The True Story of The Bluebeard Killer
10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories
Joe Kuner
4.8 • 614 Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Harry Powers lied to lonely women during one of the hardest times in American history and turned it into a full-blown system. While people were standing in breadlines and trying to keep their families fed, he was writing letters. Not looking for love—looking for leverage.
He promised wealth, mansions, and stability. What he actually had was a garage behind his wife’s grocery store and a growing list of people who vanished after meeting him.
This episode unpacks the story of Harry Powers, the so-called Bluebeard Killer. We’ll trace how he exploited grief and desperation, how the trail finally caught up with him, and why he’s remembered as one of the most manipulative killers of his time. He thought he had it all figured out. Until he didn’t.
#HarryPowers #TrueCrimePodcast #BluebeardKiller #SerialKillerStory #10MinuteMurder #GreatDepressionCrime #LonelyHeartsKiller #TrueCrimeHistory
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | During the Great Depression, most people were scraping together pennies just to survive. |
| 0:05.0 | One guy figured out a more efficient strategy. |
| 0:09.0 | Marry lonely women, take their money, and then they mysteriously stopped showing up to dinner. |
| 0:16.0 | He called himself a wealthy widower. |
| 0:18.0 | He said he owned a 10-room mansion. What he actually had was a garage |
| 0:23.6 | behind his wife's grocery store and a talent for lying through his teeth. This is the story |
| 0:29.2 | of Harry Powers, part con man, part predator, and a walking red flag in a pinstripe suit. |
| 0:35.2 | Before we jump into this story, if you like your true crime, bingeable, you're exactly where you need to be. |
| 0:41.3 | Hit follow now for at least two new episodes every week. |
| 0:44.3 | This is 10-minute murder. |
| 0:46.3 | Let's get into it. The Great Depression didn't exactly come with a warning label. One minute people were building |
| 1:15.6 | futures, thriving. The next, they were broke, hungry, and hanging on by a thread. And while most |
| 1:22.6 | folks tried to survive with what little they had, one man saw an opportunity to climb out of poverty by using |
| 1:28.9 | other people as his ladder. His name was Harm Drinth. Born in the Netherlands in 1892, he immigrated |
| 1:37.2 | to the U.S. with his parents in 1910, landing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His family settled into the |
| 1:43.8 | local Dutch community, living quietly |
| 1:46.0 | and minding their own business. But Harm wanted more than quiet. He wanted out. He threw |
| 1:52.0 | himself into learning English and got good at it. By the time he served in World War I, he sounded |
| 1:57.3 | like any other American kid. When he came back, he reintroduced himself as Harry Powers. |
| 2:03.2 | The quiet immigrant son had vanished, replaced by a guy who claimed to be a successful |
| 2:08.0 | oil stock promoter in Oklahoma. |
| 2:10.5 | He wasn't, obviously, but pretending paid better. |
... |
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