Due to the graphic nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised.

This episode contains discussion of murder, rape, and sexual assault

that some listeners may find disturbing.

Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13.

In the fall of 1991, the women of Waco, Texas didn't know what was going on.

Nothing like this had ever happened before, at least not to the people they knew.

But for some reason, sex workers were being picked off one by one,

as if they were being hunted.

These women would go out like always, off to motels, parking lots,

wherever they needed to go to be with a john.

But then hours would pass, then days, and they never came back.

Already, two girls had vanished within days of each other,

disappearing without a trace. It just didn't make sense.

And it was clear that their line of work wasn't safe.

But what could they do?

They needed the money, and sex workers couldn't just go to the police and ask for help.

Their profession was outside the law, and many of the women were underage.

They were stuck, vulnerable, and getting desperate.

The hard truth was that no one was coming to help them.

All they could do was stick together.

To let each other know when they were going off for a job and where they were going to be.

But even that was no guarantee.

...