365 - The Trailside Killer

Timesuck with Dan Cummins

Dan Cummins

True Crime, Society & Culture, Religion, Conspiracies, History, Biographies, Education, Adult Humor, Comedy, Dark Humor, Conspiracy, Cults

4.7 • 21.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 September 2023

⏱️ 153 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Between August of 1979, and May of 1981, convicted serial rapist David Carpenter escalated to murdering his rape victims, and he killed at least seven young women, and likely several other victims. He also killed the fiancé of one victim and nearly killed the boyfriend of another. David's sexually violent crimes began almost 90 years ago, and he's still alive today, the oldest inmate on California's death row.

Transcript

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0:00.0	David Joseph Carpenter is one of the oldest people on death row in the United States,
0:04.4	and while most in prison either know him by his inmate number of C96500 or just as Dave or David,
0:11.5	the outside world still knows him best by his dark moniker of the trailside killer.
0:15.8	From 1979 to 1981, numerous hikers in various wilderness areas around the Bay area in California
0:22.8	were targeted by an unknown serial killer. In almost every case, the victims had been shot in the
0:27.6	head with a 38 caliber gun. Many of the female victims had been raped, and two victims were
0:32.4	stabbed to death. Some fellow hikers saw the killer, an elusive nondescript man with dark hair
0:37.4	and glasses. One victim survived being shot in the neck by the trailside killer, but it would still
0:42.4	be another year before he was apprehended. Carpenter is an unusual serial killer. He didn't target
0:48.4	sex workers or hitchhikers or runaways or anyone marginalized and living on the fringes of society.
0:54.8	He targeted friends, acquaintances, or strangers just enjoying the beauty of nature.
1:00.2	He also didn't seem to really enjoy the act of killing. He didn't appear to enjoy prolonging the
1:05.7	torture or deaths of his victims. He did very much enjoy the act of rape. Primarily sexually motivated,
1:12.8	he attacked and fled quickly. Once he got what he wanted, or once he fired some shots and worried
1:17.6	about the attention that would attract, he was gone, and that made him harder to capture. He
1:22.1	didn't linger with his victims. He didn't return to the kill size to relive and savor the trauma.
1:26.5	He inflicted in some way. He also was able to kill for as long as he did thanks to a pre-internet
1:31.8	system of law enforcement record keeping that kept him off the legal radar. Carpenter was finally
1:37.2	arrested in May of 1901, shortly after another one of his female associates disappeared. Although
1:42.1	David asked her not to, she told her boyfriend and mother that she was supposed to meet him to
1:47.8	purchase a car and that finally put his name on police radar. At the time of his arrest, David
1:52.7	Carpenter was suspected of at least 10 murders. Then, as authorities dug in further, investigators soon
	...

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