Crimes of the Centuries

A fire broke out in a stately New Orleans mansion in 1834, leading neighbors to rush to the homeowners' aid. What they discovered inside, however, made them realize that the charming and cultured woma...

4 Jan 202139min

After 4-year-old Charley Ross vanished in a carriage with two men who'd offered him candy and fireworks, police at first told his father to wait it out. Surely the men had no bad intentions. Then came...

21 Dec 202040min

As a 28-year-old woman screamed for help on an otherwise quiet New York City street, neighbors roused from sleep ... and then largely did nothing. The 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese would soon represen...

14 Dec 202037min

When a headless woman's remains were discovered near Cincinnati in 1896, police had a problem. Long before DNA and fingerprinting, the lack of a head made it tough to identify the victim. Thanks to a ...

7 Dec 202039min

To his neighbors, Bob Berdella was a proactive citizen who helped launch a neighborhood watch group. Sure, he was a bit condescending, but he seemed to have a big heart, using his Kansas City home as ...

30 Nov 202043min

Thanks to Prohibition, criminal gangs were a dime a dozen in the 1920s and '30s, but the Karpis/Barker Gang became one of the era's longest lived, highest profile, and most consequential. During the D...

16 Nov 202043min

When widower Sam Doss was rushed to the hospital with abdominal pains in 1954, his doctor was flummoxed by his life-threatening yet mysterious illness. But Doss got better and came home -- then died t...

9 Nov 202040min

When a 22-year-old woman living with relatives in a boarding house disappeared on Dec. 22, 1799, her loved ones didn't immediately worry. But when she still hadn't returned days later, all eyes turned...

2 Nov 202045min