In this episode, I’m going to take you behind the high walls and razor wire into the dark corners of the largest prison system in the world.  David Stacks, a former Texas prison warden with 30 years of frontline experience, provides an unfiltered look at life behind bars. Today, Stacks is the director of the Texas Prison Museum. He’s here with stories from inside the toughest Texas prisons that held the meanest of the mean. Please tell your friends who love true crime that they can bypass secondhand tales and get their true crime fix here with authentic stories straight from the source. Tell them that True Crime Reporter® is one of the few podcasts where you can hear raw, unfiltered accounts from law enforcement, victims, and even convicted criminals. Plus, insights for your personal protection.

This episode marks a somber milestone.  The 25th anniversary of the execution of Kenneth Allen McDuff – a name that chills the soul of the men and women in law enforcement who hunted him down – and the families of his victims. McDuff, infamously dubbed the 'Broomstick Killer,' was a figure of unparalleled brutality. His story isn't just a tale of sadistic crimes.  It's a saga that shook the very foundations of the Texas criminal justice system.  Kenneth Allen McDuff being escorted into the Texas Death House. McDuff, was believed to be the only condemned inmate in the nation ever paroled and then returned to death row for another murder. He went to death row in 1968 for killing two teenage boys, was paroled after the death penalty was overturned, and returned to death row in 1991 for killing two women. 11/17/1998 He was released on parole in the late 1980s under a cloud of corruption.  McDuff, within a day of his release, unleashed a reign of terror – abducting, raping,

From The Investigative Archives In the wake of the recent Hamas terrorist attack that killed more than 1,300 Israelis, my True Crime Reporter® podcast opened its investigative archive on the Gaza-based group's past fundraising and recruitment in the United States. After my embedded assignment with the U.S. Army during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, investigative producer Todd Bensman and I focused on how terrorists were using the Internet to raise money and recruit followers. Embedded Reporter Robert Riggs waits out a sandstorm in Iraq with a crew from the 101st Airborne flying a CH-47 Chinook helicopter dubbed the "Apocalypse Cow" Our investigation uncovered a monthly online magazine called Alsunnah that solicited suicide bombers to attack American and coalition troops in Iraq and Israelis. In this episode, you will hear how we tracked the origins of the web magazine from a Dallas suburb and its links to the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, which illegally rais

PDuring the Great Depression, Newsreels about John Dillinger, the first gangster declared Public Enemy #1, drew cheers from movie audiences across America and hisses when pictures of J. Edgar…

After 26 years in law enforcement, Glen Williams has experienced the toll that bearing witness to violence and tragedy can take. Williams, like many first responders, bottled up the pain and soldiered on. Unaware that his PTSD was wrecking his life at home and on the job.  Hello, this is Robert Riggs.  In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® Podcast,  we look behind the badge of the men and women in blue. Glen Williams has written a book titled Bridging The Gap aimed at helping police officers and other first responders heal after years of trauma. He speaks on the subject across the United States. Glen Williams - Author of "Bridging The Gap" In our interview, Williams opens up about the emotional damage he suffered from years of seeing the worst of the worst on the police beat.  Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment of PTSD In closing, here’s my Reporter’s recap and reflections. I commend Glen Williams for opening up wounds in his personal life to

There's a crime trend sweeping the United States of flash mob thieves charging into department stores to make off with armfuls of loot. Gangs rush inside affluent suburban neighborhoods in night to break into cars. This episode of the True Crime Reporter® podcast responds to those of you asking me what they should do amid a growing wave of violence in urban America and overseas. A U.S. businesswoman recently told me she is afraid to work alone in a big city. I contacted Kevin Estela, the Director of Training for Fieldcraft Survival. L-R. Jared Taylor, USAF Vet - Andy Stumpf, Navy Seal Vet - Robert Riggs, Reporter - Mike Glover, Green Beret Vet & Founder Fieldcraft Survival Its founder, Mike Glover, was a Sergeant Major in the Army Green Berets. He deployed fourteen times to combat zones with Special Forces and the CIA.   But don’t expect his Director of Training to teach that every threatening scenario requires a gun. Kevin Estela - Director of Training - Fieldcra

Investigative Reporter Stephen Michaud, among the nation’s best, spent six years unraveling how an iconic ranch was taken from a dying Texas Cowboy. It's a sprawling Texas ranch near the border with Mexico where the biggest producing gas well in the United States was struck in 2004. The ranch and its mineral assets have amassed a 750 Million dollar fortune.   But, the cowboy who once owned it and his relatives never saw a penny. According to my guest, it’s a case of elder abuse like none other. Hello. I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs with a longtime friend and fellow investigative journalist Stephen Michaud. You may recognize his name in the world of true crime. Michaud, in collaboration with Hugh Aynesworth, another giant of investigative journalism, wrote the definitive book about serial killer Ted Bundy in 1983 titled The Only Living Witness. In 2019, Netflix premiered a four-part documentary, Conversations With A Killer, based on 150 hours of audio recordin

In this week’s episode of True Crime Reporter®, Michael Jackson, the host of the A Funny Way of Looking Podcast, interviews me about the age-old appeal of crime stories. Michael’s podcast aims to educate in a fun environment, enlighten, entertain, and inspire listeners and viewers. We talk serial killers, journalism ethics, the scariest criminal I ever met, and more. Plus, Michael hits me with a two-option answer quiz called "This Or That?" to reveal more about the real Robert Riggs. Here’s Michael Jackson’s interview with me on the A Funny Way of Looking Podcast. Message for our fans in Australia and New Zealand.  The True Crime Reporter® podcast will no longer be available on the  LiSTNR app after 30 September 2023. To continue following me subscribe to Apple, Spotify, or any other podcast apps. You can easily make your selection by clicking here.  Don't miss our rollout of new episodes and special crime stories rolling out soon.

Doug Noll says murderers are not born, they're bred. Today kids revert to what they see around them...violence. Doug Noll founded the Prison of Peace Project. Noll teaches hardcore inmates how to de-escalate an angry, emotional person in 90 seconds or less. It’s a skill that we can all benefit from learning in this era of violence. Hello, this is Robert Riggs taking you inside the crime scene tape in this episode of the True Crime Reporter® Podcast. Besides telling interesting crime stories, it is also my mission to educate. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know we live in an epidemic of violence.  school shootings, mass shootings at malls and public places, road rage murders, senseless violent acts, and, as I have reported, outlaw motorcycle gangs shooting each other in broad daylight on Interstate Highways. Some days I think the world has gone crazy. Mediator Doug Noll with Chowchilla inmates in "peace circle" photo by Susan McRae 10/2/2010 Doug N

Free from Mexican narco's occult witchcraft, Ed Calderon savors the American experience. Calderon fled Mexico with this three-year-old daughter when he had to choose between working for a cartel in his police uniform or getting assassinated.  Ed Calderon - Former Mexican Counter Narcotics Officer I’m back with my third and final episode interviewing Ed Calderon. Calderon found refuge in America with help from a Navy Seal.  Today he works as a security consultant. We go back to a time in his hometown of  Tijuana, Mexico, before the cartels turned it into a killing ground. Here’s Ed Calderon remembering the long past good old days and the Cartel's dark arts of recruiting child soldiers.

Ed Calderon says the incomplete wall on the U.S. Southern border with Mexico is like Swiss cheese. "It won't stop any of the growing threats posed by the Mexican drug cartels," he says. Ed Calderon spent a dozen years working in counter-narcotics and organized crime investigations in the northern border region of Mexico. Ed Calderon - Former Mexican Counter Narcotics Officer Fled For His Daughter's Life To The U.S. The former state police officer knew he had to leave when the leadership of his drug squad under a new presidential administration told him, “You can take the silver, or you can take the lead.” Which meant they were on the payroll of a cartel.  That night, Calderon fled Mexico with his three-year-old daughter for the safety of the United States.  In part two of my three-part series, Calderon gives a unique look inside the crime scene tape where Mexican cartel members and their puppets in police uniforms get away with murder. Calderon says it’s getting d

Former Mexican counter-narcotics officer Ed Calderon predicts a day of reckoning. If you were a fan of Narcos or Sicario, brace yourself to hear the real story about what’s happening south of the U.S. border. Ed Calderon is a man who should not be alive. He fled death threats and now lives in the United States, where he is a security consultant.  Ed Calderon - Former Mexican Counter Narcotics Officer Over the next three episodes, Calderon will take us inside the crime scene tape in Mexico, where cartels, dirty police officers, and serial killers from the U.S. get away with murder. In part one, we discuss Mexico’s unholy alliance with China to make deadly Fentanyl, the modern-day black plague in America.  In closing, here’s my Reporter’s recap and reflections. I believe you can take what Ed Calderon says to the bank. I say this based on my experience as an investigator for a Congressional defense committee and a television reporter covering national security

