True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History Podcast By Dan Zupansky cover art

True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History

True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History

By: Dan Zupansky
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TRUE MURDER—The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History.
Every week host Dan Zupansky will interview the true crime authors that have written about the most shocking killers of all time. From true crime history, comes the preeminent true crime authorities in America and the world today.
From infamous serial killers, mass murderers, cult leaders and mafia hitmen to family murderers, nazis and homicidal maniacs—True Murder is a veritable true crime archive featuring historic murder cases written about by American legendary prosecutors, judges, journalists, detectives, forensic pathologists and bestselling authors. Featuring books about infamous serial killers such as Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, BTK, Jeffrey Dahmer, Golden State Killer, Aileen Wournos, Charles Manson, Zodiac and Son Of Sam—the episode list includes 100's more with over 850 episodes.
Famous true criime authors interviewed include Marcia Clark, John Douglas, Katherine Ramsland, Joseph Scott Morgan, Harold Schecter, and hundreds more.
Unsolved cold cases, wrongful convictions, death row confessions, serial killer couples, psychopathic killers, DNA breakthroughs and convictions, infamous executions, cult killings—every important true crime case ever written about—is here-in this true crime archive—TRUE MURDER—The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime HistoryCopyright Dan Zupansky Biographies & Memoirs Politics & Government True Crime World
Episodes
  • KILLING TIME WITH JOHN WAYNE GACY-Karen Conti

    KILLING TIME WITH JOHN WAYNE GACY-Karen Conti
    Dec 29 2025
    John Wayne Gacy raped, tortured, and murdered 33 boys and young men, burying most of them in the crawlspace under his Chicago home. Karen Conti was in high school at the time watching the bodies being removed on the television news.
    Fourteen years pass. Through a twist of fate, Conti, now a young and inexperienced attorney, is called upon to handle Gacy’s final death row appeals. The serial killer soon becomes her most famous, difficult, and haunting client.
    Thirty years after Gacy’s execution, Conti looks back through the eyes of a seasoned professional on the legal and media circus that ensued—and her countless hours of detailed conversation with the killer clown. We hear for the first time about Gacy’s gruesome “Body Book.” Were there more victims? Conspirators involved in the murders? What secrets were buried with him?
    If one were to ask Conti, “How could you represent such a monster?” she would respond, “What you really want to know is, ‘What was he like?’” This book answers that question. KILLING TIME WITH JOHN WAYNE GACY: Defending America's Most Evil Serial Killer on Death Row-Karen Conti
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • DARK TIDE: Growing Up With Ted Bundy

    DARK TIDE: Growing Up With Ted Bundy
    Dec 22 2025
    Edna's world turned upside down when her close cousin, Ted Bundy, was linked to the gruesome murders that had plagued her hometown of Seattle. Both devastating and dangerous, she reveals her journey of discovering the truth about her cousin who was more like a sibling, a man she loved, admired, and thought she knew so well. Edna delves into the unbelievable and chilling episodes she experienced, from confronting Ted and discovering a side of him she never suspected to waking to the FBI at her door after he escaped jail.
    Whether searching memories for signs she’d missed or detailing scenes of life under the radar in a world still fixated on her cousin, Edna’s account tells the Ted Bundy story from a critical, new perspective: someone who called him family.
    Including never-before-seen photos and handwritten letters from Bundy, Dark Tide’s message is as gut-wrenching as it is clear, asking the question: how well do we know those we trust most? DARK TIDE: Growing Up With Ted Bundy-Edna Cowell Martin and Megan Atkinson
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    1 hr and 31 mins
  • DIG ME A GRAVE— Dick Harpootlian

    DIG ME A GRAVE— Dick Harpootlian
    Dec 15 2025
    The definitive true “Southern Gothic” account of the life, crimes, conviction, and execution of Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins, the charismatic, brutal, well-liked, remorseless South Carolina serial killer who was dubbed the Charles Manson of the South—written by the prosecutor who brought him to justice.
    Of the hundreds of murder cases that noted South Carolina attorney Dick Harpootlian has prosecuted, one in particular haunts him. Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins was a serial killer and rapist, a master manipulator who claimed to have killed over 100 people and is known to have murdered over a dozen, including a toddler, and his own teenage niece. Yet it was on Death Row that he pulled off his most audacious murder—killing another inmate with a military grade explosive.
    As personable as he was ruthless, Pee Wee defied easy categories. He killed to avenge minor slights as well as for pleasure, using any convenient method—including stabbing, shooting, poison, suffocation, and drowning. Evidence suggested he forced at least one victim to dig his own grave, stand in it, and be shot.
    With escalating callousness, Pee Wee murdered acquaintances, friends, family members, and strangers. Yet within his North Charleston community he was well-liked—a family man who took neighborhood kids to the beach and hosted cookouts. Ice-cold within but outwardly charming, he joked with judges, reporters, and Harpootlian himself, but didn’t hesitate to hatch a plot to kidnap the prosecutor’s daughter in order to extort an escape.
    Dig Me a Grave is a haunting look at a prolific, remorseless killer, as well as a provocative exploration of justice and the death penalty. DIG ME A GRAVE: The Inside Story of the Serial Killer Who Seduced the South—Dick Harpootlian
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    59 mins
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I started listing to Dan Zupanski on speaker. Through a phone change I lost track and finally found him again on Audible. I love this podcast and the different stories from people who have researched these stories but the random ads that pop up randomly throughout this podcast have me to the point where I am almost done. Especially since the ads are so much louder than the actual talking. It feels like it’s blowing out my ear drums when I have my headphones in. It’s just annoying and they will cut off in a middle of a sentence.

Great podcast ads are annoying

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