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From quiz shows to dating games, these seemingly ordinary contestants harbored dark secrets. Join us as we explore the chilling cases of killers who appeared on popular game shows. These unsuspecting TV appearances mask horrifying crimes, proving that evil can lurk in the most unexpected places.
Transcript
00:00But why would a violent criminal risk appearing on national television?
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at various examples
00:08of known killers appearing on television game shows.
00:11So I truly believe almost every place that we live, my dad killed someone.
00:16François Verhoeven
00:19In 2019, a respectable-looking man appeared on the French quiz show
00:23Tout le monde veut prendre sa place, meaning everyone wants to take their place,
00:27With his suit, beard, and glasses, he looked well put together.
00:31And in a terrific bit of irony, he appeared as a community guardian,
00:35talking about his time in the Republican Guard and the National Police.
00:39This is ironic because Verhoeven had murdered no less than three people.
00:43His crime spree stretches back to 1986,
00:46when he killed a girl named Cécile Bloch as she was walking to school.
00:50Witnesses described a man covered in acne scars,
00:53leading to Verhoeven's nickname Le Grêlé, meaning the pockmarked man.
00:57He murdered two more people 11 months later,
01:00with investigators finding that he had burned them with cigarettes before killing them.
01:04While his official body count is three,
01:06investigators believe that Verhoeven likely murdered nine.
01:09Police knew that the suspect was a lawman, and in 2021,
01:13a judge ordered that all police officers who worked in the area
01:17at the time of the murder submit to a DNA test.
01:19Verhoeven took his own life after receiving his summons
01:22and confessed in a note to have, quote,
01:24"...committed unforgivable acts."
01:27Paul Curry
01:28An unusual murder trial underway in California.
01:31Paul Curry is accused of poisoning his wife back in 1994, 20 years ago.
01:36Jeopardy! is an American institution, and in 1989, it hosted a killer named Paul Curry.
01:42Curry appeared in three episodes that March,
01:44winning a combined total of $24,101, about the equivalent of $63,000 today.
01:52Three years later, he married his partner Linda Kincaid,
01:55but it wasn't long before suspicious cracks started to show in their marriage.
01:58Curry began controlling the couple's finances,
02:01and he demanded that she take out a life insurance policy worth $1 million.
02:05And I said, Linda, are you crazy?
02:08No, you get it on both.
02:09Why after, you know, a few months of marriage,
02:12he's looking at a life insurance policy?
02:14And once, when Kincaid was in the hospital for an illness,
02:17nurses found a small puncture hole in her IV bag,
02:20indicating that it had been tampered with.
02:22Kincaid ultimately died of mysterious circumstances in June 1994 at the age of 49.
02:36An autopsy revealed that she had a high amount of Ambien and nicotine in her system,
02:40and the pathologist noted a small puncture wound behind her ear.
02:44Despite suspicions from Kincaid's friends and family,
02:47Curry got away with everything and moved to Kansas.
02:50My mom thought she was having a heart attack,
02:52so she couldn't finish the day.
02:54You know, after that memorial service, she had to go take some medication and go to bed.
03:00But it was here that he was arrested in 2010,
03:03with investigators having finally built a solid case against him.
03:07He was found guilty of poisoning Kincaid with a fatal dose of nicotine
03:11and was sentenced to life in prison.
03:12So 20 years later, here we are.
03:14He's been a suspect from the beginning, too.
03:16Lori Vallow.
03:18Some may have heard about the Vallow-Daybell doomsday murders,
03:29which saw the deaths of four people.
03:31The perpetrators were Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell.
03:34But let's go back to 2004, when Vallow appeared on Wheel of Fortune.
03:48At the time, she was working as a hairstylist in Austin, Texas,
03:51living on a large property with her husband Joseph and their two children, Colby and Tylee.
03:56Vallow seemed like a nice woman, and nothing appeared out of the ordinary.
03:59I have a wonderful husband, Joseph, at home,
04:02who is watching our two beautiful children, Colby, who's seven, and Tylee, who is one.
04:06Fifteen years later, Tylee would be dead, likely killed by her own mother.
04:10Lori and Joseph divorced in 2005, shortly after her appearance on the show,
04:15and she eventually met a religious author and cult leader named Chad Daybell.
04:19The two soon fell into deep religious fanaticism,
04:23with Daybell speaking of visions and Vallow proclaiming that she was a goddess
04:26who would lead the survivors of an upcoming apocalypse.
04:29They eventually conspired to murder four people,
04:32Tylee, Lori's estranged husband Charles Vallow, their adopted son JJ, and Daybell's wife Tammy.
04:39Charles wrote, she calls her own daughter a dark spirit.
04:42My throat fell on my stomach.
04:44Prosecutors argue that the murders were committed to cover up their affair,
04:48and that the couple used fringe apocalyptic beliefs as an excuse.
04:52Vallow was sentenced to life in prison, and Daybell was sentenced to death.
04:56It was the details of this case that were especially heinous,
04:59which is why once Chad Daybell was found guilty on all eight counts against him,
05:04the prosecution sought the death penalty, and the jury agreed.
