UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast

Episode 13: Hadden Clark: Disturbing Letters from a Serial Killer
Host: James Buddy Day
Date: March 11, 2026

Episode Overview

This intense episode of UNMARKED centers on Hadden Clark, a convicted serial killer, and his disturbing correspondence with host James Buddy Day. With direct insight from retired FBI Special Agent Lou Luciano and exclusive access to Clark’s own handwritten letters (signed “Mr. Bunny Rabbit”), the narrative probes not only the details of Clark’s crimes, but the tortured family history and twisted psychological landscape from which two killers emerged. Rarely does a true crime episode deliver such chilling depth—peeling back layers of trauma, dissociation, and ultimately, the quest for control through violence.

Key Discussions & Insights

1. Confronting "Evil": More Than a Label

[00:59 - 01:23]

• Lou Luciano describes his impression of Hadden Clark:

  “This guy just takes the cake because there is no rhyme or reason for what he did… He’s 100% evil.”
  “If you were in the same room as this guy—he’s soulless.”

• Buddy Day questions whether “evil” explains anything, seeking deeper psychological motives:

  “What if evil isn’t an explanation but a way to stop asking questions?” (01:14)

2. A Family Of Violence: Two Killers From One Home

[01:57 - 05:10]

• Clark’s family produced not one, but two violent offenders—Hadden and his brother Bradfield.

• The Clark siblings’ upbringing was marked by severe trauma:

  • Father (Hadden Clark Sr.): Bipolar, violent, often unemployed
  • Mother: Alcoholic, emotionally unstable
  • All four siblings subjected to violence and daily emotional abuse

• Lou Luciano:

  "The debate always is nature, nurture, and I think for Hadden... it's a combination of both. Quite honestly, when you're around this guy, it's like being in a room with Satan." (02:29)

3. The Early Signs: Abuse, Neurological Vulnerability, and Fantasy

[05:54 - 14:25]

• Hadden was born with possible brain injury, developmental delays, and a chaotic home life.
• Summers with his grandfather on Cape Cod brought further violence and sexual abuse.
• Animals were tortured and killed by the siblings—classic markers seen in “the serial killer triad” (bedwetting, fire-setting, animal cruelty).
• Dissociation:
  • Clark developed alternate identities (Kristen, Mr. Bunny Rabbit).
  • Buddy Day’s correspondence revealed Clark’s insistence on being called “Mr. Bunny Rabbit” in letters, reflecting his fractured sense of self.
• Lou Luciano:

  “He had multiple personalities. And there were days… if we couldn’t figure out who we were talking to, sometimes it was a wasted trip.” (12:39)

4. The Path To Violence: Culmination of Abuse and Psychopathy

[14:25 - 18:18]

• Clark’s drift through jobs and training at the Culinary Institute of America highlighted even more disturbing behaviors (eating and drinking raw meat and blood).

  "He would drink the beef blood...and the raw food there, which is counter to everything you're learning. And he ended up getting thrown out of there." (15:04)

• The FBI meticulously mapped Clark’s movements, seeking links to numerous unsolved murders.

5. The “Lady of the Dunes” Mystery

[16:44 - 19:57]

• Clark claimed to have murdered “the Lady of the Dunes” (1974); his description matched crime scene details, suggesting possible involvement.
• Buddy Day’s psychological analysis: Clark’s murders merge humiliation, control, identity, and violence into a singular fantasy—he “erases” women, then replaces them by assuming their identity.

  "He doesn't want to be a woman, and this has nothing to do with gender dysphoria. What Clark wants is erasure...to live briefly inside the person he's killed." (17:53)

• Officially, authorities later attribute this murder to the victim’s husband, though doubts remain.

6. Bradfield Clark: The Other Killer

[22:50 - 25:44]

• Hadden's brother, Bradfield, a social psychology grad student, was convicted of strangling and dismembering a co-worker in California in 1984.
• The two brothers exhibited disturbingly similar behaviors, especially the clinical, emotionless dismemberment of victims.

  “If you shoot a deer …there is a very step by step process to field dress that deer…he was very methodical about it. And just like you said, to him, it was just, just an animal.” (25:16)

7. Hadden Clark’s Confirmed Victims and MOs

[25:44 - 36:40]

• Sarah Pryor (1985): 9-year-old last seen walking home—Clark never charged, but later described the murder in detail; skull fragment found corroborated his account.

