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[distant sirens]

[man] There's still
so many things

we don't understand
about this case,

and probably never will.

We just had bits and pieces

of some kind
of strange puzzle.

And even if we could put them
all together,

I don't know if I want to see
whatever picture they make.

[tense music playing]

[clears throat]

- [producer whispers]
- Yeah.

Uh-huh.

My name is Joseph Kirby.

I'm a former
lead detective sergeant

in San Bernardino County.

I was supervising
the Major Crimes Unit

between 2007 and 2015.

San Bernardino County
is about 60 miles east

of Los Angeles.

And is a part of California's

Inland Empire region.

We have a population
of about two million.

We've seen
our share of violent crimes,

gang-related homicides,

relatively large-scale
drug busts,

what have you.

We probably ran

upwards of 65 murders a year

in the San Bernardino County
Sheriff's Homicide Bureau,

which is higher
than the national average.

But I had never seen
anything like what happened

to the Sheridan family
on Alton Avenue.

Nobody had.

[dial tone]

[dispatcher] 911,
what is your emergency?

[female voice]

[dispatcher]

[female voice] My name...

My name is Kacie Porter,

and I was friends
with Tiffany Sheridan.

Our kids went
to the same elementary school.

[laughs]
When you have kids that age,

and you meet a lot of parents
that you don't always care for,

but Tiff and I,
we just hit it off.

We were supposed to meet
at this restaurant for lunch,

but she never showed,
and I just...

I figured she had forgotten,
so I let it go. Um...

But then Lauren came home,
and she said

that Sam hadn't been
to school in a few days.

And, um, I kept calling

and I kept texting,
but I never got a reply back.

And I just knew,
in the back of my head,

that something is wrong.

[female voice]

[operator]

I'm Will Martinez.

I'm a deputy sheriff

with the San Bernardino
Sheriff's Department.

Me and my partner
were the first officers

to arrive on scene.

We got a call
regarding a welfare check

for a residence
in the Shandin Hills.

Nice area. Um...

It was a gated community,
as I remember.

[tense music playing]

The whole thing felt weird.

Something about it
was just off.

[tense music playing]

Police department!

Police department!

Anybody home?

[woman speaking on radio]

- [tense music playing]
- [gate rattles]

[Martinez]
We need to go around.

[doorknob rattles]

Police department! Anyone home?

My partner called out,

identified ourselves again,

but there was no movement.

[Martinez] Hello?

Anybody home?

[tense music playing]

[whispering]
Mother of God.

[tense music playing]

This was a crime scene.

[tense music playing]

[Kacie] Oh,
what happened to them...

I think about it every day.

I have nightmares about it.

[tense music playing]

Why them?

[tense music playing]

That... was a bad day.

[tense music playing]

When I saw that, I was...

floored.

I looked at my partner
and I said,

"Oh, my God, he's back."

[dramatic music playing]

Hi.

My name's Lexi Taylor.

I'm a senior homicide detective

for the San Bernardino P.D.

I worked as a patrol officer
for about nine years

before being offered
a job in the homicide bureau,

and that's when I started
working with my partner,

Joe Kirby.

Growing up,
my mom worked two jobs

to support me
and my older brother.

Saw a rotating door
of less-than-great men,

you would say,
come and go in her life.

I think that's
when I first started

thinking that,
maybe, I would like

to try to help people.

You know,
maybe I could help someone

like my mom
out of a tough situation.

I actually never intended
to be a cop.

I had aspirations of being
a drummer in a metal band.

But one of my friend's brothers

was in the Academy,
and I thought it sounded cool.

I liked how you had
to think on your feet,

use your brain
as well as your body.

After a couple of days
in training,

I was hooked, man.

[Taylor] That is
how I have always approached
my career in law enforcement.

Try to be there for people
when things are at their worst.

And, fuck, it was never worse
than on this case.

[Kirby] Between 1993 and 1995,
there were three murders

in Riverside
and San Bernardino County

that we eventually
realized were serial murders,

and which had
some ritualistic aspects.

[man] I think this is it.

Yeah.

Okay, she was covered
with a blue tarp.

Um, you could see it
easily from the road.

This is a service road,
not a lot of people

come down it.

It was just horrible.
I mean, you never expect

to see something like that.

[Kirby] On August 8th, 1993,

the torso of 24-year-old
Shifra Gutierrez

is discovered
in San Bernardino

National Forest.

She had been dismembered.

Her genitals mutilated.

Uh, the uterus removed.

The coroner gave
a best-guess estimate

she'd been there two weeks,

but it's difficult to tell.

[woman]
Shifra was my best friend
in high school. Um...

She was a dope bitch.

[laughs]

Um...

She just had
this joy for living,

and this lust for life,
you know?

And she was funny as fuck.

Um...

She wasn't a bad person.

You know, she just, um...

I don't know, she just
got into some bad shit,

like a lot of people
out here do.

I was always telling her,
I was like,

"This is dangerous, Shifra.

You know,
you gotta stop doing this."

Oh, shit, I said
I wasn't going to do this.

[Taylor]
There's an area off the 91

in the Casablanca
neighborhood,

and that's where Shifra
was last seen.

We do know she went up
to a room at a motel

called Dean's Corner that was
frequented by sex workers.

And there was
a man with her, but...

clerk couldn't remember
what he looked like.

He could've killed her there.

Could've been strangulation,
for example.

We'll probably never know.

What we do know for sure

is that she was somehow moved

from that room
without anybody noticing.

Or somebody noticed
and just didn't care.

But we got our first lead.

A name.

All guests
had to fill out a ledger,

and the suspect
had written down

the name Albert Shiny.

And the case went cold.

I don't need to tell you that,
especially at that time,

sex workers
and marginalized people

tended to get
the short end of the stick

in the criminal justice system.

I'm not saying it was right.
I'm just saying it was,

and is the reality.

So, it was written off
as an isolated incident.

But we were wrong.

A grisly crime scene
has police on high alert

in Arlanza tonight,

not far from the Riverside
Municipal Airport,

where the body of 82-year-old
Ambrose Griffith

was discovered murdered
in his apartment
earlier today.

Mr. Griffith was disabled
and, apparently,

suffered from MDS,
a blood condition

that required daily assistance
from a caretaker.

[Kirby] Nine months after
Shifra Gutierrez is killed,

Ambrose Griffith
is found murdered

in his assisted
living facility.

On the night of June 3rd, 1994,

someone scaled the back side
of his building

and entered his unit
through a sliding glass door

that was apparently
left unlocked.

He was bludgeoned
with an oxygen tank
that was in his room,

and then stabbed
more than 30 times

with a box cutter.

That was brutal.

And you gotta understand,
this guy was bedbound.

I mean, he could not walk,
or could barely walk,
on his own.

So, he was totally defenseless
to the attack,

which was
obviously unprovoked.

No one else in the building
heard so much as a peep

from his room.

So, it must've happened fast,
which is...

some comfort, I guess.

One of his eyes
was also removed.

[Taylor]
It was a sloppy scene.

A murder committed
by somebody in a frenzy

who was not thinking it
through at all.

It's probably why we were able
to get our first real clue.

[Kirby] The print was run
through the system,
but nothing came back.

The lab guys
stayed on it for weeks,

but it was only a partial.

No motive.

82-year-old victim

with no family and few friends,

except the few people
that lived in his building

who were just
as sick as he was.

So, the police didn't make
any connection
to the Gutierrez murder.

Not yet.

- [sobs]
- [man] Come here. Come here.

It's okay. It's okay.

It's okay. It's okay.

We want to thank everyone

from the Riverside
Police Department

with their continued support.

Someone out there

knows what happened
to our little boy, and-and...

[voice breaking]
We are begging

for you to help us

return him home

safely and unharmed.

