UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast

How does a serial killer murder women across America for more than four decades, repeatedly encounter law enforcement, and keep getting away with it?Samuel Little confessed to 93 murders, making him the most prolific serial killer in American history according to the FBI. But how many women did he actually kill? And how did he remain virtually undetected for so long?In this episode of UNMARKED, investigative journalist and author Jillian Lauren, who spent years interviewing Little and helped uncover the staggering scope of his crimes, reveals what she learned from getting inside the mind of one of America's most notorious serial killers.I'm also joined by journalist and former prosecutor Beth Karas, who has investigated Little's crimes and interviewed survivors, witnesses, and people who knew him.Together, we trace Samuel Little's life, his childhood, his violent fantasies, and a killing spree that stretches across America from the 1970s until his arrest in 2012.This is more than the story of a serial killer. It's an investigation into the failures of law enforcement, the victims dismissed as the "less dead," and the circumstances that allowed one man to become potentially the most prolific serial killer in American history.Research in This Episode: MacCulloch MJ, Snowden PR, Wood PJ, Mills HE. Sadistic fantasy, sadistic behaviour and offending. Br J Psychiatry. 1983 Jul;143:20-9. doi: 10.1192/bjp.143.1.20. PMID: 6882989.Kim, A., Beauregard, E., & Chopin, J. (2023). “Strangulation in sexual homicide: Is it opportunity, victim’s vulnerability or sadism?” Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 94, 102488. DOI: 10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102488.Marono, A. J., Reid, S., Yaksic, E., & Keatley, D. A. (2020). A behaviour sequence analysis of serial killers’ lives: From childhood abuse to methods of murder. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 27(1), 126–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2019.1695517Show Notes: If you want to go deeper into the Charles Manson case, my book Charles Manson: The Last Words documents years researching the story and speaking directly with members of the Manson Family — including Charles Manson himself. Read it here:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7If you want to follow the cases as I’m working on them, you can find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesbuddyday/For those who want to examine the evidence directly, complete phone calls and documents are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files, our research portal, along with ad-free episodes.Join here:https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcastUNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom. #SamuelLittle #SerialKiller #TrueCrime #documentary #podcast

What did Netflix get wrong about Ted Kaczynski and the Unabomber investigation?Retired FBI Special Agent James Fitzgerald returns to fact-check Netflix’s new Unabomber movie—and he has serious problems with the way the story is told.Fitzgerald worked the real UNABOM investigation and helped develop the linguistic analysis that connected Ted Kaczynski’s writing to the Unabomber manifesto. We break down the biggest inaccuracies, omissions and fictionalised moments in Netflix’s Unabomber, including how the film portrays the FBI investigation, Kaczynski’s psychology, the Harvard experiments, the MKUltra theory, and the evidence that actually helped identify him.What did Netflix change for drama? What important details were left out? And how different is the real Ted Kaczynski story from the version audiences are seeing now?#TedKaczynski #Unabomber #Netflix #FBI #TrueCrime #documentary

How does a teenage math genius become the Unabomber?For nearly two decades, Ted Kaczynski carried out a bombing campaign across the United States, killing three people and injuring more than twenty others. Then he demanded that newspapers publish a 35,000-word manifesto explaining why.In this episode of UNMARKED, I speak with retired FBI Special Agent James Fitzgerald, the criminal profiler and forensic linguist who worked the UNABOM investigation and helped connect Kaczynski’s writing to the man behind the bombs.We go back through his childhood as an extraordinarily gifted and isolated kid, Harvard, the controversial psychological experiments conducted by Henry Murray, the persistent claims about MKUltra, his brief career as a mathematics professor at Berkeley, his retreat to a remote cabin in Montana, and the rejection and resentment that appear again and again throughout his life.Was Ted Kaczynski simply a brilliant man driven insane by modern society? Did the Harvard experiments really help create the Unabomber? Or has the mythology surrounding Kaczynski obscured a much more complicated story?Research in This Episode:Francis, R., Hawes, D. J., & Abbott, M. (2016). “Intellectual Giftedness and Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Literature Review.” Exceptional Children, 82(3), 279–302. DOI: 10.1177/0014402915598779.Downey, G., & Feldman, S. I. (1996). Implications of rejection sensitivity for intimate relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(6), 1327–1343. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.70.6.1327Show Notes:If you want to go deeper into the Charles Manson case, my book Charles Manson: The Last Words documents years researching the story and speaking directly with members of the Manson Family — including Charles Manson himself. Read it here:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7If you want to follow the cases as I’m working on them, you can find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesbuddyday/For those who want to examine the evidence directly, complete phone calls and documents are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files, our research portal, along with ad-free episodes.Join here:https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcastUNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.