  "You had to be the guy that did it or you had to be one of her parents. And he had the information..." (26:45)

• Michelle Dorr (1986): 6-year-old lured, murdered, and buried in Cape Cod, then relocated. Forensics confirmed DNA.
• Laura Hodeling (1992): Murdered after Clark obsessively inserted himself into family, then infiltrated home dressed as her and assumed her identity.

  "This murder is the full expression of Clark’s recurrent fantasy. He eliminates Laura and then becomes her in his mind..." (34:08)

8. Disturbing Trophies: The Bucket

[36:03 - 36:40]

• Investigators find a sealed bucket of trophies buried by Clark, including jewelry belonging to victims; some items appear random or purchased, showing the blurred lines between truth and Clark’s fantasy.

  “He claimed everything in the bucket was from a victim....some of it had little price tags on it like you would see at a flea market.” (36:23)

9. Analysis: Psychopathy and Infamy

[36:59 - 39:21]

• Clark’s letters reference other notorious killers, notably Charles Manson. His excitement over infamy suggests not only a lack of remorse, but a narcissistic pleasure in being known for evil.

  “He wants to be that focus. They’re coming to see me. He’s got a lot of people writing to him…it's like a fertile field for him to grow his crop of bullshit.” (38:45)

• Buddy Day and Luciano underscore that Hadden Clark is a unique brand of psychopath, shaped by early abuse, neurological deficits, and a need to erase and become others—a chilling recipe for serial murder.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Lou Luciano on Hadden Clark’s eyes:

  “He’s got these pale ice blue eyes—there is nothing, zero, nothing behind him except for evil and manipulation.” (05:38)

• Interviewer on the family abuse:

  “So that you have these very, very abused children...left to their own devices...what they get up to is torturing and killing animals because that gives them a semblance of control.” (11:08)

• On Clark’s Dissociation:

  “If we called him Haddon, he would say, ‘Haddon's not here right now. Kristen, yeah, what do you want?’ It was mind numbing and exhausting to be with this guy.” (12:39)

• On Trophy Keeping:

  “He claimed everything in the bucket was from a victim…some of it had little price tags on it like you would see at a flea market.” (36:23)

• On Clark’s Narcissism:

  “Charles Manson wanted to know how he will be remembered... Clark writes me back, ‘Charles Manson will always be remembered. From now on, when you say Charles Manson, people still remember who he was.’ ” (37:42)

Important Timestamps

• 00:59 — Lou Luciano describes first impressions of Hadden Clark’s “evil”
• 02:29 — Nature vs. nurture in serial killers’ development
• 05:54 — Buddy Day begins to share details from Clark’s unsettling prison letters
• 10:01 — Family abuse / Cape Cod summers with abusive grandfather
• 11:08 — Serial killer "triad" behaviors emerge in Clark’s childhood
• 12:39 — Discussion on Clark’s dissociation and multiple personalities
• 15:04 — Bizarre culinary behaviors (eating/drinking raw meat, blood)
• 16:44 — “Lady of the Dunes” confession and MO pattern
• 22:50 — Bradfield Clark’s (brother) own murder conviction, and methodical mutilation
• 26:45 — Sarah Pryor’s murder and partial forensic confirmation
• 29:45 - 31:12 — Michelle Dorr’s murder, burial, and relocation by Clark
• 33:12 — The murder of Laura Hodeling and Clark’s ultimate fantasy fulfillment
• 36:03 — Discovery of trophy bucket; blurred reality vs. invention
• 37:42 — Clark’s letters reference to Charles Manson; seeking infamy
• 38:45 — Insight into Clark’s psychology: attention-seeking and “fertile field for his crop of bullshit”
• 39:50 — Concluding exchange; Luciano jokingly says Buddy Day has “a serial killer name right there” (39:50)

Episode Tone & Final Reflection

True to the UNMARKED ethos, this episode balances a matter-of-fact, investigative tone with genuine horror at the unfolding facts. Buddy Day’s measured narration, Luciano’s seasoned candor, and the unvarnished revelations of Clark’s own letters provide an unflinching look at one of North America’s most chilling true crime stories.

Resources

• Full scans of Hadden Clark’s “Mr. Bunny Rabbit” prison letters available in the Unmarked Case Files research portal.
• Further reading: Buddy Day’s book "Charles: The Last Words" for additional interviews and insights into criminal psychology.

This summary reflects all core discussions and omits commercial breaks, intros/outros, and non-content segments.