0:00

Alright, hey you and

0:02

welcome back to another episode of that chapter podcast.

0:05

It's Mike and I'm joined once

0:07

again by Dirty Keith over

0:09

here. Heyo. Heyo the

0:11

boys. What's going on? What's going on

0:13

with you? Not much man. Yeah,

0:15

working away,

0:17

the use, you know, that

0:19

old grind. We talk about spooky things on that

0:21

chapter. Any spooky things happen? I'm looking forward

0:24

to doing this story. It's a good one and it had me thinking about

0:27

similar instances in my life, I guess. Similar

0:30

instances to what Bob Berdella did? Well, not

0:32

the exact same. Definitely not. Yeah, fuck it up

0:34

man. But I was thinking about like, while

0:36

we're on the topic of like serial killers and

0:39

stuff, I think when I was younger, I

0:41

may have come across a potential

0:43

serial killer. Potential serial killer? What?

0:45

Do tell. So

0:47

we were, actually, I don't know why you weren't there. We

0:49

were about like seven or eight and it was

0:52

me and the two lads behind me. Right,

0:55

and for people who know, me and Keith grew up literally

0:58

next door neighbours for our entire lives.

1:00

Yeah, we've known each other since like... Yeah, we all hung out with the same

1:02

friends.

1:03

Yeah, yeah. So I don't know why you weren't there on that

1:05

particular day, but we went out to

1:07

Malhite Castle. Malhite

1:09

Castle, yeah, in Dublin. Yeah. And

1:11

we went, usually, like we kind of started off in the playground and

1:14

go crack, have a bit of fun and we decided to explore

1:16

the woods a little bit around Malhite Castle, which is

1:19

always good fun. Yeah. So we're kind of

1:21

walking around doing our thing and then there

1:23

was,

1:24

we're really in the middle of nowhere at this point. This

1:26

other little kid came up, he's about the

1:28

same age as us or maybe a year

1:30

or two older. Okay. And

1:33

he was just acting a bit odd. He kind of came up

1:35

and just like was talking to us a little bit, but

1:37

just got this vibe off him that, you know, something

1:39

strange about this kid. Okay. You know,

1:41

he said, he was like, do you want to, I want

1:43

to show you something really cool. And we're like, all right. And then

1:46

we kind of

1:47

start walking a little bit with him. He wanted

1:49

to show you some cool, deeper into the forest. Well, he

1:51

said, I want to show you something really cool. I'm like, okay. So

1:53

then he kind of turned, he started walking and we're kind of following him. I thought

1:55

it was just there. And then he was still walking. I was like,

1:57

hang on. Like, where is this thing? He's like, that's

1:59

just.

1:59

just over there, you know? It's

2:03

cool, maybe it's cool, like just

2:04

chill, follow me. And we all

2:07

looked at each other and we're like, no. I think we gotta

2:09

go, man. I think

2:11

his mom's gonna be wondering where we are. I think

2:14

we're gonna go. And he's like, you're not

2:15

leaving. We're like, no, I think we're gonna,

2:17

and at that point we're backing up. And then he went

2:20

after the smallest

2:22

of our group. He grabbed them, threw

2:24

them on the ground. It's like dragging them by his foot. To

2:27

where he's going. We were like, fuck. So we jump

2:29

up, we were like punching him to get them off and stuff. Eventually

2:31

we got him, like he wasn't letting go of the leg,

2:34

he was pulling, even though we were at him.

2:36

And he wouldn't let go of the leg. Eventually we got him off and

2:39

kind of kicked him back and he fell

2:41

back and then we were like, legged it. And he chased

2:43

us the whole way back. What the fuck? Chased

2:45

all the way back to the path. And eventually we got up

2:47

with our friend's mom. We were like, told

2:50

the whole story. And after a walk back to the

2:52

car, he was like

2:53

in the forest, because it's a

2:55

trail back to the car. He was off in

2:57

the forest, maybe like, tell me he was in the forest, we could see him. And he

2:59

followed us the whole way back. Just looking

3:01

for, really fucking

3:04

weird. Like that's what I'm saying. I

3:06

think it's

3:06

like, might've been like, if he's not a serial

3:09

killer now. I

3:11

don't know. That balls you take on like three guys. Yeah,

3:13

exactly. And trying to drag one away. Yeah.

3:16

Wow. I wonder who this kid was. And he grew

3:18

up to be, you.

3:20

Oh. It

3:23

was me that old. You know, as somebody who talks

3:25

about serial killers all the time, I've never encountered any

3:27

weird shit like that. That's probably the best. No

3:29

drama. Yeah, exactly. Not

3:31

yet.

3:31

And what about your ghost, your haunted house? Hopefully

3:34

I will have posted the video or a link to the video

3:36

that you're gonna send me. Yep. Still

3:38

a, still a haunted. Well, I don't know. You

3:40

know, there's a couple of still little

3:43

strange things. We'll have to do a live episode from your haunted house.

3:46

We should do it in the attic. The attic's full of spooky shit. Yeah, we should

3:48

do a ghost hunter episode. I'm trying to avoid the attic.

3:50

The attic's weird. Really? Yeah, it's just,

3:52

it has a vibe. Do you ever hear any like. Yeah,

3:55

but like the house was built like the 1930s. All right, so

3:57

kind of everything makes no noise. Ever makes noise.

3:59

noise happened all the time and yeah

4:02

it's weird but there was one I was

4:04

in and I was in my daughter's room and

4:07

there was like ham prints or there was a ham print

4:09

on the window and I was like

4:11

probably my daughter you know she's hands

4:13

everywhere yeah yeah so I went over and I was like

4:16

went to clean it and

4:17

the ham print was on the outside of

4:19

the window whoa

4:21

that's cool yeah it

4:23

could be in a bird

4:25

that flew into it it looked

4:28

like a bit of a hand a full hand print but

4:31

it looked like a bit of a hand but your daughter's

4:34

tree

4:34

years old true yeah

4:36

so was it like a big hand like was

4:38

it like I mean her hand is quite small well it

4:40

was only a portion like I say it was it

4:43

was more like you know I get like a palm okay

4:45

no so I could kind of see what looked

4:47

like the lines it's also kind

4:49

of like it might have been a bird

4:51

take a bird but sorry you got a picture

4:54

I tried to take a picture of his empathy

4:56

because I think that's weird it's really hard to get a picture

4:58

of like yeah you just look like I was taking

5:00

a tree outside

5:02

okay

5:03

when more creepy shit in your house starts

5:06

happening well I know

5:10

it's up to you but yeah it's good content

5:13

start documenting okay like the moth incident

5:15

happens again yes yeah well I really

5:17

really hope that doesn't happen again well yeah I can do without

5:19

stuff dying in my mouth yeah although again

5:22

it's good sir today is the story of Bob bird Ella

5:24

blood who okay folks

5:26

you know

5:28

we've

5:34

talked about a lot of killers in videos

5:36

and on podcasts

5:38

this guy is it's very rare

5:40

I read the story of somebody and like looking into

5:42

the story somebody who actually if this fucking turns my

5:44

stomach like this is probably one the sickest shit

5:46

it's bad I've had a broken glass I've had to stop a

5:48

couple of times yeah this is really

5:51

a gruesome one he

5:52

would he would do often

5:55

actually what I'm planning on doing to you tonight

5:57

kidnap boys and just spank their

5:59

booties

5:59

night long and have a lot of fun with

6:02

them. Well I'm not even sure if they're out of there.

6:04

Like it's such a heavy case. It's

6:06

just a level of violence,

6:08

this sheer brutality in the killing.

6:11

Depravity, yeah, just forgiveness. For

6:13

me it's like launched this guy to the top

6:15

of my most despised people

6:17

list. I'm not saying that because I've

6:19

had the same person occupying that top spot for a very

6:22

long time. Which is Grandpa Joe

6:24

from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Chomping

6:26

crocodiles, Charlie, we've got a lot to do. Bigger,

6:28

yeah. It's

6:29

a real piece of shit. I'm

6:32

gonna just fucking cook now. Oh no, I can't move.

6:35

Have a ticket. Hey, let's go. Maybe

6:37

keep him at the top, you know, don't be too aced to it knocking him off

6:39

the top of your list.

6:41

So this whole story, it all began on

6:43

Easter weekend, the 2nd of April 1988,

6:45

when police got

6:48

a 911 call that at first, they

6:50

weren't sure whether or not to take seriously.

6:53

A man working as a meter reader

6:55

in the old Hyde Park area of Kansas

6:58

City called in and told the operator that

7:00

he'd just seen a naked man jump out

7:02

of a window of a house across the street.

7:05

He even provided the dispatcher with the exact

7:07

address at 4315 Charlotte Street.

7:11

Luckily for them, and many others, they

7:13

decided it was easy enough to have a patrol

7:16

car go over and have a go.

7:18

Now, this sounds kind of oddly familiar, because

7:20

if you're familiar at all with the story of Jeffrey Dahmer,

7:22

and it's hard not to be, something

7:25

eerily similar happened with him and

7:27

escaping naked man from a serial

7:29

killer's house. This story really is, I

7:31

found true reading it, it's very much

7:33

a fusion between Jeffrey Dahmer

7:36

and John Wayne Gacy, really kind of blending

7:38

the most chilling aspects of both

7:41

into a twisted, sadistic concoction.

7:44

It's like they took all the ingredients for horror

7:46

and stirred it up together into a disturbing

7:49

stew with a slice of fucked up

7:51

bread on its own.

8:01

According to those who knew him best, as

8:03

well as the man himself, Robert, known

8:05

as Bob Burdella, was

8:07

pretty much the definition of a weirdo.

8:09

What could easily have come across as him being simply

8:12

a bit of an eccentric,

8:13

in fact, masked a very dangerous man. Much

8:16

like myself. Exactly like yourself. Try

8:18

to learn here with your whimsical charm only

8:21

a few weeks ago to record some podcasts up and

8:23

I'm still here. I'm not allowed to leave. Hashtag

8:24

pray for Keith. Born on January

8:27

31st, 1949, the man who'd

8:29

eventually become known as the Kansas

8:32

City Butcher, actually he grew up in

8:34

Cleveland, Ohio,

8:35

in a small suburb called Cuyahoga

8:38

Falls to be exact.

8:39

It's about as small as a small Midwestern

8:41

town can be.

8:43

And that's what drew Robert Burdella away

8:45

from the town of his birth.

8:47

In 1967, Robert Burdella

8:49

moved to the city, Kansas City,

8:52

where he would eventually make his name as one of the most

8:54

messed up serial killers of his era.

8:57

Before he made his murderous adventures a thing of

8:59

habit,

8:59

back in Cleveland, Burdella was known

9:02

as a bit of a quiet loner kid, but not

9:04

especially cruel or aggressive.

9:06

Typical of a lot of families throughout the American

9:09

Midwest, Robert had a rather strict, conservative

9:12

religious upbringing. He really did

9:14

like embody just the

9:16

quintessential image of a mincepit,

9:18

like complete with trademark take prescription

9:20

glasses, speech impediment. It

9:23

was a real nerd. His

9:25

teachers even described like they didn't they like they

9:27

thought it was a bit of a pain in the ass and it's believed that his best

9:29

friend was his mom. No,

9:32

which could

9:34

be sweet if you didn't want to kill like six people. I mean,

9:36

yeah, when you look at pictures of him, he's just got yet

9:38

a pretty big thick glasses.

9:40

The big old mustache. He's

9:42

like a bit heavy guy. He kind of just looks unremarkable

9:45

in every way and kind of annoying. I think it's that

9:47

mustache. He doesn't have the cool thick mustache.

9:50

He looks like what he sounds like, I guess is the way I

9:52

would describe him. Me being a neighbor

9:55

next door reached a point

9:57

in his life where he could do monstrous acts.

10:00

Young Robert had a very difficult relationship

10:02

with his father. As the oldest of two boys,

10:05

Robert was subjected to relentless teasing

10:07

from his father, teasing that spiralled

10:10

into outright emotional and physical abuse.

10:13

Robert Burdellia Sr. put an undue

10:15

value on his youngest son's athletic

10:17

prowess, and made sure that Robert

10:20

did not forget it. He

10:22

was definitely more of an indoor child. His

10:25

hobbies included coin

10:27

and stamp collecting. He

10:30

was riding to foreign pen pals as

10:33

well. Have you ever had a pen pal? No,

10:35

because I'm cool. Have you? I

10:41

did. When I was younger, I used

10:43

to ride to my cousin in Australia.

10:45

That doesn't look... It's your cousin. Yeah,

10:47

but I kind of stopped. Because

10:49

I kept riding to him and he was like, Oh yeah,

10:52

I went surfing again for the second time this week

10:54

and I seen this really cool animal out

10:56

of the outback. And then I was like riding back like, Oh

10:58

cool, I think my mum is making stew again. Sat

11:01

inside all day and just watched the rain. I

11:03

was like fuck this guy. Just like, fuck you, fuck

11:05

this really. I'll

11:08

be getting bit by a genet's point. I'll be getting

11:10

bit by a shirt.

11:11

Though he had briefly had a girlfriend in his teens,

11:14

Rudella realised early on that he was actually gay

11:16

and he had no interest in dating women.

11:19

Obviously times were very different and so for the

11:21

entirety of his youth and the majority of his life though,

11:24

Rudella kept his sexuality to himself.

11:27

When he was just 16 years old, at

11:29

maybe the most crucial point in his adolescence,

11:31

Robert turned to the church for

11:34

comfort in the wake of his father's sudden

11:36

death from

11:36

a heart attack at just 39, very

11:39

very young age of a heart attack.

11:40

Later after having found little comfort

11:43

in the church he'd grown up in, Rudella

11:44

later claimed that it was this period

11:46

in his life and his struggle for understanding that would

11:49

first ignite his interests in the occult

11:52

and some of the more obscure religious

11:54

groups.

11:55

Satanism especially caught his

11:57

attention. A lot would be made of his interest,

11:59

I'm Rudella. himself would later refute those.

12:02

This had nothing to do with his crimes. He just liked Satan

12:04

and thought it was pretty fucking cool, which I agree. I love

12:06

a good Satanist story,

12:08

but I think a lot of what was said around Burdella

12:11

and Satanism was more on like media hype. It's

12:13

always it grabs the attention we say, satanic

12:16

cult. Exactly. We will get into

12:18

what was found in his apartment a little later on, but

12:20

I think

12:21

he was more just a nerd who was fascinated with

12:23

collecting strange cult objects

12:26

rather than actually buying into

12:28

the lifestyle and worshiping Satan. Like

12:30

I mentioned earlier, he had his foreign pen pals

12:33

and they used to send them like photographs and

12:35

mythical and historical icons and architecture.

12:37

And this is where his love of artifacts

12:40

and antiques really came from. With that said

12:42

though, Bob is still a monster and he may actually be the devil

12:44

himself.

12:46

The death of his father wasn't the only formative

12:48

experience of Burdella's teen years.

12:51

Something that would make a long lasting impact

12:53

on him was something that millions of us do

12:55

every day. That was a trip to the cinema. In

12:57

this case, Burdella saw a film that would have unforeseen

13:00

consequences for a lot more

13:02

than

13:02

just Robert himself. Based

13:04

on a novel by John Fells, the movie

13:06

in question was William Weiler's The Collector.

13:09

I haven't seen it, don't know anything about it.

13:11

But the film's protagonist is Freddy, played

13:13

by Terrence Stamp,

13:15

a man who is socially withdrawn and finds

13:17

solace in collecting butterflies.

13:19

When

13:19

that is no longer enough for him, he decides to

13:21

collect human beings instead. Yeah,

13:24

so the whole movie is essentially a blueprint for how Burdella's

13:27

own life turned out. Whereas

13:28

most people, especially teenagers,

13:30

would be aspiring to be like a big screen

13:33

action hero, Burdella chose to model himself

13:35

on a social recruits who'd end up becoming a serial

13:37

killer. Burdella, he did claim that when he saw

13:39

this something inside him changed. But

13:41

I couldn't have done this for this single reason.

