The Greek Robin Hood Who Kidnapped Billionaires and Escaped Prison in a Helicopter

In the craggy peaks of Greece, a modern outlaw proves that you can rob a bank, kidnap a billionaire, and still be the most beloved man in the mountains. This is the story of Vassilis Paleokostas: the 'Robin Hood' who treats his hostages like guests and uses a helicopter as his preferred get-out-of-jail-free card. Sources for this episode include:“The Uncatchable” (BBC)A Normal Life: The Autobiography of Vassilis Palaiokostas by Vassilis Palaiokostas Outlaws: The Good Thief (iHeartRadio) Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kidnapped on his 38th birthday by criminals who think every federal prosecutor is secretly wealthy, a calm-under-pressure lawyer survives a chaotic 25-hour ordeal—part hostage crisis, part absurd comedy—by befriending his captors. Sources for this episode include: The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival by Stanley N. Alpert 48 Hours, “The Birthday Party” Try ZipRecruiter FOR FREE at https://ziprecruiter.com/KILLERS Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After their mother’s death and years living under a controlling father, two Texas teens are pulled into their dad’s string of bank robberies—turning a broken family into an outlaw crew and forcing a daughter to choose between loyalty, survival, and the truth she was raised to ignore.Sources for this episode include: “I Would Only Rob Banks for My Family” by Skip Hollandsworth, Texas Monthly20/20, “A Family Affair”Crime Files: The Homefront “Family Bank Robbers” Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A teenage runaway becomes a folk hero and a nationwide fugitive as he steals planes, boats, and cars—often barefoot—turning a two-year crime spree into one of the most unlikely manhunts in modern American history. Sources for this episode include:Reporting by The Daily Herald (Everett, Washington)"Barefoot Bandit: His Life and Crimes" (CBS News) Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A notorious internet troll builds a revenge-porn empire that terrorizes thousands—until a determined mother launches a relentless campaign to bring him down and dismantle the most toxic community on the web. Sources for this episode include:The Netflix docuseries The Most Hated Man on the Internet“Hunter Moore: The Most Hated Man on the Internet” (Rolling Stone) Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When a brilliant intelligence officer from MI6 is discovered dead inside a padlocked duffel bag in his London flat, investigators face an impossible crime scene—no signs of forced entry, no fingerprints, and theories ranging from suicide to espionage—as the shadow of secrecy around his work at GCHQ breeds one of the most perplexing mysteries in British intelligence history. Sources for this episode include:“Spy last seen alive eight days before body was found in bag” (The Guardian) “MI6 officer Gareth Williams and the ‘missing hours’ before his death” (BBC)“MI6 codebreaker Gareth Williams’ death ‘perfect crime,’ expert says” (CNN)“Police claim to have solved London ‘spy in the bag’ mystery” (The Independent)“The Death of The Spy In the Bag is Linked to Russia By Secret Intelligence Files” (BuzzFeed News) Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To some, Helen Duncan is a powerful medium who bridges the realms of the living and the dead. To others, she's a dangerous con artist blending deception and stolen top-secret information to prey on the grieving and the gullible. Try ZipRecruiter FOR FREE at https://ziprecruiter.com/KILLERS Sources for this episode include: The Strange Case of Hellish Nell: The Story of Helen Duncan and the Witch Trial of World War II by Nina ShandlerSix Feet Over: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary RoachRegurgitation and the Duncan Mediumship by Harry Price Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A libertarian idealist known only as “The Dread Pirate Roberts” builds the Silk Road—an anonymous online black market that explodes into a billion-dollar empire—until the digital kingpin is unmasked, revealing how one man’s dream of radical freedom spiraled into crime, paranoia, and downfall. Sources for this episode include: American Kingpin by Nick BiltonJoshuah Bearman’s reporting for Wired magazine Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1977, candy heiress Helen Brach – one of the richest women in America – vanishes. Detectives consider the many people who might have wanted to get their hands on her money. Ultimately, the primary suspect that emerges is… the Chicago horse mafia. Sources for this episode include: Hot Blood: The True Story of an Heiress, a Gigolo, and a Shocking Murder by Ken Englade“The Puzzle That’s Missing One Piece” (WashPo)“Candy Heiress's Murder Probe Exposes Brutality in Horse World” (LA Times) Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A 19th-century island experiment founded by two nature-loving Germans goes from Gilligan's Island to Lord of the Flies when an entitled and eccentric heiress moves in. Sources for this episode include: Satan Came to Eden: A Survivor's Account of the "Galapagos Affair by Dore StrauchFloreana by Margaret WittmerThe Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Documentary)“An Unsolvable Mystery: Captain Hancock and the Case of the Quarrelsome Castaways” (PBS) Keep up with Killer Stories! Instagram: @killerstoriespodTikTok: @killerstoriespodX: @killerstorieshq Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices