There were two more murders, 15 miles away.

When police arrived, they found the telephones and electricity lines.

We have a weird homicide.

A scene described by one investigator as reminiscent of a weird...

A cup of murder.

Sometimes the bizarre details of a case can overshadow the facts.

On August 12th, 1978, a man was born who would go on to live a very unconventional

life, one that deeply overshadowed the crimes he committed.

So if you like your coffee hot but your bones chilled, sit back and start your day with a

morning cup of murder.

Though he would later be known by a different name, on August 12, 1978, a young man named

John Alexander Lawson was born in San Francisco, California, who at some point relocated

to Clemens, North Carolina with his mother.

Not much is known about this man's

younger life, and according to the woman who directed and produced documentary about him,

The Devil You Know, much of what we do know about him is hard to believe, because he spent

so much of his life for reinventing stories about his childhood.

Patricia Gillespie later said, quote,

he told people he was from Iraq.

He told people his father was some high priest.

But the people who knew him as a child described him as a little off-kilter,

a little emotional, things that might indicate the beginnings of a mental illness,

...