The Beauty Queen Killer: How a Photographer’s Ruse Masked a Cross-Country Murder Spree

In 1990, 14-year-old Regina Walters fled her troubled Texas home, seeking escape—only to vanish into the night. Six months later, her badly decomposed body was discovered in an abandoned Illinois barn, posed in a macabre tableau: wearing black high heels, her hair freshly cut. The haunting crime scene bore the signature of a predator who’d stalked America’s highways for years—a long-haul trucker with a kill count that dwarfed even Ted Bundy’s.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

For nearly two decades, an elusive terrorist known only as “The Unabomber” terrorized the nation, mailing 16 bombs that killed 3 people and maimed 23 others—from university professors to airline executives. The FBI’s longest and costliest manhunt targeted a phantom: Ted Kaczynski, a reclusive math genius turned anti-technology zealot, living without electricity in a Montana shack.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

For years, John Gotti ruled the Gambino crime family with a diamond-crusted fist—flaunting his power in $2,000 suits, mocking prosecutors, and earning the nickname “The Teflon Don” after three high-profile acquittals. But in December 1985, Gotti’s ambition turned deadly when he orchestrated the brazen assassination of his boss, Paul Castellano, outside Sparks Steak House in Midtown Manhattan. With Castellano gone, Gotti seized control… and the FBI vowed to take him down.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

In December 1989, the festive lights of the Fairfax County, Virginia, apartment complex glowed with holiday cheer—until five-year-old Melissa Brannen disappeared during a cheerful Christmas party. One moment she was laughing with friends; the next, she’d vanished into the winter night. The only clue? A witness who saw a shadowy figure carrying a bundle near the playground.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

On a frigid February afternoon in 1993, a massive explosion ripped through the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center, shaking Manhattan to its core. The blast—equivalent to 1,200 pounds of TNT—tore a five-story crater through concrete and steel, killing six, injuring over 1,000, and filling the towers with choking black smoke. For the first time, America realized: this wasn’t an accident. It was an attack.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

In the spring of 1984, Christopher Wilder, a charming Australian-born racecar driver and amateur photographer, crisscrossed America with a deadly secret. Posing as a fashion scout, he prowled shopping malls, targeting young women—many of them aspiring models—with promises of photo shoots and magazine spreads. But his camera was a prop; his real tools were ropes, knives, and a sadist’s imagination.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

Claude Dallas was the last of a dying breed—a self-styled mountain man who lived off the grid, poaching game in the rugged Owyhee Desert of Idaho. But in 1981, his frontier fantasy turned deadly when two Idaho game wardens, Bill Pogue and Conley Elms, confronted him about illegal hunting. In a burst of violence, Dallas gunned both men down, execution-style, then vanished into the wild.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

In the sweltering summer of 1984, Tampa, Florida, was gripped by fear as a ruthless predator stalked the streets, raping and murdering at least ten women. The killer left no witnesses, no patterns—just a trail of broken lives. Then, one victim survived.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

For over 30 years, the FBI waged a silent war against New York’s most powerful Mafia dynasty—the Genovese crime family—and its cunning boss, Vincent “The Chin” Gigante. While other mobsters flaunted their power, Gigante played an unprecedented con: he faked insanity to evade the law.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

On June 21, 1964—Freedom Summer—three young civil rights workers (James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner) vanished near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Their crime? Registering Black voters. Six weeks later, their bodies were unearthed from an earthen dam, shot execution-style by Klansmen who believed they could bury the truth with the victims.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.