[Kirby] Noah Lafone
was abducted

while walking home from school

on October 7th, 1995.

He was 12 years old.

There were no witnesses,

and pretty much
no information to go on.

There was
a pretty extensive search

and media effort this time
to try to find him.

We were doing door-to-doors.

This was the first case
I was on involving a child,

so I really threw myself
into it.

I'd get off work and I'd go
join Search and Rescue.

People put
in hundreds of hours,

but days turned into weeks

and it gets harder and harder
to stay positive.

Three months later, in January,

his body is discovered
in a shallow creek

near Silverwood Lake.

He had been weighed down
by concrete bricks,

and his body
was in pretty bad shape.

[tense music playing]

There were
multiple lacerations
to his abdomen,

and his liver
had been removed.

Twelve years old.

Whole life ahead of him.

Poof.

We also found a box cutter,
the weapon,

as well as Noah's
school backpack

and all its contents.

This is where we got
our second lead.

There was a page
that had been written on

and then torn out,

but you could still see
an imprint.

Kaliban.

What the heck was Kaliban?

A bird from the Caribbean,
we found out.

Or a character
from Shakespeare.

I mean, was this
some kind of a code?

Was it
another Zodiac Killer?

About two weeks after
his body was discovered,

the Riverside Police Department

received a letter in the mail.

Provided details
of the three killings.

It was unreleased information
only the police would know,

which basically proves
whoever wrote it

was the killer,
or at least someone

who had direct contact
with the killer.

And there was a message.

[distorted male voice]
Thanks for not catching me!

Was he telling us he was
planning on killing ten more?

Was that what he meant?

This was the first time
we realized

this was
an actual serial killer.

It's worth mentioning
the jurisdictional problems

that can arise when someone
commits a murder

across county lines.

It can make connecting them

a lot more difficult.

But this guy wanted us to know.

He wanted us
to know what he did,

and that he wasn't finished.

And he signs the letter
with that symbol.

[Kirby] Years went by.

The cases went cold.

Detectives at that time figured

whoever was responsible
for the three deaths

was either incarcerated
for another crime

or had died,

because they probably
wouldn't have stopped killing

on their own.

But as soon as I saw
that symbol on the ceiling,

I realized that was
the killer from '95.

He wasn't bluffing
in his letter.

He hadn't stopped.

He'd just taken
a 15-year break.

Why?

We're still trying
to figure that one out.

One thing's for sure.

If his first murder
spree had felt sloppy

and unplanned,

this new one was anything but.

[dramatic music playing]

[Taylor] The suspect
gained entry

through a first
floor bathroom window,

cut through a screen
on the side of the house,

then attacks Ted and Tiffany
sometime after 1:15 a.m.,

after Tiffany sends
her last work email.

There was bruising
on Ted's face.

Struck by a blunt object.

We think the suspect probably
roughed him up

as a form of intimidation,

and convinced him and Tiffany

to go downstairs willingly.

This little girl, Samantha...

Yeah, it looks like she put up
more of a fight.

Some of the furniture
in her room,

her comforter,

all disturbed and in disarray.

The suspect zip-ties
their hands and feet,

wraps duct tape
around their mouths.

You see,
this guy had gotten smarter.

He'd learned
from the murders in '95.

Less sloppy, more methodical.

I mean, the buckets?
What the fuck?

Pardon my French.

He ties the three of them

to chairs
around the dining room.

Deliberately facing each other,
do you understand?

He places their feet

in these five-gallon
painters buckets.

He prepared these things
ahead of time.

Like,
they had their names on them.

Literally.

Like, "Ted," "Tiffany,"

"Samantha" written out.

He draws three lines

on each of them,
like the kind you'd find
on a measuring cup.

Except this wasn't
for measuring out rice.

It was for their blood.

By volume.

Going.

Going.

Gone.

The suspect used a box cutter

to make a small,
six-centimeter incision

through the skin
on each victim.

And the result
was fatal blood loss.

There's about a gallon
and a half of blood

in the human body.

It takes maybe 15 minutes
for that to drain out,

but you can be dead
in as soon as three.

The femoral artery
is at your groin,

basically the top
of your thigh.

If you're sitting upright,

gravity just kind
of does its thing.

The technical term
for this is exsanguination.

[Kirby] Part of what really
earns that term,

"ritualistic,"

in my opinion,
is anything done post-mortem.

So, you know, normal homicide,

you stab a person,
shoot a person,

you get the heck out of there.

You don't stick around.
Every second you wait

is another second
to get caught.

From what we can put together,

our suspect hung around
another two hours at least.

He leaves the house,

comes back
with a 24-foot extension ladder

that he gets from his vehicle,

and then he goes to work
painting this thing
on the ceiling.

And it's not a small room,

and he goes
almost wall to wall.

It's almost 20 feet.

And he does a good job.

He's careful,

does a couple of layers,

almost no drips on the floor.

Then he positions the bodies.

And all this

he does without any neighbors

hearing a sound
or seeing a thing.

No fingerprints,
no DNA left at the scene.

No motive.

No relation to the victims.

Three days later,
another letter arrives
in the mail.

[distorted male voice]
Hope you blue baddies

[reporter] A gruesome discovery
was made just this morning

by a jogger
of a human head here,

in Perris Hill Park.

The jogger, Chelsea Lunsford,

has been coming here
every weekday morning
for two years.

She enjoys the serenity
of the landscape,

and was not prepared
for what she would find.

My friend was just telling me
how I should bring a mace

or a stun gun
or something with me

when I go running, and, um...

Yeah, I guess she was right.

[Taylor] On the night
of November 8th,

the suspect entered the home
of the two victims,

Tamara Latour
and her boyfriend,
Glen Sandweiss,

through a dog door
in the back of the house.

They were watching TV
in the living room.

The volume was up,
which allowed him to sneak up

on them undetected
until the last minute.

According to Mr. Sandweiss,
he attacks Tamara first,

uses a stun gun
to incapacitate her.

We think the suspect
was not expecting Sandweiss
to be home.

Sandweiss says
that he seems confused.

There's a brief struggle
before Sandweiss

is overpowered by the suspect,

brought to the floor.

That's when the attack
with the propane torch begins.

He literally burns
this guy's face off.

Is there anything else
you can remember

that would help us
catch who did this?

[Glen]

[Taylor]

[Glen and Taylor]

[Glen sighs]

[Glen]

[dramatic music playing]

[Glen] I've no fucking idea.
Jesus Christ...

What the fuck is happening?

Oh, God,
what am I going to do?

[clicks lighter]

What do you want to know?

The fuck you think I haven't?

You really think
I was going to be able

to be a teacher
looking like this?

Standing up in front
of a group of fifth-graders?

They'd be terrified.

[yells]

[producer]

Doing what?

Telling my story?

Huh?

Trying to be inspirational?

I can't work.

Got no friends.

Nerve damage.

Feels like my face
is on fire all the time.

I'm already dead, man.

I'm just not in the ground...

like Tamara is.

Fuck!

You... You got what you need.
I'm fucking done.

Give me my money
and get the fuck
out of my house.

[Kirby] Tamara's head,
the sculpture,

the weird trinkets
on the ground,

all of it was
carefully examined.

And, once again,
no fingerprints,

no DNA left behind.

We had nothing.

Until we got lucky.

A woman who works
at the strip mall

down the street from the park
said she had seen a guy

with a truck
unloading several garbage bags

into a dumpster
the morning of the murder.

White truck,
red lettering, she said.

So, we pulled footage
from a Credit Union's ATM

at the strip mall and...

It wasn't a great angle,

but it did catch something.

[tense music playing]

[Taylor] The owner
of the white truck,
Victor Shamaz,

was a 45-year-old man
living in Riverside

who had a small house
painting business.

He had a rap sheet.
It was relatively clean.

