People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer

A sadistic client tortures a young sex worker named Cindy Paulson in Anchorage, Alaska in 1983, and then tries to fly her to a remote location. When she miraculously escapes, her harrowing story helps lead Anchorage authorities to discovering the man's identity - Robert Hansen, known as the 'Butcher Baker' - who had been hunting young women across Alaska for years. Now, decades later, Paulson sits down and shares her story of survival.

Two women - Leonore Knizacky and Diane Hoskins - survive homicidal maniac Carl Eugene Watts, a.k.a. "The Sunday Slasher." For years, he eludes authorities, until a third woman survives and brings him to justice. But hardly anyone knows his name.

For the first time, Warren Forrest's crimes come to light as one of his survivors, Norma Lewis, tells her story in this exclusive that uncovers the secrets of the two-time convicted murderer and suspected serial killer.

John Wayne Gacy is infamous for his Chicago house of horrors in the 1970s. Now several courageous men - David Bolton, Patrick Dati, and Tony Antonucci - step forward to share their chilling experiences with him as boys.

Serial killer Christopher Wilder's sadistic fixation on young girls ignites a nationwide FBI manhunt as he carves a seven-week, 8,000-mile trail of terror. Two survivors, Kristine Conyers and Tina Marie Risico, relive their harrowing encounters with the notorious "Beauty Queen Killer."

Amber Carter and her children go into hiding in 2020 to stay safe from her abusive ex-boyfriend. At the same time, a serial killer prowls the Dallas area, gunning down residents seemingly without rhyme or reason - until he comes to Amber's door. 

In 1965, Rodney Alcala attacks a teenage girl - only to brutalize and rape her again three years later; she feels guilty when she discovers he assaulted another girl soon after - but they are merely two of this man's countless victims.

A new romance between two college students derails when a sadist attacks them during a nighttime walk by the railroad tracks; only one of them lives and she turns out to be the sole survivor of a serial murderer known as the Railroad Killer.

A single mom, Barbara Maybe Abel, comes home to find a man holding her disabled sister hostage. He then tries to kidnap her young son, but she begs him to take her instead. She is at his mercy for days, and to survive, she must get Paul John Knowles to fall in love with her.

Gary Heidnick, who calls runs a church out of his house and calls himself "The Bishop," abducts a woman and holds her captive. Soon, he imprisons six women in his basement and tortures them. As captives begin to die, Josefina Rivera knows her only chance of survival is to escape.

In the suburbs of Chicago, a handsome man with searing blue eyes turns out to be a bloodthirsty monster hiding in plain sight and attacking young women at will. However, it takes decades for the survivors to discover that Bruce Lindahl is a serial killer. Now, Sherry Hopson and Annette Lazar come forward to discuss coming face-to-face with the cold-blooded killer.

In 1981, two men rape and shoot a young mother, forcing her fiancé to watch it all. After nearly dying, Cheryl Bartlett Fann, learns her attackers are a pair of serial killers who are also brothers. It will take two decades before justice prevails over Nathanial & Anthony Cook.