Tapes from the dark side contains descriptions of violence and sexuality.

Listener discretion is advised.

The year, 1977, two men are locked inside the California men's colony.

A medium security state prison tucked away in the rolling hills of San Luis Obispo.

It wasn't a fortress like San Quentin.

It didn't house the state's most violent criminals.

And yet its reputation was far from what you'd expect of a place that would soon become

a breeding ground for one of the most sadistic criminal partnerships in modern history.

Lawrence Biddecker was serving time for assault with a deadly weapon. That attack, like many

of his crimes, seemed impulsive

on the surface, but hinted at deeper urges simmering beneath. Meanwhile, Roy Norris was also behind bars.

His rap sheet, equally disturbing. He had been arrested multiple times for sexually motivated

crimes, including one particularly brutal attack on a female

student at San Diego State University. They were housed in the same unit. They ate in the same

mess hall. They had time to talk, to bond, to compare notes. And what started a small talk

between two sociopaths quickly turned into something darker,

they discovered they shared a deep hatred for women.

They fantasized about domination, about control, about pain.

According to court records and interviews, the two became inseparable.

They would spend hours talking about their past crimes, not with shame,

but with excitement. They relished the details. And then they began imagining what they could do

if they worked together. It was Larry who proposed they team up after their release, and he didn't

...