 1:29
  That's something you see a lot with serial killers. It's
• 1:32
  part of what makes them so terrifying. They operate in
• 1:34
  the shadows, leaving all these unanswered questions.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Chilling stuff for sure. All right, moving on chronologically, we
• 1:40
  come to Dayton Leroy Rogers. He was known as the
• 1:43
  Malala forest killer.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Just that name.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: It's scary.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the Malala forest killer Rogers case. It really shows
• 1:50
  you how complex the justice system can be. He murdered
• 1:53
  seven women brutally. One victim, Jennifer Smith, she was stabbed
• 1:57
  eleven times. He was actually sentenced to death, but then
• 2:00
  in twenty twenty one that sentence was overturned. Now he's
• 2:03
  serving life. It makes you think about punishment, you know, rehabilitation.
• 2:08
  Is there such a thing as redemption, even our own
• 2:10
  beliefs about justice. It's a lot to unpack.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: It's heavy stuff, that's for sure. Okay, Next we have
• 2:16
  Douglas Franklin Wright. His case is really disturbing and it
• 2:19
  kind of highlights how when institutions fail there can be tragic,
• 2:23
  tragic consequences.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Right's criminal history started when he was young. He
• 2:28
  was discharged from the Marines because he's sexually assaulted a
• 2:30
  five year old.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Oh God.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: And then you see this pattern of him being released
• 2:34
  and then reoffending. Its tragic in and out of prison,
• 2:36
  and each time the crimes get worse, more horrific, kidnapping, molestation, murder.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: It's like the system itself didn't recognize how dangerous he
• 2:45
  was becoming.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, in a way, and his victims, they are often
• 2:48
  some of the most vulnerable people out there, homeless men.
• 2:51
  You look at Right's case and it makes you really question,
• 2:53
  you know, our parole systems, rehab programs, can we truly
• 2:56
  help those who seem determined to hurt others. It's even
• 3:00
  more complicated by the fact that he was the first
• 3:01
  person executed in Oregon after they reinstated the death penalty.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: It makes you wonder was that justice for his victims
• 3:09
  or was it a failure to intervene earlier. It's hard
• 3:13
  to say.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: It's a debate with no easy answers, that's for sure.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: And we're only four killers in this is already a lot. Okay,
• 3:19
  let's move on to Jerry Brudos. He was known as
• 3:22
  the shoe fetish killer. I mean that nickname alone, right,
• 3:26
  it makes it kind of curious in a morbid way.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Bruto's case is fascinating because it sits right at the
• 3:30
  intersection of psychology and criminology. From when he was a kid,
• 3:34
  he had this thing about shoes. It was obsessive and disturbing.
• 3:39
  The article suggests he might have been linked to abuse
• 3:41
  by his mother when he was young. Wow, it's tragic, really,
• 3:44
  this is how early trauma can manifest in these incredibly
• 3:47
  destructive ways.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: And for Brutos it went all the way to murder.
• 3:51
  He killed four women, and the details they're awful. He
• 3:55
  kept trophies from his victims, specifically their shoes.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: It's hard to comprehend the kind of depravity that some
• 4:01
  people are capable of, and I think it really underscores
• 4:05
  how important it is to understand the psychology behind these crimes,
• 4:09
  not to excuse them, of course, but maybe just maybe
• 4:12
  to help prevent them in the future.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Okay, this next one, I think a lot of
• 4:16
  people will recognize this name. Keith Hunter, Jesperson.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Ah, Yes, the smiley face killer. His case is particularly
• 4:24
  chilling because of how he tried to I don't know,
• 4:26
  taunt the authorities, insert himself into the investigation. He loved
• 4:30
  to be in control.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he'd send these notes to the press describing his
• 4:33
  murders in detail, and then he would sign them with
• 4:35
  a smiley face. So creepy. And then there's the whole
• 4:38
  question about how many victims he actually had. He claimed
• 4:40
  he killed one hundred and eighty five people, but only
• 4:43
  seven were ever confirmed.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: See, that's the game he played, Jessperson. He craved that notoriety,
• 4:49
  that recognition. He wanted to be known as this prolific killer,
• 4:52
  which makes it really hard to separate fact from fiction.
• 4:55
  Even in prison, he was still trying to control the narrative.
• 4:59
  He needed that even.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Then, his ego, his need for control, it's almost as
• 5:04
  monstrous as the crimes themselves.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: You could say that again, that need for control, for attention.
• 5:10
  He was a huge factor in his crimes and in
• 5:12
  how he acted afterwards.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: It's a lot to wrap your head around all the
• 5:16
  psychology at play, but as disturbing as it is, I
• 5:19
  think it's important to understand, to try to Speaking of disturbing,
• 5:23
  we have to talk about Ted Bundy.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Bundy, he's practically the definition of a serial killer, wouldn't
• 5:28
  you say? His crimes they span multiple states, terrified the
• 5:31
  whole country.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Infamous for sure, But you know, a lot of people
• 5:34
  probably don't realize. He had a victim right here in Oregon,
• 5:38
  Roberta Kathleen Parks. She was a student at Oregon State University.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Bunny's case it was huge for the development of criminal profiling.
• 5:47
  He didn't fit the mold that law enforcement had at
• 5:49
  the time. He was charismatics, seemed normal, and he used
• 5:53
  that to get close to his victims. His crimes forced
• 5:56
  everyone to rethink how we understand in profile serial killers.
• 6:00
  Bundy changed everything.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he really did. Bundy taught us that a monster
• 6:04
  doesn't always look like a monster, and that was a
• 6:06
  tough lesson to learn.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: It totally changed the game chrona profiling, how we understand psychopaths.
• 6:11
  It all had to adapt.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: We had to look beyond the surface right, understand those
• 6:15
  subtle cues, the way someone like Bundy could manipulate people.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Exactly, And that's chilling, but it's also incredibly important to
• 6:21
  know for sure.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Okay, moving on, we have another killer with a nickname
• 6:25
  that's just bone chilling, Gary Ridgeway, the Green River Killer.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Ridgeway's reign of terror its almost unfathomable. The sheer number
• 6:34
  of victims he targeted sex workers, mostly along the Green River,
• 6:37
  hence the nickname, and his confirmed victim count is just
• 6:42
  it's staggering.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Dozens of women, and it took years, We're not years,
• 6:46
  and advances in DNA technology to finally connect him to
• 6:50
  the murders. Can you imagine all that time those families
• 6:54
  waiting for answers.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: It's heartbreaking and it speaks to the importance of forensic science.
• 7:00
  Whidgeway was caught because of DNA evidence. It highlights how
• 7:04
  far forensic technology has come, how it's being used to
• 7:07
  solve these cold cases, bring some closure, some measure of
• 7:10
  justice to families who've been waiting, sometimes decades for answers.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: It's a double edged sword, though, isn't it, Because you
• 7:17
  have that hope of getting those answers that closure, but
• 7:20
  it also makes you think about all the other cases
• 7:22
  still out there, unsolved, waiting for technology to catch up.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: It's a lot, it is, but it also highlights how
• 7:27
  forensic science is always evolving. You know. It's this constant
• 7:30
  pursuit to stay one step ahead of those who hurt others.
• 7:33
  It never stops.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: It's a terrifying chess match.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Really.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Speaking of which, let's talk about Bobby Jack Fowler. His
• 7:39
  case is especially in settling because of his potential connection
• 7:42
  to those unsolved Highway of Tears murders.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Right Fowler's life, it's like a textbook case, unfortunately, of
• 7:48
  escalating violence. His record it goes way back and it's
• 7:52
  bad drug offenses, attempted rape, assault, It all builds to
• 7:57
  this pattern of predatory behavior and then you have the
• 8:00
  potential link to the Highway of Tears murders.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: And for anyone who doesn't know the Highway of Tears,
• 8:05
  it's a stretch of highway in British Columbia and it's
• 8:08
  got this horrifying history. A disturbing number of women, many
• 8:12
  of them Indigenous women, have gone missing or been found
• 8:15
  murdered along that highway and it's been going on for years.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: It's a tragic reminder of how vulnerable certain populations are
• 8:21
  to violence. And Fouler he traveled that route for work,
• 8:25
  so he was in the area exactly. Now. He was
• 8:28
  never definitively linked to any of those cases, but the possibility,
• 8:32
  the potential connection, it's chilling. It's also a stark reminder
• 8:35
  of how difficult it can be to track transient criminals,
• 8:39
  and the heartbreaking reality that some of these cases they
• 8:42
  might never be solved.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: And those families are left with so many questions. It's
• 8:46
  just it's awful. Okay, moving on, we have Thomas Braun.
• 8:50
  His story is terrifying in part because of how quick
• 8:53
  it all happened. This guy committed four murders in five days.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Five days. Braun's a good example of how different these
• 8:59
  killers can be. He's a world away from someone like Bundy.
• 9:03
  His crimes were brutal, he would rape and then murder
• 9:06
  his victims, but his methods they were straightforward, almost simple.
• 9:09
  There wasn't this elaborate ruse, no real attempt to hide
• 9:13
  who he was.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: It's almost more unsettling in a way because it seems
• 9:17
  so random, so impulsive.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Right, It's a different kind of darkness, the kind that
• 9:20
  just explodes onto the scene. And yeah, he was caught
• 9:23
  relatively quickly, but those five days they left a mark
• 9:26
  on that community. You don't just get over something like that.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: It shows that evil can appear anywhere, at any time,
• 9:32
  and I think it's also a testament to the resilience
• 9:34
  of these communities. They face that darkness and they find
• 9:37
  a way to heal, to move forward.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Which brings us to our final case, and this one's tough.
• 9:43
  Jordan Aidencreado. He wasn't just a serial killer. This was familicide.
• 9:48
  He murdered his entire family. Familicide. It's different. It's a
• 9:52
  deeply disturbing category of crime, often driven by this terrible
• 9:56
  mix of factors mental illness, financial stress, this overwhelming need
• 10:01
  for control. And in Creato's case, you see this horrifying
• 10:05
  combination of intimacy and violence, a betrayal on the most
• 10:08
  fundamental level.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: It's hard to even imagine the kind of darkness it
• 10:11
  would take to do something like that, to kill your
• 10:13
  own family, and then he tried to cover it up
• 10:17
  by setting the house on fire. It's just horrific.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: It points to this detachment from reality, like he's trying
• 10:22
  to erase not just the victims, but the act itself
• 10:25
  and the justice system.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: They didn't hold back. Creato got the death penalty.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but even that feels kind of hollow, you know, like,
• 10:32
  what does that really solve and the face of such
• 10:34
  a profound loss, It's a question without a good answer.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: You're right, Okay, So we've covered a lot, ten different killers,
• 10:41
  each one a descent into a really, really dark place.
• 10:45
  As we try to process all of this, what are
• 10:47
  your final thoughts? What should people be taking away from
• 10:50
  this deep dive into Oregon's dark side.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a lot, no doubt about it. Ten different
• 10:55
  stories and each one well, it's a journey into the
• 10:58
  darkest parts of human nature. But I think you're right,
• 11:01
  there are definitely things we can take away from all
• 11:03
  of this when you look at the big picture. What
• 11:06
  stands out to you as the most important thing for
• 11:08
  people to understand. It's really easy to get caught up
• 11:11
  in the sensationalism, right, Yeah, nicknames the awful details, But
• 11:15
  when we do a deep dive like this, I think
• 11:17
  the real value is in trying to see the patterns.
• 11:20
  What are the factors that contribute to these horrific acts.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: So looking past the shock value and trying to understand,
• 11:26
  really understand.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. And you know, most of these killers, they
• 11:30
  didn't just snap one day. You look at their pasts
• 11:33
  and it's all there. Take Randall Woodfields for example, the
• 11:36
  indecent exposure or Douglas Wright his criminal record. It started
• 11:41
  when he was young, that awful assault, when he was
• 11:43
  in the Marines. These weren't just isolated incidents.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: It's like these warning signs, these red flags were there
• 11:48
  all along, but they were missed or ignored. That's a
• 11:52
  scary thought to think that maybe, just maybe, if there
• 11:56
  was more awareness, if someone had intervened, some of these
• 12:00
  tragedies could have been prevented.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: It's a possibility, definitely, And that's why I think knowledge
• 12:04
  is so important. If we understand the psychology behind these individuals,
• 12:07
  if we can learn to recognize those red flags, it
• 12:10
  empowers us. It's not about being afraid, but about being informed,
• 12:13
  being aware.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: So it's about going beyond the who and the what
• 12:16
  of these crimes and really digging into the why and
• 12:19
  the how. Like we were talking about with Jerry Brutos, right,
• 12:22
  the whole shoe fetish thing. It's easy to fixate on
• 12:24
  that on how bizarre it is. But when you start
• 12:27
  to see the potential connection to his childhood trauma, that's
• 12:31
  when you get a glimpse into the complexity of the individual,
• 12:34
  the person behind the crimes. It's not so simple, right, and.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: It's about recognizing that there's no one size fits all
• 12:42
  profile for a serial killer. There's no single explanation that
• 12:45
  covers every case. You've got Keith jesperson who wanted the attention,
• 12:48
  who played games with the media, and then you have
• 12:50
  Thomas Braun, who's violence seemed almost random, unplanned. Right. Each
• 12:55
  case is different, but they're all connected by this threat
• 12:57
  of violence.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: It's heavy stuff to think about, but I do think
• 13:00
  you're right. Knowledge is power, and the more we understand
• 13:04
  these dark corners of human behavior, well maybe we can
• 13:06
  start to shed some light on them. Maybe we can
• 13:08
  take steps to prevent these things from happening.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: That's the hope. It's about learning from the past and
• 13:13
  then using that knowledge to make the future safer.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: This has been intense, this deep dive into Oregon serial killers.
• 13:19
  I mean, it's been a journey. We've gone through decades,
• 13:22
  met ten individuals who chose a path of violence, of terror.
• 13:28
  But even with all that darkness, there are glimmers of
• 13:30
  hope too.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, the dedication of law enforcement, the advancements in
• 13:34
  forensic science. People are working hard to understand these crimes,
• 13:38
  to stop them from happening. It's an ongoing effort, exactly.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: And as we wrap up this deep dive, we wanted
• 13:43
  to leave you with a question something to think about.
• 13:46
  Why Oregon this state. It's beautiful, it's known for its
• 13:50
  progressive values, but it also has this dark history of
• 13:53
  serial killers. Is it just a coincidence or are there
• 13:57
  other things a play here, Things about our society, about
• 13:59
  the environment. We encourage you to keep digging, keep asking questions,
• 14:03
  and see what you find, because.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: In the end, trying to understand this darkness, it's not
• 14:07
  about glorifying it. It's about confronting it, learning from it,
• 14:11
  and then hopefully creating a future where these horrible things happen.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Less and less well said. Until next time, Keep exploring,
• 14:18
  keep asking those tough questions, and keep diving deep.