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Curated playlist

People convicted of murder by California

  • Susan AtkinsOn the 24th of September 2009, Susan Atkins died at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. Her husband, James Whitehouse, told reporters that her last whispered word was "Amen." At that moment she was California's…
  • Charles MansonOn the first day of testimony in his 1970 murder trial, Charles Manson arrived with an X carved into his forehead.
  • Cary StaynerCary Stayner is an American serial killer whose crimes began to surface in March 1999, when police near Yosemite National Park received an anonymous note. It held a hand-drawn map, and across the top someone had written, "We had fun with…
  • Phil SpectorPhil Spector's first number one song came from his father's gravestone.
  • Lyle and Erik MenendezLyle and Erik Menendez became known to the public through a telephone call placed late on the 20th of August 1989. Lyle told a 9-1-1 operator, "Someone killed my parents!" He said he had just come home and found their bodies. Erik could be…
  • Rodney AlcalaRodney Alcala walked onto the set of the television game show The Dating Game in 1978, and host Jim Lange introduced him as a successful photographer. Lange promised that between takes he might be found skydiving or motorcycling. The…
  • Richard RamirezRichard Ramirez was an American burglar, sex offender and serial killer who terrorized Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. A California judge, upholding nineteen death sentences against him, said his deeds showed "cruelty,…
  • Edmund KemperEdmund Kemper stood in a phone booth in Pueblo, Colorado, in the spring of 1973 and confessed to murder. The police officer who answered did not believe him. Kemper was told to call back later. He had just driven more than 1,000 miles,…
  • Joseph James DeAngeloDeputies arrested Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. in the side yard of his Sacramento home on the afternoon of the 24th of April 2018. He was 72 years old, a retired truck mechanic and a former police officer. For more than four decades,…
  • Robert DurstOn the 30th of November 2001, Robert Durst was caught inside a Wegmans supermarket in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He was trying to steal Band-Aids, a newspaper and a chicken salad sandwich. In his pocket he had $500 in cash. Durst, an…
  • Samuel LittleSamuel Little, born Samuel McDowell, told investigators that he had committed 93 murders between 1970 and 2005. Courts convicted him of eight. The FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program has confirmed his involvement in at least 60 of…
  • Stanley WilliamsStanley Tookie Williams III was seventeen when a juvenile review board asked what he planned to do once he was released. By his own account, he replied with "being the leader of the biggest gang in the world." He was a teenager with a…

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