Few minor narcotics citations,

a B&E from a decade earlier.

But he had a restraining order
taken out against him recently

for apparently stalking
a woman he met online.

That didn't sit well with us.

We called him
in for questioning
and he agreed.

[Taylor] Mr. Shamaz,

thank you for meeting
with us today.

Yeah. It's...

Yeah. Just, you know,
wanted to help.

Yeah, yeah.

[Kirby]

[Taylor] So, just to be clear,

[Taylor]

[Kirby] Shamaz continues
to claim he has no knowledge

of any crimes,
that he simply didn't notice

his work truck was stolen.

We asked him
if he'd be willing to take

a polygraph test,
to which he agrees.

- [examiner] Is your name
Victor Shamaz?
- Yes.

[Taylor] He bombs
the polygraph test
about as badly as you can.

Chose to be evasive,

or lying about nearly
every question asked.

In fact,
the only question he actually

appears to tell the truth
on are his name and address.

Of course, polygraph tests
aren't always accurate,

and they're
not admissible in court.

It's just a useful tool.

But it was pretty obvious
Shamaz was lying.

[camera shutter clicks]

So, Shamaz manages
to get himself arrested

after it's discovered
he's carrying

a fairly large amount
of methamphetamine

and an unregistered handgun.

Looks like Shamaz
was trying to skip town.

I, uh, just wanted to come
and clear the air, you know?

I was at this Quick-N-Go...

[Kirby] Okay, slow down.

It became evident

Shamaz wasn't our guy.

I mean, he was a scumbag,
but he wasn't our scumbag

and he didn't really
know anything.

Although he did give us
one new piece of information.

[Taylor]

No, I... Yeah, I saw him.

I should've mentioned
that, but...

You know?

[tense music playing]

[Taylor] He started
wearing a mask.

That meant only one thing.

He'd seen us on the news
and knew we were
actively pursuing him.

Oh, he wanted to make that loud
and clear in his next letter.

[distorted male voice]

[Taylor] A few months go by,
nothing new happens.

And of course,
a part of me is thinking,

hoping, maybe that's it.

Maybe it's already over
and this guy's finished.

Yeah, but another part of me,
the cynical part,

knows that can't be true.

He'll let us know
when he's finished.

It's about 6:00 in the morning
and I get a call from Joe.

They found another body.

Earlier this morning,
a horrific discovery

was reported to police here,

at the North Riverside
Aquatic Center.

This was a bad one.

A group of skate kids broke
into the building

to check the place out
and smoke weed.

You know, just a couple
of dumb teenagers.

They're not going to be doing
that again anytime soon.

- [tense music playing]
- [Taylor speaking indistinctly]

When you first saw the body,
it looked like...

like it was covered
in mud or slime or something,

'cause it was so shiny.

[Taylor] Coroner's official
cause of death?

Fatal loss of blood
by leeches.

[tense music playing]

[Kirby] Victim's name
was Dennis Zao,

a 43-year-old
Chinese immigrant
living in Riverside.

He was last seen leaving
an apartment he shared

with several other people
to catch a bus

and was never seen again.

Body's found four days later,

and he had only been deceased
less than a day.

[Taylor] Our suspect
had been breeding them, right?

This particular type of leech
takes about three weeks

for the eggs
to form and hatch,

then another two weeks
to reach maturity.

So, he'd been preparing
this thing for over a month.

Coming here, day after day,

checking in on his babies,
feeding them,

keeping their water clean,
checking the pH.

He might be a monster,

but he does have some kind
of paternal instinct.

Then he abducts Dennis Zao
and brings him here,

strips him naked,
puts him in the water.

He creates this barrier

around the deep end
and all along the edges

so he can't get out
no matter how hard he tries.

Then he begins releasing
these things into the pool.

[man] The species
found in the pool with Mr. Zao

is called H. stagnalis.

In the case of H. Stagnalis,

it has this sucker
on the front of its body
that it uses

to attach to the host.

They have three small jaws

that create
a Y-shaped incision.

It's how they get
the tasty paydirt.

[dramatic music playing]

Leeches will consume up
to ten times

their own body weight
in blood,

which sounds like a lot
but it's really...

It's like two teaspoons.

[Kirby]
This bloodletting-by-leeches

process went on for nearly
three straight days.

The suspect
just methodically keeps

fishing out full leeches,
adding more empties,

on and on...
as Dennis Zao becomes

more and more incapacitated.

I've always been lousy
at math, but, basically,

it took a shit load of leeches
to kill Dennis Zao.

Eventually, after he was naked

in this filthy,
leech-filled water,

he finally succumbed
to his injuries.

Oh, and the reason no one
ever hears screaming

from the building?

Zao's tongue was cut out.

[Kirby] A leech bite

looks a little like
the symbol, doesn't it?

See how it's
sort of a triangle?

But like most clues,
this just led
to more questions.

What do these dots mean?

What the hell am I looking at?

We later figured out
that the suspect

first got in contact
with Mr. Zao

because of a Craigslist ad
he posted.

They had exchanged
a few messages

and then arranged
to meet up for sex

at a motel down the street
from the pool.

This finally led
to the big break in the case.

Our technicians were able
to identify the IP address

where the Craigslist ad
was originally posted.

The ad and subsequent
back-and-forth messaging

had been made
from a coffee shop

in Mission Grove
on February 11th.

This was a huge lead.

We finally were able
to trace the suspect's

whereabout
outside of a crime scene.

I mean, I gotta admit,
I was really starting to think

we were chasing a ghost
or a vampire or something.

We did surveillance
on the place for about a week.

The last thing we wanted to do

was draw any attention
to ourselves.

If this guy was a regular,
for example,

and came in all the time...

I mean, we were always
hoping and praying

maybe he swings by
for a cup of coffee

or place another ad,

and just like that,
we'd have him.

No such luck.

There were three employees
working that day.

None of them
could remember the suspect.

It's a popular place,

so he may have picked it
for that reason.

No surveillance system,
no cameras anywhere at all.

But the area does have
a large homeless population.

[Kirby] Hey. Excuse me, sir.

You mind if I talk to you
for a sec?

That's...

You're talking about the one
near Andulka Park?

Yeah. Yeah, that's it.

I'm just sitting there, right?

And he...

He comes up to me and...

I knew what he wanted.

"I want to hire you
as day labor."

[Kirby] Did he say
what kind of labor?

Uh... landscaping.

Working on a house
or something.

[Kirby] And you get in his car?

- Yep.
- [Kirby] What kind of car?

Like a...

sedan or something.

Like a, like a blue Camry.

[Kirby] When I started
talking to this guy,

my jaw was on the floor, man.

I mean, if he was telling
the truth, this was huge.

We even had
a vehicle description.

But it gets even better.

Mr. Johnson tells us

he knows
where the suspect's house is.

Apparently, the suspect
had driven him to it.

Okay, see that [inaudible]?

It wants you to go left,
but you're going
to go straight.

[Taylor] He didn't know
the street address,

but he says
he thinks he can remember

how to get there by memory.

Apparently, he'd been driven
to a residence in Highgrove,

where the suspect says
he needs to grab

some tools before they went
to the so-called "job site."

[Kirby] And that's
what brought us
to 144 Artesian Avenue.

After picking up a duffel bag,

they get
on the 215 headed north.

Mr. Johnson says
the guy seems normal, friendly.

I mean, even conversational.

And that brings us
to the bracelet.

Johnson says he found
this bracelet

in a trash container
a few years ago.

Says he just likes to wear it,
thinks it's cool.

Apparently,
the suspect asks him about it,

starts grilling him.

"How long
have you been a diabetic?

Do you take insulin?" etc.

Johnson tells him
the bracelet's not his.

