For every sadistic psychopath...there were signs. Charm. Narcissism. Lack of empathy. Impulsiveness. Manipulation. Deception. These traits and others are the telltale Signs of a Psychopath. This harrowing half-hour archive series revisits some of the most brutal killers in modern history, reviewing news footage and the words of the killers themselves to see which terrifying traits each killer exhibited. What are the signs...of evil?
Network: Investigation Discovery
Country: United States
A killer brutally murders an elderly couple, and detectives quickly focus on their 17-year-old grandson who lives with them. When they finally capture him, they uncover a charismatic young psychopath with a hunger for fast food and revenge.
When a grandmother vanishes, her grandson spins a twisted narrative about her demise and the disturbing location of her body inside a freezer. It doesn't take long for detectives to uncover the killer responsible ... a parasitic psychopath.
In the morning hours of Christmas Eve, motorists are horrified when they discover two bodies along the shoulder of I-85. When detectives catch the killer, they uncover a militant psychopath with a penchant for guns and violent rescue-mission fantasies.
When a young woman vanishes, it doesn't take long for detectives to zero in on her estranged husband. When questioned, he appears eerily calm and casual, but what they soon reveal is an impulsive and rage-driven psychopath who cannot tolerate rejection.
When a 15-year-old Florida girl runs away with her troubled boyfriend, someone brutally murders a 66-year-old disabled man miles away in his home. Upon their apprehension, police discover the young couple are, in fact, thrill-seeking murderers.
After a mother of three mysteriously vanishes following a night out on the town, investigators uncover a sexual psychopath's nightmarish desires. Several days later, they discover her body in her own septic tank, revealing how callous the murderer is.
Detectives find a woman partially clothed and strangled to death in a wooded ditch in Florida. With no leads or suspects, her case goes cold. Then, a surprise confession almost ten years later exposes a deviant sexual psychopath with a murderous fantasy.
When a disturbed brother slaughters three generations of a family, he quickly confesses and continues by confessing to a 10-year-old cold case. Detectives uncover a narcissistic psychopath with parasitic tendencies whose one goal is to return to prison.
Experts look at a subset of psychopaths who are motivated by their heightened sexual urges and fantasies. This subset of offenders doesn't just enact physical violence but sexual violence toward their victims and is known as the "sexual psychopath."
An early morning fire inside an apartment complex soon reveals something worse? The dead bodies of a young woman and an infant boy. Detectives find a psychopath who appears polite and gentle, then later as a pawn of imagined demons.
Police first arrest a man for discharging a firearm and soon discover dead bodies inside his apartment. Detectives try to make sense of the bloody crime scene and a psychopath willing to murder those closest to him.
A killer guns down a 46-year-old woman, and detectives discover that a fleeing Sheriff's Deputy is the assailant. Less than 48 hours later, they arrest him and reveal an unrepentant psychopath capable of executing the "love of his life" in cold blood.
After the shooting deaths of father, mother, and two adolescent boys in their suburban Baltimore home, investigators realize it's not a robbery gone wrong but rather the execution of a loving family, done by a callous and calculating psychopathic killer.
A vehicle plows down a 75-year-old military veteran on a country road in an apparent hit-and-run. When a young man confesses to the crime, detectives quickly learn they've encountered a psychopath with an intense desire to thrill kill.
When a young mother goes missing, her husband joins the search. Police discover her dismembered body in a stack of bins. Detectives find her husband to be a typical suburban dad, but learn a murderous psychopath lurks within.
For over three decades, Albuquerque police struggle to solve three violent cold cases. After years of searching, the cases break wide open when officers pick up a man on a probation violation. and he soon reveals himself to be a homicidal psychopath.
Pensacola Police are called to the Corner Store when a killer guns down a young man in a brazen public execution in the parking lot. Police track down their suspect and find a cold-blooded psychopath without remorse.
Police engage in a massive manhunt to find a killer on a murder spree of revenge, taking the lives of his girlfriend, cousin, and a man he considers a father figure. Once captured, he proclaims that he simply wants to be "heard."
Authorities grow concerned when a 25-year-old woman reports her 50-year-old father and 6-year-old daughter missing. Police discover their dead bodies and uncover the shocking truth she is a psychotic killer.
When being interviewed by police, psychopaths often use manipulation to thwart the investigation. Here, experts explore the anatomy of the key manipulative tactics of psychopaths and how they try to utilize them for their own sinister gain.
A teenage girl goes missing just before Christmas. Unable to find her, detectives obtain a secret recording that uncovers an evil plot by a psychopath willing to do whatever it takes to satisfy their wicked needs and evil desires.
After the murder of a successful executive one night in Connecticut, her case goes cold. Four years later, a troubled man appears, ready to confess. In his interview, investigators uncover this was no ordinary murder and that he's an impulsive psychopath.
Once a wife goes missing, her husband becomes the prime suspect when police discover his checkered past. Lacking a body or evidence of foul play, detectives hope to gain a confession from a man they realize might be a cold-blooded psychopath.
Police catch a break on three cold case murders when emerging DNA technology makes a stunning match: a 73-year-old man who's been in prison since 1993. Detectives interrogate the frail man whose harmless façade is hiding a murderous psychopath.
A young man's confession to participating in a plot to murder another teenager stuns police in a small Florida town. As detectives dig in, they uncover a sadistic plot involving a manipulative ex-girlfriend and a young psychopath with the desire to kill.
A teenage couple goes on the run after an attack on the boy's sister. A search leads officers to the girl's grandparents' home, where they find the bodies of the elderly couple and uncover a fantasy killing concocted by the psychopathic lovers.
Terror rocks an Ohio town when a mother, her two kids and a close friend vanish. Fearing foul play, investigators track down the prime suspect and uncover a house of horrors. Detectives find themselves dealing with a psychopath with a bizarre obsession.
After the murder of a rural Virginia couple and the disappearance of their adult son, detectives wonder who could have acted with such rage. However, when the son resurfaces, it isn't long before investigators come face to face with a true psychopath.
When a loving husband turns up murdered in his Ohio home, the prime suspect is his troubled wife, who claims to have little recollection of the crime. Detectives uncover her spotty memory is nothing but the manipulation of a vindictive psychopath.
Every parent's worst nightmare is the possibility that their child has the same evil traits as the most heinous murderers. In this episode, specialists look at the early warning indicators in psychopathic killers arrested as teenagers and young adults.
Six months pregnant Martine Bernard's family reports her missing, days later, her father vanishes as well. When officers interview Martine's husband, Cassandritz Blanc, they find a calculating psychopath willing to do anything to cover his tracks.
When a 64-year-old grandmother does not return home from her morning walk, local police uncover that the man responsible for her disappearance is not only a pathological liar but a sexually deviant psychopath carrying out a twisted fantasy.
Hikers in Portland discover the badly decomposed body of a raped and strangled young girl. A month later, another woman turns up brutally murdered in same fashion. The prime suspect is a homeless drifter harboring dark sexual fantasies.
A 33-year-old oil rig worker calls 911 to report his girlfriend missing. He seems to be helping in the time-critical hunt to find her. A failed polygraph test leads detectives to suspect this seemingly caring boyfriend is a psychopath.
A man finds his family slaughtered in their West Virginia home. The oldest son, 16-year-old Gavin Smith, is missing, he turns up hiding at his girlfriend's.
After meeting with her divorce attorney and estranged husband, a devoted mother of three vanishes into air. As friends and family desperately try to locate her, the husband instead plays a psychopathic game of cat and mouse with investigators.
A 19-year-old woman vanishes, and the suspect is a former high school classmate with whom she had been communicating days earlier. The family is weary, for the suspect has a notorious past filled with sexual deviancy and homicidal urges toward women.
