Before we dig into this week's story, please be aware this is a particularly disturbing episode.

There are several troubling topics covered including child abuse, sexual abuse of children,

sexual assault, and murder. The subject of today's episode, Leslie Allen Williams,

he's one of those serial killers that I know of, but I don't know much about.

In looking at his case, I realized that a big reason why he seems to have slipped

from the public consciousness is that there was no trial to follow. There was no year-long media

events surrounding attempts to prosecute him for his crimes. This is because Williams pled guilty

to all charges, including multiple counts of first-degree murder. So while there was a media frenzy,

it lasted only a few months over the spring and summer of 1992.

I found Williams particularly interesting because he knew he was bad. He knew that what he was

doing was wrong, but he was compelled to do it anyway. In addition to being a heartless killer,

he was quiet, polite, agreeable. He helped police in recovering his victims.

He refused to participate in attempts to lessen his ability to receive anything other than a life

sentence. When he was taken into custody in 1992, he told the police, I should be locked up.

And he was right.

While Williams would confess to both rape and murder, the death penalty was never an option.

Michigan does not have the death penalty, and as I've mentioned in previous episodes,

Michigan was the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish the death penalty

back in the mid-1800s. When I began working on the episode, I reached out to Williams. Did he

have anything to say? Did he want to contribute to the story? We exchanged a couple of emails.

He was very polite and reserved in his responses. He told me he didn't want to get in any trouble

or cause any trouble. I was up front with him about my interest and he responded with the following,

...