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Hiding in Plain Sight: John Eric Armstrong | World’s Most Evil Killers

June 20, 2024 / 44:13

This episode covers the chilling case of John Eric Armstrong, a serial killer who murdered multiple sex workers in the Detroit area and claimed to have killed internationally while in the Navy. Key topics include Armstrong's background, his brutal crimes, and the police investigation that led to his capture.

John Eric Armstrong, after being honorably discharged from the Navy, settled in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, where he appeared to be a family man. However, he was secretly engaging in violent crimes against sex workers, leading to the discovery of multiple bodies in 2000.

The police investigation intensified after the bodies of three women were found near railway tracks in Detroit. Armstrong's arrest followed a routine traffic stop, during which he muttered phrases indicating his guilt.

During questioning, Armstrong confessed to the murders of several women, including those found in Detroit, and claimed to have killed others in various countries while serving in the Navy.

Ultimately, Armstrong was convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to life in prison. His case highlights the tragic vulnerability of sex workers and the complexities of criminal investigations.

TLDR

John Eric Armstrong, a Navy veteran, murdered multiple sex workers in Detroit and claimed to have killed internationally, leading to his life imprisonment.

Episode

44:13
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in the summer of 1999 26-year-old John Eric Armstrong was honorably discharged from the US
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Navy he settled in Dearborn Heights Michigan with his wife and their new baby he was a nice neighbor a good
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friend a good father apparently according to his neighbors but Armstrong wasn't the loving family man that people
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believed him to be Armstrong was in my humble opinion the personification of evil Armstrong was using the services of
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sex workers many of whom he then brutally murdered he's killed multiple women it
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was natural to him only person that that type of Life saw that could be natural to as a monster as more details emerged
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police realized that these murders went far beyond their local area you're talking Singapore Hong Kong
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and all these exotic locals that his boat traveled to while he was in the Navy he's going to be one of the most
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prolific well-traveled serial killers in history John Eric Armstrong had gone Global and been unveiled as one of the
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world's most evil killers [Music] [Music] on April the 10th 2000 in Detroit Michigan police were alerted to an
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alarming Discovery the bodies of three sex workers have been found near some railway tracks in varying States of
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decomposition this was the work of a serial killer he didn't try and conceal
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his crimes he just discarded the bodies didn't try and hide him he just came
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back to visit and abuse and then move on to the next murder and dispose of that one and roll it down the hill and uh
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find another one with no leads the police were under pressure to find the unknown killer before he could strike
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again then a chance traffic stop and subsequent arrest of 26-year-old John Eric Armstrong led to more Revelations
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than they could ever have expected in the patrol car one of the patrol men could hear Armstrong in the
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back muttering something under his breath I'm glad it's over I'm glad you
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guys got me this killer Story begins on the Southeastern coast of America John Eric
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Armstrong was born on November mber the 23rd 1973 Armstrong was born and raised in
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Newburn North Carolina and by all accounts had a very normal upbringing very normal childhood I think the most
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important point in his early life was the death of a younger brother Michael who died of sudden infant death syndrome
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at barely 2 months old and this had an impact on the young John Eric Armstrong Armstrong was 5 years old at the time
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time and at 5 years old I'm not sure that children fully understand the concept of death and
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dying and perhaps how permanent it is so it's quite possible that it impacted him in a way that made him feel
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completely powerless he was so distraught over that that he deliberately rode his bicycle
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out in traffic almost like you know with the intention of joining his baby brother the loss of the baby had a major
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impact on Armstrong's parents shortly after his baby brother Mikey died in the crib his biological
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father left the family after his father left young Armstrong stayed in the family home with
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his mother towards the end of the the 1970s Armstrong started school and his classmates saw nothing unusual about him
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the people who went to school with him for instance his fellow students they saw him as just a normal kid he was a
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little quiet he seemed pretty Meek one person described him as aloof but really nothing unusual about his childhood
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nothing that would make someone ill it ease Armstrong felt that he was kind of an underachiever and uh being bullied uh
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and a lot of this Behavior impacted him psychologically we've got somebody whose
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whole identity is being formed around this victimhood this powerlessness this the world is against me and I think that
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internal anger rage revenge is more what drove him as he went into adulthood there was a strange incident
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in his life um at school he said one of his classmates a girl was trying to persuade
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him to have sex with her and he didn't want to and he locked himself into a bathroom and threatened to kill himself
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this led to a monthlong stay in a mental health facility so he obviously had issues with
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sex a simple pressure for sex is not going to put you into psychiatric care there's a lot more going on here at the
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age of 16 Armstrong felt that he was still still dealing with the negative impact of his brother's death and so he
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went for additional psychiatric counseling to seek psychiatric care at age 16 when he's just had care for
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another incident this is somebody who's really really struggling to function in
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the world by his late teens despite his problems Armstrong had managed to start a relationship with a girl but when his
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high school sweetheart left him for another boy Armstrong was devastated especially when he saw his
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love rival shower his ex-girlfriend with gifts Armstrong interpreted this as her
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prostituting herself for her affections in exchange for these gifts that this other new Suitor was providing her this
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guy sees women sex relationships transactional and even he said said that this was like she was a
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prostitute what an awful way to see relationships in April 1992 when Armstrong was 18 years old he signed up
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with a US Navy he joined the military which is I don't think an unusual thing for
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somebody like him who feels you know like he needs to be in a big gang because he feels like the world's
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against him and he needs control and he needs power Armstrong was assigned to the USS limits aircraft carrier then the
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largest sailing vessel in the world life of the nits it would be pretty exciting
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it can go anywhere in the world and often did and Armstrong would have enjoyed that
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life he worked in the barber shop it was said and then he had one or two other jobs on the boat and he had a good
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record by all counts aboard the boat um nothing really stood out at one point he
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was nicknamed baby doll he had this very childlike face this very innocent approach which didn't really make him
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like a look like a a grown-up man at all despite his youthful features Armstrong was over 6' tall with a large
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build it was while aboard the USS limits that Armstrong met the woman he would go
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on to marry after both being honorably discharged in 1999 the couple moved to Michigan to
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start their married life and raise their first child and so they settled into a city in
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metro Detroit on the west side of Metro Detroit called Dearborn Heights and they
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lived with her parents for a while Armstrong started working for a chain of retail stores then later as a
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security guard and then refueling airplanes at Detroit Metropolitan Airport seems like Armstrong may not
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have been able to find his way um in at least vocationally in a career those around Armstrong just saw him as any
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other guy in the neighborhood one lady said I used to get a ride home with him or ride to work and and she said he was
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just the nicest guy he was a nice neighbor a good friend a good father apparently according to his
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neighbors and yet he had this completely other side this classic jaelan Hyde approach uh particularly to women Beyond
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this normal life appeared to be a facade and behind that facade Armstrong was going out and engaging in activity like
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um having sex on a regular basis with sex workers he has got a bad attitude misogynistic attitude towards
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women so I think we can to see where it's coming from with him John Eric Armstrong wasn't the
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loving family man he was portraying to those around him he was living a double life filled with dark secrets one that
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would soon be exposed Armstrong's preferred haunt for picking up sex workers was in downtown Detroit around
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10 miles from his family home unfortunately prostitution has always thrived in Detroit and the area
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of Michigan Avenue has always been a hot spot for prostitution Kyle James casares was a
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child when his mom Kelly Jean Hood began working on the streets in the 1990s Kelly started taking drugs
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following the death of her father and was trying to fund her addiction through sex work she was actually very close to
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my grandfather and when he passed away she couldn't deal with the pain my mom before the drugs and even after the