On a quiet winter night, a mother finds her 22-year-old son horrifically dismembered in her basement. The lone suspect is the victim's ex-girlfriend, who is at her home in an emotionless state with blood on her hands.
Weeks after an 18-year-old man's friend reports him missing, his clothing turns up burned in a trash can behind a suburban home. When witnesses lead investigators to a young man with a history of violence, they soon learn he had not worked alone.
Experts explore cases of psychopathic killers known as family annihilators.
A road rage incident turns deadly as an elderly man is beaten to death by a teenager who claims he was acting in self-defense. Detectives not only find holes in his story but uncover that he is a remorseless and utterly manipulative psychopath.
A mother awakes to find her two sons with their throats cut. Their aunt's boyfriend confesses to his mother, and she wears a wire to capture her son. As he admits his guilt, it's clear how a psychopathic rage led to horrific violence and innocent victims.
A concerned mother reports her 24-year-old son missing. He has fallen under the spell of a 47-year-old widowed woman. Detectives soon realize she's a sexual psychopath who has claimed the lives of more than one admirer.
A 911 operator receives a frightening call from a man who claims that he stabbed and killed two people. Police rapidly learn that not only is the call legitimate, but the caller is a violent and unpredictable psychotic.
In rural Missouri, police receive a chilling call from a 50-year-old man who claims to have shot three individuals inside his home. Detectives discover that this impulsive massacre had a purpose, and that the culprit is a psychopath obsessed with control.
Eleven operators receive a terrifying call from a youngster who claims he stabbed his parents to death. Unsure if the call is a Halloween joke, police rush to the area, only to learn that it is not a fake and that the caller is a budding psychopath.
A youngster gets imprisoned when his mother discovers the remains of a missing vagrant in his bedroom. While in jail, investigators find that the suspect is a vicious psychopath who admires notorious serial murderers.
A frantic graduate student calls 911 to say she just shot her boyfriend in self-defense. Police soon discover that her story doesn't add up and realize they are face-to-face with a remorseless, calculating psychopath.
Experts examine some unique characteristics of female psychopathic killers and explore their horrific crimes.
A missing person's report leads police to a career criminal and his partner, uncovering a twisted path of illicit schemes, drugs, and exploitation.
Police find a 17-year-old female's dead body in a ditch with two gunshot wounds. The investigation centers on two friends of the victim claiming her death was an accident, but detectives uncover it was a thrill kill carried out by evil psychopaths.
A New Hampshire village is in shock after four adolescents were arrested for robbing and murdering a 42-year-old mother and maiming her 11-year-old daughter. Detectives discover two individuals who are vicious psychopaths rather than ordinary criminals.
A man calls 911 with his dying breath, and first responders arrive to find him brutally murdered, stabbed 59 times. When detectives question his best friend, they uncover a tangled, sick story of deception and jealousy that explodes in psychopathic rage.
A killer shoots a young woman dead in her boyfriend's Orlando apartment. Hours later, he turns up in a hospital bed 500 miles away with a gunshot wound and a bizarre story that unravels to reveal he's a lying, callous psychopath.
Investigators search a farm for a missing man and find human leg bone on the property. The owner, Susan Monica, admits that her pigs ate her tenant alive, and he's not the only victim. A ruthless psychopath, Monica despises humans but loves her pigs.
A gunman shoots a man dead as he runs along a country road. First responders find a witness standing next to the body with a strange story to tell, and detectives will unravel the lies of a callous psychopath who takes out his frustrations in bloodshed.
A woman finds her elderly brother dead in his bedroom with his throat slashed. Uncovering the truth poses a challenge for detectives, as the individual responsible for killing him is a manipulative psychopath who craftily deflects blame.
A racially motivated serial killer on death row, who targeted civil rights leader Vernon Jordan and pornography publisher Larry Flynt, confesses to additional unsolved murders with the help of a shrewd female prosecutor.
