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

Listener discretion is advised.

October 15th, 1978, Lawrence Bidaker walked out of the California men's colony of free man.

He drifted back to Los Angeles, slipping seamlessly into civilian life.

With his skills as a machinist, he was soon earning nearly $1,000 a week, a small fortune for his time. To neighbors, he didn't

look like a threat. He was a quiet man down the street who kept to himself, but also the one who

would lend a hand when needed. Some even saw him as generous. He'd donate to the Salvation Army,

buy bags of fast food and bottles of wine, and then hand

him out to the homeless on Skid Row.

On the surface, Lawrence Biddecker was the picture of rehabilitation, but beneath that carefully

crafted facade, something far darker was beginning to take shape.

January 15, 1979, just three months after Lawrence Biddecker's release,

Roy Norris walked out of prison as well. He moved back into his mother's home in Redondo Beach,

but freedom didn't bring reform. Within a month, Norris had already attacked again,

raping a woman, then leaving her alone and terrified in the desert.

By day he blended in, working as an electrician in Compton, but soon a letter arrived.

It was from Lawrence Biddecker.

Weeks later, the two men met at a hotel, old prison acquaintances reunited, and in that meeting,

they breathed new life into a plan they had whispered about behind bars, a plan to stalk,

kidnap, and rape young girls. In Burbank, Norris's hotel room became something of a hangout

spot, especially for local teenagers.

He always seemed to have a steady supply of beer and marijuana on hand.

...