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drugs one of the most kind-hearted person you could ever meet we were her world she made sure we had a good child
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at best she could giv what she could it's you know a very common uh motivation of sex workers is to um
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engage in prostitution to raise money to support their drug habit despite his young age Kyle worked out how his mom
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was earning the money to pay for her addiction I was with her all the time and I knew the people she hung out with
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and I would just see them around the neighborhood and what they were doing and I just connected the dots I was
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worried but it was nothing I can do she was a grown woman and she was my mother I felt like I needed protector all the
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time Kelly Jean Hood was one of many women selling sex in the Detroit area at the time Natasha olenich was also
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working in the same area I wasn't on the streets for the drugs I was in the streets for money fast money seeing nice
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cars clothes mink coats stuff like that and I don't know just I just fell in the
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Trap I always had jobs and everything I just wanted to do something to get quicker money and I did the nature of
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the industry mean means that sex workers often operate in secluded and dark areas
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making them extremely vulnerable to Predators sex workers are at a huge risk of serious harm and homicide I mean
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mainly because of their accessibility sex workers are easy to get into a place on your own no
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questions asked and um because they want the money they'll they'll go with you to
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a dark place where no one else is around it is a very Risky Business they're
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living a very highrisk Life One Night in August 1999 Natasha was working a shift
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on the usual streets unbeknown to the sex workers in the area there was a deadly predator on the loose and he was
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out that night looking for his next victim I was on 8 Mile Road he was in a Jeep and he circled one time then he
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circled again he pulled up and he asked me for you a date and I said yeah then I
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got in the truck he was big he was baldheaded at the time he was tall he wore glasses yep and you could he was a big
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guy he wasn't little I didn't feel uncomfortable with him or anything you
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know I wasn't nervous or nothing Natasha was staying in a motel room close to the red light area so the
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pair headed there he got inside the room and he just was feeling uneasy he asked to use the
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bathroom he used the bathroom he came out and he said I I just don't really feel right I gotta leave and he leaves
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she goes into her room a little while later there's a knock on her door she opens the door it's that
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guy I should have never opened the door I should have just said never mind but I
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didn't think he was going to come back opening the door to let the client back
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in turned out to be a decision that Natasha would soon regret he came in then that's when he slammed my door and
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he was like don't scream don't yell cuz that's when he had the knife some sharp
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big ones and I was like oh my God you can have all my money money whatever my whatever but the attacker wasn't
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interested in taking Natasha's money he wanted to take her life he said he was going
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to kill me and I was like don't kill me I got kids he came in with his knife at
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me my neck my eyes my toes my fingers it just blood everywhere cuz he cutting me
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then I was on the bed like laying down he had his body on me and then he grabbed the telephone
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cord and wrapped it around my neck like five times and was like choking and the asphixiation caused Natasha to pass
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out when she regained Consciousness her attacker was gone I went out to the ran out of the
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motel room and said I need need help I need help I was almost this guy just tried to kill me and then that's when
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the police came the police interviewed Natasha but her description of the attacker wasn't
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enough on its own it's very difficult for the police to follow up on any kind of attack like
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this um because there's so little to go on about what who this person is and
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after that happened I said just I got to get out of this I had to get counseling
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and stuff cuz I got diagnosed with PTSD less than 4 months later on December the 2nd
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1999 another woman was targeted 31 year-old sex worker Monica Johnson was driven to work on Michigan Avenue by her
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boyfriend the couple parked up on a side street just off the notorious red light
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strip and he stayed in his car while she walked down Michigan Avenue to do some business and that's the last you ever
