Psychopedia: True Crime & Criminal Psychology

EP183: The Comic Book Killer: Scripted, Skinned and Scalped

In May 2016, Blake Leibel - a Canadian comic book creator and aspiring Hollywood filmmaker -brutally murdered his girlfriend, Iana Kasian, in their Los Angeles apartment. Iana’s body bore injuries so horrific they seemed ripped from the pages of Blake’s own graphic novel, Syndrome, which depicted eerily similar acts of torture and mutilation.  This tragic case is widely regarded as one of the most gruesome and sadistic murders Los Angeles has ever seen.  Please listen with caution. FOLLOW AND SUBSCRIBE to Psychopedia wherever you are listening! FOLLOW Investigator Slater on Instagram + TikTok: @investigatorslater  Join our Patreon family! (⁠www.Patreon.com/PsychopediaPod [http://www.patreon.com/PsychopediaPod]⁠) On Patreon, you get AD FREE episodes, exclusive true crime content, behind-the-scenes pics/vids, private group chats, and much more!  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

EP182: Twitter Killer: Japanese Serial Killer Takahiro Shiraishi

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains discussions of suicide and may be distressing to hear.  Please listen with caution.In 2017, a series of disappearances began to ripple through Zama, just outside Tokyo. The victims were young women between the ages of 17 and 26 who all left behind the same digital footprint: Twitter posts expressing a desire to die. What no one realized at the time was that those posts had drawn the attention of a murderous predator.  By the end of that year, the investigation led police to a single apartment, where a scene of calculated horror was waiting: nine dismembered bodies with severed heads and mutilated limbs found scattered and hidden in boxes.  At the center of it all was Takahiro Shiraishi, later known as “The Twitter Killer,” a man who turned vulnerability into a hunting ground and despair into a lethal weapon. FOLLOW AND SUBSCRIBE to Psychopedia wherever you are listening! FOLLOW Investigator Slater on Instagram + TikTok: @investigatorslater  Join our Patreon family! (⁠www.Patreon.com/PsychopediaPod [http://www.patreon.com/PsychopediaPod]⁠) On Patreon, you get AD FREE episodes, exclusive true crime content, behind-the-scenes pics/vids, private group chats, and much more!  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

EP181: TikTok Cancer Scammer: Madison Russo Fakes Cancer for Clicks

From 2022 to 2023, 19-year-old Madison Russo documented what she claimed was a relentless fight for her life, drawing in thousands of followers and raising nearly $40,000 on GoFundMe. She said she was battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Stage 2 pancreatic cancer, and a tumor “the size of a football” wrapped around her spine. The story was catastrophic by design, and people responded exactly as you would expect. They donated, they shared, they rooted for her, watching closely as she posted photos and updates that felt intimate and urgent.  Except none of it was real. Not the diagnoses, not the symptoms, not the scans. What looked like a medical nightmare was a performance, constructed piece by piece, persuasive enough to convince strangers around the world to invest in a fight that never existed.  And when it finally unraveled, the only thing Maddie had actually built was a very real trail of deception. FOLLOW AND SUBSCRIBE to Psychopedia wherever you are listening! Follow Investigator Slater on Instagram + TikTok: @investigatorslater  Join our Patreon family! (⁠www.Patreon.com/PsychopediaPod [http://www.patreon.com/PsychopediaPod]⁠) On Patreon, you get AD FREE episodes, exclusive true crime content, behind-the-scenes pics/vids, private group chats, and much more!  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

EP180: Serial Killer Nun: Holy Hellhouse

Abbess Mariam, better known as “Mother Rasputin,”  has been described as one of the most prolific female serial killers in modern history.  She cloaked herself in the authority of a Greek Old Calendarist Orthodox abbess while running something far darker than a monastery. Between 1939 and 1950, she was found guilty of a staggering range of crimes, including multiple murders and fraud, but the charges barely capture the reality inside her compound in Keratea, Greece. Hundreds of people - mostly women - arrived there seeking refuge, faith, and safety, and instead found solitary confinement, empty plates, and discipline that escalated into ritualized cruelty. Mariam ruled with a mix of spiritual theater and calculated brutality, presenting herself as divinely guided while systematically breaking down (and killing) the very people who trusted her. Sadistic, controlling, and untethered from any moral boundary, she has been described as one of the most prolific female serial killers in modern history. FOLLOW AND SUBSCRIBE to Psychopedia wherever you are listening! Follow Investigator Slater on Instagram + TikTok: @investigatorslater  Join our Patreon family! (⁠www.Patreon.com/PsychopediaPod [http://www.patreon.com/PsychopediaPod]⁠) On Patreon, you get AD FREE episodes, exclusive true crime content, behind-the-scenes pics/vids, private group chats, and much more!  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

EP179: Meet Me. Hurt Me. Kill Me.

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains discussions of suicide and may be distressing to hear.  Please listen with caution. In the tragic and recent case of Sonia Exelby, a vulnerable woman in the UK went online to arrange for her own death.  Sadly, she connected with a sadistic man in the U.S. named Dwain Hall, who framed her murder as mercy while investigators uncovered evidence of manipulation, coercion, internet predation, and calculated cruelty. Sonia was struggling, emotionally and psychologically, and Dwain positioned himself as a "mentor" who truly understood her pain.  But text messages, recordings, and witness testimony painted a different picture: he was a predator who isolated Sonia from support systems, reinforced her belief that death was the only option, and meticulously documented her "consent" as insurance against exactly this kind of investigation. What Dwain called mercy, prosecutors called premeditated murder.  This complex case is truly heartbreaking - please listen with caution! FOLLOW AND SUBSCRIBE to Psychopedia wherever you are listening! Follow Investigator Slater on Instagram + TikTok: @investigatorslater  Join our Patreon family! (⁠www.Patreon.com/PsychopediaPod [http://www.patreon.com/PsychopediaPod]⁠) On Patreon, you get AD FREE episodes, exclusive true crime content, behind-the-scenes pics/vids, private group chats, and much more!  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]