The Bandido's Intimidating Presence On U.S. Highways A violent war for control of illicit drugs and weapons leaves a deadly trail of bullets and blood across highways in the U.S. Southwest. It started eight years ago in a hail of gunfire between the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang and the Cossacks at the Twin Peaks Restaurant in Waco, Texas. The violence escalated starting in May of 2023 leaving dead bodies on an interstate highway in Texas, at a biker bar in Oklahoma City, and at a once peaceful bike rally in New Mexico. There's no sign of tempers and the rivalry cooling off anytime soon. The Bandidos stand to lose a lot and they are fighting to hold on to their turf. They are not Hollywood's romanticized version of the Sons of Anarchy. The Justice Department considers the Bandidos one of the eight most dangerous motorcycle gangs in the U.S. A gang threat assessment by the Texas Department of Public Safety ranked the Bandidos as a "Tier 2" gang — or the secon

Road rage violence shatters records on US Highways. Experts say a perfect storm of post-pandemic anger and violent criminals out of jail due to liberal bail practices has set off a wave of deadly road rage shootings. Capt Greg Fremin (Ret'd) Houston Police Department Retired Houston Police Captain Greg Fremin tracks the growing carnage at Sam Houston State’s College of Criminal Justice located in Huntsville, Texas. The numbers have run off the highway as stressed-out, violent drivers turn their rage into the wild wild west on American highways.  On average, 44 people are killed or wounded on U.S. roadways every month. That's twice the average for 2019. In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® Podcast, investigative reporter Robert Riggs talks to Fremin about the causes and what to do if you are a target of road rage. In closing, here’s my reporter’s recap and reflections. In these stressful times, I practice Stoicism. It’s a philosophy from the book Medit

The Suspect Is Almost Always Listed In The Cold Case File - Former NCIS Special Agent Joe Kennedy Former NCIS Special Agent Joe Kennedy established the first federal cold case homicide unit.  Starting in 1986 with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), Kennedy investigated crimes involving sailors and marines worldwide.  In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® Podcast, I take you inside the crime scene tape to hear about cold cases from a legendary agency member popularized by Hollywood. Although he is retired from NCIS, Joe Kennedy lends his cold case experience to small law enforcement agencies that seek help. He serves on the Cold Case Coalition, a non-profit volunteer organization comprised of retired law enforcement officers and experts. Kennedy has also written a brilliant guide for cold case investigators titled Solving Cold Cases-Investigation Techniques and Protocols.  Serious true crime fans will find it helpful in un

Did You Know Most Murders Occur Outdoors? If you are a fan of the NCIS television drama, you are in for a treat. My guest is homicide investigator Joe Kennedy, a former Special Agent for the real-life NCIS. NCIS Special Agent Joe Kennedy Teaching Police In The Philippines Homicide Investigation In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® Podcast, I lift the crime scene tape for Joe Kennedy to take you inside the anatomy of murder cases. He's written a book titled Solving Cold Cases: Investigation Techniques and Protocol. This is the first of a two-part series featuring Kennedy. The first focuses on his unconventional method of approaching a crime scene investigation. In the second episode, Kennedy explains why cold cases are so complex, and he digs into Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy. I believe his book should be required reading for every rookie homicide investigator.

The high school baseball player hung a homemade motivational sign on the wall of his bedroom.  It read Brandon Puffer will be a Major League Baseball player. Indeed, Puffer made it to what ballplayers call “The Show.”  Only to fall from the Bullpen to the State Penitentiary in Texas. Brandon Puffer was a pitcher on the Boston Red Sox baseball team when they broke a century-old curse and won the World Series in 2004. But four years later, a Texas jury sentenced Puffer to five years in prison. He survived the tough Texas prison system and is now out. Puffer has written a book titled, From The Bullpen To The State Pen, in which he opens up about his experience. In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, Puffer shares the story of his setbacks and come back. Puffer coaches youth and high school baseball players on how to play college and pro ball at GPSLegends, located in Central Texas near Round Rock and Georgetown. In closing, here’s my repo

The reputed prison gang hitman held a hoe while weeding the warden's vegetable garden at a maximum security unit in East Texas. Although he claimed to be out of the gang -- there's no such thing, it's blood in, blood out -- I asked how you could make a bomb behind bars. He grinned and slowly tilted his head down. He tapped his foot on a bag of fertilizer and said, "I knew about the explosive properties of ammonium nitrate long before those boys in Oklahoma City." He referred to Timothy McVeigh, who murdered 168 people, including 19 children, by blowing up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. I'm Robert Riggs with another story from inside the crime scene tape. In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® Podcast, I open up my old reporter's notebooks to recall moments from inside the Texas prison system when I was on the trail of corruption. These short stories are from the darkest and most dangerous corners of maximum security prisons in Texas.

DO YOU SPEAK WITH A FORKED TONGUE? Do text messages warn you that your streaming account has a billing issue or an unpaid customs charge on a package? Those are just some of the latest scams criminals use to fleece you. Hello, I’m Robert Riggs with a story from inside the crime scene tape where people bleed money. Lies designed to cheat you or break your heart thrive on the Internet. The truth is in short supply. In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, I want to arm you with some tools to protect yourself from the flood of falsehoods. Dr. Seema Yasmin Author of "What The Fact" Fellow reporter Dr. Seema Yasmin is here to help you find the truth in all the noise. Dr. Yasmin, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, is the author of “What The Fact.” In closing, here’s my reporter’s recap and reflections. Finding the truth can be challenging in a society where trust is eroding. However, there are several strategies that individuals can employ to navigat

Steve January, the Chief Deputy of the McLennan County Sheriff in Waco, Texas, was a lawman cut from denim of the old west. Hundreds of officers recently paid their last respects to January, whose life was not cut short by a bullet from his many face-offs with killers but by cancer.  I’m Robert Riggs with a story about an officer who fought many a round seeking justice inside the crime scene tape. L to R Robert Riggs & Chief Deputy Steve January Hold "Yellowstone" Hoodie Worn By Nicole Sheridan Steve and I were last pictured together holding up a barrel racing jacket given to the Sheriff’s office by Nicole Sheridan, the wife of Taylor Sheridan. Yes. Taylor Sheridan, The creator of Yellowstone, a true-life Texas cowboy, and cousin of January’s boss Sheriff Parnell McNamara. I met McNamara and January in May 2022 to discuss their cold case unit. In honor of Steve’s memory, I am rebroadcasting the episode.   After hearing the original, many of you commented tha

God forbid if I ever was murdered, I would want Johnny Bonds on the case.    His name sounds like a film noir detective. Johnny Bonds is the stuff true crime legends are made of.  In 1972, he became the youngest officer ever assigned to the elite homicide division in Houston, Texas.  He had a sixth sense of how to approach people or investigations. He relentlessly hunted down killers and challenged powerful politicians who got in the way of justice.  Bonds became known as “The Cop Who Wouldn’t Quit” for relentlessly pursuing the contract killers who murdered a Houston couple and their baby for life insurance benefits.  The brutality of the case and the cold-blooded nature of their killers shocked Houston residents in 1979.  If Bonds had not bucked politics and fearlessly challenged a faulty murder-suicide ruling by the powerful medical examiner at the time, the killers would have gotten away with murder. Former Harris County District Attorney Johnny Holmes said

Before, there was Osama bin Laden. Before, there was Timothy McVeigh. There was Ted Kaczynski.  The UNABOMBER. FBI codename for “UNiversity and Airline BOMBER.” For sixteen years, Jamie Gehring grew up next door to Ted Kaczynski. She never had a clue that the man who appeared to be a harmless hermit was one of the most notorious serial killers of the 20th Century.  Hello. I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs here to ask you a chilling question from inside the crime scene tape. Do any of us really know our neighbor?   Homemade Metal Shrapnel Ted Kaczynski mailed and hand-delivered homemade bombs to people at scientific universities, airlines, and businesses for what he believed was their role in the over-industrialization of society and the destruction of nature.  The former Berkley math professor, a certified genius who entered Harvard at age 15, terrorized America for seventeen years between 1978 and 1995. The FBI called Kaczynski a twisted genius. He k

50 Sexual Assault Victims Will Never Forget The Stare of Serial Rapist David Hawkins When He Held A Gun To Their Heads This is the third episode in my series about how new DNA technology solves previously unsolvable cold cases.  It’s called FGG -- Forensic Genetic Genealogy. I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs taking you inside the crime scene case into how the first use of forensic genetic genealogy in Dallas County, Texas, caught a serial rapist responsible for over 50 victims. 76-year-old David Thomas Hawkins - Serial Rapist - Serving Life Sentence - Michael Maximum Security Prison - Texas 75-year-old David Thomas Hawkins of Fort Worth, Texas, left a trail of victims along his truck route for at least ten years. The investigation by the office of District Attorney John Creuzot was made possible by a Sexual Assault Kit Initiative federal grant known as SAKI. Leighton D'Antoni -- Cold Case Prosecutor Dallas County You will learn more about SAKI in this episode

The Golden State Killer got away with 12 murders, 50 rapes, and more than 100 burglaries for over forty years before being caught.  DNA evidence from his crime scenes never matched DNA samples in the FBI’s CODIS databases because he had never been arrested for murder or rape. Eventually, investigators uploaded the profile to genealogy sites and identified a relative on the killer’s family tree. It led to the conviction of James DeAngelo, a 72-year-old former police officer. I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs from inside the crime scene tape reporting how DNA analysis, called Forensic Genetic Genealogy, also known as FGG, is solving cold cases once thought unsolvable. You can learn more about the Golden State Killer case in my episode titled How Cold Case Investigator Paul Holes Unmasked The Golden State Killer, dated April 25th of 2022. In this my second episode about Forensic DNA, Dr. Suzanne Bell, who served on the National Commission of Forensic Science (NCFS)

The Double Helix That Catches Killers And Sexual Predators Sitting across the desk from a DNA profiler, she told me that I was leaving a trail of cells in her office that would lead back to me, especially if I committed a crime there.  The rapid advancement of science and technology makes DNA evidence  a powerful investigative tool for catching killers and rapists, solving cold cases, identifying missing persons, and clearing the innocent. I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs here to take you inside the crime scene tape to look at how DNA plays a central role in the judicial system. The first use of DNA typing for a criminal investigation occurred in 1986 in England. DNA evidence identified the killer of two 15-year-old girls and cleared an innocent, mentally challenged suspect who had confessed to one of the murders.  Police conducted a DNA dragnet by collecting thousands of samples from men in the village around the crime scenes.  I recommend watching Code of

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were two of the most notorious outlaws in American history, forever linked to the public consciousness.  They were young, daring, and dangerous, and they captured the imagination of a country struggling through the Great Depression. But behind the legend lay the harsh reality of their lives, a story of poverty, violence, and desperation. They met in Dallas, Texas, and were immediately drawn to each other.  Together, Bonnie and Clyde embarked on a crime spree that would capture the nation's attention and make them both into legends. They robbed banks, gas stations, and stores across the South and Midwest, always staying one step ahead of the law.  The outlaw lovers became folk heroes to many Americans who were struggling to survive amid the Great Depression, seen as modern-day Robin Hoods who were sticking it to the wealthy and powerful. Today, Bonnie, pictured in a beret and flapper-style dress with a cigar stuck out th

Kenneth McDuff - "The Brookstick Killer" & Jerry McFadden "The Animal" Texas Death Row Inmates Called Them The “Macs.” Kenneth McDuff and Jerry McFadden.   Two violent psychopaths hated and feared by fellow death row inmates.  Two killers with a lust for randomly abducting, raping, and murdering young people. Suzanne Harrison Gena Turner Bryan Boone Two killers whose victims would still be alive if Texas had kept them behind bars.  In this episode, investigative reporter Robert Riggs takes listeners inside the crime scene tape of one of Texas' most brutal killers. Jerry "Animal" McFadden He called himself "The Animal."

Jerry "Animal" McFadden Pastor Wayne Whiteside says, “there are people that seem to be hell-bent on being held bound.” Whiteside knows of what he preaches after ministering to prison inmates for thirty-nine years. He spent the last 24 years talking with death row inmates in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. Whiteside says he has looked evil in the eye and seen nothing but empty souls. He has come face to face with the worst of the worst of serial killers who inflicted unimaginable pain and suffering on their victims. Whiteside holds an unusual perspective on capital punishment. He has witnessed 30 executions and was present as a chaplain inside the Texas death chamber for one execution. Two hours before a lethal injection started flowing, one killer confessed to Whiteside the murder of a young convenience clerk and solved a 17-year-old cold case. Our episodes often take listeners inside the crime scene tape.  This episode is truly a journ

Mexican cartels aided by China are poisoning the United States with deadly fentanyl overdoses. The death toll is equivalent to a jumbo jet load of passengers crashing daily. What better way to undermine a country without firing a shot?  In this episode, I conduct a wide-ranging discussion about the Iraq war's consequences on U.S. security.  This is a timely conversation because March 20th of, 2023, marks the 20th anniversary of the war in Iraq. David Grantham, an intelligence officer for the Tarrant County Sheriff in Fort Worth, Texas, joins me for an interview.  Grantham served as an Air Force intelligence officer in Iraq and is the author of Consequences: An Intelligence Officer’s War.  We discuss the challenges faced by U.S. law enforcement and the communities they are charged with protecting. And we offer some practical personal safety advice stemming from the investigation and arrest of a suspect in the murder of four Idaho college students. 

Jerry and Dava Truett lived well beyond their means in the small central Texas town of Kosse. They owned a lake house and a speed boat. They drove a pair of expensive pickup trucks and numerous recreational vehicles. Townfolk thought they were receiving oil and gas money from their farmland or had an inheritance. How Did They Live Such An Extravagant Lifestyle On Small-Town Wages? The small community of 500 people confronted the cold-blooded truth about the couple's lifestyle when 52-year-old Michael Wells was murdered inside the First State Bank of Kosse. Sue and Michael Wells (Slain President of First State Bank of Kosse Williams was the bank's president and a beloved community leader. He arrived early one morning before the bank opened to meet with a customer. A 68-year-old business owner wanted to find out why thirty thousand dollars was missing from his account. Before they could meet, Williams was gunned down. The bank's vault was still locked. No m

Homicide detectives and even killers categorize the slain four University of Idaho students as “shiny” victims.  They were young, innocent, and attractive.   John Moriarty, the former Inspector General of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, says such cases motivate investigators to go the extra mile to solve the crime. “It’s the ultimate good versus evil,” said Moriarty. Investigators used sophisticated techniques detailed in an arrest warrant affidavit, including DNA, cell phone data, and ubiquitous video surveillance cameras, to charge  28-year-old Bryan Kohberger with murdering four University of Idaho students in their off-campus home on November 13, 2022.  If Kohberer, a Ph.D. criminology student at the University of Washington, is convicted, it will prove the old adage that some criminals return to the scene of the crime. In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, John Moriarty and investigative reporter Robert Riggs walk listeners through details contai

This episode marks Part 2 of questions posed to investigative reporter Robert Riggs by true crime fan and Texas A&M architecture major Patricia Rocha. Hopefully, listeners can take away advice about staying safe in the wake of an arrest of a suspect in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students on November 13, 2022, at their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. Two other roommates upstairs slept through the brutal slayings. The mysterious murder struck fear in college students across the country. This is a continuation of our new press conference at the True Crime Reporter® podcast. This episode marks the second part of our press conference in which the fans of the True Crime Reporter® podcast ask investigative reporter Robert Riggs questions. If you want to come on the podcast to ask Robert questions, email [email protected].  Tell him what you want to talk about and why. Here’s today’s True Crime Reporter® press conference.

Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff's Mug Shots Record Life Of Crime In a new press conference-style episode, True Crime Reporter's Robert Riggs takes questions from fans.  True crime fan Patricia Rocha turns the table on Riggs and asks what it is like to go inside the crime scene tape. Riggs recently met Rocha, an architecture student, and her friends at a ceremony for Outstanding Alumni from the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University. Afterward, Rocha and her friends peppered him with questions about true crime cases. Robert-Riggs-Outstanding-Alum-College-of-Architecture-Texas-AM-and-Patricia-Rocha-Arch-Student Looking on was Bill Peel, an Outstanding Alum and Executive Director of Innovation at Texas A&M’s Mays School of Business. Peel suggested that a press conference-style interview by fans should be a regular feature here. Riggs has covered his share of press conferences at the White House, Capitol Hill, Pentagon, State Department, FBI, and breaking news at

What goes on inside the minds of women who commit murder and other crimes? In my previous episode on December 13, 2022, titled A Mother’s Pursuit of Justice: The Contract Murder of Dan Markel, I reported that three women are the focus of an eight-year-long murder investigation. Markel, a distinguished law professor at Florida State University was gunned down by hitmen at his Tallahassee home in 2014. Katherine Maguahua (phonetic pronunciation: MAC-BANA-WAH) was the go-between for the contract killing.  In November of 2022, evidence from an FBI sting helped convict Maguahua.  She received a life sentence plus 60 years for hiring her ex-boyfriend, the father of her children, to execute Dan Markel. Allegedly so his ex-wife could move the couple’s two sons to South Florida.  The ex-wife, 35- year old Wendi Adelson, a fellow law professor, and her mother, Donna Adelson, have been named as unindicted conspirators in the alleged plot.  According to criminal trial testimon

FSU Law Prof Dan Markel Was Shot Point Blank By Contract Killers as He Pulled Into The Garage of His Home Murder is a life sentence for the victim’s family and friends. Closure is a myth perpetuated by the news media.  During three decades of investigative reporting, Robert Riggs has witnessed how the victim’s families often suffer in silence and are left out of the confusing criminal justice process. In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® podcast, Ruth Markel shares a remarkable story of grief, resilience, and hope during an eight-year murder investigation that is not over. FSU Law Professor Dan Markel Her son, Dan Markel, a Florida law professor, was ambushed in a murder-for-hire conspiracy allegedly masterminded by his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, and members of her family, according to state prosecutors.  Wendi Adelson has denied those accusations during a police interrogation and under oath in court testimony. The anatomy of the murder has been highly publiciz

Chris Hansen, the journalist who created the televised series To Catch A Predator, warns that the problem of adults preying on children for sex is growing at an alarming rate.  The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has reported that during the peak of the pandemic, inappropriate contacts between adults and children, predatory contacts, as well as the transmission of inappropriate material between adults and children shot up nearly 900%. Indicative of the problem is the case of the former Virginia police officer accused of “catfishing” a teenage girl and murdering her grandparents and her mother. “Catfishing” is a form of online deception in which someone pretends to be a different person. Firefighters discovered the teen's family inside their burning home in Riverside, California.  28-year-old Austin Edwards, the ex-cop, was killed in a shootout with San Bernadino County Sheriff’s deputies.   The teenage girl was not harmed.  Hansen and investigative

Cooking oil left over from french fries and fried chicken has become liquid gold.  Organized criminal gangs are emptying storage tanks at restaurants and convenience stores across the United States. Hello. I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs with an unusual story from inside the crime scene tape.  Did you know a gallon of used cooking oil is now worth more than a gallon of gasoline? The thefts fuel a multimillion-dollar black market. Gary Edgington Working Counter Insurgency and IED's in Iraq for the U.S. Army Here to talk about it is Gary Edgington, a 40-year law enforcement veteran. We are going to talk about a wide range of his cases from his career with the  Beverly Hills Police Department, LA County District Attorney…we will touch on the OJ Simpson murder trial. His work on narcotics cases and a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Los Angeles. And later his role in counter-insurgency operations in Iraq. Now he is the author of, Outs

Nester Oswaldo Hernandez -- Parolee Charged With Murdering 2 Nurses In Dallas June 2022 Sitting in the maternity ward of Dallas Methodist hospital, 30-year-old Nester Oswaldo Hernandez told his girlfriend that “we are both going to die today, and whoever comes in this room is going to die with us.” Hernandez, a violent offender out on early parole in Texas, executed a social worker and a nurse as they entered the room of his girlfriend and newborn baby, according to a Dallas police arrest warrant. Hernandez had just accused his girlfriend of cheating on him. He pistol-whipped her and fatally shot the two healthcare workers before a security officer wounded him.  Hernandez had a long rap sheet. He was on parole for an aggravated robbery. In 2015 Hernandez and a female accomplice attacked a woman who was returning home from work.  They taped the victim's hands together and taped over her eyes.  They broke her nose and fractured her eye during the robbery. Hernandez stol

In the previous episode, we showed how homicide detectives solved 50-year-old cold cases. They analyzed old evidence using new DNA extraction technology pioneered by Othram, a forensic genealogy lab in Texas. Othram provided new leads by finding relatives of suspects on genealogy databases. As revolutionary as that seems, it was just a few years ago that the FBI pioneered the use of mitochondrial DNA in a Texas murder case. Mitochondrial DNA is handed down from mother to child, so it can only tell you about your maternal ancestors. In a landmark case, former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston used the mitochondrial DNA from a single hair to send a killer to prison for the rest of his life. Here’s the backstory of how he did it. 

14-year-old Stephanie Anne Isaacson Prom Photo 1989 14-year Stephanie Anne Isaacson left her father’s apartment in North Las Vegas on June 1, 1989. She walked through an empty sandlot, her usual shortcut, to the Eldorado High School. The ninth grader never made it to her 7:30 AM class at Eldorado High School. Later that evening, officers found her body under a piece of discarded carpet in a sandlot that Isaacson used to take a shortcut to school. Stephanie was the victim of a blitz attack. Her black shirt was pulled up, and her jeans pulled down. Her shoes and other belongings were missing. The freshman with shoulder-length brown hair who had last been pictured with a wide grin in her prom picture had been sexually assaulted, bludgeoned, and strangled to death.  Investigators had little to go on besides a tiny drop of semen found on the dead girl's shirt. They made numerous attempts to test the evidence but could not identify the killer. Las Vegas Metropolita

As I stood in the LA office of the FBI’s bank robbery coordinator,  veteran FBI Agent Bill Rehder pointed to a wall plastered with bank surveillance photos. 33-year veteran FBI Agent Bill Rehder Ran The FBI Bank Robbery Squad In Los Angeles Rehder ticked off the nicknames of a rogue’s gallery of serial bank robbers. The baby bandits, the big nose bandit, the big ears bandit, the skunk bandit, the ponytail bandit, the grandpa bandit. Hello, I’m Robert Riggs with a story from inside the crime scene tape at what was the bank robbery capital of the world in the 1980s and 90s. Los Angeles, California. I met Bill Rehder in 1997 while doing a series of stories about the upsurge in violent bank robberies across the United States. Bank tellers were being shot, and customers were taken, hostage. California’s takeover bank robbery epidemic was spreading across the nation.  Rehder, who spent most of his 33 years with the FBI on the bank robbery squad, dispatched agents

Don Bentley Pictured With His Helicopter Gunship In Afghanistan Don Bentley’s career zigzagged from flying an Army helicopter gunship on combat missions in Afghanistan to working counterintelligence for the FBI, to now writing suspense-filled novels based on the knowledge of his previous careers. In my last episode, former FBI agent Don Bentley took us inside the training of Special Agents at the elite FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. After the FBI, Bentley launched a successful writing career. He intimately knows the subject that he writes fiction about. Don Bentley is the New York Times bestselling author of the Matt Drake series spinning out potboilers about terrorism and intelligence operations. He has also written two Tom Clancy Jack Ryan, Jr. novels…the latest on bookshelves everywhere is Zero Hour. In this second episode, we discuss Bentley’s transition to writing and our individual association with the late Tom Clancy.  Clancy, a legendary author, was kno

There’s a bank in Quantico, Virginia, that gets robbed every day. And I am going to take you there. Hello. I’m Robert Riggs.  In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, former FBI Agent Don Bentley takes us inside the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. New Special Agents start their career there in an intensive 20-week long training program. Realistic training scenarios unfold in a mock town called Hogan’s Alley named after a comic strip from the 1890s. Town House In Hogan's Alley That Is The Site Of Many Mock Shootouts At The FBI Academy In Quantico, Virginia I’ve reported there many times on stories ranging from bank robberies to weapons of mass destruction. I’ve posted links to those stories in the show notes. FBI Academy The 10-acre training facility contains a bank, post office, hotel, laundromat, barbershop, theater, homes, and everything you would find in a real urban setting. It’s like a Hollywood set that features actors playing armed criminals.