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saw of her Monica had been picked up by a man on Michigan Avenue and they' driven away from the area to have their
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sexual encounter and it was just a short little kind of secluded area a short little
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service drive and they parked along there near an alley and They carried out a transaction but then things took a dark
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turn when the man Monica was with attacked and strangled her a passer by found her still alive hours later and
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called for an ambulance and the ambulance came and they picked her up and they took her to the hospital but by
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the time they got there she had died with no eyewitnesses or CCTV of the attack on Monica Johnson the police had
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no leads and very little to progress their investigation nor had they identified
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any suspect ects for the attacks on several other sex workers in Detroit in 1999 Monica's killer was still on the
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loose in Detroit and he could strike again at any moment so when we get into the beginning of 2000 the turn of the
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Millennium he escalates really quite quickly he cannot give up the compulsion to have sex with sex workers and kill
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them 39-year-old Wendy Jordan was known to the police as a sex worker in the Redlight area of Detroit on January the
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1st 2000 Wendy got into the car of a man who wanted to pay for her Services he was on Warren Avenue in
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Detroit and he picked Wendy up and he took her to the side street that was right next to a funeral home and they
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parked in the parking lot of this Funeral Home and they proceeded with their transaction and then he killed her
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and he drove with her in the Jeep a few miles away and he pulled over and dumped
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her over a bridge into the Rouge River on Ann Arbor Trail and then he went home Wendy's body had been left in Dearborn
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Heights the home of John Eric Armstrong and his family since leaving the Army less than a year earlier and moving to
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the area Armstrong had changed jobs a number of times on January the 2nd 2000 Armstrong set off for work at a retail
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store at some point in the morning Armstrong reported feeling sick and told his boss he had to leave work uh at
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which time he drove away apparently on his way home on his way home Armstrong pulls over on the bridge over the Rouge
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River and says he did that because he felt so ill he was going to vomit over the bridge Armstrong looked down at the
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River Rouge below it's maybe at that point 50 yards wide 6 8 ft deep at the most um and it it it runs for Miles uh
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but there's not a real strong current it was January and uh it it was still frozen and so he looks over the bridge
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and he sees this woman it was the body of Wendy Jordan who'd been left there
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the previous day Armstrong flagged down a passer by to call the police I'm on the Rouge River
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and there's a dead body in the river I think she got raped she's naked got a
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clo g off he phones him up and of course the body's discovered it is indeed Wendy Jordan the police arrived
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at the scene and Armstrong told them that he'd left work early because he was
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feeling ill and had been driving home but the police regarded and I quite agree with them as most peculiar he just
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happened to stop on the bridge and he just happened to look over and he just happened to see a body goodness me I
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mean it almost defies belief doesn't it to be honest detectives wondered if there was
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more to the Discovery than Armstrong had told them but if he was involved in any
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way why would he have alerted the police he said he could see a body floating in the river and it was all
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innocent why would he do that there a really it seems like it would go against everything that you think that he would
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do you would think that he would want to get away with it you think he'd want to
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stay under the radar based on the unusual nature of Armstrong being in that place at that time the police bring
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him down for additional questioning to the police station um during which he maintains that he has no connection to
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this person he didn't know who they are why they were there and he stuck to his
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story that he felt sick and left work I over and then when I leave over my I caught something I looked over
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there she was it seems unusual that you picked the exact spot that that would leave you to be
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looking over the edge where she was tell you right now wasn't with her never saw
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her never seen her sorry not knowing anything not knowing anything or is there maybe
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some things that you want to tell us but I didn't know why she wasn't in Che with and you
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just pulled up and you were going to throw up and she was laying down there I had to B it yeah yes I had to B it
