Clifford Linedecker is an American investigative journalist and author of true crime books.
Linedecker was born in Plymouth, Indiana and graduated from Plymouth High School in 1950. [1] [2] He wrote for the high school paper. [2] [1] He joined the Navy in 1952, [1] and found himself stationed on a small island where some officers decided to address a problem with low morale by assigning Linedecker and four other men to start a newspaper. [2]
Linedecker met and married Yang Soon (Junko) Ri in 1957, while stationed in Yokohama, Japan. [1]
He and his wife retired to Lantana, Florida. [1]
Linedecker's first job was as a reporter for the LaPorte Herald-Argus in La Porte, Indiana. [2] He later worked for many years as an editor at the National Examiner. [3] He worked for a series of newspapers, including the Terre Haute Tribune , The Times in Hammond, the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, the Times-Union in Rochester, N.Y., and The Philadelphia Inquirer . [1]
Linedecker's first published book was Psychic Spy, [1] one of three books he wrote before taking up true crime writing. [3] the three included the bestseller, My Live with Elvis, co-authored with Elvis Presley's former secretary. [3]
His first true crime book was The Man Who Killed Boys, an account of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, was published in 1980. [3]
John Wayne Gacy was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured and murdered at least 33 young men and boys in Norwood Park Township, near Chicago, Illinois. He became known as the Killer Clown due to his public performances as a clown prior to the discovery of his crimes.
Harold Schechter is an American true crime writer who specializes in serial killers. He is a Professor Emeritus at Queens College, City University of New York where he taught classes in American literature and myth criticism for forty-two years. Schechter's essays have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and the International Herald Tribune. He is the editor of the Library of America volume, True Crime: An American Anthology. His newest book, published in September 2023, is Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects.
Joseph Paul Franklin was an American serial killer, white supremacist, and domestic terrorist who engaged in a murder spree spanning the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Belle Gunness, born Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth, nicknamed Hell's Belle, was a Norwegian-American serial killer who was active in Illinois and Indiana between 1884 and 1908. Gunness is thought to have killed at least 14 people, while some sources speculate her involvement in as many as 40 murders making her one of the most prolific female serial killers in history. Gunness seemingly died in a fire in 1908, but it is popularly believed that she faked her death. Her actual fate is unconfirmed.
Keith Hunter Jesperson is a Canadian-American serial killer who murdered at least eight women in the United States during the early 1990s. He was known as the "Happy Face Killer" because he drew smiley faces on his many letters to the media and authorities. Many of his victims were sex workers and transients who had no connection to him. Strangulation was Jesperson's preferred method of murdering, the same method he often used to kill animals as a child.
Adrian Havill is an American author and journalist. Havill has written numerous newspaper and magazine articles, as well as eleven books, many of which are available as recorded audio discs.
David Joseph Carpenter, also known as The Trailside Killer, is an American serial killer and serial rapist known for stalking and murdering a variety of individuals on hiking trails in state parks near San Francisco, California. He attacked at least ten individuals and was convicted in seven murders and was confirmed to be the killer in an eighth murder; Carpenter is also suspected in two additional killings. Two victims, Steven Haertle and Lois Rinna, mother of television personality Lisa Rinna, survived. Carpenter used a .38 caliber handgun in all but one of the killings. A .44 caliber handgun was used in the killing of Edda Kane on Mount Tamalpais.
David Owen Brooks was an American convicted murderer and accomplice of serial killer Dean Corll, who, along with Elmer Wayne Henley, abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered at least 28 boys and young men between 1970 and 1973 in Houston, Texas. The crimes, which became known as the Houston Mass Murders, came to light after Henley fatally shot Corll.
Steve Lillebuen is a Canadian author and journalist. He divides his time between Australia and Canada.
Gera-Lind Kolarik is an American journalist, playwright and best selling author of true-crime books. Her work has been included television appearances on Maury Povich, Phil Donahue, 48 Hours, Inside Edition. Kolarik founded Evidence Video, a Chicago-based video production company that assists attorneys in personal injury and workers compensation cases.
Jill Lonita Coit is an American convicted murderer. A con artist and serial bigamist who has been married 11 times to nine different men since 1961, Coit was convicted of killing her eighth husband in 1993 and is also suspected of killing her third husband in 1972. Coit is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility.
Plymouth High School is a public high school located in Plymouth, Indiana, United States.
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes is an American documentary that premiered on Netflix on January 24, 2019, the 30th anniversary of Bundy's execution. Created and directed by Joe Berlinger, the four episodes ranging from 51 to 74 minutes long were sourced from over 100 hours of interviews and archival footage of serial killer Ted Bundy, as well as interviews with his friends, surviving victims, and the law enforcement members who worked on his case.
Murder One is a 1988 independent biographical crime drama film starring Henry Thomas and James Wilder, based on the 1973 Alday Murders.
Larry DeWayne Hall is an American kidnapper, rapist, murderer, and suspected serial killer. An aficionado of the American Revolution and Civil War, Hall traveled around the Midwest for historical reenactments and is believed to have abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered dozens of girls and women.
Capturing the Killer Nurse is a 2022 true crime documentary film about serial killer Charles Cullen and how investigators were able to prove Cullen was killing patients while working in hospitals and at a nursing home as a nurse in the United States. The film is based on the 2013 book The Good Nurse by Charles Graeber and is directed by Tim Travers Hawkins, who wrote the screenplay with Robin Ockleford. Produced by Sandpaper Films and Fifty Fifty Post, it was released on November 11, 2022, on the streaming service Netflix.