Catching Evil

A serial killer who confessed to 11 murders. A body that lay nameless in a swamp for 30 years. And a chilling new discovery.

A New York cold-case detective contacts the Catching Evil team about three more young women he believes Christopher Wilder could have murdered — bodies dumped in fields, left as Jane Does, far from his Florida hunting ground. And we reveal another bombshell: a death-row prisoner who claims Wilder confessed to killing eleven women before his rampage across America.

At the heart of it all is Shari Lynne Ball — 20 years old, lured to New York with the promise of a modelling career, and unidentified for over three decades. We trace the trail that points to her killer, including a discovery hidden in plain sight: a blitz of newspaper classified ads that fall silent every single time Wilder kills.

And we meet two women who survived him — who laughed off his modelling pitch at a yard sale, never knowing how close they'd come, until his face appeared on the FBI's Most Wanted list.
This is the episode where the net starts to widen.

We need your help with this investigation. Email us if you knew Shari Lynne or had an encounter with Christopher Wilder yourself. Or you have information about him or any of his crimes: info@catchingevil.com

Follow us:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catchingevil/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582973930611

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@catchingevil

Website: https://www.catchingevil.com/post/the-mystery-of-tina-risico-the-stunning-courage-of-dawnette-wilt

Join us, make a difference and support these not-for-profits:
US
Survivors of Homicide Inc - https://www.survivorsofhomicide.com/
Yesterday Today Tomorrow Women Inc - https://www.yttwomen.org/
Aus
Mary’s House 1800 002 111 https://www.maryshouse.org.au/about/

Credits:

Hosts
Andy Byrne
Mark Llewellyn

Audio Production
Sam Blacker - The Podcast Butler

Resources
The Pretty Girl Killer by Andrew Byrne - courtesy of Penguin Random House

Thanks to Pro Podcast Studios, Sydney

Catching Evil is hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information
Get in Touch
If you knew Wilder or one of his victims, contact us in confidence: info@catchingevil.com

Record a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/catchingevil

Join us and support these not-for-profits:
US
Survivors of Homicide Inc - https://www.survivorsofhomicide.com/
Yesterday Today Tomorrow Women Inc - https://www.yttwomen.org/
Aus
Mary’s House 1800 002 111 https://www.maryshouse.org.au/about/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before she died, she scribbled a note. Her killer stripped away everything that could identify her — but missed that scrap of paper in her pocket.

She was beautiful, well-dressed, seen at a glamorous Manhattan red carpet party hours before she died — then discarded on a remote stretch of highway, with a tan she couldn't have gotten in a New York winter. Forty-three years later, no mother, no sister, no daughter has ever come forward to claim her.

In this episode, we reveal the breakthroughs that have this cold case closer to cracking than ever — and the new bombshell: six more women, one secret life, and the road that connects them all.

Contact us if you have had an encounter with Christopher Wilder or have information about him or any of his crimes: info@catchingevil.com

Follow us:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catchingevil/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582973930611

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@catchingevil

Website: https://www.catchingevil.com/post/the-mystery-of-tina-risico-the-stunning-courage-of-dawnette-wilt

Join us and support these not-for-profits:
US
Survivors of Homicide Inc - https://www.survivorsofhomicide.com/
Yesterday Today Tomorrow Women Inc - https://www.yttwomen.org/
Aus
Mary’s House 1800 002 111 https://www.maryshouse.org.au/about/

Credits:

Hosts
Andy Byrne
Mark Llewellyn

Audio Production
Sam Blacker - The Podcast Butler

Resources
The Pretty Girl Killer by Andrew Byrne - courtesy of Penguin Random House
Thanks to Rhiannon Browning, co-host of Voices of the Voiceless on WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York.

Thanks to Pro Podcast Studios, Sydney

Catching Evil is hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information
Get in Touch
If you knew Wilder or one of his victims, contact us in confidence: info@catchingevil.com

Record a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/catchingevil

Join us and support these not-for-profits:
US
Survivors of Homicide Inc - https://www.survivorsofhomicide.com/
Yesterday Today Tomorrow Women Inc - https://www.yttwomen.org/
Aus
Mary’s House 1800 002 111 https://www.maryshouse.org.au/about/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Serial killer Christopher Wilder was ten minutes from the Canadian border. If the passenger door of his stolen car had been unlocked, he would have made it.

This is the inside story of Friday the 13th, 1984 — the day the biggest manhunt in American history ended on the forecourt of a small-town gas station, and the two off-duty troopers who did what the FBI couldn't.
We walk the road he drove. We stand on the spot where he died. We talk to the photographer who captured it all.

The day Christopher Wilder died, the families of the women he took thought they would finally get their answers.

They didn't.

The chase ended that afternoon. The story didn't. And what we have uncovered since is about to change everything.

Contact us if you have had an encounter with Christopher Wilder or have information about him or any of his crimes: info@catchingevil.com

Follow us:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catchingevil/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582973930611

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@catchingevil

Website: https://www.catchingevil.com/post/the-mystery-of-tina-risico-the-stunning-courage-of-dawnette-wilt

Join us and support these not-for-profits:
US
Survivors of Homicide Inc - https://www.survivorsofhomicide.com/
Yesterday Today Tomorrow Women Inc - https://www.yttwomen.org/
Aus
Mary’s House 1800 002 111 https://www.maryshouse.org.au/about/

Credits:

Hosts
Andy Byrne
Mark Llewellyn

Audio Production
Sam Blacker - The Podcast Butler

Resources
The Pretty Girl Killer by Andrew Byrne - courtesy of Penguin Random House

Thanks to Pro Podcast Studios, Sydney

Catching Evil is hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information
Get in Touch
If you knew Wilder or one of his victims, contact us in confidence: info@catchingevil.com

Record a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/catchingevil

Join us and support these not-for-profits:
US
Survivors of Homicide Inc - https://www.survivorsofhomicide.com/
Yesterday Today Tomorrow Women Inc - https://www.yttwomen.org/
Aus
Mary’s House 1800 002 111 https://www.maryshouse.org.au/about/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Devoted single Mom Beth Dodge is the final victim of serial killer Christopher Wilder's murder rampage across America — a six-week killing spree that has already claimed the lives of eight women. It is April 12, 1984 — a day that will live forever in serial killer infamy. Beth, weeks away from starting a new job and a new life for herself and her four-year-old daughter Stephanie, is executed in cold blood. Simply for her car.

It isn't even lunchtime, and Wilder has already raped and tortured the two teenage girls he has held captive for days. He has stabbed one of them — 16-year-old Dawnette Wilt — and left her to bleed out alone in the woods. He will shoot Beth in front of the other — 16-year-old Tina Risico — the terrified girl he has broken into becoming his assistant.

Stephanie was four years old when she was told her mum was in heaven. Today she is a mother of four, living a short drive from the place Beth was killed. Her children will never meet their grandma.

This is Beth's story — the mother, the dreamer, the daughter she left behind. She deserves to be remembered as exactly that. 🕊️

Contact us if you have had an encounter with Christopher Wilder or have information about him or any of his crimes: info@catchingevil.com

Follow us:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catchingevil/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582973930611

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@catchingevil

Website: https://www.catchingevil.com/post/the-mystery-of-tina-risico-the-stunning-courage-of-dawnette-wilt

Join us and support these not-for-profits:
US
Survivors of Homicide Inc - https://www.survivorsofhomicide.com/
Yesterday Today Tomorrow Women Inc - https://www.yttwomen.org/
Aus
Mary’s House 1800 002 111 https://www.maryshouse.org.au/about/

Credits:

Hosts
Andy Byrne
Mark Llewellyn

Audio Production
Sam Blacker - The Podcast Butler

Resources
The Pretty Girl Killer by Andrew Byrne - courtesy of Penguin Random House
The Beauty Queen Killer: 9 Days of Terror - Hulu

Thanks to Pro Podcast Studios, Sydney

Catching Evil is hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information
Get in Touch
If you knew Wilder or one of his victims, contact us in confidence: info@catchingevil.com

Record a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/catchingevil

Join us and support these not-for-profits:
US
Survivors of Homicide Inc - https://www.survivorsofhomicide.com/
Yesterday Today Tomorrow Women Inc - https://www.yttwomen.org/
Aus
Mary’s House 1800 002 111 https://www.maryshouse.org.au/about/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abducted schoolgirl Tina Risico's nightmare continues as serial killer Christopher Wilder forces her to lure another innocent victim into his deadly trap. Dawnette Wilt, a 16-year-old with a bright future ahead of her, is about to have her life torn apart by Wilder's brutal desires. As Tina is coerced into introducing Dawnette to Wilder, she's trapped between her own desperate bid for survival and the terrible fate that awaits the new victim.

The stakes are impossibly high as Dawnette is dragged into a world of unimaginable horror.. Meanwhile, Tina is torn apart by her own guilt and fear, forced to make impossible choices that will haunt her for the rest of her life. Will she find a way to escape, or will she be forever defined by her actions? The tension builds as Wilder's grip on reality begins to slip, and the consequences of his actions become more and more catastrophic.

But in a shocking twist, Dawnette refuses to give up, and her bravery in the face of unimaginable horror will change everything.

Contact us if you have had an encounter with Christopher Wilder or have information about him or any of his crimes: info@catchingevil.com

Follow us:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catchingevil/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582973930611

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@catchingevil

Website: https://www.catchingevil.com/post/the-mystery-of-tina-risico-the-stunning-courage-of-dawnette-wilt

Join us and support these not-for-profits:
US
Survivors of Homicide Inc - https://www.survivorsofhomicide.com/
Yesterday Today Tomorrow Women Inc - https://www.yttwomen.org/
Aus
Mary’s House 1800 002 111 https://www.maryshouse.org.au/about/

Credits:

Hosts
Andy Byrne
Mark Llewellyn

Audio Production
Sam Blacker - The Podcast Butler

Resources
The Pretty Girl Killer by Andrew Byrne - courtesy of Penguin Random House
The Beauty Queen Killer: 9 Days of Terror - Hulu

Thanks to Pro Podcast Studios, Sydney

Catching Evil is hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information
Get in Touch
If you knew Wilder or one of his victims, contact us in confidence: info@catchingevil.com

Record a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/catchingevil

Join us and support these not-for-profits:
US
Survivors of Homicide Inc - https://www.survivorsofhomicide.com/
Yesterday Today Tomorrow Women Inc - https://www.yttwomen.org/
Aus
Mary’s House 1800 002 111 https://www.maryshouse.org.au/about/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.