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Armstrong had placed himself directly into the murdering quiry but with no grounds to detain him police let him
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leave his account of what happened had raised their suspicions and they decided to investigate Armstrong further
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Dearborn Heights had him pegged and they don't get a whole lot of homicides like
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Detroit does and so they dug into this one and they hung on they followed him around they even asked to search his car
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which he consented to so they did a forensic examination of his car which they do tape lifts of they try to see if
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has fingerprints or DNA or blood inside the car and one of the officers happened
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to notice in the search of the jeep that he saw what he believed were little specks or residue that were gold in
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color that matched the shoes that Wendy was wearing within the car there was forensic evidence that Wendy Jordan had
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been in it which pointed even more conclusively to the fact that he'd not only known her had her in the car and
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thrown her out into the river they got a warrant for his um blood and saliva and
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they did DNA testing and then they did DNA testing from Wendy's body conclusive
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d DNA evidence could give the police enough to link Armstrong to the murder of Wendy Jordan but this wouldn't be a
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quick process DNA really came onto the criminal investigation scene in the late 80s so it was relatively new they didn't
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have the technology that we have today to both get DNA and analyze even a good DNA sample it could take months for the
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DNA results to come back the police would have to wait for those before they could take any further action against
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Armstrong and the prosecutor ordered him released until such time as they had the
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results from the DNA Lab at this point the police look at Armstrong and he's a
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former military service member um who got out of the service and got a decent job and and settled with a wife and
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family and so his daily life doesn't seem to indicate you know a a killer it
00:24:53
would be an agonizing wait for investigators meanwhile John Eric Armstrong remained free to roam the
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streets of Detroit 3 months after Wendy Jordan's body was discovered 42-year-old
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Willamina drain was on Michigan Avenue she said she was trying to catch a bus home and she was an older lady a
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vehicle pulled up alongside her and the man driving asked her if she needed a lift and they start to travel along and
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um she instructs him how to take her home which was north of Michigan she lived like off Joy Road and he traveled
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North but he didn't make the turn he was supposed to make and he um Turned somewhere else and he pulled over and he
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reached for her she sprays him with mace and she's able to escape 5 days later on April the 7th
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2000 sex worker Devin Marcus survived an attack and reported the in inent to the
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police around the same time another sex worker called Cynthia was attacked by a man fitting the same description as the
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other two incidents he left her for dead but in fact she wasn't dead she survived the
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attacker was showing no signs of slowing down we've got Willamina we've got Devon
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we've got Cynthia who were attacked and survived and he was escalating he was
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definitely escalating I mean once he kicked back into gear in midmar he escalated boom boom boom boom on
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April the 10th 2000 the police received a phone call somebody thought they saw a body on
00:26:40
the side of a railroad track as they were passing through I was the commanding officer of the violent crime
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section of the Detroit Police Department composed of the violent crime task force
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The Fugitive apprehension team and the crime analysis team of of uh the Detroit Police Department every Monday morning
00:27:02
we would have a briefing while we were in that meeting the uh head of the homicide
00:27:10
division got a a message to call the office Jerry Cliff passed the news on to his colleague Dell Christian a team
00:27:19
leader on the violent crime task force the commander from the Detroit Police Department came through and say um hey
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they found a body over by the railroad tracks it's just a track that just goes
00:27:32
through it's a single track in that area it's used by one of the passenger rails
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and also Freight and a passenger on the train that looked out the window and saw
00:27:43
the body told the conductor I think I just saw a body on the track and the conductor contacted the police
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department not long after this report came through to the police there was more news to follow I say walk around
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the area they discover a second body and he came back and he said there's two
00:28:04
bodies at the scand and they're in different states of decomposition they walk around further
00:28:13
and unfortunately third body and so they realize okay this is very bad these three females were probably left here by
00:28:21
