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On October 20, 1993, a woman working on the tip line for America's most wanted took a call from an upset woman.

The caller claimed to have information regarding the story that had just aired about the unknown identity of two female bodies found murdered in California in the mid-80s.

She identified herself as Terry Nor, and she claimed that the victims were not only connected by their shared killer, but they were also sisters.

Her sisters. This is Monsters.

Teresa Jimmy Francine Cross was born on March 14, 1946 in Sacramento, California.

She was the first child of her parents, Jim and Swaney, although her mother had two children from a previous marriage.

Jim worked as a cheese maker while Swaney raised the children. However, in the late 1950s, the roles were reversed when Jim was forced to quit his job after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements such as shaking, stiffness and difficulty with balance and coordination.

Swaney became the primary breadwinner for the family while the children took turns taking care of Jim.

As Jim's condition worsened, he became more immobile and he started to take his frustrations out on his wife and children.

This was the beginning of Teresa's long and fatal relationship with violence.

Teresa was extremely close to her mother who did her best to protect the children from Jim's outbursts, but everything changed in 1961 when Teresa watched her mother take her last breath.

While Jim had been battling Parkinson's, Swaney had unknowingly been suffering from congestive heart failure.

With the main income earner dead and Jim unable to work, the family were forced to sell their home and move into rented accommodations.

A year later when Teresa was 16 years old, she dropped out of high school to marry her boyfriend Clifford Sanders.

Clifford was five years older than his bride and to Teresa he represented stability in a life outside of her father's abuse, but this was no fairy tale high school romance.

Teresa herself was extremely controlling and jealous of Clifford and she constantly accused him of cheating on her.

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