Introducing: My Friend, the Serial Killer
In the 1970s, Steve Fishman was an intern at his local newspaper, when one day he hitched a ride back from Boston with Robert Carr III, better known as “Red.” Red seemed trustworthy enough, but he was hiding a secret: by the time he had picked up Steve, he had already killed three people—and all of his prior victims were hitchhikers themselves.
This narrow brush with death is only the beginning of Steve’s relationship with Red. When Red is eventually arrested by the police and confesses to a slew of gruesome murders, Steve sees the journalistic opportunity of a lifetime. It’s exactly the career break that Steve has been looking for—but is it too good to be true?
Featuring exclusive interviews and never-before-heard tape, Steve goes inside a serial killer’s mind. He examines not only the details of Red’s crimes, but turns the scrutiny on his own coverage to ask: did he get the story right? And if not, what can he do now to set the record straight?
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Press play and read along
Transcript
Speaker 1 The following interview is being videotaped at the Day County Public Safety Department.
Speaker 1 I was looking for a hitchhiker
Speaker 1 potential clerk.
Speaker 1 Do you remember the moment when the car picked you up? So I was on the side of the road, and this, you know, a sedan, like a nice enough car, pulled up, and
Speaker 1
there's this guy. He had a kind of a bit of a drawl.
I proceeded to assume certain things that I considered to be necessary in
Speaker 1
the crime that I planned to commit. There was a funny thing that I recall.
You go to kind of pull up the door handle to get out, and it like didn't catch.
Speaker 1 First on this list of items was
Speaker 1 Disconnect the door handle on the right-hand side of the car.
Speaker 1 I'm Steve fishman in the 1970s i hitched a ride that changed my life i was just starting out as a journalist and crossed paths with a local man with a secret this guy wants to confess to these murders let him confess boy he unloaded i'll tell you that he claimed to be the serial killer next door next door to me he lived in my town a killer who got his victims hitchhiking.
Speaker 1 You're lucky man you're here.
Speaker 1 And now I had a connection to him. I'd sat in his car.
Speaker 1
I hoped this would be my big journalism break. As long as this guy was telling the truth.
We got to find bodies. Do we have any bodies? Do we don't have any reports of anybody being found deceased?
Speaker 2 He was positive his victim was buried four feet under the road.
Speaker 1
He called me in the newsroom every day, as if we were friends. Then, he invited me to visit him in jail.
He confided in me. He told me he could have been stopped.
Speaker 1 But now, decades later, I'm not so sure.
Speaker 1
They caught him in possession of a crowbar, wire cutters, pliers, and razor blades, which he might use to escape. So I'm going back to find out what I missed.
I know where I need to start.
Speaker 1 How old were you when you learned your father was a serial killer? Twelve.
Speaker 1 And how old were you when you and I met?
Speaker 1 Twelve.
Speaker 1 This is my friend the serial killer, coming soon wherever you get your podcasts.