05:08EDWARD EDWARDS
05:09My name is Ed Edwards.
05:11And here is the extraordinary story of Ed Edwards.
05:13To tell the truth was a popular game show in the 60s and 70s,
05:17and often saw the participation of larger-than-life figures.
05:21That's how Edward Edwards got on the show.
05:23Three people would appear, each claiming to be the same person.
05:27In this case, a reformed ex-convict named Ed Edwards,
05:30who was once on the FBI's most wanted list.
05:33Says I, Ed Edwards, was once on the FBI's list
05:37of the 10 most wanted criminals in America.
05:39Now I am a respected citizen in my community.
05:42Four panelists would then ask the contestants questions
05:45and try to gauge who was telling the truth.
05:47Edwards appeared on the show in 1972,
05:50about 15 years after escaping from jail
05:53and leading police on a wild manhunt while robbing gas stations.
05:57He was eventually captured in 1962 and spent five years in prison.
06:01He got out, reformed, became a motivational speaker,
06:04and appeared on the show.
06:06A happy ending.
06:07When I was released from the reformatory, they looked up to me,
06:11and this motivated me to go on to bigger things
06:14because this is why I was out there committing the crime,
06:17was for the recognition.
06:18But that's not the end of the story.
06:20Five years later, in 1977,
06:23Edwards murdered young Ohio couple Billy Lovico and Judith Straub.
06:27He committed another double homicide in 1980,
06:30this time in Wisconsin.
06:31And in 1996, he murdered his foster son Denny Gleckner for insurance money.
06:36He was finally apprehended in 2009 and confessed to all five murders.
06:41He died in prison at the age of 77.
06:44I said, Bill, do you know what you just did?
06:46And at that moment, I shot him and killed him.
06:50What he just did was tell her who I was.
06:52John Cooper.
06:54Just three weeks after this episode was filmed,
06:57Peter and Gwenda Dixon were shot dead on the coastal path.
07:00In May of 1989, a man named John Cooper appeared on the British game show Bullseye,
07:06which combined darts and trivia.
07:08During the program, host Jim Bowen asked Cooper about his, quote,
07:12unusual hobby, and you can almost see Cooper's heart stop for a second.
07:16You've got an unusual hobby, John, haven't you?
07:18Oh yes, the scuba diving.
07:20The scuba diving.
07:21Apparently, it's the place to do it down there, isn't it?
07:23That's because Cooper did have an unusual hobby,
07:26and it certainly wasn't scuba diving.
07:28By 1985, Cooper had committed a number of robberies and at least two murders.
07:34Years earlier, he had won £90,000 in a newspaper competition,
07:38and a friend claimed that the winnings had resulted in, quote,
07:41a huge drink and gambling habit.
07:43Cooper resorted to robbery once the money started disappearing,
07:46and on December 22nd, 1985, he murdered Richard and Helen Thomas
07:51while burgling their Scoffiston Park farmhouse.
07:53Police believed the robber had targeted the house
07:56knowing Helen Thomas was home alone,
07:58but had been disturbed by Richard arriving and panicked.
08:01And on June 29th, 1989, just one month after his appearance on the show,
08:06Cooper shot and killed Peter and Gwenda Dixon
08:09as they were vacationing in Pembrokeshire, robbing Dixon of £300.
08:13He committed even more robberies, sexual assaults, and possible murders
08:17before he was finally nailed for the double homicides in 2009
08:21thanks to advancements in DNA testing.
08:23He was clinically diagnosed as a psychopath and sentenced to life in prison.
08:28There was a profile which effectively was like a tracing of that artist's impression.
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08:49Rodney Alcala
08:50Between takes, you might find him skydiving or motorcycling.
08:54Please welcome Rodney Alcala.
08:58The 70s were a different time,
09:00one where a convicted sex offender could go on national TV using his real name.
09:05In 1971, Alcala was placed on the FBI's most wanted list,
09:09having evaded arrest for sexually assaulting Tully Shapiro.
09:13He had beaten Shapiro with a steel bar, and she remained in a coma for over a month.
09:18Alcala was quickly caught and spent several years in prison,
09:21after which he was paroled and appeared on the popular game show, The Dating Game.
09:25However, you did leave one remaining, and this is your date,
09:29and I want to tell you something about him.
09:31He successfully wooed a woman named Cheryl Bradshaw,
09:35but she refused the date after finding him quote,
09:37creepy.
09:38Her instincts were correct.
09:40Not only was Alcala a known sex offender, he was also a murderer.
09:44I think at first I was afraid that I was going to get lonely being away from home,
09:47but my airline is...
09:49Can I take a picture?
09:55By the time Alcala was apprehended in 1979,
09:58he had conclusively murdered eight people, but possibly as many as 130.
10:04If that number is true,
10:05it would make him one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.
10:10So I guess this means we're not really meeting up in Carmel anymore?
10:14Yeah, I'm not going anywhere with you.
10:15Does this footage creep you out?
10:17Let us know in the comments below.
10:19You can go relax, meet each other, say hello, get acquainted.
10:43Bye.