13:44

As you mentioned before, there was all the trauma in his photo

13:47

having heard like, he had a hard time on Christmas Day. Oh,

13:49

really? Wow. He died two days later.

13:52

But the hard actually happened on Christmas Day. And

13:54

there was also the fact that Bob himself, he was actually

13:57

sexually assaulted by a male coworker when

13:59

he was a wine coworker.

13:59

It's always easier

14:02

to play one thing than the myriad of social

14:04

and economical things that can fuck you up

14:06

and psychological things that can fuck you up. It's like

14:08

so much easier to say, oh no this is one thing. Yeah,

14:11

this is one thing. It's like why do kids become

14:13

psychos and killers? Video games. It's

14:15

not all the other social and psychological things that

14:17

are a lot harder to fix. Nope, it's video

14:19

games.

14:21

Definitely video

14:24

games.

14:24

Fatality.

14:29

Bridel's resentment towards women was reinforced

14:31

when his mother remarried shortly after

14:33

his father's death. Bridel saw

14:35

it as a betrayal and added it to

14:37

the huge pile of issues he had already had with

14:40

women. You know, it's actually kind of shocking

14:42

that none of his victims were women giving his hatred

14:44

towards them.

14:45

Initially, it seemed that his problem with the female

14:47

gender

14:48

came from nothing more than his messed up mind

14:50

and the divorce. And

14:51

that was something he used to justify his

14:54

pre-existing issues to himself.

14:56

In the summer of 67, two

14:58

years after he'd seen the movie The Collector,

15:01

Bob graduated from Kuyahoga Falls

15:04

High School. It's actually Cuyahoga. Cuyahoga?

15:06

Well fuck you for fucking… I looked it up, I looked it up. Well,

15:09

I don't fucking care. If you ever correct

15:11

me again, your face is going

15:13

through the wall. Cuyahoga.

15:17

I don't care. Anyways,

15:19

he did well throughout his studies earning several academic

15:22

awards and promotions.

15:23

It was shortly after graduation that Bob

15:25

Burdella took off on the road and moved to Kansas

15:28

City to attend the Kansas City Art

15:30

Institute with the aim of ultimately becoming

15:32

a professor at the college.

15:34

Once more, Burdella was considered to be

15:37

a very involved and bright student and was

15:39

dedicated to his studies. That didn't

15:41

last too long and the second year he dropped off completely.

15:44

He was really starting to show signs of being a serial

15:46

killer. Usually with serial killers

15:48

you see signs of a very early age but he

15:51

was a bit of a late bloomer. Well,

15:53

he definitely made a break. He caught up pretty quickly. Burdella's

15:55

academic career came to an end

15:58

in 1969 when he decided to take off on the road. it

16:00

would be a great idea to decapitate

16:02

a duck and cook it,

16:04

all in the name of art, in front of his fellow

16:06

students and teachers.

16:08

Obviously the college authorities didn't quite see

16:10

it the same way and thought it best that they went

16:12

their separate ways.

16:13

I feel like Bob seeing himself as a

16:16

sort of a genius at this point. He

16:18

also did another art project in which

16:21

he created a small maze where

16:23

anyone that entered was given a little baby chicken

16:25

in front of the hole while they go through the maze.

16:28

Then at the end of the maze they were met with

16:30

a little short film

16:32

of a different baby chicken that was

16:34

just pecking away and enjoying

16:36

life until someone off screen

16:39

killed it with a shotgun. The

16:43

sheer shock of witnessing such a fellow

16:46

demise led to some participants to have

16:48

involuntary reactions which cause injury

16:50

or sometimes even accidentally killing baby chickens. Oh

16:52

they would like jump almost and squeeze at

16:54

us. It was just the noise of the shotgun going

16:56

off and then it squeezed and

16:59

sometimes chickens got hurt and sometimes they killed them. Bob

17:01

he was just off to the

17:02

side watching the whole thing

17:05

and it really seems that this was the beginning of his

17:07

really cruel psychological games

17:09

with people. That's really fucked up.

17:11

So Bob's first experience with the law came

17:13

a year prior and it had nothing to do with the violent

17:15

sort of crimes that would make him infamous.

17:17

See old Bobby boy absolutely loved

17:20

the drugs.

17:21

In fact he went through pretty much all the recreational

17:24

drugs you can imagine

17:26

and as it so often goes he ended up selling

17:28

them in order to support his own experiments

17:30

with various potions and various powders.

17:33

Bridella put the change in his aspirations

17:35

down to the crowd he'd fallen in with during

17:37

his college time.

17:39

Though he was often seen to be antisocial

17:41

and aloof with others Bob managed

17:43

to befriend a group who introduced him to drugs and

17:45

the rest is history. The fall it was quick

17:48

and it was fast and after not too long Bob Bridella

17:50

was arrested after trying to sell meth to

17:52

an undercover police officer.

17:54

He got lucky on this occasion and was released after

17:56

posting the three thousand dollar bond.

17:59

In the end here's the end.

17:59

a five year suspended sentence.

18:02

But whatever it was that kept him out of jail that

18:04

time, Bob had enough of it to get him second

18:06

arrest less than a month after the first.

18:09

This time it was possession of LSD

18:11

and weed and unlike the first, he

18:13

couldn't post veiled slime and was in jail

18:15

for five days.

18:17

Then his luck came true and the charges against

18:19

him and another student were dropped. Back

18:22

in 1969 and Robert Bimidell he

18:24

had then moved into an address on Charlotte

18:26

Street. Same address which I mentioned

18:28

at the top he would eventually make notorious.

18:31

Things actually started out on a real high note

18:33

for him and he even earned himself a bit of

18:35

a reputation as an all-round swell

18:37

guy. Just really, you know, salt

18:39

of the earth.

18:40

He participated in organizing

18:43

a local community crime watch program. So

18:45

I'm starting to think like he might have thought like crime watch was

18:47

a different thing. Oh yeah, I love watching crime.

18:49

Murder's my favorite. What's

18:52

that? Oh, he tried to prevent crime.

18:57

Unknown to his neighbors, Burdella would frequently

18:59

have male sex workers over having lived

19:01

openly as a gay man for a few years

19:03

after moving into his new home. He had

19:05

this reputation as a good egg by supporting and currently

19:07

nurturing addicts and prostitutes to give up their criminal

19:09

ways and change their lives.

19:11

Little did they know about his own indulgences.

19:14

It was a bold move in the 70s to come

19:16

out as gay. Especially in like, you know, Midwest in these places.

19:19

Yeah, I felt like it was still kind of maybe it was

19:21

like a bit of a shock. Like it was used

19:23

to shock people. Yeah, we love doing

19:25

that.

19:26

But yeah, I would say like Bob, he frequently

19:28

with these people, he frequently bartered rent

19:30

with these vulnerable young men in exchange

19:32

for their assistance, like around the house or

19:35

the order of services, often

19:37

in a sexual nature. Yeah. And then like, additionally,

19:39

he would manipulate these individuals into recruiting

19:42

other destitute men from the streets and bringing

19:44

them to Bob's residence. So it was like he

19:46

had this like sadistic pyramid scheme in

19:48

place. It was kind of like a bit of a pimp.

19:50

For most of the duration of the 70s and the early

19:52

80s, Bob Burdella has supported himself

19:55

by working as a short order cook in various

19:57

restaurants around Kansas. But

19:59

later. Bob opened a shop appropriately

20:02

called Bob's Bazaar

20:04

Bazaar in 1982.

20:06

That was from his booth at

20:09

the Westport Flea Market and there he

20:11

dealt with antiques and oddities

20:13

from around the world.

20:16

Anything connected to the spiritual

20:18

was his wheelhouse but he would also

20:20

deal in whatever fucking make money. If this

20:22

was today white girls would flock to

20:24

a all wearing t-shirts.