In the previous episode, Inside Story Of The Deadliest Attack On Police Officers Since 9/11, the negotiator for the Dallas SWAT team revealed the inside story about the mass killer who ambushed Dallas officers during a Black Lives Matter protest five years ago. Members of our True Crime Community have asked to learn more about the purpose of SWAT teams. SWAT stands for Special Weapons and Tactics.  It’s a highly trained elite unit selected from rank and file officers who apply.  In the True Crime Reporter™ podcast episode published on July 18, 2022, about the Uvalde School Shooting, Police Waited To Subdue Killer While Uvalde School Children Lay Dying you heard how a SWAT team from the U.S. Border Patrol finally stepped in and ended the mass shooting. SWAT teams grew out of the mass shooting at the University of Texas Tower in Austin a half-century ago. In 96 minutes, Charles Whitman, an architectural engineering student cut down nearly 50 people with 150 rifle s

On the evening of July 7, 2016, Black Lives Matter protesters marched in downtown Dallas and other cities across the nation. They peacefully gathered in response to the police shootings of two black men, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. A few blocks from the site of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, an African American man who had left the U.S. Army following disgraceful conduct got out of his SUV ready for combat. The mass murderer arrived with a calculated plan to kill police officers, preferably white officers.  Wearing tactical gear, a bullet-resistant vest, and armed with a high-powered assault rifle he in effect executed five officers and wounded eleven others.  A cell phone video by a witness in a nearby building recorded Johnson shooting an officer for the city’s transit system, DART,  in the back and then standing over the officer to pump eleven more rounds into him at point-blank range. The ambush marked the deadliest and bloodiest day for

The True Crime Reporter® Podcast features stories and interviews from the respective careers of investigative reporter Robert Riggs and former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston. Listeners have asked how both of them got involved in investigating criminal cases. In response, the podcast featured an episode with Riggs on July 4, 2022, explaining how he first got involved digging for information during the Watergate scandal case while working for Congressman Wright Patman. In this episode, we cover the highlights of Bill Johnston’s distinguished law career. Bill devoted his career as a federal prosecutor to, in effect, protect the sheep from the wolves.  He helped launch the manhunt for notorious serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff who tortured and murdered countless young women. His role in bringing McDuff to justice and prosecuting the Texas Parole Board Chairman official who released McDuff under a cloud of corruption is featured in the Fox Nation documentary Freed To Kill. 

Many U.S. prisons are trade schools for crime. High recidivism rates underscore the failure of the current criminal justice system. Released and rearrested inmates pass through an expensive revolving door.  The Texas prison used to be called the Texas Department of Corrections (TDC), but there was little evidence it was correcting bad behavior.  In Texas, nearly one-fourth of the prisoners released return within three years. Nationally, half of the prisoners released return within three years. But the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP), an independent nonprofit organization in Texas, puts inmates who are within one to three years of parole eligibility on the path to jobs and even running a business.  Less than 7% of its graduates return to prison within three years. 500 participants are chosen yearly out of more than 10,000 eligible inmates. The screening process, which is more selective than prestigious universities, includes a 20-page application, three exams, and a

A growing threat of grievance killings is taking center stage across the world.   Recent examples include the assassination of Japan’s popular prime minister to a patient in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who gunned down two doctors and two medical personnel because he was angry about ongoing pain following his surgery. Sasha Larkin, the Deputy Chief of the Homeland Security Division at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, describes this new threat. Dep Chief Sasha Larkin of the Homeland Security Division at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department The 22-year veteran of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says it was easier to deal with the Osama bin Laden’s of the terrorist world because it was easier to identify them and their motivations. Larkin came up through the ranks reaching Deputy Chief. From her post overseeing the Homeland Security Division, Larkin has a unique perspective on crime trends. In a wide-ranging conversation with investigative repor

A 77-page report by a special committee of the Texas House of Representatives concluded that no one was able to stop the gunman from carrying out the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, in part because of “systemic failures and egregious poor decision making” by nearly everyone involved who was in a position of power. 376  law enforcement officers descended on the school in a chaotic, uncoordinated scene devoid of clear leadership and a sense of urgency to take down the gunman, according to the report.  It is the most exhaustive account to date of what happened and was released on Sunday, July 17, 2022. It found that the mass killer had been dubbed "school shooter" on social media a year before the massacre because of his violent threats against others.  The high school dropout and social outcast consumed gore and violent sex online. He sometimes shared videos and images of suicides and beheadings. In real life, he was fired from two fast-food jobs for harassing

25-year-old Anna Moriah Wilson, known as “Mo” was an up-and-coming professional cyclist in gravel racing. Friends described her as a beacon and light and energy. But another cyclist, Kailin Armstrong allegedly snuffed out that light in a hail of gunfire. Shockwaves from the grievance killing spread from Austin, Texas where the murder occurred to news media around the world. It is a true-crime story that is stranger than fiction.   Two female cyclists vying for the affection of a male cyclist were on a tragic collision course. Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs takes fans inside the crime scene tape with Austin homicide detectives and U.S. Marshals. Listen as the alleged killer becomes an international fugitive.

Many of you have asked how Robert became an investigative reporter.  After all, most of the stories you hear on this podcast come out of my reporter’s notebook. Riggs' career path has zigged and zagged from when I received a degree in Architecture and Construction from Texas A&M University and upon graduation, he headed off to Capitol Hill. In this episode, my cohost, former prosecutor Bill Johnston takes me back to the Watergate scandal of 50 years ago. Bill has never heard some of these stories and in later episodes, Riggs is going to interview him about his high-profile criminal cases. Riggs shares a muck-raking tale of bribery and international intrigue. Here’s Robert's conversation with Bill.  The True Crime Reporter®features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mystery, homicides, cold cases, prisons, criminals, serial rapists, child abduction, kidnapping, bank robbery, and violent crime.

Katherine Schweit headed up the FBI’s active shooter program where she authored the bureau’s landmark research about mass shootings and how to best respond to save lives. In the wake of the massacre of children and their teachers in Uvalde, Texas, school safety weighs heavily on the minds of teachers and students’ families.  In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, investigative reporter Robert Riggs and Schweit discuss why the number of mass shootings is spiking to the point that some parents are afraid to send their children to school. Riggs is no stranger to this tragic subject. In October of 1991, he covered the mass shooting at a crowded Luby’s Cafeteria in Kileen, Texas.  A lone gunman crashed his pickup truck through the front door of the restaurant. He proceeded to murder 23 people with two semi-automatic pistols before killing himself when confronted by police. It was the mother of all mass killings in America, marking the start of an epidemic. In

For many years Texas had a law and order image.  Politicians campaigned for office about getting tough on crime. A gubernatorial candidate’s TV ads featured actors wearing black and white overalls swinging sledgehammers in the prison yard. His voice-over pledged to teach youthful criminals “the joy of busing rocks.” In fact, Texas ran a revolving door prison system.   Lawmakers passed tougher laws but refused to spend money to build prisons to hold more convicted criminals. The public did not know about this until I exposed how serial killer Kenneth McDuff was released on parole with hundreds more violent offenders.  You can learn more about McDuff by listening to our recent episode titled The Broomstick Killer or you can watch our Freed To Kill streaming television documentary on Fox Nation. The episode you are about to hear illustrates how Texas turned loose monsters. And I mean monsters. I warn you it is a graphic story about a mother who dismembered her two

Was it a case of cloak and dagger among spies? Or was it a plain old case of murder driven by lust and the desire for money? It is a mystery that lives on 50-years after a popular Czech professor vanished from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Was he a double agent or triple agent that crossed his masters in a Cold War game of spy vs. spy? Is he living out his years on a tropical island or do his remains lie at the bottom of an abandoned gold mine? Pulitzer Prize-winning author Eileen Welsome provides long-awaited answers to a baffling case that caused a falling out between the FBI and the CIA. Investigative reporter Robert Riggs interviews Welsome about a mysterious case of deadly cyanide murders as revealed in her book, Cold War Secrets. This episode is another example of how the stories on the True Crime Reporter® Podcast are stranger than fiction.

