Episodes

Kenneth Allen McDuff ranks among the most heartless and sadistic serial killers in American history. But what creates the McDuff’s and Ted Bundy’s of this world? Two former FBI profilers, who were among the founders of the Behavioral Science Unit based at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, gave me invaluable insight. I met profilers John Douglas and Roy Hazelwood after they had retired from the bureau. At that time, they were not widely known outside of law enforcement circles. Today, the Ne...

You are about to hear how the murder of Colleen Reed on December 29th, 1991, by serial killer Kenneth McDuff impacted the life of her then-ten-year-old niece. Ms. Reed was abducted from an Austin car wash shortly after Christmas by McDuff and his accomplice, Alva Hank Worley. You can hear Worley's confession about the grizzly details of the young accountant's brutal murder in episode 6. At the time of this recording in December 2020, Ms. Reed’s niece had spent 29 years suffering from guilt. It i...

The scandalous release of serial killer Kenneth McDuff and corruption inside the parole system triggered the passage of numerous legislative reforms dubbed “The McDuff Law.” But mysteries remain. How many violent inmates bought their way out of prison and were free to kill again? How many women did McDuff abduct and murder? McDuff always liked to have an accomplice to witness his evil acts. Did other accomplices get away with murder? Investigators sit down with investigative reporter Robert Rigg...

Investigative reporter Robert Riggs traced serial killer Kenneth McDuff’s footsteps from Texas’ Death Row to its Death Chamber at the Walls Unit in Huntsville, Texas. The day before McDuff's execution, the prison system gave Riggs and his camera crew access to the Texas death chamber. Riggs fills in precise details about how the lethal injection was administered down to McDuff’s last words. It's a step-by-step account that most people have never heard before. McDuff’s body went unclaimed by fami...

Serial killer Kenneth McDuff held back on revealing where he buried Colleen Reed's body. McDuff and his accomplice Hank Worley abducted Ms. Reed from an Austin car wash in 1991. Seven years have passed, and the clock is ticking down toward McDuff's execution for her murder and that of Melissa Northrup. Prison investigator John Moriarty, federal prosecutor Bill Johnston, and U.S. Marshal Mike McNamara spent hours on Texas death row trying to get McDuff to reveal the location of his victims' bodie...

Serial Killer Kenneth McDuff matter-of-factly described the last moments of his victims' lives as "using them up" to his accomplices in murder. Afterward, he would dispose of the young women's bodies in unmarked burial sites at remote locations. With time ticking down toward his execution, author Gary Lavergne met with McDuff on Texas Death Row to try to find out where the serial killer buried countless bodies. His victim's families just wanted to give their loved ones a proper funeral.

Kenneth McDuff’s first death sentence for the broomstick murders was commuted to life when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972. Now, McDuff faces two more capital murder charges. Prosecutors want to make sure that McDuff keeps his date with the executioner. After being sentenced to die by lethal injection, Riggs asked McDuff, "What now, Kenneth?" McDuff looked Riggs in the eye and smugly said, “I guess I’m going to die. We all have to sometimes. You know.”

Texas inmates and their families started receiving business cards and letters from the ex-parole board chairman, promising early release for a price. Former parole board chairman James Granberry, who played the key role in setting serial killer Kenneth McDuff free, set up a business as a parole consultant. He solicited money from inmate's families to get his old cronies on the parole board to release his clients from prison early. In Episode 10, Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs exposes the se...

Kenneth McDuff’s confidential prison and parole records contained plenty of warning signs that he was a psychopathic killer who should never be released. Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs obtains McDuff’s records. Riggs exposes the lies the Texas Parole Board Chairman has been telling about his role in freeing McDuff. Along the way, Riggs discovers a secret process that released a hate crime killer in exchange for giving the parole board chairman a new car for himself and his mistress at the p...

Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs was investigating how serial killer Kenneth McDuff and dozens of other former death row inmates in Texas got out of prison when Riggs crossed paths with U.S. Marshals. The Marshal's nationwide manhunt captured McDuff working on a garbage truck in Kansas City. But the question remained. Who in their right mind on the Texas parole board would let this diabolical killer walk out of prison? McDuff's abduction and murder spree started shortly after he returned to W...

The confession to the abduction and murder of a young accountant in Austin by Kenneth McDuff's accomplice gives U.S. Marshals the evidence they need to launch a nationwide dragnet for the serial killer. After combing every corner of Central Texas for weeks, the Texas posse realizes that McDuff has fled the state. In Kansas City, a garbage truck worker recognizes McDuff's mug shot in a TV crime show featuring the U.S. Marshals' search. The Marshals capture McDuff, but when they return the serial ...

The U.S. Marshals Service Task Force locates one of McDuff’s prison pals. Every night, Deputy U.S. Marshals Parnell and Mike McNamara, along with U.S. federal prosecutor Bill Johnston, roll through the underbelly of Central Texas rousting parolees. Unlike the horse-bound Texas's posses of the past, the Marshals drive an SUV bristling with weapons. It's called "Big Foot". They use a technique called "driving them up" to break down one of McDuff's prison pals, who is also out on parole. It pays of...

The case of Kenneth Allen McDuff raises the age-old question about serial killers. Was McDuff the product of nature or nurture? Did genetics create this violent, uncaring monster, or did McDuff’s home life rob him of every ounce of compassion? The U.S. Marshal’s posse converges on McDuff’s mother, Addie, who was known as the “pistol-packing mama." Addie McDuff's pure hate and meanness shock all of the hard-nosed lawmen hunting for McDuff. One thing becomes clear to them. Addie McDuff enabled a v...

When Falls County, Texas Sheriff Larry Pamplin heard Kenneth McDuff was out on parole, he prophetically stated, “I don’t know if will be a few days, a few weeks, or a few weeks, but bodies will start turning up.” Indeed, a string of abductions started happening up and down the Interstate 35 corridor between Dallas and Austin. McDuff started a murderous crime spree that would span two and a half years. The paroled triple killer and an accomplice circled an Austin car wash, stalking a victim. In t...

A pair of Deputy U.S. Marshals and a young, aggressive federal prosecutor suspects that triple killer and former death row inmate Kenneth McDuff is behind the abduction of a convenience store clerk in Waco, Texas. When no other law enforcement organizations are willing to pursue a hot lead, the trio organizes an old-style Texas posse. The U.S. Marshals Service's top fugitive hunters join the posse. They recruit an Irish cop from New York City who works undercover in the Texas prison system. You ...

A Texas Sheriff and a U.S. Marshal describe the violent criminal history of Kenneth Allen McDuff -- AKA "The Broomstick Killer." They and their fathers helped capture McDuff for the abduction and murder of three Fort Worth teenagers in 1966. The brutality and rape of a teenage girl with a jagged broomstick handle were seared into their memories. Twenty-five years later, they discover that McDuff is the modern-day “Jack The Ripper” of Central Texas. Two days after the former death row inmate walk...

A violent crime wave swept across Texas in the late 1980s and early 1990s. You could pick up the newspaper any day or turn on the television anywhere, Houston, Dallas, particularly Houston, and the lead story was a stranger on stranger crime, horrific violence. A Houston mother was pulled out of her car by her hair women at a busy intersection by ex-cons looking for a full tank of gas. They executed her and ran over her body as they drove away in her car with a full tank of gas. Stories like thi...