This podcast details true crime cases. It contains adult themes and may contain descriptions of violence.

It is not intended for children.

Listen or discretion is advised. Thank you for joining me for today's episode of Once Upon a Crime.

In the Animal Kingdom, there is me for today's episode of Once Upon a Crime.

In the Animal Kingdom, there is a pecking order.

Smaller, weaker, or more vulnerable animals

become prey for those who are stronger. And in turn, those animals prey on the next most vulnerable down the line.

For example, predatory birds like hawks or eagles

will prey on snakes for food. The snake in turn will prey on mice.

This is the natural order of things to ensure the survival of each species.

Unfortunately in the human species predators also abound for

reasons not explained by survival instincts. The reasons some humans become

predatory are varied and complex, but like in the animal kingdom,

human predators target those more vulnerable.

In the last chapter of the series, Manipulated to Murder, I'll share a story about a predator who hid behind a false identity to manipulate young and impressionable teens to commit the senseless murder of a vulnerable young woman.

Darren Schillmiller had a problematic history, but as deviant behavior had gone mostly

unchallenged in his rural Indiana town until it was discovered how he orchestrated

a murder to fulfill his dark fantasies.

This is Chapter 3 of Manipulated to Murder, Darren Schillmiller. The On June 2nd, 2010, 20 year old Cynthia Rose, C.C. Hoffman was excited to be going on an outing with her friends.

She had the day off from her restaurant job

and had been invited to go on a hike to Thunderbird Falls

in Chugach State Park,

...