A former Florida sheriff's deputy. Two teenage hitchhikers who somehow escaped. Two girls who didn't. And a collection of missing women's belongings that left investigators wondering just how many victims Gerard John Schaefer may have had.

In this episode of ThatOneGuyDerek & Poppy Funk Discuss…, Derek tells Poppy the disturbing story of Gerard John Schaefer Jr., the convicted murderer known as the Killer Cop, the Hangman, and the Butcher of Blind Creek.

Derek and Poppy separate documented fact from decades of speculation: the escape of Nancy Trotter and Paula Wells, the murders of Susan Place and Georgia Jessup, the evidence connecting Schaefer to other missing and murdered women, his disturbing writings, the disputed victim count, his 1973 conviction, the legends surrounding Port St. Lucie's “Devil's Tree,” and Schaefer's own violent death inside Florida State Prison in 1995.

Most importantly, this episode gives the women and girls connected to the investigation their names back while clearly distinguishing proven victims from suspected cases.

Next week: The Wonderland Gang Murders (1981) — four murders on Wonderland Avenue, the robbery of Eddie Nash, John Holmes, conflicting testimony, organized crime and one of Hollywood's strangest unsolved murder cases.

Content warning: This episode discusses murder, kidnapping, sexual violence, crimes involving minors and postmortem abuse.