Baptist Preacher Matt Baker Molested Girls & Almost Got Away With Murdering His Wife Matt Baker, the charismatic Baptist minister who almost got away with murdering his wife is among our most popular episodes. On his way to the pulpit in Waco, Texas, Baker molested numerous young women. An investigation of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, revealed that sexual assaults by hundreds of pastors like Matt Bakers were covered up by church leaders for twenty years. A seven-month investigation conducted by Guidepost Solutions released in May of 2022 found that sex abusing pastors were often passed along to other churches with no notice or warnings. Two top officials of the Southern Baptist Convention kept their own private list of abusive pastors for ten years. And the list of 703 abusers may soon become public. We expect Matt Baker to be on that list. Former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston, the cohost of the True Crime Reporter® Po

Can you imagine yourself falling in love with a serial killer or murderer to the point you will give up your family, career, and even your life for them? A veteran Alabama jail officer, Vicky White did just that in April of 2022 when she staged a getaway with a capital murder suspect. The 56-year-old White had an unblemished record.  She was on her last day of work before retirement. Her colleagues had just voted her Corrections Employee of the Year for a fifth time before she went on the run. At first, the Lauderdale County Sheriff in Florence, Alabama thought White had been kidnapped when she disappeared with a 36-year Casey White, no relation. 56 year old Vicky White But White had been involved in a two-year-long jailhouse romance with a career violent criminal named Casey White, no relation to her.  He certainly didn’t have fashion model looks.  Casey White, a 300-pound, muscular, burr-headed 6 foot 9 heavily tattooed inmate, was already serving a 75-year p

In this vintage photo from 1993, Peabody Award-Winning Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs stands on a guard tower overlooking Texas Death Row. Poking up behind him to the right of the large spotlight is the steeple of the prison  chapel where seven condemned prisoners made their daring break for freedom five years later.  29-year Martin Gurule, a cold-blooded killer from Corpus Christi in South Texas made it over the prison’s fence on a foggy Thanksgiving night under a hail of rifle fire from guard towers. The last time condemned killers had broken out of prison in Texas was in 1934 when two members of the notorious Bonnie and Clyde gang made a daring escape. Prison guards were killed by machine gunfire. That set off a manhunt led by legendary Texas Ranger Frank Hammer that ended in the deadly ambush of Bonnie and Clyde. Sixty-four years later, hundreds of officers scoured thousands of acres looking for Martin Gurule around the Ellis Prison Unit near H

Frivolous lawsuits filed by convicted criminals flooded the federal court system in Texas. A prison inmate who regarded himself as the "Perry Mason" of the Texas prison sued for millions of dollars because his Thanksgiving Turkey was served cold. Another sued because his Rice Krispies Cereal did not Snap, Crackle, Pop as advertised. This underscores why the True Crime Reporter® podcast features true crime stories that are stranger than fiction. Investigative reporter Robert Riggs dusted off his reporter's notebook to tell the story "Convicts Court."

Sheriff Parnell McNamara promised his constituents in McLennan County, Texas around Waco that he would actively pursue cold cases. McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara & Reporter Robert Riggs McNamara was elected for a third four-year term in January of 2021. And he has made good on his campaign pledge to open up homicide cases that had been long forgotten. Because as McNamara sees it no one should get away with murder and the victim’s family deserves to know what happened. U.S. Marshall Guy McNamara 1933 (on right) Guy McNamara Constable 1907 (seated) The McNamara clan started in law enforcement in 1902 with Guy McNamara who President Franklin Roosevelt later appointed as a U.S. Marshal in 1933. Deputy U.S. Marshal Mike McNamara, Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff, Deputy U.S. Marshal Parnell McNamara You may recall from our earlier episodes about serial killer Kenneth McDuff, that it was the brothers, Deputy U.S. Marshals Parnell and Mike McNamara that

Cold case investigator Paul Holes played a major role in ending a decades-long reign of terror by The Golden State Killer. First known as The East Area Rapist, a masked psychological sadist assaulted 50 women in Northern California between 1976 and 1979. He progressed from burglaries to vicious sexual assaults in the middle of the night, to bludgeoning his victims to death. Along the way, he called 911 to taunt the police. Suddenly it seemed he had disappeared. But he had moved to a new hunting ground in Southern California where he murdered 13 people and became known as the Original Night Stalker.  And then in 1986, it stopped. In 2011, DNA testing revealed that the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker were one in the same man. True-crime writer Michelle McNamara gave the elusive criminal the moniker the “Golden State Killer.”  McNamara, the wife of comedian/actor Patton Oswalt, became obsessed with the long-abandoned cold case for six years, focu

Doug Feldman’s resume gave no clue that a mass killer was lurking inside him. He graduated from a prestigious university. He was a financial wizard. He was the funniest man in the room at social functions. Everything appeared to be going his way. But beneath Feldman's cool exterior, a volcano was swelling up inside him. First, there were tremors. Then a deadly eruption against random strangers. Security Camera Footage of Mass Killer Doug Feldman Riding A Harley As He Randomly Guns Down A Gasoline Tank Truck Driver Crime Scene Where A Tank Truck Driver Was Randomly Murdered by Mass Killer Doug Feldman Feldman cruised around Dallas on his Harley Davidson motorcycle randomly shooting truck drivers to death. His reasons for the murders are beyond comprehension. A month after Feldman was sentenced to die in the Texas death chamber, he sat down to talk with investigative reporter Robert Riggs. It is a rare glimpse into the mind of a mass killer because they usually

Gun-wielding gang members from Houston burst into a rural bank located a hundred miles north of Houston. The high school-age teenagers graduated from burglaries and drive-by shootings to cold-blooded murder that day. They left behind the bullet-riddled body of an 82-year old woman who was tending her family’s graves. They robbed a bank and shot up the small town while making their getaway. They pistol-whipped a deputy sheriff and used his gun to shoot a Texas State Trooper.  Investigative reporter Robert Riggs covered the murder and former U.S.prosecutor Bill Johnston sent them to prison. They are back with another story inside the crime scene tape about the execution of the sweet elderly lady known as Miss Ruby. This is a True Crime Reporter@ Confidential.

It was called the "Ride Murder." The bullet-riddled body of an unidentified seaman from the Port of Houston, Texas was found dumped in a ditch a few miles away. HELP US FIND THIS MAN'S FAMILY Two men and a woman used a “honey pot” trap to lure the seaman into their car to rob him. It was one of the most sensational murder trials ever brought in East, Texas. School children paraded through the county jail on macabre field trips to get a look at the accused killers. Jailhouse Sketches by The Ride Killer One of the defendants who had already killed a traveling salesman using a similar “honey pot” ploy sat behind bars drawing sketches about romantic encounters.  Decades later, veteran criminal investigator Louis Fawcett was conducting genealogical research about his family tree. Imagine his shock when Fawcett who had spent 43 years hunting down criminals, discovered that the trigger man in the "Ride Murder" was his uncle. This is a True Crime Reporter™ E

Before Columbine. Before Sandy Hook. Before Virginia Tech.  There was the Sniper in the Tower at the University of Texas. America’s first mass murder and school shooting unfolded on live television in Austin, Texas more than a half-century ago. Since then the question has lingered, “Why did he do it?” Gary Lavergne, the author of A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders, addresses the whys and the myths about the why. In this True Crime Reporter™, Confidential investigative reporter Robert Riggs and former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston take listeners back to 1966 when a student cut down fifty people in 96 minutes. We have placed links in the show notes to black and white film footage from the shooting and a video of Gary Lavergne following the sniper’s trail to the top of the UT Tower

Kenneth McDuff "The Broomstick Killer" Retired CBS News Anchor Bob Schieffer was the first reporter to interview Kenneth McDuff and cover his crimes in 1966.  Fort Worth Star-Telegram police beat reporter Bob Schieffer; appeared in "The Anatomy of a Newspaper" article dated 01/12/1964 Back then Schieffer was the police beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Bob Schieffer in combat helmet while reporting from Vietnam, spring 1966 Schieffer had just returned from a combat assignment covering the Vietnam War when the call came in from homicide detectives. The bullet-riddled bodies of 17-year old Robert Brand and his cousin 16-year-old Mark Dunnam had been found in the trunk of their abandoned car on a remote farm road south of Fort Worth, Texas. Sixteen-year-old Edna Louise Sullivan who had been out with the boys was missing. Hundreds of law enforcement officers and local residents started a widespread search of rough

We usually take our fans inside the crime scene tape of real-life crimes. But in this episode, we are testing out a fictional Texas Ranger superhero named Creed True, inspired by real-life cases. The Texas Ranger became a superhero in pop culture long before Spider-Man and fellow characters from Marvel Comics captured our collective imaginations.  Think about how the phrase "Who was that masked man?" is now part of our vocabulary. Superheroes possess supernatural or superhuman powers and are dedicated to fighting evil in their universe.  Our first story is titled, The Kidnapper's Tale. Please let us know what you think about it [email protected].

Texas kicked off festivities on Texas Independence Day, to commemorate the 2023 Bicentennial of the Texas Rangers. As the Rangers approach their 200th year of service, their legend is embodied in the following quote. When Texas Ranger Captain Bill McDonald was sent to Dallas in the 1890s to prevent a scheduled prizefight, McDonald was greeted at the train station by the city's anxious mayor, who asked: "Where are the others?" To which McDonald supposedly replied, "Hell! ain't I enough? There's only one prize-fight!" (credit: Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum). Texas Ranger Chief Chance Collins Addresses Kickoff of 2023 Texas Ranger Bicentennial The Texas Rangers are the oldest serving state law enforcement agency in the United States. Texas Ranger Displays Drones Used For Crime Fighting Operations Armed with the latest technology, Rangers wear distinctive white cowboy hats, white western-style shirts with silver badges crafted from Mexican Cinco peso coins, an

The Bonnie and Clyde gang rode roughshod over the Central United States during the Depression in the 1930s until Texas Ranger Frank Hamer came out of retirement and ended their deadly robbery spree in an ambush. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker aka Bonnie and Clyde It’s one of many cases that contributes to the worldwide reputation of the Texas Rangers. On March 1st of 2022, Texas kicked off plans to commemorate The Texas Ranger Bicentennial in 2023. Robert Riggs and Bill Johnston, the cohosts of True Crime Reporter™, are members of the Host Committee along with President George W. Bush and former Texas Governor Rick Perry. In order to get a concise and accurate account of its history, Riggs went to the Official Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum In Waco, Texas The museum attracts 100-thousand people a year from around the globe to see its exhibit artifacts, artwork, and archives. In this edition of True Crime Reporter™ Texa

Fort Worth Cold Case detectives solved the murder of 17-year old Carla Walker after it had gone cold for nearly five decades. They analyzed old evidence using genetic genealogy and new DNA extraction technology pioneered by Othram, a forensic genealogy lab in the Woodlands a suburb of Houston.  17-Year Old Carla Walker Abducted in August of 1974 Othram matched the DNA to a test submitted to a genealogy site by a member of the killer’s family tree. Othram did not disclose the relative’s name.  Cold case investigators Jeff Bennett and Leah Wagner identified 78-year old Glen McCurley who was among the original suspects. McCurley confessed to them when confronted with the DNA evidence.  Genetic genealogy was used in the Golden State Killer case, but this was the first time the technology make it to a courtroom. Glen McCurley Sentenced To Life In Prison Under McDuff Capital Murder law McCurley pleaded guilty after two days of testimony in his capital murder trial in Aug

This is a story about two botched murder attempts by hired hitmen. And what happened when 65-year old Joyce Sturdivant took matters into her own hands. One of the most common forms of homicide is when one half of a couple kills the other. Women are usually the victims of this form of homicide. Only one percent of male victims are killed by a partner. But in this case, 65-year old Joyce Sturdivant knocked off her husband after the hitmen she hired failed to kill Big Joe Sturdivant, a burly stock car racer in Central Texas.  Joyce Sturdivant 76-years old - TDCJ Inmate #01783322 In this True Crime Reporter™, Confidential Robert Riggs reveals that Joyce got away with murder for two years until his cohost former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston got on her case.

The men and women of the Texas Highway Patrol work alone, often at night, on remote stretches of highway. They drive distinctive black and white cruisers and SUV’s with bright gold emblems in the shape of Texas on the side doors. If a traffic stop turns bad, help might be a hundred miles away. For example in 2021 Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Chad Walker was killed in an ambush. Walker stopped to help a driver in a disabled vehicle.  The driver jumped out of the car armed with a handgun and unloaded rounds into the windshield of the Trooper’s vehicle striking Walker in the head and abdomen. Honoring Fallen Trooper Chad Walker Courtesy Fairfield Recorder Newspaper The 38-year old trooper was survived by his wife and four children.  The suspect fled and later killed himself when surrounded.  These are the dangers faced by Texas Troopers. Senior Texas Trooper Johnny Williams Ret'd In this episode of True Crime Reporter Extra, we feature real st

The Los Zetas drug cartel ambushed two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on a dangerous stretch of highway on February 15, 2011. Special Agent Victor Avila was severely wounded. His partner, Jaime Zapata, was killed. Zapata was the first U.S. enforcement officer killed in the line of duty in Mexico since the murder of DEA agent Enrique “KiKi” Camarena. The ICE agents had been dispatched from Mexico City to Monterrey to pick up supplies without proper training or protection. Warnings had been issued by the U.S. Embassy that the stretch of Highway 57 was a no man’s land controlled by the Los Zetas. The Zetas had apparently been tipped off and unleashed a barrage of bullets from their assault rifles into their armored vehicle which could not stop the withering fire.  The armored SUV was clearly marked with U.S. State Department diplomatic license plates.  Murder charges against eight of the hitmen were later dismissed because of a loophole in fe

Former NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen walked a beat in Harlem all the way into Hollywood’s greatest crime dramas of all time. He is known as the cop who killed Sonny Corleone in The Godfather. Gene Hackman pats down NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen to learn proper police procedures to use in the filming of The French Connection His walk of fame started when William Friedkin, the director of The French Connection asked Jurgensen to demonstrate how to put a suspect against a wall for the “pat down”. Friedkin hired Jurgensen as the film’s technical consultant to advise him on how to realistically show the gritty side of heroin trafficking in the 1960s. NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen playing a police sergeant in The French Connection It became Jurgensen's job to turn actors Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider into narcotics detectives.  Jurgensen turned out to be a natural on camera and was given the role of an NYPD Sergeant in film. 3rd Person Left -- NYPD Detective Randy

True Crime Reporter™ Texas Ranger Case Files When a woman’s head bobbed to the surface on Lake Waco in Central Texas no one had the slightest clue about who she was or how she died. An autopsy revealed that she had been decapitated and there was no sign of the rest of her body in the lake. As veteran Texas Ranger John Aycock began to learn more about the woman’s life (profilers call it victimology), he declared the likely identity of the murder suspect. Now he just had to prove it. They call it a “Rangers Intuition” developed from years of investigating homicides in rural Texas and questioning killers. Former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston and investigative reporter Robert Riggs explain how Ranger Aycock “got his man” in this episode of True Crime Reporter™ Confidential. For official historical information visit the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum online or in-person at the museum in Waco, Texas.  Please join us in supporting the 2023 Texas Ranger B

When you hear about violent crime, do you think to yourself, “it would never happen to me?” When 29-year old Colleen Reed went to a self-service car wash in Austin, Texas none of her family or friends thought it would be the last time they would see her.  Reed never imagined that serial killer Kenneth McDuff was stalking her.  McDuff is featured in the first season of True Crime Reporter™ and our story is being turned into a tv series for a major streaming channel scheduled for release in the Spring of 2022. Bill Johnston and I want you to understand that it can happen to you, because “they walk among us.” Sexual predators and killers don’t present themselves in a demonic manner and are not easy to recognize or avoid.  “They walk among us” means that people who might hurt us may be unrecognizable as a threat. More often than not they are people we see in public, go to school with, date, live with, or strangers who appear trustworthy. In our earlier episode about

After listening to our episodes about serial killer Kenneth McDuff, you have no doubt that McDuff is what FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood described as a textbook psychopath. But it’s not only criminals that are psychopaths. CEOs of major corporations, politicians, and entertainers score high on the checklist of psychopathic behavior. Think about your work colleagues or social circle.   Is your boss a narcissistic manipulator with no remorse? Do you know someone who takes pleasure in hurting others and easily lies? Thomas Erikson reveals how we are surrounded by psychopaths.  They may not physically threaten our lives but can emotionally destroy them.  In this episode, investigative reporter Robert Riggs talks to Erikson about his book Surrounded by Psychopaths and how we can protect ourselves from them. True Crime Reporter™ is a copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.

In this “Best Of True Crime Reporter™”, we take you back to the first episode in our series about serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff. It was a Webby Award Honoree for Best True Crime Podcast in 2021. McDuff is the only criminal in Texas history to have received three death sentences. Serial Killer Kenneth Allen McDuff being escorted to a holding cell in the Texas Death Chamber. McDuff, was believed to be the only condemned inmate in the nation ever paroled and then returned to death row for two more murders. He was sentenced to die in the electric chair in 1966 for killing Robert Brand, one of three teenagers he was charged with randomly killing. But McDuff was later paroled after the death penalty was overturned. He was sentenced in two different cases to die by lethal injection for the murders of Melissa Northrup and Colleen Reed. McDuff was executed shortly after this photograph was taking on November 17, 1998. Yet he got out of prison under a cloud of corruptio

What is it about Waco, Texas? A whirlwind of bizarre events and violence seems to dump all sorts of strange creatures into Central Texas. Whether it is serial killers on the hunt for victims or the Branch Davidian Cult ending in a fiery inferno, it spins out true crime stories that are stranger than fiction. Investigative reporter Robert Riggs and former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston have been deeply involved in all of them.  In the previous episode called Murder, Mayhem, and Meth, they talked about violent meth kingpins who controlled the manufacture and distribution of “speed” during the 1980s in Texas. Now it’s about to get really weird with the story of devil lovers who set up a factory to make methamphetamines. In a weekly ritual, the devil lovers would prick their fingers and drip blood on the pages of an open Bible.  You won’t believe what happened next. 