the same person with three dead bodies found in the same location police had to act fast to establish what had happened
00:28:29
to these women there was one victim she was lying 10 to 15 yards uh away from the tracks themselves on grass and
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gravel uh but not concealed at all in in brush or anything like that she had her
00:28:46
pants down around her ankles she had her legs had been spread in a revealing manner I guess you would say there was
00:28:54
uh what appeared to be tights of some sort wrapped around her neck so you could tell that she'd obviously been uh
00:29:00
been raped and and strangled as we walked uh further uh would have been North there was a lot of
00:29:10
brush and uh that's where the second and the third bodies were found the bodies
00:29:16
weren't very well hidden so this isn't this isn't somebody who's done what
00:29:20
they' done and they're leaving the scene so we have to assume that the killer
00:29:26
knows these bodies will be found wants them to be found in fact they want to display what they've done to the
00:29:36
world the victims all had ligature marks around their necks showing that they'd
00:29:42
been strangled their bodies had also been posed by their killer I don't think that
00:29:50
somebody who does that to women has got great relationships with women uh probably struggles in relationships with
00:30:00
them and feels an awful lot of resentment towards women I mean the misogyny of it just it's probably the
00:30:08
loudest message that you can get from something like that it's wanting to degrade and
00:30:15
humiliate the victims this was a man taking pleasure in killing and demeaning women once we
00:30:24
realize well we have a what what I call a Dumping Ground for the bodies we knew we had a Serial murderer we mobilized
00:30:31
pretty much everybody that we had didn't take us long to realize that this guy
00:30:36
was was a very prolific killer and that we needed to get him off the street as soon as humanly possible before somebody
00:30:43
else died now you have multiple victims you have future victims that may happen unless you catch this person who they're
00:30:50
not going to stop killing until you catch them over 8 months in 1999 and 2000 a Spate of attacks and murders had
00:31:01
happened in the Detroit area of Michigan it was clear to police that a serial killer was loose on the streets
00:31:09
attacking and murdering women at an increasing rate detectives knew they needed to act
00:31:16
fast now this UPS everything in the police mind the investigation immediately takes on a different tenor
00:31:24
this is obviously a Serial because you could tell by looking at the three bodies that they were in differing
00:31:29
states of decomposition and it's going to be the only case we're going to be
00:31:33
dealing with for the next few days until we get the bad guy the race to catch the
00:31:38
killer was on but with limited evidence and no leads the investigators had little to go on they needed to identify
00:31:46
the three women and work out a possible connection between them in the hope that
00:31:51
it might lead the police to their killer as we were able to identify the victims we also found out that there had
00:31:59
been previous arrests for or encounters with the law uh concerning prostitution and and
00:32:07
whatnot one was called Robin Brown also known as Nicole young one was Rosemary felt and the last was called kelly
00:32:21
hood for Kelly Hood's son Kyle his worst fears for his mother had come true I heard my grandmother coming up the
00:32:30
stairs and the first thing she told me before anybody she said Miko they found your mom she's not here with us anymore
00:32:36
they found her she's she's gone then I knew then that they she meant she was
00:32:41
dead she became addicted to drugs the only way that she could support herself after her family broke up was to work
00:32:47
the street she didn't become addicted because she wanted to she wasn't working
00:32:51
the street because she wanted to she was working the street to support a habit that she had no control over
00:33:00
police had identified the victims were all sex workers but specialist help would be needed to track down their
00:33:08
killer FBI profilers got to work on building a picture of the offender the profile will come in look at all the
00:33:15
victims look at the victimology um what commonalities among these victims among the way they were posed among the way
00:33:21
they were killed um and maybe even if you can figure out the way they met the person that killed them
00:33:28
looking at the crime the FBI's Behavioral Science unit suggested that the crimes have been committed by white
00:33:36
man comparatively young 25 to 30 they told us you're looking at his successes you need to look for a
00:33:47
failure and by that they meant somebody got away and if we could find that somebody
00:33:54
we would get a physical description maybe a vehicle description so on and so forth having identified the women as sex
00:34:01
workers police knew they needed to interview women in the red light area in the hope of getting much needed
00:34:10
information well from two or three of the girls that were interviewed um they mentioned that yes a guy tried to kill
00:34:17
me he was driving a Jeep another one said that um he had a tiger tattoo on his arm that he was a white male with
00:34:24
reddish hair another one said he had a work shirt with the name Eric on it the reports all seem to point to the same
00:34:33
offender so we realized that the next thing that he would do is find another victim in the hope of stopping the
00:34:38
killer in his tracks Detroit's violent crime task force set up covert surveillance on Michigan Avenue and the
00:34:46
surrounding streets now you have potentially a predator hunting victims through this area and you can't afford
00:34:53
to miss that we basically flooded the area with surveillance Crews and uh detectives in plink clothes not business
00:35:01
suits but you know jeans and jackets and uh basically patrolled looking for someone fitting his
00:35:10
description they didn't want the killer to realize that the police were onto him
00:35:16
any suspicion they were looking for him could scare the killer off and prevent him from being
00:35:22
caught so during this time in this area a an actual marked uniform patrol car noticed a car with a guy in it that
00:35:31
might have matched the description of the profile and so they do a routine car stop so they can identify him get his
00:35:38
driver's license get his date of birth run him through the system to see if anybody's looking for him who is this
00:35:44
guy the driver of the vehicle was John Eric Armstrong Dearborn Heights were waiting for DNA results to establish a