20:26

I'm a descendant of the witches

20:29

you didn't burn. You know

20:31

crystals which in fairness now when I say white

20:34

girls I mean you and me. I would be there today.

20:36

I've actually I've had to stop wearing like my witchy t-shirts.

20:39

I'd stop because I had a couple of teenagers

20:41

come up to me and say oh I love your t-shirt I have

20:43

the same one. That might happen to me twice but

20:46

yeah that was enough. Yeah when 16 year old girls

20:48

are telling a 33 year old man they had

20:50

the same taste. It's time to stop. Yeah

20:52

I know but it's cool I love witchy t-shirts. Me

20:55

too. I love you Aaron. Yeah I know

20:56

I don't care. Just let me be myself. Now

21:00

so this turned our Bobby into a bit of a

21:02

hoarder.

21:03

He would use his own house as a store for

21:05

his for a stock overflow and

21:07

Bob was known to be just a little light fingered on occasion

21:10

in his acquisitions of items for

21:12

his shop.

21:13

Just like his academic career and his culinary

21:15

adventures his business went well for

21:18

time and was successful enough to be

21:20

Bob Burdell's only source of income.

21:22

However later the search of Bob Burdell's

21:25

house unearthed a whole heap

21:27

of horrors.

21:29

In addition to the handwritten logs

21:31

and photographs and a pair of human skulls

21:33

detectives found a stack of

21:35

occult literature and even a robe

21:38

apparently for use in satanic rituals.

21:41

After searching Burdell's house investigators

21:44

turned their attention to the rest of his property.

21:47

But surprisingly they didn't come up short

21:49

finding another human skull and more and more

21:51

pieces of bone.

21:53

Police found various devices that had been used

21:56

to torture Burdell's victims.

21:58

came out and

22:01

the police found skulls in his home.

22:04

People were like, hang on a second, he

22:06

sold a lot of human skulls. But

22:09

they tracked down the skulls he sold and

22:11

they tested them off. And fortunately, most of the skulls

22:14

were actually not real apart from one. But

22:16

that was way too old

22:18

to be part of like any recent murders. So yeah,

22:20

so he hung on to the real skulls

22:22

for himself. Speaking of selling skulls, I was reading

22:24

news recently that there was a store

22:27

in Salem, Massachusetts. And it's

22:29

kind of like Bob's Bazaar Bazaar. It's sold

22:32

creepy shit, witchy shit. And like in Salem,

22:34

there's a load of those kind of stores. And there's a lot of them are pretty cool,

22:37

but they sell bones and skulls and a

22:39

lot of it's fake, but it just looks, you

22:41

know, it's pretty aesthetic.

22:43

But this one was selling real ones. And they, I

22:45

think the lady who ran it, correct me if I'm

22:47

wrong, I don't know if I'm wrong, but I believe she just got arrested by

22:49

like the FBI because it turned out a mortuary

22:51

was

22:52

selling her this stuff. Bones,

22:54

skulls, human shit. And she was selling it and

22:56

reselling it. And shop in Salem.

22:59

Yeah, I remember. Because actually the name of the store,

23:01

I hadn't been to it because

23:02

I've been to Salem a couple of times. I hadn't been to it, but

23:05

I knew the name like the name rang a bell and

23:07

yeah, she's been arrested. Apparently the FBI were searching

23:09

her place and like searching her car and

23:11

yeah, nearby mortuary was. Yeah. Cause

23:13

you kind of just expect those skulls to be fake.

23:16

I always go home and it's, it's, I

23:18

use it as a money box. Yeah. Oh, I've one

23:20

here and it looks real, but it's like obviously concrete. I

23:23

don't like it's illegal to sell them, but I think it's

23:25

like, I think it does have to go through like you can't

23:27

just like fucking grave off essentially, which is

23:29

what they were doing. But okay. So speaking of

23:31

Bob, so yeah, let's skip forward a few years

23:33

and this is kind of the part of the story. So as

23:36

you'll notice, by the way, I'm telling this story, I'm not telling

23:38

it kind of in chronological way

23:40

because almost like halfway through the story, you have to put a disclaimer

23:43

and like, okay, now we're getting into the dark shit when we're going

23:45

to go through each of

23:46

his victims though. Just be warned

23:48

listeners. It's okay now, but it

23:50

gets so much worse. Yeah, it gets a lot worse. So

23:53

let's skip out a few years when a man was seen escaping

23:55

from Bob's house nakedly and

23:57

then there was a subsequent search of his property.

24:00

The detectives searching the house weren't even sure what they

24:02

found was real. You see, Burdella had so much random

24:04

and odd shite crammed into his house related

24:07

to his witchy hobbies and Bob's bazaar, investigators

24:10

had no idea what was actual murder evidence

24:12

and what was just creepy, you

24:14

know, horror stuff. Unfortunately

24:16

for Burdella, as I mentioned, he kept

24:18

detailed records of exactly what he did

24:21

to each one of his victims.

24:23

Just in case that didn't paint a vivid enough picture, Bob

24:25

also took hundreds of biographic

24:28

polaroids of the victims in various

24:30

positions.

24:31

Going to trial likely would have resulted in a death

24:34

penalty conviction, so instead Burdella

24:36

and the defense quickly stuck a deal to

24:39

save

24:39

his life in exchange for life

24:41

in prison. In return, Bob

24:44

gave a detailed and graphic confession of

24:46

six murders over

24:48

an almost four year period.

24:51

Burdella's

24:51

crime started relatively late

24:53

in life compared to a lot of serial killers and

24:55

he wasn't active for too long.

24:57

All in all, from the first to last murder,

25:00

it only spanned from July 5th, 1984 to July

25:04

9th, 1987. So

25:06

before we dive in, I just want

25:08

to give you a heads up that I have a couple of emergency

25:10

lighthearted facts on standby. So

25:13

there may be moments during these accounts that really

25:16

kind of push you critically close to

25:18

just losing your faith in humanity. You

25:20

can get some ice breakers. If you

25:22

feel like you're teething on the edge of despair, just

25:25

say the word and I'll hit you up with a delightful

25:28

little fact to live your spirits. So for instance,

25:30

do you know that a single strand of spaghetti

25:32

is actually called

25:33

Spaghetti? I did not, but I like

25:36

that. Delightful. Yeah, it is. A

25:38

Spaghetti though. Throw them in when you feel appropriate when we've been going

25:40

getting dark for a while. Because we're going to the past.

25:43

So his first victim was named Jerry Howell,

25:46

age 19, and this was on July 5th, 1984.

25:49

According to Burdella himself, Burdella's first

25:52

admitted victim, like an emphasis

25:54

on admitted here because we are only,

25:57

I mean, it's only Burdella's word. We have heard this

25:59

entire story in his.

25:59

profession. It was 19-year-old

26:02

Jerry. Jerry Hell was the

26:04

son of a fellow booth owner at the flea

26:06

market, and Burdella was already well

26:08

acquainted with Paul at the time of the murder

26:10

of his son. Burdella

26:12

told authorities that he had promised

26:14

to take young Jerry to a dancing contest

26:16

on the 5th of July, 1984.

26:18

Instead, Burdella

26:20

gave Jerry spiked drinks in his

26:22

car and then again at his home, offering

26:25

him extra drugs including diazepam.

26:28

When Jerry Hell eventually began slipping

26:30

in and out of consciousness, Burdella,

26:32

in an effort to keep

26:34

him that way,

26:35

injected the teenager with a strong

26:38

sedative that knocked him out completely. Honestly,

26:39

it's kind of surprising

26:42

he didn't actually overdose him and just kill him. But

26:44

that would have been merciful compared to

26:47

what would come next for 19-year-old Jerry.

26:51

In terms of serial killing, he really

26:54

deviated from the norm in the situation. Typically, victims

26:56

are strangers. Although

26:59

sometimes the killer will potentially

27:01

observe beforehand. But with Bob's case,

27:03

he knew Jerry well. Yeah,

27:06

the son of his fucking neighbor Paul or his

27:08

work neighbor, work colleague, whatever you want to call it, the

27:10

guy who ran the next stall over. Yeah, it would have been. He

27:12

would have seen Paul every day and he's been

27:14

killing his son. Yeah, for a good reason. Yeah.

