Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén

In the 1980s and ’90s, a serial arsonist known as the “Pillow Pyro” terrorizes California—taunting investigators and igniting fires near their annual conferences—until one detective uncovers an unthinkable truth...The culprit is one of their own.

Sources for this episode include:

Fire Lover: A True Story by Joseph WambaughForensic Files, “Point of Origin”Firebug podcast, Episode 1

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Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother 40 whacks… The popular schoolyard rhyme has withstood the test of time, despite it getting a few details wrong. Over 130 years later, we still don’t really know who killed Andrew and Abby Borden. Lizzie was acquitted, and yet most people assume she was guilty. Is it possible Lizzie was truly innocent? And if she didn’t swing the hatchet that day – who did?

Sources for this episode include:

The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century by Sarah MillerThe Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara RobertsonPopular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence by Bill James

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For nearly twenty years, a charming con man poses as a globe-trotting CIA operative, seducing women and draining their savings in the name of “classified missions”—until one wife uncovers his lies and helps bring down the man she thought she would share her life with.

Sources for this episode include:

The Other Mrs. Jordan (Britbox documentary) The Bigamist by Mary Thompson (Amazon Publishing) “My marriage turned out to be a lie - here's why I'm speaking out” (BBC)“'I Wanted Justice': Con Victim Turns Focus to Changing Rape Law” (NBC News)

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The wife of the “sausage king of Chicago” disappears without a trace…until police search a suspicious vat in the basement of his factory, fueling rumors of exactly how he got rid of her.

Sources for this episode include:Alchemy of Bones: Chicago's Luetgert Murder Case of 1897 by Robert LoerzelContemporaneous reporting by the Chicago TribuneThe 'Sausage Vat Murder,' 1897 by Harold Schechter, The Yale Review

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Branded "the female Charles Manson" for a double murder she claims she didn't commit, a young woman executes a daring prison escape to reclaim her life—only to find that while she can outrun the law, she can’t outrun the reputation built to bring her down.

Sources for this episode include:

Girl, Wanted: The Chase for Sarah Pender by Steve Miller“Sarah Jo Pender asks for mercy 25 years after double murder conviction” (COURT TV, 2025)“Judge denies Sarah Jo Pender's request to cut sentence in double murder case” (IndyStar, 2026)“Fixing Their Mistakes” (Progressive Magazine, 2021)Women Behind Bars with Trevor McDonaldA Stranger in My Home “Master Manipulators” (Investigation Discovery)

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