A look inside the mind of psychopaths to discover when common pervasive traits deviate into violence, such as grandiosity, sadism, superficial charm, manipulation, lack of empathy and having a parasitic lifestyle.
Omaha police officers chase down a stolen vehicle driving recklessly. When they arrest the driver, he shocks detectives by giving an unsolicited confession to a gruesome murder of a local woman, the first of many chilling revelations.
When a priest from Florida goes missing, police focus on a troubled ex-convict whom he helped support; through multiple interrogations, a psychopathic killer reveals details of a twisted vengeance that escalates to a chilling murder.
Behind a church lies a dismembered body burned beyond recognition. Investigators identify the victim by fingerprints and receive a tip the suspect is female. A police interview reveals her as the most remorseless psychopathic killer they've ever seen.
A beloved elderly couple disappears on a Sunday afternoon. One person knows their battered bodies lie dead at the bottom of a well. That man is the couple's son, who lives off of his parents' charity yet takes sadistic pleasure in murdering them.
A man confesses that he "accidentally" killed his best friend while cleaning his gun. During his interrogation, he stuns police by revealing that he's behind a long trail of bloodshed and is a serial killer who seems to consider himself an angel of mercy.
A man who reported the murder of his girlfriend and her mother is in for a plot twist after authorities discover his desire for revenge on her.
Searchers for a missing woman find her brutally beaten body in a dilapidated house near her home. The case goes cold until a local teen steps forward to reveal that he's not only the killer but also a manipulative psychopath with a thirst for violence.
After his conviction for the brutal slaying of his wife, a Florida inmate lays claim to another unsolved murder 17 years prior, revealing that he's a manipulative psychopath with a history of violence and an unquenchable thirst for revenge.
A mother who calls 911 to report her 32-year-old son is threatening her turns up dead in her home. He becomes the only suspect, and when he turns himself in, his pragmatic retelling of the slaying isn't just cold-hearted, it's psychopathic.
A crash on a North Dakota highway leaves one passenger dead but the driver unscathed. When investigators see that the victim has stab wounds, they know there was foul play. Detectives interrogate the driver and quickly realize he's a psychopath.
In the course of a few hours, an unhinged man snaps, unleashing a furious rampage that would leave three women dead in their homes; a statewide manhunt ensues, which yields a misogynistic psychopath hell-bent on revenge.
A young woman calls 911 because her boyfriend is missing and there is a pool of blood in their apartment; evidence leads investigators to the couple's roommate, a manipulative psychopath hell-bent on revenge, along with his loyal best friend.
A 17-year-old steals a gun and begins a horrifying road trip. He murders two gas station attendants in cold blood, laughing as he shoots his victims in the face. When officers catch up with him, a haunting portrait of a burgeoning psychopath emerges.
A blazing car accident turns out to be the result of a devious murder plot.
Burlington police get a call that a man has killed his girlfriend. When they arrive, the man reveals that he has other victims.
When a woman dies in a brutal stabbing, police quickly locate the prime suspect. During interrogation, the suspect appears to have a psychotic episode, but detectives soon learn it's merely the ruse of a deranged psychopath.
A longtime nurse confesses to helping end the lives of numerous elderly patients at multiple nursing homes. But as detectives soon discover, this is no angel of mercy. Behind her unsuspecting "aww shucks" persona lies a ruthless psychopath.
A failed actor returns home, ready to take out his rage on the weakest members of society. After killing four people, a chance encounter with police will lead to his downfall. The interrogation room becomes the stage for this killer's final performance.
The "Tourniquet Killer" terrorizes young girls across Houston, Texas. When advances in DNA finally lead to his arrest, this psychopath eagerly confesses to multiple murders. Weeks before his execution, he grants one interview reveling in the spotlight.
First responders arrive at a home in Ontario where a mother leads officers to the dead bodies of her two children. An investigation yields a twisted truth, this awful tragedy isn't an accident but a carefully crafted killing by a vengeful psychopath.
A man crashes into the back of a woman's vehicle one morning. Officers respond to the scene only to find her car abandoned. Witnesses point to the other driver, and detectives are horrified to discover a sadistic psychopath who admits to murder.
An officer responds to a 911 call placed by a robber on the lam who feels compelled to turn himself in. However, when the officer arrives at the scene, the criminal confesses to much more than breaking and entering.
When a graduate student suddenly goes missing, the family he's staying with immediately contacts police. Then, just days later, a horrific discovery forces investigators to face a rare kind of monster.
Police respond to a 911 call to find a father of two dead in his home with more than 15 gunshot wounds. Police question the family, but one person is missing: his mother-in-law. Now detectives must determine if this grandma could be a deadly psychopath.
The naked and mutilated body of a mother turns up at the bottom of a ravine in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. When tire tracks lead investigators to a suspect, they encounter an undetected serial killer who confesses to butchering eight women over a decade.
A lone gunman shoots a young man and woman on their way home from the gym where they work; while interrogating a suspect, detectives learn that this is no random attack but the twisted plan of a deranged psychopathic stalker.
A young woman makes a frantic 911 call about a brutal home invasion, which results in the shooting of her mother and father; as police interview her, they uncover a secret double life and an elaborate web of lies spun by a maniacal psychopath.
While being questioned in the abduction of an Anchorage barista, a young local businessman starts negotiating with investigators to reveal details of a depraved secret life as one of America's most meticulous and psychopathic serial killers.
A college student disappears at the start of his freshman year without a trace, leaving his family and his girlfriend reeling; when authorities look to his best friend for answers, they uncover a love triangle gone wrong.
A woman arrives at her parents' house to find them bleeding on the floor. Her 16-year-old brother claims that their dad shot their mother and then himself. But investigators quickly uncover the shocking truth as they confront a cunning teenage psychopath.
A woman's body is found strangled and partially nude off the side of a Connecticut country road. Investigators apprehend a suspect in her murder, only to discover he's a prolific serial killer - responsible for the rape and the murder of eight women.
A former escort hires a hitman to kill her husband. She thinks she's committed the perfect crime when officers notify her that he is dead. Little does she know that the police have been watching and recording her every move.
A troubled 29-year-old son gets kicked out of his parents' house after spending the family fortune on a web-cam model. But when his mother, father, and brother are found murdered, the young man insists he's innocent.
After a house fire in Texas, suspicion lands on John Hummel when his family's brutally murdered bodies are discovered in the ashes, and he doesn't blink an eye. Now an inmate on death row, he grants a final interview weeks before his execution.
A missing Colorado woman's roommate claims she'll do anything to help find her, but investigators fear they may have a rare female psychopath on their hands. Later, a killer's angry outbursts could be real, or just an act put on by a skilled manipulator.
A young girl disappears after school. Her last known steps are caught on surveillance cameras, which lead investigators to two dark minds who carefully plotted one of the most sinister, depraved crimes imaginable.
When police question a man in the disappearance of his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her young son, they discover he has a terrifying capacity for violence. And later, could a seemingly innocuous man searching for a missing girl be a real-life monster?
A charming 20-year-old wants to help authorities with a murder investigation. He claims to have met one of the three victims and says he has no knowledge of the crime, but detectives suspect otherwise. Could this young intellectual be hiding a dark side?
An unapologetic 14-year-old boy confesses to the murder of his best friend. Twelve years later, he's back in court with chance at a reduced sentence. Has this 26-year-old really changed? Or is he the same cold-blooded killer he always was?
Residents of a quaint village are terrified when a local innkeeper and two others are found brutally murdered. Detectives in Maine must follow the depraved killer into the woods at night as he leads them to where he killed and buried a fourth victim.
A 50-year-old woman is found dead in her home. All that's left behind is a note that reads, "Chase me." But when detectives uncover the killer, they quickly discover they have come face to face with a remorseless psychopath.