DEADLY INTENT
DEADLY INTENT is a weekly true crime podcast hosted by Carman Carrion that explores the dark side of humanity. It delves into real true crime stories with an emotional, human-centered approach, refusing to exploit victims while confronting the disturbing reality of crimes. Each episode combines deep research, forensic detail, and psychological insight to reveal not just what happened, but why. The show covers criminal psychology, murder cases, disturbing confessions, and lesser-known cases, all told with empathy and a victim-focused lens.
Episodes
Christian Longo - The Man Who Was No One - The Father Who Murdered His Family to Hide a Lie
Christian Longo had the picture-perfect family — the boyish good looks, the devoted wife, three beautiful children, the boat in the driveway. Almost none of it was real.For years, Longo built an elaborate false self out of fraud, forged checks, stolen cars, and lies he told his own father, his church, and the wife who never stopped believing in him. And in December 2001, when the lie was finally a
Snowtown: The Bodies in the Barrels — Australia's Worst Serial Killers
In May 1999, police opened the vault of a disused bank in the tiny South Australian town of Snowtown and found barrels — and bodies dissolving in acid inside them. It wasthe end of the worst series of killings in Australian history: at least eleven people murdered over seven years. But almost nobody died in Snowtown. The town just owned the vault. The real horror happened in the suburbs of Adelaid
Maternal Instinct (Netflix): Taylor Parker, Fetal Abduction & the Benton County Murder
Content Warning: Before we begin, a warning that's heavierthan usual. This episode deals with the murder of pregnant women, the death of infants, and the loss of pregnancy. If you are pregnant, recently postpartum, or grieving a pregnancy loss, please take care of yourself. This one can wait. It'll be here when you're ready. Netflix's MATERNAL INSTINCT made Taylor Parker a namepeop
Diane Downs - The Mother Who Shot Her Own Children
She arrived at the emergency room too calmly. A little blood on her arm, a story about a bushy-haired stranger on a dark Oregon road, and three shot children in the back seat. One of them — 7-year-old Cheryl — was already gone. The other twowould survive scarred: 8-year-old Christie fighting back from a stroke, 3-year-old Danny paralyzed for life. There was no stranger. Diane Downs shot her own ch
Golden State Killer - The Psychology of a Predator Who Hid Behind a Badge
He was a police officer. A father. A neighbor who waved from his driveway and tended his yard like anyone else. For over a decade, Joseph James DeAngelo moved through California neighborhoods like a shadow — cutting phone lines, tying knots, and leaving behind a trail of trauma that spanned 11 counties, 13 murders, and more than 50 sexual assaults.He was the Visalia Ransacker. The East Area Rapist
The Doomsday Mom - When Love Becomes Murder
She was a devoted mother. A beauty queen. A woman who posted family vacations and birthday celebrations on social media. And then, somewhere along the way, she became something else entirely.Lori Vallow Daybell convinced herself — and those around her — that her own children were possessed by dark spirits. Zombies who needed to be eliminated. What followed was a calculated campaign of murder that
The Louisa Dunne Case - Britain's Oldest Cold Case Solved
In June 1967, 75-year-old widow Louisa Dunne was raped and murdered in her Bristol home. When her newspaper sat uncollected on her garden wall the next morning, neighbors knew something was terribly wrong. Police found a palm print on her window and biological evidence at the scene—but in 1967, forensic science couldn't identify the killer. The case went cold for fifty-eight years.Until 2024, when
BTK Part 2: The Fall of a Killer
After thirteen years of silence, the BTK Killer resurfaces in 2004—and his desperate need for recognition becomes his fatal mistake. In Part 2, we follow the investigation that finally brought Dennis Rader down: the taunting letters, the psychological chess match with police, and the floppy disk that ended a thirty-year reign of terror. From the metadata that exposed him to the shocking confe
BTK Part 1: Dennis Rader - The Killer Next Door
January 15, 1974. Four members of the Otero family are found murdered in their Wichita, Kansas home. Three months later, police receive a letter from the killer, signing it "BTK" - Bind, Torture, Kill.For the next seventeen years, Dennis Rader will terrorize Wichita. He'll kill ten people, send taunting letters to police and media, and then simply... vanish. But he never really left. He was there
What Makes Killers Different: 5 Case Studies in Criminal Psychology | Season Finale
After 42 episodes exploring the darkest corners of criminal psychology, we're closing Season 1 with the five cases that haunted you the most.This isn't just a replay. I've revisited each case with fresh analysis, new research, and 2026 updates on where these investigations stand today.In this episode:The Walker Family Murders (1959) - An unsolved Christmas killing that baffles investigators 67 yea
Gabby Petito Case - The Van Life Murder That Shocked America
In August 2021, 22-year-old Gabby Petito vanished during a cross-country van life trip with her fiancé Brian Laundrie. What started as an Instagram-perfect adventure ended in tragedy when her body was found in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park.Two weeks before Gabby was murdered, police in Moab, Utah pulled the couple over after witnesses reported a domestic dispute. Body camera footage captured
Jodi Arias - The Murder of Travis Alexander
The photographs don't lie. On June 4, 2008, a camera accidentally captured a murder in progress—twenty-seven stab wounds, a slashed throat, and a final gunshot. Travis Alexander was killed by his ex-girlfriend Jodi Arias, a woman who couldn't accept that their relationship was over. She drove 1,000 miles with gas cans to avoid detection, changed her appearance, and turned off her phone. Then she s
Scott Peterson Murder Case - Guilty or Wrongfully Convicted?
On Christmas Eve 2002, 27-year-old Laci Peterson—eight months pregnant—disappeared from her Modesto, California home. When her body and that of her unborn son washed ashore in San Francisco Bay months later, her husband Scott was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death for their murders. The case seemed straightforward: Scott was having an affair, didn't want to be a father, and killed hi
They Looked Perfect… Until the Truth Came Out | Ken & Barbie Killers
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka looked like the perfect couple—young, attractive, successful. But behind closed doors, they were responsible for the kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of at least three young women between 1990 and 1992, including Karla's own 15-year-old sister. When police finally caught them, Karla claimed she was a battered wife forced to help. Then the videotapes surfaced.
Casey Anthony - The 31 Days That Shocked America
On July 15, 2008, Cindy Anthony called 911 to report her granddaughter missing. Two-year-old Caylee had been gone for thirty-one days—and her mother Casey hadn't said a word. What followed was a media firestorm, a controversial trial, and an acquittal that left the nation divided. But beyond the courtroom drama lies a darker psychological portrait: a young mother who constructed elaborate fictiona
Ronald Gene Simmons - The Devil of Pope County
In December 1987, Ronald Gene Simmons committed the deadliest family massacre in United States history, killing 16 people over the span of a week 14 of them his own family members. But this wasn't a crime of passion or a sudden snap. Simmons planned for two months, kept detailed lists, and lived with the bodies of his victims for four days before calmly going Christmas shopping at Sears.This episo
The Monster of Florence - Italy's Most Terrifying Unsolved Serial Killer Case
The Monster of Florence terrorized Italy for seventeen years, claiming sixteen lives in a series of ritualistic murders that remain partially unsolved to this day. Between 1968 and 1985, young couples seeking privacy in the Tuscan countryside became targets of a predator whose methodical precision, forensic awareness, and psychological compulsion make him one of the most organized serial offenders
Israel Keyes: The Last Mistake (Part 2)
For years, Israel Keyes operated in the shadows.He was methodical, patient, and terrifyingly organized. He buried “kill caches” across the United States, filled with weapons and supplies. He traveled thousands of miles to commit murders far from home. And he studied law enforcement tactics so carefully that investigators later said he seemed to be following the FBI playbook better than the FBI its
Israel Keyes: The Serial Killer Who Buried Murder Kits Across America
He wasn't supposed to be catchable.For more than a decade, Israel Keyes traveled the United States, killed people, and flew home. Thirty-five documented trips. No victim type. No geographic pattern. No behavioral signature any database could detect. The FBI didn't know he existed until he was already in handcuffs.This is Part One of a two-part deep dive into one of the most methodical, most studie
Stacey Castor - The Black Widow Who Poisoned Her Husbands
Stacey Castor: The Black Widow Who Poisoned Her HusbandsShe dialed 911 herself.That’s what makes the story of Stacey Castor so chilling. Every time someone in her life collapsed, convulsed, or stopped breathing, she was the one who called for help. Calm. Controlled. Convincing.First, her husband Michael Wallace died suddenly. The cause appeared to be antifreeze poisoning. Years later, her second h
The Central Park Five - How False Confessions Destroyed Five Innocent Lives
On April 19, 1989, a 28-year-old investment banker was brutally attacked while jogging in Central Park. Within hours, five Black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were in police custody. Within days, they had confessed. Within months, they were convicted. And for thirteen years, everyone believed justice had been served.In this episode of Deadly Intent, we examine one of the most consequential wron
Katlyn Lyon Montgomery: When Stalking Turns to Murder
In the early morning hours of October 7, 2022, a four-year-old girl woke to find her mother unresponsive in their Forest, Virginia apartment. What first responders initially suspected was a drug overdose would soon reveal itself as something far more sinister: the murder of Katlyn Lyon Montgomery.In this episode of Deadly Intent, we examine the Katlyn Lyon Montgomery murder case and the ex-boyfrie
When the Prime Suspect Was Right There: The Black Dahlia Murder of Elizabeth Short
January 15, 1947. A young mother walking with her child through a vacant lot in Los Angeles made a discovery that would haunt the city for decades—the severed, mutilated body of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, later dubbed "The Black Dahlia" by the press.Within days, LAPD investigators had identified a prime suspect with means, motive, and opportunity. That suspect would later be secretly recorded ad
The Setagaya Family Murders: Japan's Most Baffling Unsolved Case | Deadly Intent
In the affluent Tokyo suburb of Setagaya, the Miyazawa family was preparing for New Year's Eve 2000 when their home became the scene of one of Japan's most perplexing crimes. Mikio (44), Yasuko (41), eight-year-old Niina, and six-year-old Rei were brutally murdered by an unknown intruder who then did the unthinkable—he stayed.For up to 10 hours after the killings, the perpetrator made himself at h
The Martha Moxley Murder: The Alibi That Convicted Michael Skakel
In 1975, 15-year-old Martha Moxley was brutally murdered with a golf club in the exclusive Belle Haven neighborhood of Greenwich, Connecticut. When police questioned her neighbor, Michael Skakel, something chilling happened: he had a perfect alibi ready before anyone even asked for one.This episode examines the psychological evidence that may have been more damning than any physical proof—how an u
Fred & Rose West - Love, Marriage, and Murder as a Lifestyle
DEADLY INTENT - Episode 24: Fred & Rose West - Love, Marriage, and Murder as a LifestyleFebruary 24th, 1994. Police arrive at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester with shovels and a search warrant, looking for one missing teenager. What they uncover is one of Britain's most horrific serial killing operations—a marriage built entirely around murder.Fred and Rose West didn't stumble into violence. T
The Pig Farm Predator - How Robert Pickton Exploited Society's Blind Spots to Murder 49 Women | Deadly Intent
Robert Pickton wasn’t invisible. He was accurate.From 1995 to 2001, 49 women vanished from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, many Indigenous, many surviving the margins of poverty, addiction, and the sex trade. Their disappearances were minimized, misclassified, or ignored. Meanwhile, a pig farmer 30 kilometers outside the city quietly built a predatory system perfectly aligned with society’s apathy.
THE WEST MEMPHIS THREE: HOW SATANIC PANIC AND FALSE CONFESSIONS HID THE REAL KILLER
In 1993, three eight-year-old boys were brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. Within weeks, three teenagers were arrested and convicted based on a false confession and community hysteria about satanic ritual abuse. But what if the real killer has been hiding in plain sight for thirty years?Join host Carman as we dive deep into the criminal psychology behind one of America's most notorious w
THE COVINA CHRISTMAS MASSACRE - WHEN SANTA CAME TO KILL
THE COVINA CHRISTMAS MASSACRE: When Santa Came to KillOn Christmas Eve 2008, what should have been a joyful family gathering in Covina, California, became one of the most horrific mass murders in American history. When 8-year-old Katrina opened the door to greet Santa Claus, she had no idea she was face-to-face with a killer who would destroy her entire extended family in a matter of minutes.Bruce
The Sodder Children -The Christmas Eve Case That Makes No Sense
On Christmas Eve 1945, five Sodder family members vanished when their West Virginia home burned down, but no remains were ever found, and disturbing evidence suggests kidnapping rather than tragedy.https://open.spotify.com/episode/1EKrpt5r8ZU1aqKJRFcf9k?si=beaoa70NQUi_LjeT4n_wjA 🎙️ **EXPLORE MORE SPINE-CHILLING CONTENT:**🔮 Freaky Folklore: https://www.eeriecast.com/podcasts/freaky-folklore💀 C
Is Jack the Ripper Finally Identified? The Aaron Kosminski DNA Evidence Explained
BREAKING: Jack the Ripper SOLVED? New DNA Evidence Points to Aaron Kosminski After 137 YearsFor over a century, Jack the Ripper's identity remained one of history's greatest mysteries. Five women brutally murdered in Victorian London's Whitechapel district. A killer who vanished into the fog. Countless suspects, endless theories, but no definitive answers.Until now.In this explosive episode of Dea
The Walker Family Murders (1959) - Florida’s Unsolved Christmas Killings