And then the suspect
gets very visibly angry,

pulls off the highway,
tells him to get out,

drives off, and that's that.

Johnson never sees him again.

He's incredibly lucky.

I believe if that bracelet
had been real,

if Johnson had fit
whatever criteria

our suspect was looking for,

he would most definitely
be dead right now.

[Taylor] After learning
all this we go to the house.

Just a normal house.
We knock.

Nobody's home.

But we can't just kick
the door in
without probable cause.

I mean, all we've got
is the word of
an unemployed drifter

with a minor criminal record

who we also paid
for the information he gave us.

It's not going
to get us a warrant.

And that's when I see it
above the door,

staring us in the face.

[Kirby] We kept
most of the evidence we had,
which wasn't much,

pretty close to the chest
as far as the media
was concerned.

That symbol, the image,

was never released
to the public.

So, nobody could know about it
unless they were involved
in one of the crimes.

That was enough.

We called in the cavalry.

[tense music playing]

[officer] Big windows on left.

Alright.

[tense music playing]

All clear!

[Kirby] I don't know
what I was expecting

to find in there.

Torture dungeon,
haunted house,

something from a horror movie.

But it wasn't like that at all.

It was... banal.

Mundane.

That doesn't mean
it wasn't a little weird.

[tense music playing]

But weird doesn't necessarily
make you guilty.

There was no evidence
the person that lived there
was involved in anything,

other than the symbol
over the doorway,

and that was
purely circumstantial.

[Kirby] Look at this.

That's just lovely, isn't it?

The property owner
was an older woman
who lived in San Diego

who said she'd been renting
the house to...

You guessed it,
someone who called themselves

Albert Shiny.

Apparently, Mr. Shiny
was willing to pay

for a year upfront in cash,

so she didn't ask
too many questions

and had only met him twice.

So, we start
dusting for fingerprints

but we can't find any,
literally. Not one print.

Which makes no sense
for the inside
of someone's house.

There should be
thousands of them.

I mean,
was this guy wearing gloves

every second of every day?

[Kirby] Finally,
we found some fingerprints

on a telescope that was
outside, on the deck.

We immediately
got them out to the lab

and ran through the computer.

And boom, we got a hit.

The print matched the partial
that was found in '95

from the Noah Lafone murder.

I couldn't believe it.

We might have our guy.

The fingerprints belonged
to a Leslie Sykes,

born December 20th,
1962 in Branson, Missouri.

Homer Johnson,
the homeless gentleman,

swore Sykes was the person
who had given him a ride.

The woman who rented the house
also IDed him off his photo.

[Taylor]
Sykes had no criminal record,
no employment history,

no current address,
no phone number

or bank account and,
big surprise,

the guy hadn't paid taxes
in more than two decades.

Yeah, he really was a ghost,
but he was our ghost

and we had to find him
before he killed again.

Riverside police are asking
for the public's help

in locating this man.

Fifty-year-old Leslie Sykes
is a person of interest

in what has been dubbed
as "the Mr. Shiny murders."

The killer in that case
has now taken the lives

of eight people
in both San Bernardino

and Riverside counties,
and is still at large.

We tried to do
a total media blitz,

get this guy's picture in front
of as many people as possible.

The story got carried
all over California,

even in a few other
surrounding states,

but no one was really
paying attention.

But one person that did see
the coverage

was Leslie Sykes.

[distorted male voice]

[Kirby] Five to go
and then we'll know...

what?

It was a sick game to him,

but it was also
absolutely serious.

Would he really stop at five?

The next murder happened
less than a month later,

March 19th.

The victim was a 16-year-old

high school student
named Victoria Macenroe.

Sixteen.

She was alone at her parents'
home in Hiland.

They had gone out to visit
friends in Rancho Cucamonga.

Sykes jumped the gate
and entered

through a first floor window
at or around 9:21.

And we know this

because it was caught
on camera.

Okay, so this is
the Color Dreams palette

by Adorable Damage.

I am just obsessed
with this brand lately.

I actually reviewed
their Shimmer Shadow palette

in my top ten video

and they are
just killing it, okay?

What I'm going to do

is I'm going to go in

for kind of a smoky look
with this one right here.

And then, you can just go in,
like, a circular motion.

You don't have to do
a bunch of back-and-forth

windshield-wiper crap.

So, start...

"Windshield wiper,"
that sounds stupid.

[heavy steps]

Hey, I thought you were going
to text me on the way home!

I'm starving!

Mom? Mom?

Dad?

[Victoria screams]

No, please! Please!
I'll do anything. Please!
My parents...

I'll do anything!
Please! No!

[tense music playing]

[tense music playing]

[ethereal whispering]

[audio distorts]

[Kirby] The video glitches
pretty bad there

and it's hard to tell
what's going on.

We've combed
over it frame by frame,

but it's just too messed up
to see anything clearly.

But obviously,
Sykes was performing

some kind of ritual.

[man] Ritual murder,
strictly speaking,

is a relatively
obscure phenomenon

not just in the United States,
but worldwide.

It just doesn't happen
that often in its purest form.

To this day,
people still believe

that the Manson Family
was a satanic cult.

It's not true.

Of course, that's not to say

that ritual murder
never happens.

There were the murder-suicides
in the Solar Temple cult,

the Fall Rivers cult,
Order of the Black Sun.

The Mr. Shiny murders
definitely seem ritualistic,

but I didn't recognize
any of the iconography.

This wasn't some goetic rite

pulled from a grimoire,
there was nothing Abrahamic.

As I told the police
at that time,

whatever it was,

this guy was a true believer

and very, very dangerous.

And this is
all crazy in its own right,

but what's truly unexpected
is what happens next.

[panting]

[Victoria moans in pain]

Somehow, Victoria
survives being shot

not only in the head,
but in the back twice

and the shoulder.

This is probably
because a 22-caliber weapon

was used,
and just incredible luck.

[woman] Victoria?

[woman screams]
Oh, my God!

Emergency workers
arrive in about 15 minutes

and they're able
to stabilize Victoria

on her way to
St. Bernardine Medical Center.

I wish I could tell you
the story ended there.

After going through surgery,
she was put
in the recovery ward,

and I had multiple officers
assigned to guard her room,
just in case.

And the hospital security
was put on alert.

It should've been enough.

[tense music playing]

Sykes attacks
and subdues a nurse

just getting off his shift
in the hospital parking lot,

takes his uniform
and entry badge.

He walks straight
through the front doors,

right past security,
and goes to Macenroe's floor.

I mean, he seems to know
exactly where to go.

He goes to the nurses' station,

introduces himself
to the other staff,

says he was transferred
from Pediatrics.

They believe him.

Says he knows
all the vernacular
and hospital procedure.

Sykes quite literally cares
for three different patients

over a four-hour period.

He walks by police
and security several times

and is never noticed.

Yeah, including by Joe or me.

[Kirby] He was right there.

We practically
touched each other.

If I'd just
been paying attention,

if I'd just
looked into his eyes...

I'll never forgive myself
for not realizing

just how bold
he might really be.

He waits
until there's a shift change,

enters the room
for storing pharmaceuticals,

and proceeds to poison an AB
negative blood transfusion bag

with an industrial cleaner

he finds
in a custodial closet.

He knows that Macenroe
is the only with AB negative

in the wing and is the only one
who will receive that bag.

Then he leaves.

Later that night,
a nurse comes in to rotate out

Macenroe's backup bag

and unknowingly replaces it

with the poisoned one.

Victoria was dead
within minutes,

but Sykes was long gone
by then.

This was a huge blow

to everyone involved
in the case.

The one victim that survived,

we couldn't protect her.

I mean, we were right there.

We could've had him.

Yeah, that was one
of the roughest nights

in my entire life.

Could we take a break?

[producer] Yeah.

[sad music playing]

[man] It was a roller-coaster.

Realizing
that she might be hurt,

then thinking
that she might be okay...

thinking
that she was okay, and...

Some days I feel
like she's still here.

[sad music playing]

[producer]

Yeah.

We couldn't touch it.

I think about
that saying a lot,

"you really die the last time
someone says your name."

And I guess
we kept all her stuff

because we didn't want her
to die.

Even though I know she's dead.

[reporter] Victoria Macenroe was
serial killer

Leslie Sykes' ninth
and most recent victim

in the Mr. Shiny murders,

a killing spree that spans
three counties

and over 18 years.

Authorities continue to urge
the public

to keep a watchful
lookout for Sykes,

who remains at large
and is considered armed

and extremely dangerous.

Residents of the Hiland
neighborhood

where Macenroe was murdered

have expressed
their frustration at police

for their inability
to capture,

or even come close
to capturing,

the elusive killer.

It's unacceptable.

It's insane.

Somebody in the San Bernardino
Police Department

should be held accountable

for letting it get out of hand
like this.

It's messed up how they haven't
caught the guy yet.

This used to be
a pretty great place to live,

but, honestly,
I'm really scared.

And that girl,
she just lives, like,

a couple blocks from here!

So, I mean, who's next, right?

[Taylor] We were really
feeling the pressure
by this point.

Macenroe's murder seemed to be

the straw that broke
the camel's back

in terms of public outrage.

But I felt for all of them.

Every single victim
deserved justice.

And for everything
we'd done up until this point,

until you catch your guy,
you haven't done shit.

We'd already been offering
a cash reward

for any lead that led
to the arrest of Leslie Sykes,

but I convinced the D.A.'s
Office to substantially up it.

It ended up being
one of the highest

in San Bernardino's history.

$80,000 for just one person.

At the same time,
we were digging

into Sykes' past,
trying to figure out

everything we could,
which wasn't easy.

All his known relatives
were dead.

He had been
briefly married in '88

to a woman named
Suzanne Hemler,

but that was over by '91.

Tried to contact her,
but she committed suicide
in 2008.

We started reaching out
to people

Sykes went to high school with,

but nobody seems
to remember him.

Finally, we find
someone who will talk to us.

A guy named Jared Kelly.

And he's like, fucking...

[Kirby] How so?

[Jared] Just, like, agitated,

distracted.

[Taylor] A cave?

[Taylor] Like what?

It's, like, ingrained.

Which is metal as fuck.

[dial tone]

[dispatcher]

[male voice]

[dispatcher]

[male voice] Police.

- [male voice]
- [woman sobbing in background]

[dispatcher]

[Taylor] Sykes attempts
to break into the residence

of Miles and Kelly Harris,

an older couple
living in Rancho West.

He scaled the fence
into their backyard,

but is almost
immediately attacked

by the Harrises'
48-pound pit bull, Caesar.

Mr. Harris
overhears the commotion,

looks into his backyard

and sees
the struggle happening.

I mean, this was a big animal,

and it's able to physically
knock Sykes off his feet.

We know he was hurt pretty bad

because we find blood
on the ground

in multiple places.

Sadly, the dog's
only able to keep this up

for so long before Sykes
uses a bladed weapon
and stabs it repeatedly,

then he jumps the fence again.

[Kirby] This time,
I was not going to let

the same thing
happen to the Harrises

that happened
to Victoria Macenroe.

They were immediately
put into protective custody.

Not that it mattered,
because Sykes must have had

a backup plan for that night.

31-year-old Leo Deetz
was working a night shift

at a 24-hour doughnut shop

in La Sierra
when he was attacked.

[Leo] Yeah, I don't
like fantasy shit,

but this one's
actually pretty dope.

It's, like,
violence and sex and stuff.
I don't know.

It's based on books,
so it seems pretty legit.

[chuckles]

Yeah. Yeah, you too, man.

Yeah. Peace!

[tense music playing]

[Leo mumbles]

[Leo groans in pain]

[Leo screams]

[dramatic music playing]

[Taylor] Leo Deetz
is found the next morning

with his heart
removed from his body.

[tense music playing]

A security guard sees Sykes
exit the back of the shop

and tries to confront him,
but Sykes flees.

[guard] Honestly,
I was just doing my job.

I was wrapping up my rounds
for the evening
here in this complex.

I was going to take
some doughnuts home
to me and the girlfriend.

I saw a man leaving the shop

in a very, very weird mask.

[Taylor] The guard
still manages to grab

his license plate number
and report it to the police.

I'm just bummed
I didn't get the reward money.

In the surveillance video
from the doughnut shop,

you could tell Sykes
was in pain from the dog bite.

He's unfocused and unprepared.

Then he's forced
to ditch his car

after it's reported
by the guard,

which we find abandoned

near the 91
and 215 interchange.

The more desperate
Sykes became,

the more likely
he was to make a mistake.

That was the hope.

[Kirby] We'd
kind of hit a brick wall

digging into Sykes' past.

He just vanished
into thin air after '91.

That's when we realized
it's because he wasn't
in the country.

Turns out Sykes had used
his late ex-wife's credit card

to purchase a one-way ticket
to, of all places, Jerusalem.

[sighs] I know,
what the F, right?

I mean, we were just baffled.

And we also realized
this was beyond the scope

of our resources,
so we reached out

to the FBI
and asked for their help.

They, in turn, got in contact
with Interpol

and a whole side
investigation got underway,

trying to find out what Sykes
was doing over there.

What was found out was...

Let's just say
it didn't clear anything up.

Sykes flies
to Jerusalem in '96,

not long after the murder
of Noah Lafone,

and then, evidently,
he passes into Syria.

Now, the information here
is sketchy at best,

but apparently, Sykes
was living in northern Iraq
for two years,

but then flees
after Operation Desert Fox

in '98.

As far as we know,
Sykes didn't speak Arabic,

but apparently, he learned.

Sykes then crosses
the border into Turkey,

and then into Italy in 2001.

While there, he attends
a museum exhibit

on Etruscan pottery
in the city of Mantua

and gets into some sort
of altercation and is arrested.

I don't know
what Sykes is doing

looking at Etruscan pottery,

but he doesn't stay
in Italy long

before moving
on to Germany in 2003.

And that's where we learn
of someone who claims

to have had direct contact
with him there.

I met Mr. Sykes
when I was living in Xanten.

He contacted me
through the internet

about several books
that I was selling.

Specifically,
he was looking to buy

my copy of a printed work
from the late Middle Ages,

a manuscript known
as...

It's a very valuable book,

only half a dozen copies
or something still exist.

[producer]

It's a book of spells,
basically.

Witchcraft.

[producer]

Well, he wanted to buy it
off me,

but I wasn't selling.

I don't know
if he was for real or not,

but he offered
some wild prices.

100, 150,000 euro.

The guy kind of creeped me out,
to be honest.

So, when my shop was vandalized

a couple days later
and the book was gone,

I immediately knew who did it.

To know that I came
that close in contact

with a serial killer...

The thing that gets me
more than anything else

though is what the hell
happened to that book.

[Kirby] We had hoped,
maybe, that Sykes

would be deterred
by how bungled

the last few attacks had been.

We didn't think he would stop,
but maybe just slow down

long enough
for us to find him.

If anything, it must have
reinvigorated his cause.

- Get in the fucking car, Coby!
- [Coby] Wait!

- This is not our issue.
- We can't just leave him!

Are you fucking kidding me?
This is not our problem!

- I'm leaving.
- [Coby] Emily! Wait!

[tense music playing]

Holy shit.

This is fucking crazy.

[Kirby] The victim
was Saroj Mallick,

the security guard
that saw Sykes
behind the doughnut shop

and reported his plate
to police.