27:17

When Jerry came back to consciousness, he'd

27:19

been tied to the bed in Burdella's

27:21

bedroom

27:23

for more than 24 hours.

27:26

Fuck, man. Burdella proceeded to carry

27:28

out his sick fantasies continuously

27:30

sedating Jerry with drugs and then relentlessly

27:33

torturing and,

27:34

well, raping

27:36

him and violating him and... fuck. Can

27:39

we even back to these already? Fun fact

27:41

time already. Fun fact, a blob

27:43

of toothpaste that goes on your toothbrush is called

27:46

a nardle. A nardle? That's a fun word.

27:48

I like that.

27:50

Throughout the non-stop abuse, Jerry repeatedly

27:52

begged we let go and asked Burdella why

27:54

he was doing this to him.

27:56

Burdella, of course, had no answer for him and just shoved

27:58

a gag into his mouth.

27:59

which is likely what caused Jerry's death.

28:02

Riddella insisted Jerry died by accident

28:04

and it wasn't his intention to kill him,

28:06

even insisting that he attempted to revive

28:09

Jerry with CPR,

28:11

though how exactly he expected to keep Jerry

28:13

prisoner and not be found out contradicts that.

28:16

It's likely what he actually meant

28:18

was that he hadn't intended to kill him just

28:20

yet. So

28:22

Jerry and Bob did wear a sleeping together

28:24

before all this had started. And

28:26

Jerry refused to have sex with Bob that night and

28:29

this rejection left Bob

28:31

frustrated. So this

28:32

was from his account again. So that's why he

28:34

drove Jerry to get his way and

28:37

then I guess his sadistic needs kind of took

28:39

over. Another thing is like,

28:41

which we'll see with all of his other killings, is that

28:44

he took meticulous notes

28:46

of every single thing that he did to Jerry.

28:48

I feel this is really shows that how

28:50

much he was enjoying the power he had over Jerry at

28:53

the time and he wanted to make sure he was capturing

28:55

every detail so he could relive it

28:57

again and again. He noted

29:00

details

29:01

such as a quantity or drugs he

29:03

gave, at what time, but he also noted every time

29:05

he sodomized Jerry and what

29:07

position he used.

29:09

So he noted FF, which was

29:11

front fuck, BF for a

29:13

butt fuck and then CF. Do

29:16

you know what CF is? Do I want to know what CF

29:18

is? Not really, it's a carrot fuck. What?

29:22

Carrot fuck. Carrot. Oh with a carrot,

29:25

okay wow. Oh sorry I actually didn't even register

29:27

because it was that so fucked up. I must have let that

29:29

horrifying little tidbit just leave it for a minute. If

29:31

you got another one of them fun facts you're gonna

29:34

run out of them I think with this story. The

29:36

national animal of Scotland is a unicorn.

29:38

Really? That's pretty cool. That's

29:41

pretty cool. I would tell his Loch Ness Monster because at least that's the one they actually

29:43

have.

29:44

It didn't take long for Bredella to abandon any

29:46

ideas of regret or empathy and instead

29:49

after killing Jerry he dragged his body down to

29:51

the basement.

29:52

Bredella hanged Jerry's corpse from a beam

29:54

in the ceiling suspended over a large

29:56

cooking pot.

29:57

He then made cuts to Jerry's joints

29:59

onto his neck before leaving him there

30:02

overnight until all the blood drained from his

30:04

body.

30:05

The next morning, Bridella used a chainsaw

30:07

to dissect Jerry's exsanguidated

30:10

remains and further cut them down with a boning

30:12

knife. Once he'd finished with the butchery,

30:14

Bridella packed each of the pieces in trash bags

30:17

and newspaper.

30:18

The wrapped sections were then placed into

30:20

larger bags

30:21

and then put

30:22

out on the curb to be collected and taken away like

30:24

any other normal garbage.

30:26

So yeah, it was just the easy

30:29

way possible to get rid of a body. Garbage men will do

30:31

it. I can't decide if disposing of the body in

30:33

this way was like ballsy and arrogant or

30:36

stupid and lucky. Bridella used Jerry Hell's

30:38

struggles

30:39

and desperation for his own twisted gratification.

30:42

Jerry's father, Paul, always

30:44

believed that Bridella was responsible for his

30:46

young son's disappearance and even worked

30:48

with the police for years to try and pin something on

30:51

Bob.

30:52

Without a body though, the police had little to go on and

30:54

despite putting Bob under surveillance at the time,

30:57

they couldn't get anything solid to use

30:59

against him. Bridella

31:00

did say that he was ashamed of

31:03

what he had done and he'd hit away his

31:05

notes and Polaroids that he took from

31:07

that night for months, he said. And

31:09

then slowly but surely he

31:11

started taking them out and taking a look

31:13

every now and again until

31:15

eventually he was full on, let's say,

31:17

tickling the pickle, hand-gland combat. So

31:19

with the police sniffing around and Bridella's appetite

31:21

apparently sated by his first foray

31:32

into

31:37

murder, that was enough at least to keep

31:39

him happy and quiet for the rest of 1984 and a

31:42

large chunk of 1985.

31:44

It wouldn't be until April of 1985 that Bridella's

31:47

dark passenger would rear its ugly

31:49

head once

31:50

again. In early April

31:52

of 1985, Bridella was approached by

31:55

20-year-old Robert Sheldon.

31:57

Robert had stayed with Bridella as a larger person.

31:59

previously and once again asked if he could

32:02

stay with him.

32:03

Sheldon had argued with his girlfriend and

32:05

she'd thrown him out in his arse.

32:07

In his confession, Burdella seemed overly

32:09

eager to make it known he did not

32:11

find Sheldon attractive and that hadn't been

32:14

the motivation behind the assault. Burdella

32:16

agreed to take Sheldon back in as a tenant

32:18

and put him up in his home.

32:20

It's amazing how many people

32:22

put their trust into Burdella only for him to

32:25

rear his head as a horrible monster.

32:28

Just as with Jerry though, Burdella was quick to take

32:30

advantage of Sheldon. On April

32:32

12th, Burdella claimed he'd come home

32:35

from work to find Sheldon drunk in

32:37

his house,

32:38

annoyed by his new housemate and finding him

32:40

to be an all-round inconvenience

32:42

whereas most people would say, would

32:44

you fucking leave? Burdella instead

32:47

decided to drug and torture Sheldon

32:49

just as he'd done with Jerry Howell.

32:52

Apparently due to Sheldon's history

32:54

with drink he'd actually built up quite a high tolerance so

32:56

the drugs that Burdella gave him only like made

32:58

him a little bit wobbly.

33:01

Yeah yeah unfortunately

33:03

it wouldn't be enough.

33:06

As would end

33:08

up being a bit of a pattern where Bob's killings

33:10

each one would be another step up.

33:12

This time, after he'd sedated

33:14

Sheldon with the same drugs that he'd used on Howell,

33:17

in an effort to hinder any attempt at escape,

33:20

Burdella injected

33:21

drain cleaner into

33:24

Sheldon's eyes,

33:26

which is honestly probably the most fucked up thing

33:29

I've ever heard. Yeah it's awful.

33:32

With Sheldon blinded and bound by

33:34

piano wire,

33:35

Burdella forced builders cough

33:37

into his ears and needles under

33:40

his fingernails. Jesus Christ

33:42

like that's a fun fact of time.

33:44

He's blinded, he's deaf

33:46

and he's needles under his fingernails. Vikings

33:49

used to give kittens as wedding presents. Really

33:52

yeah Vikings love cats. Fun

33:54

fact, you know Freya is a Viking Nordic

33:57

god and cats are like her familiar. Yeah.

33:59

Bredella later

34:01

admitted that he used Sheldon to take

34:03

out his frustrations and anger that had built

34:05

up towards people and society in general.