On December 19, 1959, Christine's brother Daniel made a horrifying discovery that would haunt him forever—his sister, her husband Cliff, and their two young children had been brutally murdered in their rural Florida farmhouse. Christmas presents lay wrapped in the attic, never to be opened. Holiday carols the children had been learning would never be sung.The Walker family murders shocked the peac
In Cold Blood: The Clutter Family Murders That Changed True Crime
Send us a textIn November 1959, the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas was shattered when four members of the respected Clutter family were brutally murdered in their own home. Herbert Clutter, a prosperous wheat farmer, his wife Bonnie, and their teenage children Nancy and Kenyon became victims of two ex-convicts chasing a prison rumor about a safe full of cash that never existed.This is
The Perfect Family Lie - Chris Watts
Send us a textDEADLY INTENT - Season 1, Episode 16 "The Perfect Family Lie - Chris Watts"In August 2018, a security camera captured the last moments of what appeared to be the perfect American family. Chris Watts—devoted father, loving husband, the man neighbors trusted—walked calmly to his truck carrying a red gas can. Behind him, his pregnant wife Shanann and daughters Bella and CeCe s
True Crime Psychology: What Makes Killers Different - Start Here
Send us a textIf you’ve just discovered Deadly Intent… welcome. I'm Carman Carrion — a researcher, writer, and the creator of podcasts like Freaky Folklore and Destination Terror.But here — on Deadly Intent — we explore a different kind of darkness. Not the monsters of myth… but the real ones. The ones that walk among us.This show is about why people kill. Not just what they did — but what led the
The Butcher Baker - When the Hunter Becomes the Hunted
Send us a textThis episode examines the systematic torture and murder of at least 17 women by Robert Hansen, a mild-mannered baker who transformed into one of Alaska's most notorious serial killers between 1973-1983. Hansen hunted women like wild game in the Alaskan wilderness, combining his skills as a pilot and hunter with a deep psychological need for control and revenge against those he p
Beyond Murder - Jeffrey Dahmer's True Intent Was Far More Disturbing
Send us a textIn 1991, police discovered seventeen dismembered bodies in Jeffrey Dahmer's Milwaukee apartment. But the murders were just the beginning of a psychological horror that defied comprehension. For thirteen years, Dahmer had been pursuing something far more disturbing than killing - he was trying to build a world where no one could ever leave him again.Join host Carman Carrion as sh
Ronald Clark O'Bryan – The Man Who Killed Halloween
Send us a textOn Halloween night 1974, eight-year-old Timothy O'Bryan died from cyanide-laced candy given to him by the one person who should have protected him—his own father. This wasn't a random act of violence or an urban legend come to life. It was calculated murder dressed up as Halloween tragedy, and it changed how America celebrates October 31st forever. Listen at: https://carman
An Entire Town Knows What Happened to Crystal Rogers but Won't Say - Here's Why
Send us a text🎧 An Entire Town Knows What Happened to Crystal Rogers — But Won’t Say. Here’s Why.When 35-year-old mother of five Crystal Rogers vanished from Bardstown, Kentucky, her disappearance seemed like a tragic mystery. But what followed exposed something far darker: a chilling pattern of unsolved murders, corruption, and silence in a town of just 13,000 people.Her car was found abandoned o
Albert Fish - The Boogeyman
Send us a textSeason 1, Episode 11 – Deadly IntentThis episode examines Albert Fish, a serial killer whose intent went beyond murder—he weaponized his victims' suffering through calculated psychological torture, sending horrific confession letters to families and fundamentally changing how America thinks about child safety and stranger danger. Through the lens of criminal intent, host Carman
The Corpse Bride - When Love Becomes Obsession Beyond Death
Send us a textDeadly Intent – Season 1, Episode 10 Imagine dying of tuberculosis at 22, your body laid to rest in a mausoleum by your grieving family. Now imagine that your death wasn't the end---that a man who claimed to love you stole your body, took it home, and spent seven years replacing your decomposing flesh with wire, wax, and silk, dressing you in your wedding gown, and sleeping besi
The Moors Murders – Can Two People Fall in Love with Murder?