00:35:53
link to the murder of Wendy Jordan but Armstrong was unknown to to the offices in neighboring
00:36:00
Detroit he said he was coming home from work well his work was in the other direction he lived in deborn Heights he
00:36:07
worked over in that direction he was a long way from home based on the matching description and Armstrong story not
00:36:15
adding up police arrested him for further questioning but before they could get to the station there was a
00:36:21
shock in stall for the officers the officers that are driving him hear him muttering in the back back
00:36:27
seat under his breath and he's saying kind of in a low voice um I'm just glad
00:36:32
it's over I'm glad you got me he was taken straight down to the fifth floor
00:36:37
Police Headquarters and that's when the interviews began as the officers talked
00:36:43
to Armstrong one of them leaned forward and put his hand on top of Armstrongs he says I just touched you he
00:36:51
says I left my DNA on your body simply by laying my hand on yours and that's when they began to explain to
00:37:01
him you know if if you had anything to do with these murders and you touch them in any way
00:37:09
we're going to be able to tell there is absolutely no way that you're going to
00:37:13
plead that you didn't touch them if we get this DNA analysis that proves that
00:37:18
you did and all of a sudden he just started okay I did it I did it I did it then he started making all of his
00:37:25
confessions and one right after another a lot of confessions for several hours John Eric Armstrong confessed to the
00:37:32
murders of the three women found at the rail yard Nicole young Rosemary felt and
00:37:39
Kelly Jean Hood also during this time in this confession he confessed to the murder of Wendy Jordan uh off the Rouge
00:37:46
Bridge um he knew that he was a suspect in that case um so it was time to uh confess to that
00:37:58
but Armstrong's confessions had only just begun he actually went through a a
00:38:06
list of a number of females that he had murdered while he was on the uh USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in multiple
00:38:16
foreign countries anytime he was on uh Shor Le he would go ashore and quite often he would find a prostitute and um
00:38:26
go through his te uh rape murder and you know sometimes he would dispose of the bodies and sometimes he would just leave
00:38:34
them you're talking Singapore you're talking you know um Hong Kong and all
00:38:41
these exotic locals that his boat traveled to while he was in the Navy at this point FBI officials begin to
00:38:49
investigate Armstrong's claims of all these other murders internationally because if it is true he's going to be
00:38:54
one of the most prolific well-traveled Sy killers in history and so they start to look into all of these things um that
00:39:02
he's telling them in other jurisdictions some of his descriptions aren't
00:39:06
definitive enough so when they look uh the dates don't match up it could be he's telling the truth he just didn't
00:39:11
give them enough details in March 2001 27-year-old John Eric Armstrong went on trial for the
00:39:21
murder of Wendy Jordan at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in downtown Detroit to the surprise of those involved in the
00:39:31
investigation and despite his earlier confessions Armstrong changed his story by the time um he was brought up on
00:39:39
charges and things were proceeding through the court system he was maintaining his innocence during the
00:39:46
trial DNA and forensic evidence was presented to the jury fibers from Wendy Jordan's clothes had been found in
00:39:53
Armstrong's vehicle and the results of the DNA taken by the Dearborn Heights
00:39:59
Police had come back the Seaman found inside Wendy's body was John Eric Armstrongs and so in the case of Wendy
00:40:08
Jordan his attorney one of the tactics he tried was that okay um you got DNA evidence and it's linked to my client to
00:40:17
Wendy Jordan so yeah they had sex that night but it was consensual and when he left her she was alive so somebody else
00:40:23
killed her the jury didn't believe this excuse on the 3rd of April 2001 after a
00:40:30
twoe trial John Eric Armstrong was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Wendy Jordan and given a life
00:40:38
sentence on the 18th of June 2001 he was also found guilty of the first-degree murder of Kelly Jean hood and given
00:40:47
another life sentence she was a wife a mother a daughter and she was a human being that
00:40:55
deserved to live and deserve to come back from her addiction if he didn't take her life I know she would have came
00:41:02
around because everybody can overcome an addiction on July the 4th 2001 Armstrong
00:41:13
pleaded guilty to the second deegree murder of Robin Brown Rosemary felt and Monica Johnson he was sentenced to an
00:41:21
additional 31 years Armstrong was never charged with the attack on Natasha oen Jack but she is certain he was the man
00:41:29
who attacked her in August 1999 he was wrong for doing what he he's done and period I don't even know how
00:41:39
someone can just be at home with their wife and killing women how could you just go out and do that Armstrong was
00:41:50
taken to the G Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Michigan to serve his sentence
00:41:57
other serial investigations and one of the things that you learn when you're
00:42:01
doing that is serial criminals don't just stop when and if they get back into
00:42:06
polite Society they're going to start up all over again if he could he would
00:42:10
still be doing it if they let him out he would do it again Armstrong was in my humble opinion uh the
00:42:20
presentification of evil he had no remorse whatsoever for what he was doing he knew what he was doing was wrong he
00:42:27
knew he was Taking Lives he was a manipulator um and he would do it until we stopped him the lives that Armstrong
00:42:36
took before being caught will always be remembered by their loved ones who bear the pain to this
00:42:44
day my impression of John Eric Armstrong he's just a monster he's killed multiple
00:42:48
women so it was natural to him only only person that that type of lifestyle that
00:42:56
could be natural to as a monster plain and simple Armstrong killed five women in
00:43:09
Michigan and violently attacked many more he also claims to have murdered women all over the world when he was in
00:43:17
the Navy if true John Eric Armstrong is one of the most globally prolific serial
00:43:24
killers to ever exist and will will forever be known as one of the world's most evil killers
00:43:33
[Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 90
    Most intense
  • 85
    Most heartbreaking
  • 85
    Biggest twist