After leaving work
on April 2nd,

he was supposed to meet
his girlfriend at a bar

at 8:30 but never shows.

He doesn't show up
for work the next day either,

and his cell phone is off.

Although his coworkers
are a little concerned,

nothing's reported to police.

I guess he had a habit
of just blowing out

to Vegas for the weekend
without telling anybody.

But he didn't go to Vegas.

[Taylor] The following day
he's found hung

from a public playground
swing set.

"Displayed" is the word.

It was a form of torture
the ancient Vikings

used to use called
"blood eagle."

The flesh of the back
is cut open,

ribs are bent back,

then both lungs are pulled out.

The mutilation resembles...

Yeah, you guessed it, wings.

Blood eagle.

It was clearly done
for dramatic effect.

When the Fire Department
is getting his body down,

they find this CD.

[digital sounds]

[soft music playing]

[digital sounds]

[dance music in background]

[man groans]

[man] The fuck?

Hello?

Hello?

Anybody, help!

Hello!

Help!

Hello!

Let me out of here!

Yo, yo, yo, yo! Okay, okay!

Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Sir, please no, no, no!

Oh! Oh, shit!

No! No! Please! Fuck!

- No! Shit! Help me!
Stop, please!
- [drill whirring]

Stop it! Somebody!

Okay, I'll say anything!
I'll do anything!

Please stop!
Please stop! Please stop!

[ringing sound]

Okay.

"I have been selected

because of my direct actions.

I should not have interfered
with the Great One's plan.

And for my blasphemies,
I will be put into transit."

Hello?

Hello?

[screams]

He wanted us to know

he was punishing this guy

for trying to stop him.

He was saying,

"Stay out of his way or else."

He was saying,

"This is your fault, not mine."

[producer]

Oh, but I do.

No, I'll carry his death,
and all of their deaths,

on my conscience until the day
I leave this planet.

[Taylor]
After the Mallick murder,
a lot less tips came in.

People were afraid.

I guess they had
every right to be.

We picked apart Sykes' house
with a fine-toothed comb

and found almost nothing
useful at all.

We excavated parts
of the backyard.

There was nothing but dirt.

We knew Sykes used
Presto brand toothpaste,

the one DVD he owned
was season two

of Meet the Furballs,

and his favorite drink
was 2% milk.

Yikes.

He ate there,

he slept there,
but it didn't seem

like he lived there.

It was like a front.

It was like a show being put
on to pretend

the person that lived
there was vaguely normal.

After a long day
of chasing some leads

that went nowhere,

I went to the backyard
of Sykes' house

to get some fresh air.

I think I was hoping I'd have
some transcendent moment

a lot of profilers talk about,
you know,

when you enter
the headspace of the killer

and you start
to think like them.

That never happened.

None of it
made any sense to me.

So, it was
like 2:00 in the morning

and I'm just...

you know, zoning out,
looking up at the stars.

And then
I remember that telescope

that we pulled
Sykes' prints from.

What stars was Leslie Sykes
looking at?

The area in the sky
that Leslie Sykes

had his telescope pointed at
was interesting for two reasons.

First, he was looking
at Ophiuchus.

Now, most people hadn't
even heard of Ophiuchus.

It's one of the 13 major
constellations

along the ecliptic,

smack in between Scorpius
and Sagittarius.

It's also called the...

The so-called 13th zodiac sign,

although that's getting
into astrology
and not hard science.

My wife would kill me
for explaining it that way.

The ancient Greeks
were the one that named

all the constellations
as we know them today.

Pisces is a fish,
Taurus is a bull, etc.

Ophiuchus is
the serpent bearer,

a man battling a giant snake.

The reason I mention Ophiuchus

is because a rare
celestial event

was taking place
in its constellational
borders that exact month.

A planetary alignment

where Mercury,
Jupiter, and Saturn

come in earshot of each other

in a way that happens
once every 800 years or so.

This is a real thing,
you can look it up.

May 13th, 2011.

You could view it
with a naked eye.

But only for a few hours,
which is why it's so special.

The symbol.

A leech bite.

Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn.

The rare planetary alignment
that was only a few weeks away.

So, is this all
one big coincidence?

One thing they really drill
into your brain

at the Academy is
that the human mind

is very adept
at finding patterns

in things,
even if they aren't there.

They tell you
to watch out for it,
to not get carried away,

to remember Occam's razor.

The simplest explanation
is usually the correct one.

But sometimes,
it's actually the strangest.

We had brought in
these big halogen lights

to Sykes' house
because the place

was so dark at night.

But as soon as we turned it on,
it blew a fuse.

So, one of the deputies is
trying to reset the breaker

and realized the subpanel
in the closet wasn't working.

As he's messing with it,

the whole thing
just comes out of the wall.

Like everything in that house,
it was a fake.

Behind it, there was a space
with a lockbox.

Of course, we cleared the house

and called the bomb squad,
just in case.

They used
one of those little robots
and everything.

No bomb.

But that didn't seem
like his style, anyway.

The box was just a cheapo,

we just pried it open
with a crowbar.

And inside, just two things.

Leslie Sykes' passport,

expired from 2003,

and a key
with an attached keychain.

[Kirby] We drove over there
straight away

and went inside the unit.

In retrospect,
it was pretty stupid of us.

I mean, the thing
could've been booby-trapped,

or he could've been waiting
in there for us.

Who knows.

But it felt like we'd run
out of time.

We just got lucky.

Everywhere my light goes,
you go, okay?

Jackpot, winning-lotto-ticket,
royal-flush lucky.

[tense music playing]

[Kirby] Here's why we never
get fingerprints.

Guy wears
a full-on hazmat suit.

This is the mold, we believe,
for the mask he's been seen in.

Yeah, this guy
is big into space.

[officer] Over here.

[Kirby] Real big.

[Taylor]

[Kirby chuckles]

[Taylor]
Oh, you gotta check this out.

This is...
early-childhood reading for...
late night.

"Celestial Witchcraft
of Early England."

[tense music playing]

This right here

we think is Dennis Zao's
tongue, alright?

Unless he's cut out
other tongues.

This here's Victoria Macenroe,
we think it is because it's...

We watched her hair
get cut off.

And that is Saroj Mallick.

- [Taylor sighs]
- [tense music playing]

[Kirby]
He's been here recently.

[Taylor] Yeah.

[Taylor exhales]

Over here is what we think

is Sheridans' blood.

[officer]
What about this shit up here?

[Kirby] "Hail Azragor."

And then this weird...

altar.

Is this Azragor?

[producer]

[Jonas] Azragor? No.

[producer] How about Kaliban?

Like in Shakespeare?

The Thorn of Time
sounds familiar.

I've heard that.
Where have I heard that?

This is pre-cuneiform

so it's all very cryptic,
but here.

[reads in foreign language]

"The temple of the outer gate

beyond the thorn of time."

[in foreign language]
I've heard before.

That means...

Krönung.

Crowning...

Coronation.

[Kirby] Whereas before
we had little to no evidence

to go on,
we now had way too much.

Sykes had collected
tons of information

on each of his victims,
had them all

in a filing cabinet.

Criminal history,
medical records,

information the public
does not have access to,

so he must've been paying
off cops

or private investigators.

And every murder had been
meticulously documented.

There were photos, drawings,

hundreds of hand-written pages

by Sykes with his ramblings.

A pure window
into a man's madness.

[Taylor]
We were pulling all-nighters

in that horrible space.

Even after
the bodies were removed,

the smell never went away.

We were going crazy.

On May 8th,
the manager of the place
comes looking for us.

Someone sent mail
to the office for us.

It was another letter.

[distorted male voice]

[dial tone]

[dispatcher]

[woman]

[dispatcher]

[woman screams]

[indistinct loud noises]

[dial tone]

Around midnight on May 12th,

Sykes breaks into the home

of Glenn
and Stephanie Courtland
via a garage window

and abducts
their three-month-old baby,
Sawyer.