What does a forensic psychologist actually do—and what can psychology really tell us about serial killers?This week on Case Notes, I sit down with Dr. Eric Hickey, one of America’s leading experts on serial murder, violent offenders, and forensic psychology. Dr. Hickey has spent decades studying some of the most notorious offenders in modern history. We’ve previously featured his work in our episodes on Jeffrey Dahmer and Clifford Olson, and we’re currently preparing another conversation examining Joseph James DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer.Rather than beginning with a killer, I wanted to understand the discipline itself: What does a forensic psychologist actually do? How do they study violent offenders? What can they determine—and where are the limits of psychology when we try to explain extreme violence? Dr. Hickey also discusses the development of modern serial-killer research, what decades of studying offenders have taught him, and some of the misconceptions that still surround forensic psychology today.Check out Dr. Hickey’s podcast Dark Matters which explores the science behind violent crime and how to prevent it. #ForensicPsychology #SerialKillers #TrueCrime #whattowatch #CriminalPsychology

What happens when two psychopaths find each other—and realize they share the same violent fantasies?This episode is part of Psychopath², a series of UNMARKED episodes examining what happens when serial killers work together. For this episode of UNMARKED, I went through Charles Ng’s prison letters, court records, investigative files, and contemporary reporting to understand the relationship between Ng and Leonard Lake.Lake had spent years documenting increasingly sadistic fantasies he called Operation Miranda. Ng brought his own history of violence, grievance, theft, weapons, and grandiose fantasy. When the two men came together, those private obsessions became something operational. This episode traces both men from childhood through the military, survivalist circles, the Wilseyville property, the murders, the M-Ladies tapes, and finally Ng’s capture in Calgary.Research in This Episode: de Ruiter, C., Burghart, M., De Silva, R., Griesbeck Garcia, S., Mian, U., Walshe, E., & Zouharova, V. (2022). A meta-analysis of childhood maltreatment in relation to psychopathic traits. PLOS ONE, 17(8), e0272704. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272704. Show Notes:If you want to go deeper into the Charles Manson case, my book Charles Manson: The Last Words documents years researching the story and speaking directly with members of the Manson Family — including Charles Manson himself. Read it here:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7If you want to follow the cases as I’m working on them, you can find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesbuddyday/For those who want to examine the evidence directly, complete phone calls and documents are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files, our research portal, along with ad-free episodes.Join here:https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcastUNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.

Netflix has reignited the debate over Lizzie Borden—but how much of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is actually true?Cara Robertson Phd, author of The Trial of Lizzie Borden, returns to UNMARKED to separate fact from fiction. We break down what Netflix got right, what it changed, and the historical evidence behind one of America’s most infamous murder cases.We also tackle some of the series’ biggest creative choices: its portrayal of Lizzie, its themes of female rage and feminism, and the controversial decision to bring serial killer Aileen Wuornos into Lizzie Borden’s story.Did Netflix illuminate Lizzie Borden—or turn a complicated historical case into something closer to true-crime fan fiction?Cara Robertson has spent years studying the Borden case, the original trial, and the historical record. This is our deep dive into what really happened in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892—and how it compares with the story Netflix is telling today.#LizzieBorden #MonsterNetflix #Netflix #TrueCrime #AileenWuornos

What if Casey Anthony finally told the truth—would anyone believe her?Nearly twenty years after Caylee Anthony disappeared, the case remains one of the most controversial mysteries in American true crime. Casey lied about her job, invented a nanny, misled investigators and waited 31 days before her daughter was reported missing. But a jury still found her not guilty of murder.In this episode of UNMARKED, I sit down with lead prosecutor Jeff Ashton and challenge him on the evidence, the timeline and the questions I still have about what happened on June 16, 2008. I also speak with reporter Steve Helling, revisit the places at the center of the case, and dig into Casey’s extraordinary pattern of lying.Research in This Episode:Tejasvi Kainth et al. (2026), “Pseudologia fantastica: a systematic review of sociodemographic features and psychiatric comorbidities,” Annals of Medicine & Surgery, 88(7), 4487–4497. Miethe, S., Wigger, J., Wartemann, A., Fuchs, F. O., & Trautmann, S. (2023). “Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and its Association with Rumination, Thought Suppression and Experiential Avoidance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 45, 480–495.Show Notes:If you want to go deeper into the Charles Manson case, my book Charles Manson: The Last Words documents years researching the story and speaking directly with members of the Manson Family — including Charles Manson himself. Read it here:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7If you want to follow the cases as I’m working on them, you can find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesbuddyday/For those who want to examine the evidence directly, complete phone calls and documents are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files, our research portal, along with ad-free episodes.Join here:https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcastUNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.

A shocking case is entering a new chapter as Nick Reiner appears in court for a pre-trial hearing in the deaths of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner. Prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty, while questions over sealed grand jury evidence and what comes next in the case continue to unfold.In this Friday edition of UNMARKED, producer Jon Nadeau joins me to break down the pre-trial hearing of the Nick Reiner case and what happens next. Then we get into your questions: Why did Lizzie Borden kill her parents?, Was Gary Heidnik really insane, and Buddy’s favourite kind of movie projects. Have a question for the show? Leave it in the comments on YouTube or Apple Podcasts, DM @unmarkedpodcast on Instagram, or find me directly @JamesBuddyDay.

I’m joined by Brandi Churchwell, host of the 13th Juror Podcast, to break down the mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy case. We talk about what happened in the courtroom, the reaction to the decision, what the jury actually decided—and some of the biggest misconceptions surrounding the case.We also dig into the difficult questions at the heart of this trial: mental illness, criminal responsibility, and why this case has produced such dramatically different reactions from people following it.#LindsayClancy #TrueCrime #CaseNotes #podcast #UNMARKED