Thirty years ago, someone began snatching men from a small Bay Area town and dumping their bodies in a quiet lovers’ lane just off Interstate 80.

But just as quickly as the killings began, they suddenly stopped. The killer simply vanished. No suspects. No arrests. No headlines. These men and their murderer were forgotten, overshadowed by other notorious serial killers prowling the same Bay Area roads.

In this season of Crime Adjacent, host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick returns home to Ridgewood to answer the question once and for all: “How could the most prolific serial murderer in American history slip under the radar for so long?”

Crime Adjacent is the never-ending true crime story told weekly. New season debuts June 4, 2025, wherever you listen to podcasts, with new episodes every Wednesday.

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Tommy Coulet left home at 9 p.m. on Dec. 23, 1995 and would never return. His body was discovered the next morning in a known lovers’ lane spot on the western edge of Ridgewood just off Interstate 80.

Investigators wouldn’t know it at the time, but Tommy Coulet would be the first known victim of the most prolific serial killer in American history.

This is the story of how it all began.

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With no leads, no clues, and no suspects, Tommy’s case went cold, almost instantly. But as more men were abducted in Ridgewood, investigators reached out to the FBI for a profile.

The profile has never been publicly released.

Until now.

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