Send us a textDeadly Intent, Season 1, Episode 9Imagine searching desperately for your missing daughter while your neighbor—someone you've known for years—offers sympathy and support. Now imagine discovering that same neighbor murdered your child and watched you grieve. This is exactly what happened to the Reade family in 1963, when their 16-year-old daughter Pauline disappeared after accepti
Game Over - He Beat Her to Death with an Xbox Because She Was the Wrong Zodiac Sign
Send us a textContent Warning: This episode contains discussions of domestic violence, mental health crises, bizarre murder methods, and detailed descriptions of crime scenes involving gaming equipment. The case also involves discussions of delusion and psychological breaks from reality. Listener discretion is advised.Season 1, Episode 8: “Game Over”In April 2013, Fort Lauderdale police responded
The Boy in the Box – A Face Everyone Knew, But No One Recognized
Send us a textDEADLY INTENT: The Boy in the BoxSeason 1, Episode 7In this haunting episode, host Carman Carrion delves into the tragic and enduring mystery of Joseph Augustus Zarelli, known for over 65 years as "America's Unknown Child" or "The Boy in the Box."The case began in 1957 with the discovery of a small boy's body in a cardboard box in Philadelphia's Fox
Dennis DePue: When Control Becomes Murder - Domestic Violence Psychology
Send us a textDEADLY INTENT, Season 1, Episode 6: When Control Becomes MurderOn Easter Sunday 1990, what should have been a routine custody visit in Coldwater, Michigan turned into a nightmare that would haunt multiple families forever. Dennis DePue, a seemingly ordinary property assessor, brutally murdered his ex-wife Marilynn—a beloved high school guidance counselor—in front of their three child
The Crippen Case - Love, Murder, and the First Wireless Chase
Send us a textDr. Hawley Harvey Crippen was everything a Victorian gentleman should be—soft-spoken, well-dressed, impeccably polite. His neighbors in Camden Road, North London, knew him as a devoted husband who doted on his flamboyant wife Cora. So when he appeared wearing her diamond brooch and giving away her expensive furs after claiming she'd died suddenly in America, suspicions began to
The Axeman of New Orleans
Send us a textContent Warning: This episode contains discussions of home invasion murders, violence against families, and detailed descriptions of crime scenes. The case also involves ethnic targeting and historical prejudice. Listener discretion is advised. https://carmancarrion.buzzsprout.com #AxemanOfNewOrleans #JazzNightSurvival #UnsolvedMysteries1919 #NewOrleansNoir #DeadlyIntent #TrueCrimeJa
The Criminology Student - When Theory Becomes Practice
Send us a textDeadly Intent Episode 3: The Criminology Student - When Theory Becomes PracticeIn November 2022, four University of Idaho students were brutally murdered in their off-campus home in what prosecutors called a "fifteen-minute blitz." The killer wasn't a stranger lurking in the shadows—he was Bryan Kohberger, a PhD criminology student who had spent months studying his victims and using
The Hot Sauce Mom - When Love Becomes Torture
Send us a textContent Warning: This episode contains detailed discussions of child abuse, torture, and murder. The case involves extreme physical and psychological abuse of a disabled child, including descriptions of starvation, hypothermia, and torture methods. Listener discretion is strongly advised. "For months, fifteen-year-old Timothy Ferguson lived in a basement closet that reeked of ur
The Hinterkaifeck Killings: The Watcher in the Attic
Send us a textDEADLY INTENT Episode 1: The Hinterkaifeck Killings - The Watcher in the AtticFor weeks, Andreas Gruber heard footsteps in his attic. Footsteps that shouldn't have been there. He found mysterious tracks in the snow leading TO his farmhouse—but none leading away. On March 31st, 1922, someone had been living in their house. Someone had been watching them. And that someone was still the
Deadly Intent: True Crime Psychology Podcast - Start Here
Send us a textWelcome to the darkness. This is Deadly Intent - a true crime documentary podcast that dives deep into the twisted psychology behind history's most disturbing cases.Hosted by Carman Carrion (creator of Freaky Folklore, Destination Terror, and Carman's Crypt), each episode examines the deadly intent that transforms ordinary people into killers."Intent. It's what separates accident fro