If you were a fan of the Breaking Bad TV series, get ready to listen to the real version in Texas. The TV series featured a fictional high school chemistry teacher named Walter White diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor who manufactures high-grade meth in order to put away cash for his family’s future. It is not far from the truth.  During the 1980s, Central and East Texas were dotted with illicit meth labs set up in remote farmhouses. But these “Walter White”  meth kingpins typically became addicted to their own chemical product and turned super paranoid. Investigative reporter Robert Riggs and former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston flashback to the notorious trade and violence it brought to the badlands of Texas in this episode of True Crime Reporter™ Confidential. Our true crime stories are stranger than fiction especially this one about Murder, Mayhem, & Meth. 

Texas Ranger Stan Guffey 1946 - 1987 Courtesy Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, Waco, Texas In the previous episode of True Crime Reporter™ Texas Ranger Files, we told the story of brave Rangers who kept up the pursuit of kidnappers while their car was being riddled with gunfire and was engulfed in flames. Thirteen-year-old Amy McNiel the daughter of the pioneer in the development of the first hand-held calculator was kidnapped by five men on the way to school in January of 1985 Retired Ranger Captain Bob Prince recalled the tension-filled 48 hour, 600 mile game of cat and mouse and a 100 mph running gun battle that ended in the safe rescue of the teen. During the pursuit of the kidnappers, Texas Ranger Stan Guffey maintained surveillance from an aircraft. Two years later when a doped-crazed criminal out on parole kidnapped a two-year-old girl, Guffey did not want to stand by and watch as he had before. Guffey insisted on replacing another Ranger in a plan to s

This episode marks the inaugural edition of the True Crime Reporter™ Texas Ranger Case Files. Robert Riggs and Bill Johnston feature exclusive stories about criminal cases in interviews with legendary officers of the Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers constitute the oldest state law enforcement organization in North America dating to 1823. You can read more about the history of the Texas Rangers and their influence on popular culture on our blog at the True Crime Reporter™ website. L to R Bill Johnston, Ret'd Ranger Captain Bob Prince, Robert Riggs True Crime Reporter™ Podcast Robert and Bill interview retired Ranger Captain Bob Prince, a legendary modern-day Texas Ranger about his most memorable case. Our story begins with the rescue of 13-year old Amy McNiel of Alvarado, Texas from five kidnappers in mid-January of 1985. It captures the frontier spirit and courage of the officers who wear the distinctive 5-star badge of the Texas Rangers. The teenage daugh

In our previous episode of the True Crime Reporter™ podcast, we presented the murder case of Annie Laurie Williams.  Williams bludgeoned her 8 and 9-year-old sons to death and then dispassionately dismembered their bodies to dispose of them. Her acts are unthinkable. In order to bring perspective and understanding to such a crime, cohosts Robert Riggs and Bill Johnston reached out to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Richard Taylor in the United Kingdom. Dr. Taylor is the author of The Mind of a Murderer. He has worked on more than 100 murder cases. He explores the subject of Women Who Kill Children in his book. Dr. Taylor also works with a special unit dealing with threats to the royal family and politicians, which is called the Fixated Threat Assessment Center (FTAC). You can find a link to more information about the FTAC on our website. Murder is not just a crime, it is a major public health problem.  In 2017 alone, there were close to a half-million recorded

The 1950s were called the “Happy Days”. The war was over. The economy was booming. The American Dream was in full swing. In 1957 it was estimated that one baby was being born every second. The Lone Ranger was a hit TV show. Little boys acted out their mythical western adventures on stick horses. But the dream became a nightmare for two brothers in Texas. Their murders at the hand of their knife-wielding mother shocked the nation. Annie Williams 1955 Mug Shot This is the story of how Annie Williams was supposed to spend the rest of her life in prison for dismembering her boys. Annie Williams Sentenced To Two Life Terms November 8, 1955 But contrary to what her sentencing jury was told, Williams was set free on parole. She then jumped parole and disappeared for sixteen years until fugitive hunter Louis Fawcett got on her trail. This is the 57-year long account of a mother who murdered her sons with malice. Annie Williams Booking Photo After Her Fugitive Arr

David Grantham a former Air Force Intelligence officer encountered Al Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban during his service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now he heads up criminal intelligence operations for Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn from its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. Grantham holds a Ph.D. in History from Texas Christian University and a Master of Science in International Relations from Troy University. He reveals how the expiration of stimulus payments during the pandemic in the United States may be fueling a crime wave. Granthan also warns that the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban and the loss of American weaponry poses a new threat. Sophisticated U.S. weapons are likely to be acquired by the Mexican cartels and other international crime organizations. Grantham is the author of Consequences An Intelligence Officer’s War which gives a unique look inside the nuts and bolts of running counterintelligence operations. 

46 years after the abduction, torture, and murder of a 17-year-old girl, cold case detectives with the Fort Worth police department arrested a 78-year old Glen McCurley and charged him with capital murder. McCurley abducted Carla Walker from the parking lot of a bowling alley in 1974. Walker had been to a Valentine’s day dance with her 17-year old boyfriend. McCurley pistol-whipped Walker’s boyfriend and tried to shoot him in the head three times but the pistol’s magazine fell out. Walker’s lifeless body was later found dumped in a culvert. Fort Worth Police detectives Jeff Bennett and Leah Wagner were the primary investigators who reopened this case in 2019. New, advanced DNA testing matched McCurley's DNA to stains found on Carla Walker's clothing. The 46-year old unsolved case came to an end in August of 2021 when McCurley pleaded guilty during his murder trial. He was sentenced to life in prison. Retired Homicide Detective David Thornton helped start the co

Serial killer Kenneth McDuff fixated on the female reporters who covered his capital murder trial. After a Texas jury sentenced McDuff to death by lethal injection, he sent off a letter to one of the reporters. Rebecca Rodriguez Reporting Live For CBS 11 News in 2000 The letter written behind bars sickened reporter Rebecca Rodriguez She had covered the abduction of Colleen Reed, a petite 29-year old accountant, from an Austin, Texas self-service car wash shortly after Christmas in 1991. Colleen Reed The accountant was one of the dozens of young women who had mysteriously disappeared up and down interstate 35 through the heart of Texas. Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff McDuff was a sadistic sexual serial killer. His biggest pleasure came from inflicting pain on his victims and controlling their moment of death.  Alva Hank Worley Accomplice of Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff A grisly confession by McDuff’s accomplice detailed a chamber of horrors in explicit detail

Husbands who murder their wives often go to great lengths to concoct stories about their disappearance or sudden death. They may give tearful appeals for help on television newscasts. They typically think that they are smarter than the police and can get away with murder. But there are no perfect crimes.   Murderers often slip up when they try to make the crime scene look like what they’ve seen on television shows.  Eagle-eyed investigators can see right through it. This True Crime Reporter™ Confidential goes inside of two cases from the career of former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston. In the first case, a charismatic Baptist preacher in Waco initially fools the police into believing that his wife committed suicide.

Texas Prison Fugitive Dennis Wayne Hope Gamble Loot From Robberies Willie Nelson sings about riding in the wide-open spaces with lyrics titled “Don’t Fence Me In”. “Don’t Fence Me In” was the ballad of Texas inmate Dennis Wayne Hope. Hope bragged that there wasn’t a prison in the state of Texas that could hold him. The convicted armed robber went as far as to imitate the prisoner played by Paul Newman in Hollywood’s Cool Hank Luke. Hope purchased a Jaguar for his girlfriend with money stolen during robberies in Dallas, Texas. While on the run, Hope sent imprisoned convicts letters about life on the outside. Hope impersonated armored car guards with fake ID cards and uniforms. He picked up tens of thousands of dollars in cash deposits. During one getaway Hope calmly strolled past a police officer parked in a patrol car at the entrance to the grocery store he had just robbed. During a television interview with investigative reporter Robert Rig

Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs created an original true crime genre podcast based on three decades of real-life stories ripped from his reporter’s notebooks. The True Crime Reporter™  podcast tells the backstory of criminal cases using interviews with the law enforcement law officers that played key roles in the investigation. In every episode, Riggs pulls out his reporter’s notebooks. His law enforcement sources open up their case files. And they take listeners on a journey into darkness. Riggs set out to create serialized immersive content that is character-driven. He brings the true crime audience into the story with characters that they care about so much that they want to binge-listen. His stories strive to create a connection between true crime fans. The next phase of the production is to roll out a True Crime Reporter® Fandom where the community contributes to solving cold cases and organizes digital neighborhood watches. <br