Most Evil

The most notorious killers -- Bundy, Gacy, Ridgway, Sells -- have claimed hundreds of victims and share one thing in common. They are all psychopaths. It is estimated that one in every 100 people is a psychopath. But what pushed these psychopaths into serial murder? Was it nature or nurture? To understand their savage brutality, we will travel back into their childhoods, reveal startling new scientific research about psychopaths and meet one of these killers face to face.

More than 90 percent of murders are committed by men. But what motivates the women who are driven to kill? Most female murderers kill those closest to them, like Mary Beth Tinning, who admitted to smothering at least some of the nine children who mysteriously died in her care. A neurologist who studies the structure of the brain finds striking differences in one region of the brain between men and women. Is this a clue to their different capacities for violence?

Why do people kill together? How do the evil thoughts of one become the evil deeds of two? We probe the physiology of love and the power of authority as we unravel the motive and methods of some of the most notorious accomplice killers. From Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, Britain's "Moors Murderers," who brutally murdered five children, to Charles Lake and Leonard Ng, who tried to create a colony of sex slaves, the secrets of these evil partnerships are revealed.

What lies in the mind of the psycho killer? Ed Gein robbed graves to harvest the skin of his victims. Arthur Shawcross strangled prostitutes and ate their remains. Gary Heidink tortured six women in his basement for months. In each case, these killers claimed they were unaware of what's real and what's imagined. What triggered their violence? To understand their atrocities, we will examine the real science of psychosis and meet one of these killers face to face.

Engineers of the most diabolical plots; killers with the most deviant desires -- Columbia University forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone explores the murderous world of these deviant killers to find out how their desires form and what drives them to carry out their fantasies. The killers featured include Jerome Brudos, whose deviant desires started with a shoe fetish as a young boy, and ended with the brutal murder and mutilation of four women as an adult; and Jeffrey Dahmer, who infamously tortured, murdered and mutilated 17 men and boys.

Is there a recipe for creating a serial killer? An explanation for why someone would commit such heinous acts? Science has long avoided the concept of evil – until now. Researchers are unlocking the mysteries of violence, by probing the forces of nature and nurture. Using shocking examples of brutal crime, "The Science of Murder" explores whether killers are forged in abusive homes, or if some people are actually wired to be cold-blooded. In their examination of the most violent killers, these scientists confront a controversial question: could any of us be capable of evil?

In his quest to understand evil, Dr. Michael Stone travels across the United States to meet some of the country's most notorious killers in person. What emerges from these conversations is insight into the often disturbing world of the criminal mind. From the denials of a convicted child molester, to the frank admission of guilt of a man who claims to have killed as many as 70 people, a human voice emerges from the chaos and violence. To prevent violent crime, we must understand it, and this hour will bring it into sharp focus.