What makes a killer contains graphic details of sexual assault and violence and is not intended

for all audiences. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

September 22, 1991. Guildford, Connecticut.

Early that evening, a mysterious man visited the home of Christine Brindell and delivered some

shocking news. Her brother Ernest and his family had been kidnapped and were being held

for ransom by the Mafia. I didn't quite know what to make of it. He had Ernest Carr and he opened

the trunk with full blood. It turned out the man at the door 42-year-old Christopher High Tower

was a pathological liar and a killer. He claimed he needed $75,000 to help free the family.

But in reality, it was already too late. He would stop it at nothing to get what he wanted.

It didn't matter who he hurt. It didn't matter who he conned.

Most shocking of all was High Tower's methods. He killed Ernest, who was a friend of his,

with a crossbow, strangled his wife Alice, and then drugged their eight-year-old daughter Emily

and dumped her in a shallow grave. There was evidence that she was buried alive. That's a monster.

That's a monster. But in court, he continued his lives, insisting he saw the mob carry out the

killings. This is what makes a killer, a series that chronicles the lives and crimes of the world's

most notorious killers. I'm your host Jennifer Natoso. In every episode, we'll trace a killer's

origins, examine their behavior, and follow their path to bloodshed. In this episode, we'll discuss

Christopher High Tower.

This killer's story begins on August 20th, 1949. Christopher High Tower was born in the town

of Winter Haven, located in Central Florida. His father was a printer.

Criminologist Dr. Elizabeth Yardley and author journalist Jeffrey Wancel talk about High Tower's

upbringing. In the US, this was the post-war years. It was the age of affluence, the rise of the

...