34:08

This time,

34:09

the torture lasted four days in total.

34:12

Once again, Bredella would insist he didn't want

34:14

to kill Robert, but his hand had been forced.

34:16

Although, he had already ejected a drain cleaner into his eyes,

34:18

so I'm not too sure about that.

34:21

On April 15th, Bredella

34:24

came home to find a workman on his roof

34:26

carrying out planned maintenance work. In

34:28

a panic that Sheldon would be discovered,

34:31

Bredella decided he'd better do away with the evidence.

34:34

So later that day, he placed a bag over Sheldon's

34:36

head and tightened a rope around his neck,

34:38

which suffocated him, killing him.

34:40

Just as he had with Jerry Howell, he dissected

34:43

the young man's body, this

34:44

time forgoing the overnight draining

34:46

of the blood

34:47

and changing the venue from the basement to the

34:49

third floor bathroom. For

34:51

that, he used the chainsaw again to

34:53

remove Sheldon's head,

34:56

which he put in the freezer. After a few

34:58

days, he took it out and buried it in the backyard.

35:01

He did this because he wanted to school.

35:03

But

35:03

once again... Good money there. He's going to

35:05

sell it in his bazaar. Yeah, exactly. Make a few more better.

35:07

But yeah, the rest of the body that was

35:09

taken again, but I had garbage. I had the garbage, man. Yeah.

35:13

Yeah. It's fucked up that he was

35:15

still going to work this whole

35:17

time. The

35:19

flea market business doesn't stop. No, we got a tick,

35:21

tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. You hear that?

35:24

I got to stay in that grind, bro. Yeah, that's it.

35:26

The next murder would be two months

35:28

later. And whether it was because an easy

35:31

opportunity presented itself or he just would have

35:33

grabbed another victim, regardless, it's impossible

35:35

to know.

35:36

What Burdella told investigators was

35:38

that he'd found a young man named Mark

35:41

Wallace hiding in his garden shed.

35:44

20-year-old Wallace was a runaway, unlike

35:46

their prior to was already known to

35:48

Bob. He'd done some yard work for some quick

35:50

and easy cash. And so like Jerry

35:53

Howell and Robert Sheldon,

35:55

he trusted Bob.

35:59

feel like watching a movie. No don't

36:02

go in there. Yeah don't go in there. Yeah. Burdella

36:05

invited him inside and quickly noticed that

36:07

Wallace was showing several obvious signs of

36:09

anxiety and depression and so Burdella

36:11

was thinking oh hey you know I'll

36:13

exploit that. You look like you need to chill

36:15

out. You look like I can give you something to calm

36:18

you down. Oh my.

36:20

According to Burdella, Wallace is more than happy

36:22

to let himself be injected

36:24

with chloroprosamine which is better known

36:26

as well essentially it's a strong anti-psychotic

36:29

medication with a strong effect causing drowsiness

36:31

and even a loss of consciousness.

36:33

Obviously not a good state for anybody to

36:36

be in around Bob Burdella

36:38

and obviously Burdella jumped on this to

36:41

make Wallace his new plaything.

36:44

Third time around torture was far less drawn

36:46

out but

36:47

Burdella was pretty much just as cruel

36:49

and creative.

36:50

Just a day after being taken prisoner

36:52

Wallace died

36:53

likely due to the large amount of drugs in his system

36:56

combined with the gag used to keeping

36:58

quiet

36:59

which deprived him of visibility to breathe.

37:02

Before that moment came Wallace had been subjected

37:04

to Burdella's

37:05

experiments. Burdella inserted

37:08

needles into Wallace's muscles just to find

37:10

out what the result would be.

37:12

Maybe even worse he attached clips to his

37:14

nipples and delivered electric shocks

37:16

through a transformer plugged into the mains

37:19

which

37:19

would have been as you can imagine extremely painful

37:21

and as again Burdella keeping detailed

37:23

records documenting the entire thing

37:26

with his camera all the while doing all the other

37:28

sick shit that you can imagine Bob was doing

37:30

to him which I don't need to go over again.

37:33

Honestly it's kind of amazing he didn't have a video camera

37:35

because he... Thank god thank

37:38

god yeah exactly.

37:39

Burdella's records noted that Wallace succumbed to

37:41

asphyxiation around 7 pm on

37:43

the 23rd of June the

37:45

day after he'd willingly walked into

37:47

Burdella's house.

37:49

The next victim would be in September

37:52

of 1985 and whatever it was about 1985 that made

37:55

it just such a dangerous time to be in contact

37:57

with Burdella well I don't know what it was

37:59

but it

37:59

carried on. On this occasion there was no

38:02

spur of the moment decision.

38:04

This time Bob Riddella knew exactly what

38:06

he was planning on doing when he met a 20 year

38:08

old acquaintance named James Ferris for

38:10

a drink at the bar.

38:12

Earlier on that day

38:14

James had called Riddella and asked if he could

38:16

crash at his house for a short time. Riddella

38:18

claimed later that when he had accepted the request from

38:20

James Ferris this was the first time he

38:22

did so with the specific intention of imprisoning

38:24

and torturing the young man. Why

38:27

would he lie about that?

38:30

It doesn't really matter anyway but he's still the

38:32

same piece of shit who would do the same disgusting things.

38:35

Riddella drugged James with food he gave

38:37

him shortly after arriving at his house and then tied

38:39

him to the bed while he was still unconscious.

38:42

When he woke James was subjected to

38:44

the same routine the previous

38:46

victims had been. It

38:47

started with shocks to his shoulders, to

38:50

his genitals, shocks that lasted

38:52

up to 5 minutes continuously

38:54

at a time. Then

38:56

it was back to Bob's amateur acupuncture

38:58

using hypodermic

39:07

needles and stabbing them into his neck into his genitals

39:10

doing all sorts of shit and over the next few

39:12

hours he became delirious and struggled

39:15

to stay conscious.

39:16

Obviously that didn't matter to Bob he still

39:19

carried on

39:20

eventually scribbling in his notes that James

39:22

couldn't sit up for more than a few seconds at a time and

39:24

was struggling to breathe.

39:26

The last entry in Riddella's torture notes was

39:28

simply 86

39:29

which is a term chefs

39:32

use which means done.

39:35

It's done. Sure it is. And 86 it. Would

39:38

you like an artifact? Yeah

39:41

I could use a good one to be honest with you right now we could use

39:43

one to break the ice. All major

39:45

league baseball umpires have to wear black underwear

39:48

in case they're pants split.

39:49

I know that. There you

39:51

go.

40:00

For the rest of 1985, he didn't get another

40:02

victim.

40:03

Maybe Bob Chooey didn't come up,

40:05

or he just didn't,

40:06

you know, find anybody, was able to sate

40:08

himself on all the pictures and documentation he had.

40:10

But

40:10

his next victim wouldn't be until June of 1986.

40:14

Is there something about

40:16

the summertime that brought out

40:18

the demon? A big bob-a-bully.

40:22

It was in the middle of June 1986 that

40:24

Bob Burdella happened to bump into 23-year-old

40:28

Todd Stoops.

40:29

Stoops and his wife were both drug addicts

40:31

who had stayed with Burdella in the past.

40:34

Burdella

40:34

had even paid Todd for sexual

40:37

favors

40:38

with his wife's knowledge, usually for

40:40

drug money.

40:41

And that's how Burdella lured Stoops in,

40:43

offering to, you know, offering to get him something to

40:46

eat and then the equivalent of $35 in exchange for some sex.

40:49

So Todd needed to fix he accepted the offer and

40:51

tagged along with Burdella back to the house

40:54

at 4315 Charlotte Street.

40:56

Stoops

41:01

was the first victim that Burdella admitted

41:03

he was really attracted to, which was

41:05

about a thing.

41:07

And that's why he wanted to keep him.

41:10

That's

41:10

also likely why he started out slower

41:12

with the torture, maybe fearing that going

41:14

too extreme too quickly would kill him before

41:16

he'd had all his fun.

