# Kiriakou's serial-killer letters

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Kiriakou's serial-killer letters," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-serial-killer-letters/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account of writing letters, as research for a planned book, to several well-known serial killers — including David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam"), Gary Leon Ridgway (the Green River Killer), the BTK killer, the "co-ed killer," and Manson family member Tex Watson — and the uniformly evangelical, Jesus-focused responses he received instead of the interviews he wanted.*

- **Purpose:** Research for a planned book on serial killers
- **Correspondents:** David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam"); Gary Leon Ridgway (Green River Killer); BTK killer (Dennis Rader); the "co-ed killer"; Tex Watson (Manson family)
- **First response received:** Tex Watson, asking Kiriakou to help spread word that he had found Jesus
- **Pattern in responses:** All framed around having found religion rather than answering Kiriakou's questions

**Kiriakou's serial-killer letters** were a series of letters [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) wrote to several well-known American serial killers as research for a planned book, drawing on his experience as an interviewer and interrogator. His correspondents included David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam"), Gary Leon Ridgway — the Green River Killer, who murdered 49 prostitutes in eastern Washington State — the BTK killer, the "co-ed killer," and a member of the Manson family.[1]

## The responses

Kiriakou's first response came from Tex Watson of the Manson family, who asked him to help spread word that Watson had found Jesus.[2] A subsequent letter from David Berkowitz was, in Kiriakou's account, also entirely about having found Jesus and read as insincere — *"you could tell he was just going through the motions."*[3] Gary Leon Ridgway sent a thick envelope of religious pamphlets and asked Kiriakou to distribute them door-to-door in his own neighborhood, proclaiming that Ridgway had found Jesus.[4]

## What Kiriakou wanted to ask

Kiriakou says he wanted to ask the BTK killer, Dennis Rader, how he was able to stop killing for 14 years, get married, raise a family, and get elected president of his church council — before murdering a six-year-old girl and molesting her body.[5] He describes the "co-ed killer" as having murdered his grandparents, his mother (who had abused and raped him), and six other women — decapitating his mother and having sex with her severed head. That killer, per Kiriakou, now works for Audible reading audiobooks.[6]

## See also

- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. EXCLUSIVE! MUST SEE LIVE INTERVIEW WITH LEGENDARY CIA WH (2022-04-09), at 1:17:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwegyuWY758&t=4664s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-09-will-turbitt/
2. EXCLUSIVE! MUST SEE LIVE INTERVIEW WITH LEGENDARY CIA WH (2022-04-09), at 1:18:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwegyuWY758&t=4696s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-09-will-turbitt/
3. EXCLUSIVE! MUST SEE LIVE INTERVIEW WITH LEGENDARY CIA WH (2022-04-09), at 1:20:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwegyuWY758&t=4820s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-09-will-turbitt/
4. EXCLUSIVE! MUST SEE LIVE INTERVIEW WITH LEGENDARY CIA WH (2022-04-09), at 1:20:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwegyuWY758&t=4851s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-09-will-turbitt/
5. EXCLUSIVE! MUST SEE LIVE INTERVIEW WITH LEGENDARY CIA WH (2022-04-09), at 1:21:54. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwegyuWY758&t=4914s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-09-will-turbitt/
6. EXCLUSIVE! MUST SEE LIVE INTERVIEW WITH LEGENDARY CIA WH (2022-04-09), at 1:22:57. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwegyuWY758&t=4977s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-09-will-turbitt/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-serial-killer-letters/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt