In our last episode, we learned about how an evil serial killing grifter named John Robinson

met vulnerable women in fetish chat rooms and lured them out to Kansas by offering them things

he would never deliver. When it broke in the early 2000s, some regarded this story as a kind of

cautionary tale. Be careful who you connect with online. And the idea of meeting strangers from

the internet was still somewhat novel, even if it was really no different than meeting people

through personal ads as people had been doing throughout the 20th century. And online dating,

while it may feel very much like a 21st century invention, has actually been around in various

forms for three, four, even five decades, arguably since the 1960s when computer dating services

first appeared. And in the 80s, there were video dating services and TV shows like Love Connection,

which offered contestants a choice of three potential first date partners from a video lineup.

It all evolved parallel to technology in the direction of what we have today. Dating apps,

meeting people on dating apps has now become the norm. From Tinder to Bumble to Hinge,

we live in the age of swipe culture. But in the pre smartphone era from the 90s through the late

2000s, singles looking for love online mainly use dating websites like OkCupid, Match.com,

eHarmony, and plenty of fish. These websites actually still exist and are successful,

but they've taken a backseat to the apps. And although there's always some element of danger to

any situation where you're meeting and going on dates with strangers, online dating has always

presented unique risks. In 2008, Giles is zil-to-tro's wife moved to Edmonton, Canada for work.

This was their second big move in just a few years. And Giles stayed behind for a little bit so

he could wait for their house to sell and also work some more. Save a bit more money and establish

some security for them in their new city. But then after he moved to Edmonton to join her,

his wife had a surprise in store for him. She wanted a divorce, and Giles was totally blindsided

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