41:19

Once more, Burdella repeated the routine

41:21

of needles and electric shocks building

41:24

up slowly, but eventually getting more

41:26

and more brutal in time.

41:28

And Stoops was captive for a lot

41:31

longer than the others for over two weeks

41:34

in total.

41:35

During which he was stabbed with needles, he was shocked,

41:37

he was starved.

41:38

And on one occasion, Burdella got

41:41

so annoyed by Stoops screaming

41:43

for help

41:44

that he injected drain cleaner

41:46

into his throat.

41:48

Rather than injecting drain cleaner into Todd's

41:50

eyes like he had done previously, Burdella decided

41:53

to mix it up and he applied electric shocks

41:55

directly to Todd's eyeballs,

41:57

blinding him. Stoops

41:59

begged him. at least for someone to eat, but Radella refused

42:02

and continued the abuse, ramping

42:05

things up.

42:07

On the 27th of June, Radella,

42:09

uh, fuck.

42:12

This is one of those things where it's

42:15

in the description, like, I don't even know if I can say the words.

42:17

Um, he, uh,

42:21

fuck, how do you, uh, he,

42:23

he put his fist and his forearm into,

42:25

uh, the young guy.

42:27

And I'm sure you can imagine how.

42:29

Um, yep, he did this

42:31

so violently, he ruptured Todd

42:33

Stoop's internal organs, uh,

42:36

for one of a better word.

42:37

Probably knowing the end was near for Todd, uh,

42:40

Radella finally renched and tried to give Todd

42:42

some soup and later some ice cream,

42:45

but for obvious fucking reasons, uh,

42:47

ruptured bells,

42:49

he couldn't eat.

42:50

And according to Radella's handwritten notes,

42:53

Stoop's finally passed away on

42:55

the 1st of July, 1986.

42:57

And the last day or so before he died, Radella

42:59

noted that Todd couldn't even breathe while

43:02

in the seated position.

43:04

During the investigation into his crimes,

43:06

a forensic pathologist determined

43:09

that Stoop's had most likely died of septic

43:11

shock caused by ruptured bells.

43:14

Yeah. Fact please. Any

43:17

of them is good. There are not

43:19

enough lighthearted facts.

43:22

Here's a fact. Life has no meaning and

43:24

there is no God. Okay. Sounds good.

43:26

Yeah. That's, that tracks that tracks of what I've

43:28

been going through so far. Also, like something that

43:30

really reveals just his

43:33

wicked and heartless nature. Like

43:36

you needed any more proof. Yeah. And

43:38

is that even after Radella ruptured

43:41

Todd's internal

43:44

organs, he didn't stop there. He

43:46

continued to subject him to prolonged acts

43:49

of sodomy days after. So

43:53

just so people know, I'm drinking a bud light while

43:56

you record this podcast. And I really wish it was

43:58

something a lot fucking stronger. I think

44:00

I'll have a whiskey after this episode. I

44:02

think I need a whiskey and a hug. Yeah.

44:06

The next victim was Larry Wayne Pearson, aged 20

44:08

years old, and this was on July 9th, 1987. So

44:12

after the most gruesome

44:14

one, Bredella went to ground and he hibernated

44:17

for almost a year. But then, springs

44:19

and game were called. And

44:21

Bredella, he managed to strike. I

44:24

have to try and keep a light on that. You

44:26

know, we get coded at very depths of

44:28

despair. I know, I'll sing. I'll sing, yes,

44:30

exactly.

44:31

Bredella managed to strike up a friendship with a

44:33

20-year-old man named Larry Pearson.

44:36

The two bonded over their shared interest in

44:38

the occult, in particular witchcraft

44:40

of all varieties. God damn. You know, if

44:42

we met Bredella, we'd probably be friends with him. I

44:45

know. Because we'd find all this fascinating. I was like,

44:47

Bredella, witchcraft? Cool. For Larry, just trying to put himself out there.

44:50

Like, it's a risky game, trying to meet people who are also

44:52

interested in the, like, things of the occult.

44:55

Because people like me knew, or just, like, were interested.

44:58

I'm the ascetic. I think it's cool. But

45:00

then those people are, like, really interested.

45:01

Yeah, super interested. And

45:03

then before, you know, you're being invited to rituals. Yeah.

45:06

I kind of want to get invited to rituals.

45:08

Someday. Someday. So

45:10

anyway, Larry then began staying with Bredella

45:12

and did odd jobs around the house in exchange for

45:14

some lodgings. Bredella

45:16

claimed he had no intention of taking Larry

45:18

prisoner, but his patience began to wear thin,

45:20

as Larry showed little to no interest in

45:22

planning a job and paying his way with actual

45:25

cash.

45:26

To add extra tension,

45:27

Larry had gone and gotten himself arrested

45:30

and Bredella had to bail him out. A debt

45:32

which Larry showed little desire in

45:34

settling.

45:35

The final straw came a few days later. The

45:37

two men watched a movie and ate lunch.

45:40

Creepshow too, for those who care about that sort of thing. I actually

45:42

watched the movie. You watched that movie? I, after

45:45

I read this, I watched it. It was good. It's

45:48

a... I liked it. It

45:50

was really good. It was kind of, it was, like,

45:52

it was good in a crappy way. Okay. Oh,

45:55

it was really nostalgic. It was like, it was, the

45:58

way that it was shot and... written

46:00

kind of reminded me of like Goosebumps or are

46:03

you afraid? I love that. It's really good. It's

46:05

actually it's tree movies that are made up of

46:07

tree different pets. Oh I like that. I

46:09

like Bunderer. Yeah it's like an anthology kind of movie. Yeah

46:11

that's cool. It's good. I really like it. We should watch it. I'm a

46:13

totalist.

46:16

So after watching Creeps or Two, which we

46:18

will add to our list, Five Stars for Keep,

46:21

after that they according to Burdella at least

46:23

they went for a drive and then according

46:26

to Burdella again Larry started bragging

46:29

about how he made money by robbing gay men after

46:31

posing as a prostitute.

46:33

Burdella

46:33

as you can imagine took that personally

46:36

and then started planning. He's like oh yeah I can rob

46:38

gay men. Oh yeah like now he's

46:40

so I get sort of morality. Yeah exactly

46:42

yeah now he sees himself as doing a good thing

46:44

by what he's gonna do.

46:46

That same evening Burdella applied Pearson with

46:48

alcohol and waited until he's close to passing

46:51

out when

46:52

he injected Pearson with Thorazine, his

46:54

old favorite.

46:55

This time he changed up a bit and dragged Pearson

46:58

down to the basement, usually the last

47:00

stop in the Burdella house.

47:02

In the basement he tied Pearson hands

47:04

above his head and then tied that to a rope

47:06

around a support column in the basement.

47:08

For Pearson the drain cleaner to the throat came

47:10

first likely in an effort to

47:12

to keep him quiet.

47:14

Burdella actually said that Larry Pearson

47:17

was by far the most compliant of all his

47:19

victims,

47:20

pretty much going along with everything Burdella

47:22

wanted. Wow guys injecting

47:24

drain cleaner into your throat I'd probably do the same.

47:27

Which is a pretty sensible thing

47:29

you're probably just trying to delay the inevitable.

47:32

As usual Burdella used a combination

47:34

of electric shocks and needles to get

47:36

Pearson to submit to him.

47:38

On one occasion Burdella used a metal

47:40

pole to break several bones

47:42

in Larry's hands.

47:44

After a few days Burdella

47:45

felt that Pearson was behaving himself

47:48

and had been going along with what Burdella asked

47:50

of him and so he began giving him little rewards

47:53

like moving him to the second floor

47:55

and tying him to the bed rather than

47:57

to a brick column in the basement.

47:59

No doubts. That would have been a massive relief

48:01

after five days in the basement, but

48:04

I do want to even be in five feet of a bed

48:07

with Bob Burdella.

48:08

But he was so terrified he would do

48:11

anything he asked, saying silence, obeying.

