Murderers and Their Mothers: The Debrief

Richard Kuklinski, known as the ‘Iceman’ for his method of freezing victims to mask the time of death, claimed to have killed up to a hundred people in a criminal career spanning three decades. Born into a household plagued by violence, Kuklinski, according to his own testimony, was beaten on a daily basis by his Irish mother and alcoholic Polish father. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for privacy and opt-out information.

One of Poland’s most notorious serial killers, Leszek Pekalski confessed to murdering dozens of people - men, women and children. Pekalski’s mother was a violent alcoholic who drank heavily while pregnant with Pekalski and his twin sister. The children were subjected to extreme physical violence at the hands of their mother and grandmother on a daily basis, neglected and often starved. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for privacy and opt-out information.

Adam Lanza killed his mother before driving to Sandy Hook Elementary School and shooting dead 20 children and six teachers in one of the bloodiest mass shootings in American history. Many blame his mother, Nancy – a gun enthusiast who did nothing to remove her arsenal of weapons from the family home – for refusing to get Adam the help he so badly needed. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for privacy and opt-out information.

Serial child-killer Robert Black worked as a delivery driver, preying on young girls up and down the country. Black’s own childhood was fraught with violence and abandonment. His biological mother left him shortly after his birth, while his alcoholic foster mother neglected and physically abused him.Join MacIntyre and distinguished criminologist Dr Elizabeth Yardley as they unpick the psychology of one the most complex killers. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for privacy and opt-out information.

Joachim Knychala, the Polish serial killer who earned the ghoulish nickname ‘Frankenstein’, attacked his victims with an axe, butchering and desecrating their bodies after death. He brutally murdered five women and attempted to murder another seven over eight grisly years. Knychala grew up in poverty, with a mother who rejected him and often had sex with boyfriends in front of him and a grandmother who meted out violent punishments on a daily basis. MacIntyre and criminologist Dr Elizabeth Yardley explore Knychala’s twisted relationship with his mother and grandmother to discover whether they were the cause of his murderous misogyny and why he was hell bent on becoming Poland’s most notorious serial killer. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for privacy and opt-out information.