In the spring of 1929, months before anyone knew the name Peter Kürten, the Düsseldorf police already had a confession. A man had told them he'd done it, and they believed him. This episode is about that confession, the year it cost, and the harder question underneath it: what is a confession actually worth? Before this season reaches the one it's built on, we start here.

"Southern Gothic" by Kevin Macleod.

Düsseldorf, 1929. A city comes apart. Over months, a killer moves through its streets, and the police can't hold him. The newspapers give the fear a shape and a name: the Vampire. This is the crime told straight, from the first body to the arrest, and the story of how a manhunt became a mirror for the city that lived through it. We know who he was. This season asks what the city made of him, and what it made of itself.

Music: "Southern Gothic" by Kevin Macleod.

In the autumn of 1929, people in Düsseldorf were afraid to walk their own streets. Someone was killing children, women, and men across the city, with no pattern the police could work out and no face anyone could name. The newspapers called him a vampire.

Season 2 of Re:Examined takes that story apart. Over four episodes, we follow a frightened city, a survivor whose letter led police to the door of a killer, and a confession from the murderer himself.

Season 2 begins September 15th. Free discussion guides for every episode are available at reexaminedpodcast.com.

"Southern Gothic" by Kevin MacLeod