Introducing: American Criminal

REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana

Wondery | Ballen Studios

History, True Crime

4.3 • 668 Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole are two of history’s most prolific serial killers. Or they’re liars who aren’t to be trusted. Either way, they’ve both got red in their ledger – all stemming from their twisted beginnings.

American Criminal takes you inside the minds of some of our most notorious felons and outlaws, exploring the dark side to the American dream. Follow American Criminal wherever you get your podcasts. To get early, ad-free access, subscribe at americancriminal.com.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Jeremy Schwartz, and I host a show called American Criminal.
0:07.6	And I might be biased, but I think you're going to love it.
0:11.0	There, I said it.
0:12.5	Every season, we explore some of the biggest, most devious history-making crime stories America has ever seen.
0:20.3	And we're not just sticking our toes in for one episode covering the basics.
0:24.4	No, no, no, no, no.
0:25.5	We dive deep into these cases over a number of weeks to bring you the whole story.
0:31.1	From start to finish.
0:32.4	We're looking at everything from the motivations of the criminals to how the investigation
0:37.2	unfolded and the way
0:38.8	the media reacted. Today, your favorite show has been kind enough to allow us to dip into their
0:45.2	feed and show you what we mean. We're bringing you a chapter from our most recent season,
0:50.9	which covers the twisted, violent lives of Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Tool.
0:56.4	A pair of serial killers who, between them, confessed to get ready, hundreds of murders
1:03.2	in the 1980s. Then they took it all back, then confessed again. It got to the stage where no one
1:10.8	knew what was the truth and what was fiction.
1:14.0	Law enforcement agencies squared off to fight about it.
1:17.3	The media published exposés, and the courts couldn't work out what to do.
1:22.1	It was a mess.
1:24.2	But that's not the full picture.
1:26.5	This season also looks at the murder of six-year-old Adam Walsh,
1:30.9	who was abducted from a department store in 1981. Adam's story, the way his parents and community
	...

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