3: Bob Berdella: The Confession No One Heard- Part 1

Summary

UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast

Episode 3: Bob Berdella: The Confession No One Heard – Part 1
Released January 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

This chilling episode of UNMARKED delves into the shocking crimes of Bob Berdella, infamously known as "Bizarre Bob," a serial killer who prowled Kansas City in the 1980s. What sets Berdella apart isn’t just the brutality or the number of his crimes, but his compulsive documentation: hundreds of Polaroid photographs and meticulous, coded journals chronicled the horrors he committed. Using newly uncovered confession transcripts, rare audio, and never-before-heard interviews—including snippets of Berdella’s own voice—the episode reconstructs the timeline from his arrest back to his earliest crimes, offering unique psychological insight into his evolution as a killer.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Arrest: Catalyst for Unraveling the Case

• The Escape (04:09–05:56):

  • In April 1988, police respond to a local 911 call—triggered by a meter man—who spots Chris Bryson running for help, naked and with a dog collar around his neck. Bryson reports a harrowing multi-day captivity, describing injections, torture, and repeated sexual assault at the hands of "Bob."
  • Notable quote:
    “It's mind boggling. There were people who saw this naked man with a dog collar limping and didn't help him. But one person did agree to call 911.” (Tom Jackman, 03:46)
  • After Bryson’s escape, Sergeant Troy Cole and his team secure the house while waiting for a warrant. Bob Berdella arrives, appearing "very nervous" and "sweating profusely," invoking his right to an attorney (07:18–07:40).

• Gruesome Discoveries (08:16–09:55):

  • Inside, police discover squalor, a hidden “torture room,” syringes, a car battery with metal clamps, and, most damning, over 300 Polaroids showing men in distress or unconscious, plus two human skulls and an envelope of teeth.
  • Berdella’s coded shorthand notes reveal a detailed chronology of his actions against victims, with phrases like "dd" and "86" interpreted as indications of death.

The Psychological Map: Journals & Confession

• The Confession Unveiled (02:30–02:54, 06:20–06:37):
  • Berdella gave a full confession under the agreement that his words would never leave the District Attorney’s office. The podcast reconstructs this, revealing chilling self-justification and methodical criminality.
  • Notable quote:
    “This wasn't a sit down and planned scientific experiment by any means, but just to have some record or reference to it in the future.” (Bob Berdella, 02:30, 20:20)
  • His journals form a comprehensive, clinical script of his descent into serial murder.

Bob Berdella’s Background: Formation of a Killer

• Early Life & Alienation (11:25–13:51):

  • Born in Ohio, Berdella experiences intense alienation—realizing he's gay in a repressive era and suffering the sudden, traumatic death of his father (11:30–11:58).
  • Notable quote:
    “He started coughing and apparently unwedged some cholesterol that went into his heart and basically gave him a heart attack.” (Bob Berdella, 11:58)
  • He moves to Kansas City for art school, finding some acceptance but gradually becoming more cynical and isolated after legal trouble and career setbacks.

• Bob's "Bizarre" Persona (15:34–18:11):

  • Berdella becomes known in Kansas City’s art and antique scene for his eclectic knowledge, barter skills, and eccentric—often unsettling—behavior.
  • Notable Quotes:

    “It was bizarre. Bizarre because he, you know, it was. Because he was bizarre. His stuff was in there, was bizarre. Bizarre.”
    (Paul Cooper, 16:15) “He had a rule that says there’s only one commandment from God and as thou shalt not pay retail. And he did not.”
    (Paul Cooper recounting Berdella’s aphorisms, 17:09)

• Social Circles & Predation (18:22–20:20):

  • Berdella frequents gay bars, parks, and bus stations—places where he meets marginalized and vulnerable young men.
  • He trades drugs (often veterinary tranquilizers) for companionship, initially in consensual exchanges before escalating into non-consensual, often criminal, activity.

The Pattern Begins: The First Murder

• Influence of "The Collector" (20:31–21:12):

  • Berdella describes being profoundly affected by the 1965 film The Collector, which filters into his fantasies and ultimately shapes his methodology.
  • Notable quote:
    “A film that I saw as a teenager that I guess left a lasting fantasy... The movie just gave me the framework to be able to fantasize it. And in 84 I started allowing my dark fantasies to come true.”
    (Bob Berdella, 20:50)

• The Murder of Jerry Howell (21:28–25:18):

  • Victim One: Jerry Howell, a 19-year-old whose father runs a store neighboring Berdella’s flea market booth.

  • Berdella chronicles the progression from "party" to fatal restraint minute by minute in his journals (22:39–23:00).

  • Key insights: It takes five hours to fully subdue Jerry; the process is deliberate and coldly detached.

  • Notable quotes:

    “Perhaps it wasn't pleasurable, but satisfied a need or an emotion that I had at the time.”
    (Bob Berdella, 23:31)
    “There was no intent to hurt him, that is torture or anything like that. My motivation was mainly to have control over the situation.”
    (Bob Berdella, 24:10)
    “The second day he he was at my house. He apparently asphyxiated… It appeared that the only viable option was to dismember him and have the trash pick it up.”
    (Bob Berdella, 24:33)

• Police Failure & Social Neglect (25:18–28:32):

  • Despite suspicions—for example, investigators noting Berdella’s nervousness during interviews—the police effectively abandon the case after brief follow-up.
  • Bob keeps news clippings about Jerry’s disappearance in a folder labeled “Houseguest,” underscoring his confidence in his anonymity and impunity.
  • The episode sharply critiques the era’s police attitudes toward gay men and street-involved youth, showing how societal prejudice allowed Berdella to evade detection.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Bob's compulsion to document everything:

  • “This gives us something almost unheard of, a complete psychological map of a serial killer as he commits his crimes.”
    (James Buddy Day, 00:51)

• On the horrifying, clinical nature of the crimes:

  • “It's a methodical, clinical routine and he repeats it hour after hour after hour.”
    (James Buddy Day, 23:39)

• On the chilling normality of Berdella’s outward life:

  • “He never gets angry, he never raises his voice. He's polite, but he's undeniably bizarre.”
    (James Buddy Day, 17:21)

• On law enforcement shortcomings:

  • “In truth, this failure was shaped by the era. Police lean into harmful stereotypes about gay men. And as a result, they dismiss crucial information. Bob is targeting marginalized young men and law enforcement largely overlook their experiences. And Bob knew this.”
    (James Buddy Day, 27:18)

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Quote |
|------------|----------------------------------------------------------|
| 00:51 | Main Introduction & Theme: Bob's compulsive documentation| | 03:46 | Tom Jackman on public indifference to the escaped victim | | 04:09–05:56| Sergeant Cole and Tom Jackman recount Chris Bryson's escape| | 08:16 | Discovery of the “torture room” and disturbing artifacts | | 11:30–13:51| Bob’s early life, father's death, coming out, drifting | | 15:34–18:11| Paul Cooper describes Bob's personality and eccentricities| | 20:50 | Bob’s obsession with "The Collector" | | 21:28–24:33| Methodical documentation and execution of Jerry Howell | | 27:18 | Critical reflection on police bias and missed red flags |

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Tone & Language

• The tone is clinical, calm, yet deeply unsettling—mirroring the cold detachment with which both the host and Berdella himself discuss the crimes.
• Language remains factual and non-sensational, but the reconstructed confessions and interviews conjure a macabre intimacy, bringing listeners uncomfortably close to the psychology of a killer.

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Summary

In Part 1 of Bob Berdella: The Confession No One Heard, UNMARKED strips away myth and sensationalism to present an unvarnished, evidence-driven portrait of a serial killer who lived in plain sight. By fusing police records, survivor testimony, never-before-heard confession transcripts, and the recollections of those who knew him, the episode not only reconstructs the facts but exposes the systemic failures that enabled Berdella’s crimes. Listeners are left with haunting questions about accountability and the societal blind spots that allowed "Bizarre Bob" to thrive—questions that will be explored even deeper in Part 2.

Transcript

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Limit 3 member price with digital coupon. Hurry in. These deals won't last. Visit safewayoralbertsons.com for more deals and ways to save. This story will stay with you because it's one of the most bizarre cases I've ever come across. And today we're going to do something unprecedented. This is the story of Bob Berdella, or Bizarre Bob as he came to be known. What makes Bob different is not just what he did, it's how he recorded recorded it in a series of murders. He documented everything with Polaroids and meticulous minute by minute journals, almost like an evil doctor charting a patient's decline. This gives us something almost unheard of, a complete psychological map of a serial killer as he commits his crimes. But the strangest part came after his arrest. Bob agreed to give a full confession under one that his words never leave the District Attorney's office. He would tell everything as long as no one outside that room ever heard it. Until now. We found the entire transcript. Hundreds of pages buried for decades in the Kansas City Police Department cold storage. We also uncovered hours of rare recordings of Bob's voice. And using AI and tracking down the officers who were sitting in that room, we have reconstructed the confession in full. Throughout this episode you will hear Bizarre Bob in his own words telling you his story.

[Bob Berdella]

And this wasn't a sit down and planned scientific experiment by any means, but just to have some record or reference to it in the future.

[James Buddy Day]

The story of a strange man who literally owned his own store called Bob's bizarre. Bizarre.

[Bob Berdella]

In 84 I started allowing my dark fantasies to come true.

[James Buddy Day]

A serial killer who preyed on his own customers. A man who once killed while a taxi Waited for him outside and another while his roommate was in the very next room. I'm James Buddy Day. This is unmarked. We're going to begin at the end on the day of Bob's capture. And like everything else involving Bob, it's bizarre. It's April 2, 1988. Police respond to a 911 call in a central Kansas City neighborhood after a local meter man encounters something alarming. It's a man running for help, wearing a dog collar and nothing else. He tells bystanders that he's just escaped from from a kidnapper nearby. This is reporter Tom Jackman, who covered the case as it unfolded.

[Tom Jackman]

It's mind boggling. There were people who saw this naked man with a dog collar limping and didn't help him. But one person did agree to call 911.

[James Buddy Day]

The call goes out to KCPD's senior officer on duty, Sergeant Troy Cole, a 16 year veteran. Months later, he'll be one of only two officers who are in the room for Bob's confession.

[Sergeant Troy Cole]

I got a call from the dispatcher at that time, the victim, Chris Bryson, had told us that he had been hitchhiking and had been picked up by a male. The guy's name was Bob. They went to his house to have a drink. While he was at the house, he was struck in the head and woke up tied to a bed.

[James Buddy Day]

Reporter Tom Jackman explains what Bryson told.

[Tom Jackman]

He tells the police that he spent the next several days being injected with things he doesn't know what. He was gagged, his hands were beaten with the lead pipe, and he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by this man, Bob, who kept him tied to a bed. The man would leave during the day, come back at night.

[James Buddy Day]

According to the initial police report, detectives find the victim with ligature abrasions at the corners of his mouth, across his chest, back and wrists. He has needle marks along his neck. He tells officers he was injected with something he describes as, quote, a liquid similar to Drano before being beaten with pipes and belts while restrained. By the third day of captivity, Bryson sees his chance to escape the man he knows. As Bob leaves the room, Bryson hears footsteps moving down the stairs, the front door opening and the sound of Berdella's car pulling away. He starts working at the restraints until one hand comes free, then the other.

[Tom Jackman]

He was on the second story of this three story frame house, and so he opened the window and he fell down onto the concrete sidewalk and broke his leg. But he was out. He had escaped.

[James Buddy Day]

At that moment, Bob Burdell is at work a short Drive away. Bob runs a shop called Bob's Bazaar Bizarre, where he sells odd collectibles and unusual items. It's a reflection of his fascination with the macabre. While at the store, a neighbor calls him. This is Bob Berdella himself, recounting the story to detectives as part of the his confession.

[Bob Berdella]

On Saturday morning, I got a call at my shop saying that the police were all over the house. I left my shop and drove to the house, knowing that there was probably only one reason for the police to be there.

[James Buddy Day]

When Bob arrives at the house, Sergeant Cole has already ordered the premises secured. While waiting for a search warrant, Bob pulls up, calmly exits his car and introduces himself to police.

[Sergeant Troy Cole]

He was approximately 6 foot 2, a little over 200 pounds on the pudgy side.

[James Buddy Day]

Berdella is unassuming at first glance. He blends in. He has thick glasses, a bushy mustache, and long dark hair slicked back. He tells officers he lives alone, but he often has roommates. Neighbors know him as friendly. He's active in the community. He volunteers with pbs. He even helps out in the neighborhood crime watch.

[Sergeant Troy Cole]

He was very nervous. He was sweating profusely. He was quiet and subdued. Didn't have much to say other than, I don't think I better talk. I better have my attorney. So our conversation was very brief. I signed the authorization and Ashley took him up and booked him.

[James Buddy Day]

When the warrant arrives, Sergeant Cole goes into the house, and he's faced with a scene of overwhelming neglect.

[Sergeant Troy Cole]

I've been in a lot of houses that were bad over the course of my career, but that was the worst. It was clutter. There was dog feces scattered throughout the house. There was a turkey carcass that was rotted in on the stove. The smell was. It was just putrid. I'm thinking, how in the world are we going to go through all this stuff to determine what could be and what could not be? Evidence.

[James Buddy Day]

Police are overwhelmed with the amount of clutter. At first, it's hard to determine if anything inside the home matches Bryson's story. It's then that detectives discover a hidden locked door on the second floor. Behind it is a room exactly as Bryson had described, what a task force will later designate as, quote, the torture room. Police sift through the clutter and uncover syringes with unidentified chemicals, 9 millimeter rounds, wooden sticks, and a car battery with metal clamps attached. As the search continues, police make more unsettling discoveries in the master bedroom where Bob sleeps. Underneath the mattress, they recover a Ziploc bag. Inside is 300 Polaroid photographs. The images depict numerous men in vulnerable or unconscious states. Some appear to be in medical distress. Others appear to be unresponsive.

[Tom Jackman]

Are all these people dead? Where are they? Where are their bodies?

[James Buddy Day]

Then comes another discovery. A human skull in a hall closet, along with an envelope full of teeth. Soon, another skull is recovered, buried in a bucket in the backyard. Finally, detectives find sheets of disorganized shorthand notes, dated entries, timestamps, fragmented phrases. These are Bob's coded diaries, and investigators determine they are chronological records of actions taken against his victims.

[Tom Jackman]

They surmised this is Bob's shorthand for actual torture. Captured in progress.

[James Buddy Day]

The earliest journal entry begins on July 5, 1984. Two days later, the final note reads, quote dd. Detectives interpret that to mean the victim has died. Another entry ends on September 26, 1985, at midnight with the notation quote 86. Again, they think it means deceased. Once investigators assemble the notes, the picture becomes clear. There appear to be six victims, the first in 1984, the last in the summer of 1987. Six months before Bryson had escaped for the first time, Kansas City police have uncovered a serial killer. Bob Berdella. At the time, the very idea of a serial killer is very new. Investigators in Kansas City have never handled a case like this before. And when they start digging, they realize something chilling. Bob had been right under their noses for years. He had quietly been the prime suspect in multiple investigations, cases that were later abandoned for reasons no one can fully explain.

[Sergeant Troy Cole]

It's obviously the biggest case that I've ever been involved in. He was the first serial killer that we had here in Kansas City. There's been one since, but he was the first.

[James Buddy Day]

Bob Berdella is born in Ohio, where he attends Cuyahoga Falls High School.

[Bob Berdella]

I was involved in the stamp club, I think one of the algebra clubs. Never did get involved in a lot of school activity.

[James Buddy Day]

It's 1966. Bob is 16, and his life suddenly changes. During a Christmas visit with relatives. His father dies unexpectedly from a heart attack. This will affect Bob profoundly and changed the course of his life.

[Bob Berdella]

It was over a Christmas holiday down in Canton visiting relatives. He had trouble breathing, went in for a respiratory problem. And the second night he was there, during his sleep, he started coughing and apparently unwedged some cholesterol that went into his heart and basically gave him a heart attack.

[James Buddy Day]

The tragedy reshapes Bob's worldview completely. He's already carrying a secret he feels he can't share with anyone. He's gay, living in a time and place that refused to accept him for who he is. He never tells his father and even at the time of his confession, decades later, he admits that he's never discussed it with his mother. That silence leaves him sitting with shame. He never resolves. His father was only 39, with no history of health issues. After the death, Bob's emotions turn inward and darken. His grief hardens into resentment and his worldview begins to corrode. He starts to grow cynical towards education, politics, religion. Everything he once believed in feels hollow now. After graduation, Bob leaves Ohio. He moves to Kansas City to attend the Art Institute and lives in the dorms. He majors in painting and ceramics, hoping to become a college professor. And for the first time, he's able to live openly as a gay man. In his junior year, Berdella is arrested in a small drug related incident. To pay legal fees, he starts working and the restaurant industry and very quickly

[Bob Berdella]

found out I could make twice as much flipping hamburgers as I could as a college professor in that field.

[James Buddy Day]

Within a few years, Berdella becomes an executive chef, saves money and this is how he's able to buy the two story home on Charlotte Street.

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[James Buddy Day]

It's the same house. Police will search you years later.

[Bob Berdella]

I bought the house. It was through a mortgage company. I put $100 down and started making payments.

[James Buddy Day]

By 1971, Berdella has become deeply interested in ancient Roman and Egyptian artifacts. He collects and sells them out of his home. This is where he begins to fill his house with collection collectibles, eventually establishing a shop in the Westport flea market.

[Bob Berdella]

For the first four or five years, from about 71 through 76, I was collecting and dealing in Roman and Egyptian artifacts, ancient artifacts more associated with the Mideast. And at 76, I had just gotten into folk art.

[James Buddy Day]

In 1981, Buck Bob is laid off from his executive chef job. He begins to work at the flea market booth full time, renaming it Bob's Bizarre Bazaar. We track down one of Bob's former roommates, a man named Paul Cooper, who lived with Bob at the Charlotte street house, moving out a year before Bob's arrest.

[Paul Cooper]

But it was bizarre. Bizarre because he, you know, it was. Because he was bizarre. His stuff was in there, was bizarre. Bizarre.

[James Buddy Day]

When I talked to Paul, I wanted to know what Bob was really like. He described him as eccentric. Strange, yes, but also surprisingly respected in the small world of niche art and collectibles.

[Paul Cooper]

I saw numerous times where people would come to Bob and have him appraise their art. So he's well known in the art community. And Bob told me that's where he made his real money.

[James Buddy Day]

You know, Bob is known for his obscure knowledge of gems and he always has his hands in something. The shop selling odds and ends out of his house, jewelry, making all sorts of odd ventures. He barters with anyone who will barter back.

[Paul Cooper]

He was cheap, you know, and like he had a rule.

[Sergeant Troy Cole]

He.

[Paul Cooper]

He was an atheist, right? Complete. A true atheist. He had this rule that says there's only one commandment from God and as thou shalt not pay retail. And he did not.

[James Buddy Day]

He never gets angry, he never raises his voice. He's polite, but he's undeniably bizarre.

[Paul Cooper]

We went to a toga party. I had never been to a toga party in my life. Didn't even really know what one was. It was cold outside, wintertime. I was dressed in regular clothes with a coat. He had a flower, full length rabbit fur coat on and flip flops. We went to the party and the host came up. The hostess came up to us to take her coats. I took my coat. People were in togas. Bob took off that fur coat. Didn't have a stitch on. He didn't have a thing on but his necklace and his flip flops. That's Bob. That was berdella. And you either could go with that or you couldn't be with Bob. He was that type of a guy.

[James Buddy Day]

Bertella also keeps large dogs that he breeds and sells. And through these animals he's able to purchase veterinary supplies. These are medications typically intended for animal care.

[Bob Berdella]

I was getting everything from Vitamins, calcium pills, vaccines, and then also was able to get some of the tranquilizers, Acepromazine, chlorpromazine and ketamine.

[James Buddy Day]

Investigators will come across numerous reports of Bob using these substances socially. He sells them, trades them, or offers them in exchange for companionship. Bob is known to frequent gay bars downtown, a local park and a bus station where many vulnerable young men pass through. One witness tells police a story of spending the night at Bob's house. Bob provided these medications in exchange for being held in the man's arms all night. The man tells police it was like Bob was scared or insecure. It's around this time that Bob begins what he later calls test runs. He invites young men to his house for consensual encounters, often trading items or substances for companionship. Some guests would become heavily sedated and have little or no memory of what happened. This is something the men didn't understand till years later. We found a witness report in the Kansas City police archives in which a man who knew Bob describes a disturbing pattern. Bob offering drugs, the men becoming sedated and then being restrained. It reads in part, quote, he had seen three or four different white males, 21 to 26 years of age, tied up in Berdella's bedroom. The witness says the victims would try to resist. He says, quote, they would tell Berdella to stop, but he wouldn't stop and they couldn't defend themselves. Bob's polaroids of this time are later discovered under his mattress. And this is where he begins to keep notes, notes on medications and his victims reactions.

[Bob Berdella]

This wasn't a sit down and planned scientific experiment by any means, but just to have some record or reference to it in the future.

[James Buddy Day]

According to Bob, his actions are an attempt to recreate a movie he became obsessed with as a teenager. An Oscar nominated 1965 horror film called the Collector starring Terence Stamp, about a socially awkward young man who abducts a woman and holds her captive in his cellar.

[Bob Berdella]

A film that I saw as a teenager that I guess left a lasting fantasy, a dark fantasy in my mind was a film called the Collector. The movie just gave me the framework to be able to fantasize it. And in 84 I started allowing my dark fantasies to come true.

[James Buddy Day]

It's July 5, 1984 and we're four years before Berdella's arrest. Bob picks up a 19 year old named Jerry Howell at a bus station near his home. Witnesses report seeing Jerry at a 711 with Bob on 36th and Main Street.

[Bob Berdella]

The first victim was Jerry Howell. His death happened in my house. As did all the deaths.

[James Buddy Day]

Now here's the strange part. Jerry is no stranger to Bob. In fact, Bob knows Jerry and his father. Jerry's father owns the store next to Bob's Bazaar Bazaar at the Westport Flea Market.

[Bob Berdella]

Jerry informed me that he had started tricking. First down on Independence Avenue and then down at 10th and McGee. This is the first time that I've seen, became aware of any information that Jerry was in any way, shape or form involved with Gates. And I don't think he was 18 at this time.

[James Buddy Day]

Over the years, Bob had taken advantage of Jerry's vulnerability. Bob once helped Jerry to get a dentist appointment. Another time, Jerry needed a lawyer and Bob stepped in. But Bob's motivations are not purely generous. Jerry always, always ends up at Bob's house to repay the debt. On the night of Jerry's disappearance, the pattern repeats itself.

[Bob Berdella]

The only intent on going over to my house was just that, to party.

[James Buddy Day]

On July 5, 1984, Bob begins writing in his journals six minutes after Jerry is last seen. He documents doses and medications at 6pm, 6 26, 46, 7pm and then continues with minute by minute notations until 11:45pm when Jerry is truly sedated.

[Bob Berdella]

This is the first time I had done anything like this.

[James Buddy Day]

This moment gives us extraordinary insight into Bob's mind. It takes him more than five hours to fully subdue and capture Jerry. Five hours in which any reasonable person might rethink, reconsider, re, evaluate. Yet Bob remains detached and clinical. He's a true psychopath. Unable to grasp or simply unable to truly care about the gravity of what he's doing.

[Bob Berdella]

Perhaps it wasn't pleasurable, but satisfied a need or an emotion that I had at the time.

[James Buddy Day]

Bob spends the entire night letting his dark fantasies run wild. The next day, Bob leaves for work with Jerry still restrained. When he returns, he picks up exactly where he left off. He documents the pattern in his journal. A slow, deliberate cycle of sedation, reaction, abuse, more reaction and more sedation. It's a methodical, clinical routine and he repeats it hour after hour after hour.

[Bob Berdella]

There was no intent to hurt him, that is torture or anything like that. My motivation was mainly to have control over the situation.

[James Buddy Day]

According to Bob, Jerry's physical condition worsens due to the prolonged restraint and sedation. At one point, Bob leaves the room briefly. When he returns, Jerry is unresponsive.

[Bob Berdella]

The second day he he was at my house. He apparently asphyxiated and checked for a pulse. I tried to use some Resuscitation. Tried this for probably two or three minutes and got no response. First I brought him down to the basement, then came back up and tried to figure out what to do. It appeared that the only viable option was to dismember him and have the trash pick it up.

[James Buddy Day]

This is a method Bob will repeat five more times.

[Bob Berdella]

All the bodies sat out on the curb for the trashman to pick up on Monday morning.

[James Buddy Day]

Jerry's disappearance immediately alarms his family. He's been excited for a Michael Jackson concert and had tickets that he never picked up. When he doesn't show, they file a missing persons report with the Kansas City Police Department. After sifting through boxes, we recovered the case file of the Jerry Howell investigation. One of the first person police interview is Jerry's father Paul, who immediately points the finger at Berdella. Witnesses also confirm Jerry was last seen with Bob. This prompts investigators to interview Bob himself. He lies, claiming he dropped Jerry off at 7:11 and went home. He provides no evidence, no alibi. He says Jerry owed a lot of money to people and could have been picked up by anyone. Investigators are suspicious and they even write down their suspicion. In one part of the interview, the investigator writes, it should be noted that during the interview, Mr. Berdella appeared very nervous and sweating a lot. Yet the case file shows that investigators conducted minimal follow up. After speaking to Bob and a few more interviews, the case is essentially abandoned in favor of other cases. In truth, this failure was shaped by the era. Police lean into harmful stereotypes about gay men. And as a result, they dismiss crucial information. Bob is targeting. Marginalized young men and law enforcement largely overlook their experiences. And Bob knew this. Years later, during a search of his home, police recover an envelope buried in his closet. On the front, Bob has written Houseguest. Inside is newspaper clippings and missing persons posters, all following the investigation and disappearance of Jerry Howl. That's what still haunts me. Bob was aware of the investigation into his first victim, but he understood that no one could stop him. Not the neighbors, not the police, not the witnesses who reported him. After committing his first murder, Bob just slips back into his routine. He works at the flea market. He's selling artifacts. He's volunteering for the neighborhood watch. The mask of normality holds. But behind the mask, in the secret room on Bob's second floor, Bob is evolving. The mistakes he made with Jerry he corrects and the fantasies he saw in the movies. He begins perfecting. Because Jerry Howell wasn't the end of something, it was the beginning. In part two, we go deeper into Bob's diaries and into the years when his fantasies darken into a calculated pattern of abduction, captivity and murder. We'll talk about the victims who vanished inside Bob's house, the police who missed the signs, and the roommate who unknowingly was standing just a few feet away when Bob committed a murder. Murder bizarre. Bob thought no one could see him, but eventually the truth caught up. That's next time on Unmarked. If you go to our social channels, YouTube, Tik Tok, Facebook and Instagram, you'll see additional content about this episode, more phone calls, insights and interviews. And we'll be posting daily from the last decade of our true crime reporting. This season on Unmarked, you'll hear exclusive audio and interviews, calls and content, including the last interview with Charles Manson. We're opening our archives one case at a time. Subscribe to Unmarked so you don't miss what we reveal next. This episode of Unmarked is produced by John Nadeau, edited by Dave Alderson, and our additional producers are Jesse demarais and Steve McClellan.

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[James Buddy Day]

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