48:13

In the end, he endured a whole six weeks

48:16

of torture.

48:18

I kind of like wonder if

48:20

it was just like reluctantly cooperating. He'll

48:22

get out. He'll be able

48:24

to escape right in his time. Exactly. Or

48:27

it was either if I just get what he wants, he'll let

48:29

me go. Or it was I'm biding my time.

48:32

I'm waiting for an escape. Either

48:34

way, during six weeks of this shit,

48:37

it's mind boggling. That's a long ass time.

48:40

Finally in August of 1987, after

48:42

having been subjected to some of the worst tortures

48:44

imaginable, Larry had finally had

48:47

enough and he decided if he couldn't escape, he

48:49

would make sure to ruin Bob Burdella's

48:51

day. Pearson bit

48:54

down hard on Burdella's penis,

48:56

causing serious bleeding and damage.

48:59

Fuck yeah. So much so, Burdella had to drive

49:01

himself to hospital for treatment. But before he

49:03

did so, he took out his anger on Larry.

49:05

He bludgeoned Larry unconscious with a tree

49:08

branch before tying a bag over his

49:10

head and

49:10

suffocating him to death.

49:12

Pearson joined the other victims on the curb.

49:14

And then finally, the garbage dump. Well

49:18

most of them. Anyway, Burdella decided

49:20

to keep some of Pearson. He

49:22

kept his sever head for a little while.

49:51

And that brings us back to March 29th, 1988, and to 22 year old

49:53

Christopher Bryson climbing out

49:58

of a second story window.

49:59

Naked, I'm becoming the first person to be very

50:02

happy to see a meter reader in the history

50:04

of humanity."

50:05

Bryson later quoted Burdella

50:08

as saying, You did not choose

50:10

to be here, but you are.

50:12

For you to survive being here, and

50:14

for you to, you know, make

50:17

it, it

50:17

could either be rough or it could be easy.

50:20

If I grow to like you and to trust you,

50:22

then I could do special things for you, such as buy

50:24

you cigarettes, pick up a movie on the way home

50:27

from work and so forth.

50:29

Don't try to fight me or you'll get more

50:31

of what you had earlier.

50:33

You see, what you got is nothing

50:35

compared to what you can have.

50:38

Thank God he was caught. This is like really when he

50:40

was starting getting, I think, more like psychological

50:43

torture. By the time you got to Chris

50:45

Burdella, he was exposing Chris to his

50:47

collection of photographs, showcasing other men who

50:49

had forked him at their demise and like

50:51

to show him their torment. This

50:54

is, hey, what do you think is a preview?

50:56

So anyway, after keeping Christopher

50:58

for a while, Christopher somehow managed to escape.

51:01

He managed to escape out the window and the

51:03

police were alerted.

51:05

Following his arrest, Burdella was arraigned on charges of

51:07

sodomy and assault on April 4th,

51:10

with bail initially set at half a million dollars,

51:12

but later revoked when police determined

51:15

that one of the men in the many photographs

51:18

appeared to be dead

51:19

and so they were able to up the charges

51:21

to murder and withdraw bond completely.

51:24

Thanks to the plea deal with prosecutors,

51:27

Burdella's sentence would end up being life in prison.

51:29

The only murder charge was that of Robert Sheldon.

51:32

Fortunately, there were enough lesser charges that

51:35

bumped the time up to make sure Burdella would never

51:37

get out.

51:39

And,

51:39

on October 8th, 1992,

51:41

only four years and two months into

51:43

his sentence,

51:44

Burdella would suffer an eerily similar

51:47

fate to his father,

51:48

dying of a heart attack at age 43,

51:51

just four years older than his father had been

51:53

when he'd succumbed to the affliction.

51:55

The name, the Kansas City Butcher,

51:58

was given to Burdella on account of his existence.

51:59

extreme level of savagery towards

52:02

his victims,

52:03

both pre and post-morta.

52:06

For obvious reasons, Burdella's former Hyde

52:08

Park neighbors petitioned authorities

52:10

to destroy the house where the crimes had

52:12

taken place. In the end, their prayers

52:14

were answered by an unlikely source when

52:17

a local millionaire and infamous

52:19

bank robber named Del Dunmire

52:21

bought Burdella's house and possessions at an auction.

52:24

Not long after Dunmire had the house

52:26

bulldozed and donated the land to the community,

52:29

Dunmire opened an oddity display in Harrisonville,

52:32

Missouri, to show the remainder of Burdella's

52:34

belongings.

52:35

And so ends the case.

52:38

Of Big Bobby B. Whoo!

52:41

Yep, that's kinda- I kinda agree. I

52:46

actually have no, like, funny kind of anecdote or something to

52:48

end this one on. That's this fucking grim-ass. I'm

52:51

sorry. I hope he died screaming. Yeah,

52:53

yeah, yeah, I hope he did. Yeah.

52:56

I watched an interview he did, and

52:58

he had, like,

52:59

the audacity to blame the biased

53:02

media for treating him poorly. Fucking

53:04

liberal media is paying me the bag that's, like,

53:06

poorly. He had the

53:08

nerve to say the media treated me just like

53:10

I treated my victims, dehumanizing me.

53:13

I thought it was like twisted logic. There

53:16

was also an instance as well in a radio

53:18

station. It was called The Fox in Kansas,

53:21

and they were running- it was a tasteless promotion.

53:24

They were giving prizes to listeners who

53:26

showed up wearing a dog collar and a leash. It

53:28

was completely unacceptable behavior on

53:31

the station's behalf. Yeah. But

53:33

he made it all about himself. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he

53:35

claimed that he was deeply upset about this.

53:37

I'm offended. Yeah, really. You were

53:39

the one doing it. This is like a micro-aggression. Like,

53:43

here's the kicker. He had the audacity

53:46

to shift blame onto the police for

53:48

letting him get away with his crimes for so

53:50

long. To read or police's fault for anything. Yeah, he caught him earlier.

53:53

He wouldn't have done it. So he's kind of the victim

53:55

that I actually heard the other day.

53:56

Police are reading about it, guys. Literally pretty much-

53:59

I love it. He said the victim's family's

54:02

and the victim's only won't be happy known

54:04

the police basically gave up on the investigation Their

54:07

cases because they went missing in an area They didn't

54:09

care about even had the goal to say that

54:11

he killed six people

54:13

and but the police had killed way more the color

54:15

their Incompetence according to him the

54:17

police said if they had just done their job probably

54:20

and followed up on leads They might have scared

54:22

him off and prevented further absolutely, but

54:24

he did say he actually said this they will never have

54:26

called

54:27

He said this from jail I

54:30

love that The hair put

54:32

it on me he says man who has been caught All

54:36

right, well here listen folks Thank you

54:38

so much for listening to this old episode

54:40

of the that chapter podcast joining in

54:42

Mike Heath I

54:43

think we just Changed up the

54:45

title of it should be that chapter and Keith podcast.

54:48

I might just change the name eventually at some point

54:50

That's kind of going to it So

54:55

Yeah Listen so

54:57

well, it's kind of all I had to say just not a lot because that's

54:59

pretty messed up episode of Bob

55:02

Riddella And now you know, you know, we had to

55:04

look this up So,

55:05

you know if we have this knowledge you have to do

55:07

we have to share the misery together of being aware

55:10

of this Fucking bitch. I thought the looks

55:12

over a whole like it was a good week and a half of the

55:14

research in this Yeah, yeah, I think we should definitely have

55:16

a glass of whiskey after this. Yes You do

55:18

show So yeah

55:20

folks if you're you know in a place where you

55:22

can have an alcoholic beverage if you've cared about taking

55:24

that stuff

55:26

Go for it right now after listening to this and

55:28

yeah here listen. We'll talk to you next week

55:30

Thanks so much for listening and please take care of each other yourselves

55:32

because I love you

55:34

I think it's important to tell you I love you at this episode

55:36

for sure. This is a great one. Yeah

55:39

All right, you can tell me love them too if you I love

55:41

you too. Great. All right. Thanks. I

55:43

get