[tense music playing]

[baby crying]

[Taylor]
He could've killed that child

in his crib
right then and there,

but he was waiting.
I mean, he was deliberately

waiting for something.

But what?

[Kirby]
But we had no idea where Sykes

was going
or what his plan was,

but it didn't seem
like a coincidence

that the triangle in the sky

was supposed to appear
that morning.

That was a Friday, by the way.

The 13th.

Coincidence, right?

[man] I am just getting to work,
it's around 3:00 a.m.,

and... Let's see.

Okay, right here.

Right here, not 20 feet
from where I found

that woman's body,

I see this red SUV parked.

The vehicle is empty.

I just got a weird vibe.

So, I called it in.

I immediately got a reply

that the automobile
has been stolen,

and that the driver
is armed and dangerous.

Now, I...

I watched the news closely

and I was like,
"Is this Mr. Shiny?"

They found Sykes' SUV

right in the spot
of the very first murder

in '93.

He ran out of gas right there,

of all places.

What are the odds?

[Taylor]
This three-planet alignment

was going to be visible
between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m.

I mean, that gave us
just a matter of hours

to find Sykes and baby Sawyer.

But one way or another,
this thing was going to end.

[tense music playing]

[insect chirping]

[woman 1]
But [inaudible], that...

That's a pretty
believable thing
that he died. I don't know.

- I...
- I don't know.

- [woman 1]
I believe that's the case.
- Do you want

- a marshmallow?
- [woman 2] Ready. Yeah.

Made the s'mores.

- [woman screams]
- Oh!

I was going to do it.

- [woman laughing]
- Mm.

This is disgusting,
I'm so sorry.

[woman laughing]

[woman] We all went
to UC Riverside together,

but I was moving out of state
for my Master's degree,

so it was sort of a last hurrah

with the girls.

We didn't even know that thing

with the planets
was even happening.

[woman 1] I think we're
just getting old, dude.

- Old asses for life.
- [woman 1 laughs]

- [twig breaks]
- [police sirens]

[Elizabeth] Do you hear that?

[police sirens]

[Kirby] We had units
coming in from Arrowhead,

Crestline, even Big Bear,

but they were spread out
all over the place.

If Sykes was on foot,
he could only get so far,

but we still needed
a lot of manpower.

Best we could do
in that first hour

was two cars.

Two.

That park is
almost a million acres.

[man] When we were
on the way out there,

you know,
I was actually excited.

[producer]

'Cause Sykes was
the boogeyman of Berdoo.

I mean,
even the FBI was after him.

If we were
the arresting officers...

[chuckles]

That would be huge.

So fucking stupid.

[Taylor] They started going
from campsite to campsite

in a grid.

Every tent, RV,

Porta-Potty out there,

they were shining
a light into it.

- [officer] Who's
in there with you?
- It's just my daughter.

[Pearce] Nobody was
being cooperative

or wanting to talk to us,

but, I mean, who would be?

- [officer] Anybody else
here with you?
- [woman] No.

Imagine you're asleep
in your tent

and a cop shines a light
in your face.

Like, I'd be pissed too.

[officer] You see anything
suspicious tonight?

You see a man with a baby?

[man] A baby?

[Taylor] It was a clusterfuck.

Heavy brush, too dark,
lots of places to hide.

Even now, GPS maps
in that kind of area

just aren't that reliable.

Neither are cell phones.

But luckily, some places
still had landlines.

[dial tone]

[dispatcher]

[crying]

There's a property out there
where you can rent

these individual cabins
for the night.

Sykes forces his way
inside one of these cabins

where Martin and Silvia Vallejo
are staying.

It's about
four o'clock in the morning
at this point.

He's able to subdue Martin,

but Silvia gets away

and calls 911
at the cabin next door.

[police sirens]

[tense music playing]

- [officer] Did you make
the call, ma'am?
- [crying] Yes!

He's in there
with my husband!

- [officer] Where's the cabin?
- Third cabin on the right!
Please help him!

- [officer] Stay here.
- He has a child!

- There's a baby with him!
- [officer] Stay here.

[Taylor] The two closest units
arrived at the cabin
around 4:50 a.m.

Backup was on the way,
but ended up getting lost

and wouldn't get there
for over an hour.

These guys had no idea

what they might be
walking into.

[police sirens]

[tense music playing]

[officer 1] Check out
the front door.

[tense music playing]

[Pearce] Clear.

[officer 1 indistinct]

[indistinct]

[Pearce] Alright, it's clear.

[officer 1] Stand by.

[Kirby] The place was
deserted, alright?

Extremely bad vibes.

[Pearce] Are you seeing this?

I think that's...

that's when I started
to get scared.

Then we found Mr. Vallejo.

[officer 1]
Looks like a bedroom.

- We got a suspect.
- [officer 2] We got a suspect!

[officer 1]
Let me see your hands!

[Pearce] Hands! Hands!

[officer 1] Give it up.

It looks like he's duct-taped.
His hands.

[Pearce] What the fuck?

- I got him. I got him.
- [officer 1] Get the mask.

- [Pearce] Oh my God.
Get medical out here!
- [officer 1] He's injured.

[Taylor] Sykes essentially
lobotomizes the man...

leaves the body
to be found like that.

[Pearce] It was just bad,
bro, I...

I don't know what else to say.

An empty glass is found
on the kitchen counter

with remnants of milk
from the fridge,

and Sawyer's dirty diapers'
thrown in the garbage.

Even then, he was still
taking care of the baby.

After this pit stop,
he leaves into the woods.

[tense music playing]

[officer] Closer ETA
on RO unit, over.

- [gunshot]
- What the hell was that?

[man screams]

- [baby cries]
- [officer 2] We should go
check it out.

[Pearce] Shouldn't we wait
for backup?

[officer 2] But, dude,
he's got a baby.

[Pearce]
I didn't even want to go,
you know?

But it was a baby, right?
Like, what would you do?

Imagine that's your kid.

But I should've said no.

I should've waited at the car.

[exhales]

If that makes me a coward,

I don't give a shit.

[tense music playing]

[Pearce] Oh, shit.

You heard that?

[baby cries]

He was doing witchcraft
out there, man.

You saw the video.

What else would you call it?

Yo, what the fuck is this, man?

[gunshot]

- [tense music playing]
- [officer shouts indistinctly]

[gunshot]

[Pearce] Where the fuck's
the shooter?

- [baby cries]
- [gunshot]

- [twig snaps]
- [Pearce gasps]

[Pearce screams in pain]

Fuck!

[screams]

Fuck!

[screams]

Shit!

Fuck!

[groaning]

[baby cries]

[Pearce] I didn't understand
at the time

what exactly that wood thing
was, but...

You know, I found out
they have a name for it.

A pyre.

That's where the...
the crying was coming from.

[baby cries]

Sykes...

[distorted audio]

Oh, shit.

[loud rumbling]

What is that?
What the fuck?

[tense music playing]

I don't know what we saw
or didn't see.

It was strange.

If you looked at it
from one angle,
you could see it.

From another,
it wasn't as clear.

The videos don't do it
justice at all.

I'm just still
not convinced any of that...

what do you call it?
Karmic phenomena?

- [producer]
- Cosmic phenomena.

I mean, sky looked weird
that morning,
no doubt about that,

but there's plenty
of weird stuff
that happens in the sky.

Aurora borealis?

[producer]

Okay, but you can't tell me

that's not some weird looking
space stuff too, right?

[Pearce]
I don't remember much.

It gets hazy.
So, that-that thing in the sky?

It looked like red eyes.

[woman 1] Jeez, dude.

Holy shit.

What the fuck?

[woman 1]
What the fuck is that?

[Elizabeth] I don't know, dude.

[woman 1] Lizzie?

Lizzie?

Lizzie!

Liz!

Dude, Lizzie!

Lizzie! Lizzie! Lizzie!

Lizzie! Kate! Kate, wake up!

I need you to call 911!
Kate, please!

[tense music playing]

[Pearce shouts indistinctly]

[gunshot]

[police sirens]

[baby crying]

[Pearce groans] Help! Help!

[Kirby] And just like that,
it was over.

We got him.

[baby crying]

Helps on the way.
Just stay there.

You'll be alright.
How's the baby?

He's okay.

[Kirby] That was
too goddamn close.

- [Pearce hyperventilates]
- That was too damn close.

- [Taylor] He's gone!
- [Kirby] What?

[Taylor] We need
some help over here!

[Kirby] You've got to be
fucking kidding me!

[tense music playing]

Leslie Sykes' body was found

about 100 yards
from the cabin, in a creek...

covered in leeches.

He'd only been in the water
for a matter of minutes.

It's like they were
drawn to him.

They made any kind of visual
identification impossible,

but we still confirmed it
with fingerprint and DNA.

It looks like Sykes
had been living out there

for at least a couple weeks.

Sleeping
in a makeshift shelter,

stealing food
from other people's campsites.

His final time on this earth
was spent hungry,

cold, and alone.

[Taylor] No phantoms,
no ghost.

A flesh-and-blood human.

Piece of shit human,

but human nonetheless.

[dramatic music playing]

[Monica] So, I was...

I was getting up
for work that morning

and I was checking my Facebook,

and I had, like,

all of these messages,
and I was like, what?

You know, what's going on here?

And then I realized
they got him.

Like, they really
fucking got him.

[police sirens]

[reporter] The Inland Empire
can breathe a sigh of relief

with the news just coming in

that the hunt
for serial killer

Leslie Sykes,
a.k.a. Mr. Shiny,

has finally come to an end.

Police shot and killed Sykes
this morning in a standoff

in the San Bernardino
mountains,

but not before ending the life

of one Riverside Police
Department deputy.

[Pearce] Richie...

um...

I don't want to talk about it.

Should've been me.

[man] I'm here to formally
announce that Leslie Sykes,

otherwise known as Mr. Shiny,

died this morning
at approximately 6:00 a.m.

Pacific standard time.

As a result of an extended
gun battle

with local authorities.

[Monica]
I couldn't believe it.

Like, all of this...

This, like, weight was

just lifted from my chest,
you know?

Like Shifra could finally
rest in peace, you know,

'cause that fucking asshole
was dead.

I mean, nothing's ever going
to bring my girl back,
but, um...

at least we can all,
like, start to heal now.

I feel no joy
in Leslie Sykes' death.

I really don't.

I did in the beginning but,
as time has gone on...

I wish I could've
interviewed him.

I wish we could've gotten
more information.

In the time span that Sykes
was actively killing,

that we know about, there were
over 100 unsolved homicides

in the two counties.

Could some of these be Sykes?

We'll never know.

Is it possible
Sykes had an accomplice,

someone that helped him,
funded him?

We'll never know.

[Pearce] He got off too easy,
if you ask me.

Should've drawn and quartered
that motherfucker.

Sorry, is...
Was that too much or...?

[producer] No,
that's actually perfect.

Happy I could set
the record straight.

[April] When we first found out
that they killed him...

I guess it was bittersweet.

I was just glad
he couldn't hurt anybody else.

[April] We try to keep
Victoria's memory alive,

but it gets harder
as time goes on.

Friends lose interest.

I think about that saying a lot

that goes

"you really die the last time
someone says your name."

[Jim] Honey,
you already said this.

I know.

It's just so true.

Ted Bundy. Gacy.

These guys will live forever.

And now so will Mr. Shiny.

[reporter] Eight victims
were honored today

at a memorial held
at Pioneer Memorial Cemetery,

including those
from the original crimes

in 1995.

Almost 1,000 people
joined the service

to pay their respects
to those lives

taken too soon

by serial killer Leslie Sykes.

[woman 1] Lizzie! Lizzie!

Kate! Kate, wake up!
I need you to call 911!

[producer]

[Elizabeth] Yep.

Great place to have
your first one, right?

[producer]

Started for the first time
that night.

And I wasn't the only one
who had bad luck, either.

Gail randomly started
having vertigo

after that trip.

So, you know,
you asked me if I believe

in ghosts
and this paranormal stuff,

and I don't. But...

No, I don't believe
in that stuff,

but I still wish we never
went camping that weekend.

[Kacie] We moved to Portland.

I know it sounds superstitious,

but it just seemed like
that whole county was cursed.

[producer]

I have no idea.

[producer]

What do you want me to say?

He was part
of some apocalypse cult

trying to summon a
six-million-year-old leech god?

Thorn of Time, Kaliban?

That's not something you put
in a police report, pal.

That's not going to help
the families

try and bring closure
and heal from this mess.

What I can say
for sure is this...

Leslie Sykes was a monster.

We caught him
and we killed him.

[producer]

As Lexi likes to say,

"same shit, different day."

Same shit, different day.

[producer]

[Taylor] It's postdated
two days before he died.

If he sent it, he must've had
an inkling things

might not go to plan.

[producer]

Well, if it's true,

I guess we'll find out
in another 800 years.

[distorted male voice]

[police sirens]

[unsettling music playing]

[Kirby] There's still
so many things

we don't understand
about this case,

and probably never will.

We just had bits and pieces

of some kind
of strange puzzle.

And even if we could put them
all together,

I don't know if I want to see
whatever picture they make.

Yeah?
Got what you need?

[producer] I think
that's more than enough.

[continues indistinct]

Okay. Awesome.

Alright. Thanks, guys.

[unsettling music playing]

["Strange Harvest" playing]

♪ Night passing
through windows ♪

♪ Turning them on ♪

♪ Turning them off ♪

♪ Sometimes all I've got
is other people's windows ♪

♪ Sometimes all I've got
is other people's windows ♪

♪ Seeing through me ♪

♪ Let them find you
when you know you're lost ♪

♪ You've been kneeling
in a false dawn ♪

♪ Let them take you
'cause you don't belong ♪

♪ In these waves ♪

♪ In these waves ♪

♪ Time will come
to life again ♪

♪ My strange harvest ♪

♪ Will taste sweet again ♪

♪ Something I can't touch
is reaching out for me ♪

♪ Something I can't touch
is reaching out for me ♪

♪ Seeing through me ♪

♪ Seeing through me ♪

♪ Seeing through me ♪

♪ Seeing through me ♪

♪ Seeing through me ♪

♪ Seeing through me ♪

♪ Seeing through me ♪

♪ Seeing through me ♪

♪ Seeing through me ♪

♪ Let them find you
when you know you're lost ♪

♪ You've been kneeling
in a false dawn ♪

♪ Let them take you
'cause you don't belong ♪

♪ In these waves ♪

♪ In these waves ♪

♪ Let them find you
when you know you're lost ♪

♪ You've been kneeling
in a false dawn ♪

♪ Let them take you
'cause you don't belong ♪

♪ In these waves ♪

♪ In these waves ♪

♪ Let them find you
when you know you're lost ♪

♪ You've been kneeling
in a false dawn ♪

♪ Let them take you
'cause you don't belong ♪

♪ In these waves ♪

♪ In these waves ♪

[song fades]

[Kirby] Okay,
August 23rd, 2023.

Back at Pinto again.

Went a little further south
this time, but...

Yeah, it's a bust.

Something about this place
just doesn't...

doesn't feel right.

Talked to a guy
at a gas station,

he told me there's
a series of caves down at a...

Coxcomb,

so we're going to try
that next.

It's worth a shot.