He didn’t stalk. He turned doorknobs. Locked, he walked away. Unlocked, he walked in—and Sacramento became a hunting ground.

This episode dives into the collapse of Richard Trenton Chase, the “Vampire of Sacramento”: a man convinced his organs were vanishing and his blood was turning to dust. From animal blood rituals and delusions about stolen arteries to random door checks that ended in slaughter, we follow how unchecked psychosis, a gun, and a city full of unlocked homes produced one of the most disturbing murder sprees in American crime.

No heist. No master plan. Just a mind coming apart—and the bodies left behind.

June 29th, 1978. Bob Crane—star of Hogan’s Heroes—was found bludgeoned to death in his Scottsdale apartment, a cord around his neck and severe head wounds from a blunt object. There was no sign of forced entry.

Crane had been living a double life: beloved sitcom actor by day, consumed by his obsession with sex and videotaping by night. His friend, video technician John Carpenter, often joined him, helping record his encounters.

Behind the laughter was a man consumed by obsession. Fame fed his ego. The camera fed his need for control.

When Crane tried to walk away, the story turned deadly.

March 26th, 1997. Rancho Santa Fe, California. Thirty-nine people are found dead in a mansion, lying neatly in rows. Black clothes. Matching Nike sneakers. Faces covered by purple shrouds. No signs of struggle. They called themselves Heaven’s Gate—and believed their souls had boarded a spacecraft trailing the Hale-Bopp comet. Their leader, Marshall Applewhite, promised they’d ascend to a higher existence, leaving their “human vehicles” behind. To them, this wasn’t suicide. It was graduation. The world saw tragedy; they saw salvation. Heaven’s Gate became proof of how devotion can eclipse reason, and how the need to belong can make even death feel like deliverance.