Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes,

listener discretion is advised.

This episode includes discussions of murder, dismemberment, and necrophilia

that some people may find offensive.

We advise extreme caution for children under 13.

It was a crisp English day in late October 1981. The leaves on the trees lining the suburban

street were beautiful explosions of color and fell gracefully into vibrant piles of

red, gold, and green.

A pack of neighborhood kids, none older than 12, jumped into leaf piles as they roamed the quiet streets. It was Saturday and they had free reign of the neighborhood.

With Halloween just around the corner, the air was electric with anticipation, but the kids were bored. They needed a mission.

But then they caught the woody aroma of a bonfire. Fire meant excitement. So the kids followed the scent to nearby Melrose Avenue.

They gravitated to its source like moths, quite literally drawn to a flame.

As they grew closer to the burning orange in the distance, they smelled something

peculiar, roasting meat maybe, rubber, they walked closer.

The bonfire blazed in the backyard of an old home, but only a single man attended to it.

He was a weasley-looking fellow with glasses and a dirt-stained undershirt and he was inexplicably digging

holes in the garden, seemingly unconcerned about the inferno raging behind him.

The kids sidled up to the backyard fence, watching closely as the man furiously shoveled

dirt. They called out to him. What was he doing? Did he need help?

Dennis Nielsen looked up from his shoveling, peering through dirty glasses at the children gathered at his fence.

This was not ideal.

The fumes from the fire were dangerous.

...