615 // Understanding That Beast w/ Dr. Jeffrey Smalldon

Missing

Crawlspace Media

True Crime, Society & Culture, News

3.8 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Tim Pilleri & Lance Reenstierna are joined by Dr. Jeffrey Smalldon, a retired forensic psychologist and author. In his new book, That Beast Was Not Me, Dr. Smalldon recalls the five decades he has spent corresponding with and and studying serial killers, mass murders and spree killers. Jeffrey also shares his origin story; the unsolved brutal murder of two of his colleagues, Patricia Matix and Joyce McFadden. This episode was previously published on Crawlspace on November 23rd, 2025. Check out everything Dr. Smalldon has going on: https://jeffreysmalldon.com/. Pick up your copy of That Beast Was Not Me: Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/that-beast-was-not-me-one-forensic-psychologist-five-decades-of-conversations-with-killers-jeffrey-l-smalldon/a4e8236eb8ace300. Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/That-Beast-Was-Not-Conversations-ebook/dp/B0D6WPF17H. Check out Uncommon Goods: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://uncommongoods.com/MISSING⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code MISSING for a great deal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://happymammoth.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Main podcast theme by Kevin Macleod. Check out his work at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://incompetech.com/⁠⁠⁠. Additional music by David Williams. See his work at⁠ ⁠⁠http://williamsflutes.com⁠⁠⁠. Follow Missing: IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/MissingCSM/⁠. TT:⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@missingcsm⁠. FB:⁠ https://www.facebook.com/MissingCSM⁠. X:⁠ https://twitter.com/MissingCSM⁠. Spotify:⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/0yRXkJrZC85otfT7oXMcri⁠. Youtube:⁠ https://www.youtube.com/missingcsm⁠. Apple:⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/missing/id1006974447⁠. Follow Crawlspace: IG:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/Crawlspacepodcast⁠. TT:⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@crawlspacepodcast⁠. FB:⁠ https://www.facebook.com/Crawlspacepodcast⁠. X:⁠ https://twitter.com/crawlspacepod.⁠ Spotify:⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/7iSnqnCf27NODdz0pJ1GvJ⁠. Youtube:⁠ https://www.youtube.com/crawlspace⁠. Apple:⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crawlspace-true-crime-mysteries/id1187326340⁠. Check out our entire network at⁠ http://crawlspace-media.com/⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The In today's episode of missing, we are replaying an episode from our other podcast,
0:39.3	Crawlspace, and we speak with Dr. Jeffrey Smaldon, a forensic psychologist who has written
0:46.7	a great new book called That Beast Was Not Me. And you can find out more on his website
0:52.9	at jeffreysmalden.com. Lance, what
0:55.5	you think of this conversation?
0:56.5	Well, the conversation was going in a certain direction, at least in my mind, because
1:00.8	we were going to talk to him about his book, the correspondences he's had with serial killers,
1:05.2	probably talk about, oh my goodness, what was it like to get a letter from Bundy or from Charles Manson? And then he
1:14.2	started talking about his origin story, which is this absolutely harrowing account of him working in a
1:20.3	hospital as a hospital administrator, getting a call that two of his colleagues, two nurses,
1:25.3	two young women were brutally murdered in the same room
1:30.0	in the hospital, which is in a sense how he became so interested in all of these criminals,
1:35.7	what they do, why they do it, how they get away with it, and trying to provide some insight into
1:39.4	that. What did you think of this conversation? Yeah, I really love speaking with Jeff. He's very knowledgeable,
1:45.2	and yes, his origin story is very intriguing in that it, you know, he wouldn't be in the
1:50.4	position he's in today if it weren't for what happened to those two young nurses. And still
1:55.8	technically unsolved as you'll hear in the conversation that's coming up. We're going to take a
2:00.0	break quick here for commercial,
2:02.1	and we'll be right back with Dr. Jeffrey Smalden.
2:50.8	Thank you. Thanks for our sponsors, and we are back with Dr. Jeffrey Smalden. Welcome to the podcast, Dr. Jeffrey Smalden. How are you today? I'm great. How are you, Tim, and how are you, Lance? I'm well. Thank you. Doing great. I'm doing great, yeah. Thanks for having me on as a guest. I appreciate it. Of course. Yeah.
2:51.0	You are welcome to come on.
	...

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