Warning. This episode contains details that some listeners may find disturbing. in 2015. An anonymous user posted a series of brutal, provocative images on four Chan claiming to be a serial killer even for the image board, notorious for conspiracies and controversies. This was extreme. the question arose was this a hoax or a modern day version of Jack the Ripper mailing taunting letters and body parts to newspapers in his time?
The fact that this is considered one of the creepiest things to ever appear on the internet speaks volumes. This is a study of strange. There's something about internet subculture that frightens me on multiple levels. It's probably this mixture of the anonymous nature of things and how that makes people feel emboldened to be their most terrible selves, along with a craziness of some of the sites where conspiracies gain hold.
In addition to the way that people are easily influenced by information, a lot of which is made up, this is all to say that this story today scares me. Even if the person that was posting these images is not a killer and was just pulling a hoax in poor taste. But let me begin with four chan. For the less internet savvy folks like myself, four Chan is an image board site and forum where anonymous users can share things, comment, and discuss with other anonymous users.
Most of it is harmless, but a great deal of content on for Chan is not from Not safe for work content, leaked nude photos, Pizzagate, some of the original QAnon sayings, shootings, hackers and more for Chan, and similar sites have more than their fair share of controversies. But its influence on internet culture is profound. For Chan itself, launched in 2003 and today has tens of millions of visitors each month.
There are boards dedicated to video games, movies, books, politics, all the typical stuff. And of course, everything is anonymous. The year before this four chan serial killer and I'm going to call him for Chan serial killer, just for simplicity's sake. It was 2014, and the body of Amberlynn Caplan was discovered by her 13 year old son at their home in Washington state. Shockingly, before the Discovery Pictures of her dead body were being posted on a forum on four Chan along with the text quote.
Turns out it's way harder to strangle someone to death than it looks in the movies. Check the news for Port Orchard, Washington. In a few hours. Her son will be home from school soon. He'll find her, then call the cops. I just wanted to share the pics before they find me and quote Ambers boyfriend David Michael Clarke was soon apprehended and charged for the murder, and the posts from Fort Chan were cryptic, obviously, but most importantly, they were real.
So when a thread started about a year later, on August 21st of 2015 on four Jan with someone claiming to be a serial killer, it should be taken seriously. The anonymous creator started a thread on the random board by saying this I have killed several women for pleasure. If you can guess a name, I will upload a picture. If you can guess a name of any of these women. I will upload that photo no more than ten names per post. Any more than that will be ignored.
Some are Polaroids and others were taken with a disposable camera. I also have pictures of them before death when I was able to do so. If you guess all the names, I will show you where I dumped a body in 1999. The first one is free, as her name is unlikely to be guessed. the picture posted along with this cryptic message, was of seemingly a deceased woman, along with another picture which was a graduation photo.
The woman in the graduation photo is assumed to be the same person as the victim, and written near this picture was the date August 21st, 2005. Even though a lot of people suspected this post to be fake a hoax, just something for internet attention, many tried to guess the names. They played along and someone posted these four names Shannon, Kelly. Madison, Tricia. One of the names was correct. We don't know which one, the killer replied. Wow. Off to a great start. Then he posted more pictures.
Next was another female victim in this picture was more graphic, fully nude. It looks like there's an object in the woman's genitals. Her body was also badly beaten or burned in this photo. Was accompanied by the date the 21st of August 2015, implying that this murder had just taken place. Then there was another image of a woman's body inside a cardboard box, and this was posted along with the message this is from before. I played with her. For clarity, these two images are posted.
To make it seem like the person in the box is the same as that nude victim, though in all fairness, they may not be. You can't see her clearly enough to 100%, make the connection. Then this killer posted it again. There's a photo of a girl smiling on a bed alive, along with a closeup of a face that's burned or decomposing. And then not long after this all started, the image thread was deleted by four channel moderators.
This means that today, the only record we have of this original posting are screenshots from some users. And for chain users being for chain users. They then started more threads sharing these screenshots. Naturally, there was a curiosity. The public is intrigued and people are trying to figure out if this is real. If this is just some sort of nasty hoax and trying to identify the victims. On September 22nd, about a month later, there was a new post from the killer.
This time the post said dyeing, dyeing, along with an image of a male victim who was bloody beaten and his eyes were hidden by what looks like a white piece of paper over the picture and the victim looked to be alive. But then there's another image, and this depicts the same male victim with the caption dead in it. The man did indeed appear deceased. And finally, the killer posted a picture of a man wearing a ski mask and sunglasses pointing a gun at the camera.