Episode Highlights

  • A Deadly Discovery
    In April 2000, police found the bodies of three sex workers, marking the start of a manhunt.
    “This was the work of a serial killer.”
    @ 02m 02s
    June 20, 2024
  • The Double Life of John Eric Armstrong
    John Eric Armstrong appeared to be a loving family man, but was secretly a serial killer.
    “John Eric Armstrong wasn’t the loving family man he was portraying to those around him.”
    @ 10m 06s
    June 20, 2024
  • Natasha's Close Call
    Natasha Olenich narrowly escaped death at the hands of a man she let into her motel room.
    “I should have never opened the door.”
    @ 14m 37s
    June 20, 2024
  • Wendy Jordan's Tragic End
    Wendy Jordan was murdered after getting into a man's car for a transaction.
    “He killed her and dumped her over a bridge.”
    @ 19m 03s
    June 20, 2024
  • Suspicion Falls on Armstrong
    After the discovery of Wendy's body, police began to suspect John Eric Armstrong.
    “It seems unusual that you picked the exact spot that would leave you looking over the edge.”
    @ 22m 12s
    June 20, 2024
  • The Discovery of Bodies
    Three bodies are found in a railroad yard, indicating a serial killer is at work.
    “This is very bad; these three females were probably left here by the same person.”
    @ 28m 21s
    June 20, 2024
  • Armstrong's Confession
    John Eric Armstrong confesses to multiple murders, revealing a history of violence.
    “I did it, I did it, I did it.”
    @ 37m 20s
    June 20, 2024
  • Trial and Conviction
    Despite confessions, Armstrong maintains innocence during trial but is ultimately convicted.
    “The jury didn’t believe this excuse.”
    @ 40m 26s
    June 20, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • I’m glad it’s over, I’m glad you guys got me.
    Hiding in Plain Sight: John Eric Armstrong | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • I should have just said never mind.
    Hiding in Plain Sight: John Eric Armstrong | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • I need help, I need help!
    Hiding in Plain Sight: John Eric Armstrong | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • This isn’t somebody who’s done what they’ve done and they’re leaving the scene.
    Hiding in Plain Sight: John Eric Armstrong | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • I'm just glad it's over.
    Hiding in Plain Sight: John Eric Armstrong | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • He had no remorse whatsoever for what he was doing.
    Hiding in Plain Sight: John Eric Armstrong | World’s Most Evil Killers

Key Moments

  • Discovery of Bodies01:55
  • The Facade10:06
  • Natasha's Attack14:50
  • Wendy's Murder19:03
  • Escalating Violence26:25
  • Bodies Discovered28:21
  • Trial Begins39:18
  • Final Sentencing40:43

Tension Over Time

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown