True Crime by Evil Killers

Captured in the 1930s before the words psychopath and pedophile were part of common vernacular, notorious serial killer Arnold Sodeman murdered four young girls with little thought of remorse. Without guilt, the evil serial killer strangled them to death with their own clothing and left their small bodies alone in the Australian brush, earning himself a chilling position in the annals of Australian crime. The first victim in his child murder spree, 12-year-old Mena Griffiths, showed signs of having been sexually assaulted, although the man who would become known as The School-girl Strangler denied the assault, and blamed the killing of both Griffiths and the other girls on his inability to control himself after he'd been drinking. The horrific story of this true-life murderer — a tale of mental illness, childhood abuse, brain damage and alcoholic blackouts — is true crime as its most terrible, and ranks among the worst child murders in world history. After his arrest, Sodeman calmly confessed, saying that when intoxicated, he became overcome by thoughts of revenge, and like a real-life Jekyll and Hyde, transformed from doting husband and family man into a barbarian who strangled four little girls. He chose children and teens, he said, because he could lure them away much easier, but the cold-blooded killer really didn't seem to recognize the abhorrence of taking a child's life. Experts now say the handsome but strange Sodeman would likely have been unfit to stand trial for his crimes, given his family's extensive background of mental illness, but in the 1930s, the serial killer's biography was a tale that left Australia stunned.

While some would say that American serial killer Cary Stayner was influenced by family tragedy — his already-troubled family was shattered when his brother was abducted for seven years and held as a sex slave before his heroic return inspired the miniseries "I Know My First Name Is Steven" — in reality, Cary Stayner's true crime story is much more ominous. The handsome, outdoorsy guy with a love for marijuana, nude beaches and the Sierra Nevada mountain range where he once spotted Bigfoot had been harboring fantasies of brutally killing women years before his brother's abduction turned the Stayner family upside down. And in the annals of historical serial killers, Stayner's story stands out, because for months he made one of the most beautiful places on earth a nightmare for women when California's majestic Yosemite National Park became his own devil's playground, and he finally found himself unable to control his long-suppressed urges. Because he didn't look menacing, the man one FBI agent compared to actor Tom Laughlin in "Billy Jack" was able to gain the trust of his victims, and three vacationing women who were staying at the lodge where he lived and worked during the busy tourist season and a nature-loving teacher who help kids become stewards of the land she loved made that fatal mistake before they were savagely, sadistically murdered. The biography of serial killer Cary Stayner and his psychopathic crime spree leaves spine-tingling chills, because as far as the outside world was concerned, he was a fairly normal guy who found himself uncontrollably compelled to kill. Stayner has been on death row in California's famed San Quentin for more than 10 years, but for the families of his victims, no punishment is just enough to make up for the vibrant lives Stayner took, making him one of the most depraved American serial killers in contemporary history.

When Chris Bryson was discovered nude and severely beaten stumbling down Charlotte Street in Kansas City in 1988, Police had no idea they were about to discover the den of one of the most sadistic American serial killers in recent history. This is the true historical story of Robert Berdella, nicknamed by the media the Kansas City Butcher, who from between 1984 and 1988 brutally raped, tortured and ultimately dismembered 6 young male prostitutes in his unassuming home on a quiet street in Kansas City. Based on the actual 720 page detailed confession provided by Berdella to investigators, it represents one of the most gruesome true crime stories of all time and is unique in the fact that it details each grizzly murder as told by the killer himself. From how he captured each man, to the terrifying methods he used in his torture chamber, to ultimately how he disposed of their corpses - rarely has there ever been a case where a convicted serial killer confessed to police in his own words his crimes in such disturbing detail. Horrific, shocking and rarely equaled in the realms of sadistic torture — Berdella was a sexually driven lust killer and one of the most sadistic sex criminals ever captured. Not for the faint of heart, this is the tale of Robert "Bob" Berdella, the worst serial killer in Kansas City History and for those that are fans of historical serial killers, is a true must read.

In an area of Houston known as the Heights, boys had been going missing for years, but it was the peace-and-love 1970s, so police just called them runaways, even if they'd left with little more than a swimsuit and some change. When the truth was uncovered, and police — and the rest of Houston — realized the boys had become victims of notorious American serial killer Dean Corll, Houston recoiled in horrified shock. Residents realized that they had not only become the site of the most grisly mass murder in Texas history, but the worst mass murder in all of U.S. history. The word serial killer had not yet been coined, and as body after decomposing body was uncovered from the dirt floor of the boat shed where Corll and his two young accomplishes had buried most of the victims, there were hardly words for what this sadistic lust killer had done. The depraved evil that Corll and his accomplices — two teen boys themselves who were promised money but eventually developed a thrill for the kill - was revealed as one of the cohorts, Wayne Henley, calmly, affably, told the stories of how after Corll sexually assaulting them and tortured them in unimaginable fashion, they would kill them and take the boys' bodies away to bury them beneath the dirt. This serial killer's biography will haunt you, especially as you learn more about the sadistic torture methods lust killer Corll used on his young victims, all lured to his various apartments by people they believed were their friends. While Corll is dead, killed by Henley during the lust killer's last night of depravity, the case remains entwined in Houston history, and unforgettable for the families of those who lived it.

In the world of American serial killers, few can beat Donald Henry "Peewee" Gaskins when it comes to depravity, cunning, and quite possibly the sheer number of murders. Do not let the nickname "Peewee" fool you, if someone did not take Gaskins seriously, then that person usually ended up dead! In this true crime book about an infamous serial killer, you will delve into the mind of a truly twisted man who claimed scores of victims from the 1950s until 1982, which made him the most prolific serial killer in South Carolina history and quite possibly in all of American history! Criminal profiling has helped law enforcement capture a number of serial killers throughout history and has also aided mental health professionals understand some of the motives behind their dastardly deeds, but in many ways Gaskins defied most profiles. The range of Gaskins' victims was only equaled by the plethora of reasons he chose to kill: many of the murders were done to appease Gaskins' unnatural carnal desires, while other victims lost their lives during his career as a contract killer. Truly, in the twisted world of psychopaths and sociopaths Gaskins is definitely in the top tier — he was a predator among predators. Many of the details of Gaskins' life will shock you and still other things will make you horrified by his inhumanity, but in the end you will find that it is impossible to put down this captivating read! So open the book and your mind to see what you will learn in this truly unique serial killer's biography. This is the true story of the "Meanest Man In America", Donald Henry Gaskins.

In the 1970s and early '80s, southern California was shocked when dead boys began turning up with disturbing regularity alongside some of the picturesque state's most heavily traveled freeways. Victims of sadistic torture, the dead boys and young men had been raped and strangled, and their untimely deaths were eventually attributed to the Freeway Killer, an elusive psychopath whose trail of death would go down in California history as one of the worst true crime stories in the country. While the Freeway Killer ultimately turned out to be three different men, one of them was truck driver William Bonin, one of the most prolific and sadistic among American serial killers. Bonin usually preferred to work with an accomplice, and the lust killer and his cronies brutally raped and tortured his victims — Bonin loved the sounds of their screams — before strangling them and dumping them on the side of the road like garbage. Bonin confessed to committing 21 murders in the span of just a year, although many experts believe he was responsible for the deaths of many more missing young men. He was executed in 1996, and in this detailed serial killer biography, you'll learn the background that might offer some understanding of what makes a man go off the rails and become a deranged lust killer. Of course, spine-tingling story of a man whose youngest victim was a 12-year-old who was waiting for a bus to take him to Disneyland might be one that causes you to sleep with the lights on for weeks after turning the final gruesome page.