Many assume this to be a picture of the person posting the pictures. The alleged killer. And these images were accompanied by a caption that read I'll be back in a month to finish our game. If it is not this exact timestamp with an updated date, it is not me. but there has been no further post from this alleged killer. Before I move on to some updates from this case over the years and theories, the pictures themselves should be described.
They are pictures of pictures like someone used a phone to take a picture of a developed photograph. Maybe because that was easier to upload that way. The dates are sort of handwritten notes that are along with the photos. Honestly, there are a number of reasons that we can speculate for this method of posting. And many have pointed out that since these photos are developed they don't look like Polaroids to me.
I know the killer said these are Polaroids, and from a disposable camera, I don't see any that make me think. Any other Polaroids. But many have speculated that these could be crime scene photographs. And I can't imagine taking a roll of film to the CVS to get images like this developed. I think the cops would be called. And someone did ask this question of how could you have developed these photos? And the killer did respond that he personally developed them.
And I'll add, over the years, there has been some pushback on the crime scene photography theory, mainly that crime scene photographs typically have evidence markers, whether it be numbers or other items, to show perspective and size and labeling. And that's a very good point. I will contend, though, doing some of my own research. I have found that sometimes crime scene photos will not have those markers because they first take photos without them and then with.
And this is because investigators want to see a crime scene as it was found. However, I am getting kind of contradictory information in my assumption. Totally. Just an assumption is that it may depend on where a crime takes place, or which department or law enforcement agency is running the investigation. And of course, when the crime took place, if I have any listeners that can clarify how crime scene photos would be taken not just today but also potentially in the 90s, send me a message.
can reach me at a study of strange at gmail.com. My point, though, is I don't think you can rule out crime scene photographs just yet. And if they are crime scene photos, then this is all a hoax, because this could have been all posted by someone that has access to crime scene materials. They could work for law enforcement, be related to someone that works in law enforcement or just, you know, have a job in some sort of archives place.
Now, what has been figured out about these quote unquote victims, if anything? It's been ten years. Surely there's something. Well, the victim that the killer posted in the first set of images was identified as Shawna Maynard. And to clarify, the woman in the graduation photos of the alive woman And when Shawna Maynard was 17, she was found murdered in 1998. Some posts when you researched this story claim that she was found outside of Los Angeles. This is incorrect.
She was discovered right outside of Las Vegas. And here's a quote from an article from eight NewsNow. In Vegas, the family of 17 year old Shawna Maynard suspects the person who kills her was angry because she turned down their romantic advances. Two passers by found the Norco, California, native's body on the morning of April 21st, 1998, near the intersection of Blue Diamond Road and Dexter Boulevard.
At that time, a desolate area of the South Valley along the route between Las Vegas and Pahrump. In December 1997, after Inez Maynard, a mother of four, told her second eldest daughter that she could not attend a Christmas party, Shawna Maynard decided she would leave home. The teenager graduated early from Buena Vista High School in Corona, California in May 1997. By spring 1998, Shawna Maynard was working in a restaurant and making money babysitting.
But something happened on April 21st that her family believes changed their lives and theirs forever. Around 2 a.m. that morning, Shawna Maynard called a friend saying there was a problem at the apartment. Investigators believe Shawna Maynard and another person argued. End quote. I will also add there's a podcast now with, about crime in the Vegas area. If I can remember what the podcast is called, I will link to that episode in the show notes. I'm sure I will find it.
But in that podcast, they don't talk about the fortune killer. They talk about Shauna's case because it is still unsolved and I did deem some new things from that, like she had been seen with the man late that night. She had spoken to a lot of her roommate. She lived with another number of women. Even some kids lived in her apartment, and most of them said everything was fine. But there was one phone call to a friend.
I think it was around 3 a.m. and Shauna was scared and asking for help, but the friend couldn't go pick her up because the friend had kids and it's the middle of the night. So she told Shauna, go to the Silver Nugget. Or maybe it was the Golden Nugget I can't remember but go there and wait. However, Shauna's body was discovered soon at the side of the road. The case officially remains unsolved and this is usually where the story of the four Chan serial killer ends.
Because usually you just find out that Sean, as the only one that has been identified and not much else, is known about the people in the photographs. And we're left with questions and theories and speculation. But now another of the victims from the post is thought to have been identified. Before I get to that, though, There are two very obvious directions that this story can go. Either the guy on fortune is telling the truth and he's killing people and sharing photos, or it's all a hoax.
Well, what I didn't share about Shauna Maynard so far is that she was shot to death the night she was killed. Police actually had heard gunshots, and by the morning they had found her body. One account I found says that she was shot 17 times. This does not line up with the four Chan killers. Photos where the alleged victim. Sort of. The woman that looks dead. That was in the photo next to the graduation photo. Shauna. She's dressed up to look like Shauna.
There's even a necklace that kind of matches. One that Sean is wearing in the graduation photo. The hair color. But the picture the killer posted is not how Sean. His body was found. In fact, they're completely different. So already we're finding some discrepancies in the killer's photos because they're not the same person. Now, maybe the woman who looked beaten and bloody is another victim. And that's also completely terrifying. But it does make you question the set up here.
So what else do we have to consider? another victim from some of these photos. Notice the smiling girl or smiley girl where she's alive on a bed. Smiling is now thought to be Margaret Hicks. Between 1994 and 1997, five bodies were found near each other outside of Las Vegas. Margaret Hicks was found in January of 1997, and she was found buried nude and had died of strangulation.
She worked at a local brothel and all of the bodies found in this general area at that time period, they were all found nude and strangled to death. And besides, Margaret and I think one other victim has been identified. The rest are Jane Doe's. And one of the articles I was reading about it, investigators pointed out there are no other links between these victims, even though they're considering that one person or the same people could have killed all these women.
They're open to the fact that they may not all be related murders, And they did. It also mentioned that the area is known for organized crime and human trafficking, especially with the women that work in brothels. But that is a that is a deeper, more complex story for another episode or some sort of docu series that can dive into that in a more profound way that I can do. But Margaret Hicks is thought to be the smiling woman in the For Chance serial killer photos based on looks.
In fact, a newspaper article about Hicks seems to use the same photograph. And I think that's really important to realize. It's. I could be wrong because the newspaper, it's a closeup of her face. It's in black and white, whereas the four chan photos in color and it's a wide shot. But personally, I think they're the same photo and the newspaper just, you know, zoomed in on her face.
That smiling girl photo was accompanied by the burned, decomposing face photo, and obviously they were posted together to make it seem like they're the same woman. However, that decomposing face doesn't fit the way Margaret Hicks was found or killed, so it's not the same person. And in fact, some online sleuths have noted that the decomposing face shot is from the former website rotten Dicom, a video and photo sharing gore site.
So between the shot of martyred inconsistencies and the photos of Margaret Hicks, along with the photo from Root.com, I have to think that this whole story is a hoax. Not to mention that the serial killer posting all of this was like, let's play a game, and if you get it right there, you can be photos. And then he's stopped playing his own game. He just started sharing photos.
To me, it seems like this was someone that just wanted a reaction and had access to some crime scene photos or photo or other weird photos from online. I will be quick to point out that some internet sleuths as well, cannot find other copies of these photos anywhere else online, but that doesn't mean that they weren't at some point in some sort of journalistic endeavors and projects I've worked on. You cannot image search the internet as well as you think you can.
I'm actually going to kind of go off script here at the end of my episode, just to share some thoughts on this case. And the first thing I want to add is that some of the bloody victim photos look fake to me. Maybe I've worked in the movie business too long, but the way they're staged, the way they're lit, the way they're shot, even the makeup and stuff, which looks real, but that can be achieved relatively easily without spending a lot of money or going crazy on it.
And as an example, the quote unquote dead photo of Shawna Maynard, Her face is turned away from camera. There's a necklace that sort of looks like the necklace she's wearing in the graduation photo. And the way that this shirt is sort of dirty and bloody and stuff, it's easy to achieve that. And the man, the man whose. Whose eyes were covered up. Similarly, there's some, you know, the blood and beaten and it's terrifying.
But just by the nature of using a disposable camera or Polaroid that adds a creepiness factor to it, you can actually hide some of the fakery to those kind of things by shooting on film like that. With that kind of lighting, it seems a little staged to me. And we know that the killer staged photos because he he put on a ski mask and sort of staged his own. Look at me. I'm so cool because I'm a killer kind of photo.
And he was wearing a ski mask that is similar to the bad guy in the dirty Harry movies, which was based on the Zodiac Killer. So there's a number of things here I could easily see someone just kind of doing, because they think it'll get a reaction online. Anyway, I'm rambling some of that, but that is. I definitely have an instinct in me that thinks that some of these photos may have been staged and faked, but posted along other real photos.
So, like we know Shawna maynard's graduation photo is real. If it is indeed Margaret Hicks in that other photo, it could be the one from the newspaper and he had a copy of it, which then ties into how did someone get the the real photos. If I'm going to continue to speculate here, I don't know if any of this is usable. I'll probably cut it all out.
But there is a connection here with two women to Las Vegas, which leads one to think that this could be a hoax because someone has access to these old files he's posting in 2015, it's been almost 20 years. Maybe those files are moved into a room that aren't as protected with evidence or whatever. And that's where he's getting some of these photos. The alternate side of that is, wait, if there is a connection to Vegas, what if this is just a killer in Las Vegas?
One of the many scary aspects of this story to me is, is that I could be wrong about assuming that this is a hoax, and I wouldn't be surprised if I was wrong. There's a lot to this case that pushes back against my own speculations and killers like attention. They like to share what they've done. They like the notoriety, and maybe there are inconsistencies on the photos, but maybe that was done on purpose to make it harder to connect things back to this killer.
And on that thinking, I just found this out last night. But someone has connected the Long Island serial killer, aka the Gogo beach serial killer Rex Houseman to the four channel killer Rex Hourman. For those that don't know that story, he was charged with multiple murders, and may have committed many, many, many more murders, Primarily on the East Coast. But here's a report from ABC News Las Vegas. Quote. Grant has been looking for her daughter, Jesse Foster, since March of 2006. Through tears.
That time can't stop, she said. You're seeing 17 years of coping mechanisms. The 21 year old Canadian woman disappeared after her mom says she was sexually trafficked throughout New York and New Jersey, then ultimately lured to Las Vegas, where she was last seen alive following several prostitution arrests. We know that Jesse had been beaten, that Jesse was being forced into it, said Grant.
Now, 17 years later, the bombshell arrest of suspected Gilgal Beach serial killer Rick Salomon has brought her daughter's cold case back into focus as police agencies in three states hunt for more possible victims. Foster is one of five escorts in the Las Vegas area between the ages of 18 and 25, who all shared the same fate, discovered either dead or missing between 2003 and 2006 under similarly suspicious circumstance stances. Four of them were dumped off remote roadways.
Several were wrapped in cloth, which is why detectives have long suspected they could have been killed by the same person. end quote. So it turns out that Rex Ramon had a timeshare in Las Vegas. And his victims in Long Island were strangled. We know Margaret Hicks was strangled. Shawna Maynard wasn't. But there are other women out there that have been strangled and dumped. And there's definitely some stretching to do to make Helaman fit the four chant serial killer.
Like how Ramon only had a timeshare in Vegas going back to 2004. Not the mid 90s when Hicks and Maynard were killed. And there's no other tangible connection besides our desire as humans to find patterns and want to make these stories fit together nice and easily. But it is a fascinating theory. I didn't prepare for an episode about how Ramon, so I don't know his online habits. If he liked attention, or if he liked using forums and blogs or was a user of our channel.
I don't know any of that, but I'm just scratching the surface of a rabbit hole, so to speak. I'll wrap up with a few more comments. There are so many posts and discussions online about this case because it is an internet mystery and it actually makes a case like this really convoluted, because there's so many amateur investigators that share their feelings and ideas.
All of them share these things with confident gusto and confirmation bias, and they state things that make it seem really factual when it's just a guess, including there's an article that people bring up all the time with this case that talks about local police in Vegas. Don't think the fortune, serial killer is a valid case or an infant or a valid investigation. That news source that's been quoted hundreds of times that I've found, is fake. It's a fake article, and people keep sharing it.
I actually don't think the Vegas police have investigated the four Chan postings in a really sincere manner at all. Also, a lot of people point out that the FBI has looked into the case. We actually don't know that. We do know that people on for Chan shared information with the FBI, but as far as I can surmise, there's been no formal investigation. So I think it is anyone's guess if this person is a killer or not.
I'm leaning towards a very sick minded guy who just wanted online attention, but that doesn't mean I couldn't be wrong. And that means there could still be a killer out there yet to be caught. Thank you for listening to a study of strange. Thank you for bearing with me as I went off script there at the end and just rambled a lot, and left all my notes behind. But this case makes you think and speculate a lot. So I thought that might be interesting to do.
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