tonight on "nightline," american psycho? he is a college graduate and is studying for a masters degree, but is he also a serial killer? today he was charged with mur r murdering a mother and her daughter. but how many more victims will police discover? the grossout gourmand. he's eaten many things you've never seen anyone eat. tonight, we follow andrew zimmern, "bizarre foods" host for a guide to eating on the wild side. and simply blunderful. the internet teems with popular sites that showcase awkward family photos to odd ball arts and crafts to misguided kitchen

experiments. the best of the worst is tonight's "sign of the times." >> announcer: from the global resources of abc th the best of the worst is th the best of the worst is tonight's "sign of the times." captions paid for by abc, inc. good evening, i'm terry moran. and we're going to begin tonight with a murder investigation that is leading authorities down a dark path. the suspect, 27-year-old jason thomas scott, a college graduate, studying for a master's degree. maryland police say he is also a killer, whose victims include two pairs of mothers and daughters. scott, they say, studied police forensics, to learn how to hide his crimes using bleach and arson to destroy evidence and the database from his job at ups to identify potential targets. pierre thomas has the story on a cerebral serial killer suspect.

>> reporter: the horror began at this home on january 26th, 2009 as an intruder neutralized the alarm system and slipped in. karen lofton, a 45-year-old nurse, was fatally shot as she tried to hide in this corner. her 16-year-old daughter was repeatedly shot as she frantically dialed 911 from her bed. police were perplexed. the doors were locked. no signs of forced entry. neighbors were terrified. >> so when they catch them, i'll be afraid. >> reporter: two months later, the bodies of delores dewitt, 42, and her 20-year-old daughter ebony were found in a burning car less than a mile away from the loftons' home. another nurse and a daughter killed. >> i'll tell you that mrs. scott presented us with a very challenging ability to identify him as a suspect. >> reporter: today this man, jason thomas scott, was charged in the murders of the dewitts, and the chief of police here is convinced he is responsible for more. >> here's a mother and daughter in a very quiet community where

we don't see this type of violence. yes, we've had some burglaries here, but again, we're saying the way the crime scene is left, very troublesome. it does not tell us so much about what is occurring. there's things that don't make any sense in the crime scene. so we're beginning to wonder what we have here. >> reporter: there were similarities in the crime scenes but also stark differences. the loftons were murdered in their home, in what appeared to be a controlled, planned execution. the dewitts may have been killed in a random act of violence, perhaps a carjacking. and then there was vilma butler, killed and left in this burning house. five murders in nine months. >> on a number of those scenes, a lot of those things were actually utilized to magssk the scene and throw the police off. >> reporter: i understand an fbi profiler came in, looked at the lofton case and looked at the dewitt case and said, you know, there's some things that don't ade up here, it might be totally

separate cases. how confusing was that? >> it was very confusing. >> reporter: the residents of suburban maryland knew something horrible was happening. >> i have daughters who are driving now, and i'm afraid for them, you know? i tell them to lock their doors when they get in the car. i don't want them walking alone at nighttime. >> reporter: the police got a break when thomas was arrested last july in this ups parking lot after atf received a tip he was selling weapons out of the trunk of his car. he was charged with selling stolen weapons, including assault rifles and silencers. the investigation eventually led police to this vacant mansion that they suspected served as the thieves' lair. it was there investigators found evidence linking thomas to the murders of the loftons and dewitts. scott is 27 years old. he's a college grant and is pursuing a master's degree in computer science. he also worked at the ups, and law enforcement sources say he may have used the company's data base to help select victims. >> again, he utilized his

employment to methodically identify his victims. so again, he had inside information. he knew a lot about his victims. he studied our response, the way we investigated crimes. so he managed to actually throw us off and disguise the crime scene based on his knowledge of police investigations. >> reporter: scott allegedly used bleach to clean his crime scenes. arson to destroy evidence. and changed the location of bodies to confuse police. he also studied other serial killers. neighbors who have known scott for years say there were hints early on he might be a predator. >> most of the problems started when he was around 10. it started him being a peeping tom, leading to videotaping people, and leading to breaking and entry. we never knew that he was going to commit murder. >> we believe that he has committed significant amount of crimes, not only arson, burglaries, stolen vehicles, but additional murders that i think

is going to go beyond the boundaries of prince georges county. >> reporter: police worry scott might be responsible for other unsolved homicides in d.c., texas, and florida, other locations he's known to have frequented. there are about 40 unsolved murders in his home county, which will also be looked at again. >> i look at his m.o. i look at his psyche. i see that this individual appears to enjoy committing crimes. i see the way he has murdered individuals. i'm looking at a number of crimes that may be associated with this individual. in my experience, 30 years of policing, i've not seen, never seen such type of criminal in our midst. >> reporter: rosa smith, dolores dewitt's mother, still can't understand. >> to do this without knowing a person, and you can be so evil, knowing a person, not knowing a person, and you're going to do this, that's sad, to be so evil. >> reporter: the question

tonight is whether there are more victims and more evil. for "nightline," i'm pierre thomas in prince george's county, maryland. >> a disturbing case for sure. police in maryland still trying to connect the dots there. thanks to pierre thomas for that report. we're going to take a break. when we come back, we're in a different place. we're going to switch gears and catch up with a man known for his willingness to eat just about anything, really. andrew zimmern is the host of "bizarre foods." he's coming up next. for the conference. i'm a member of this hotel's loyalty program. well, how far away is it? okay, we take a train 40 miles to a dude ranch where we pick up a couple of horses that we ride to a nearby river. then we canoe upstream to a helicopter that takes us to the conference. or we could book with hotels.com and stay closer. see, with welcomerewards, no matter where you accumulate 10 nights, you get a free one. huh. smarter. [ male announcer ] accumulate 10 nights and get a night free. welcomerewards from hotels.com. smart. so smart.

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[ kid 1 ] waa ow so we love summertime fun! ...wearing our farite colors... ...and jamming to our favorite bands! ♪ but we love eating totino's the most. we live for fun... ...friends... [ both ] ...and best of all.. [ all ] ...our favorite... ...eating totino's! ♪ we're the kids in america ♪ oh, oh, oh ♪ we're the kids in... he's eaten 15 varieties of

rats, and 100 different kinds of insects and that's not even the gnarliest part. as the host of "bizarre foods," andrew zimmern devours the wildest the world can throw at him. as zimmern tells john berman, it's all in the name of greater human understanding. >> reporter: it takes guts to eat with andrew zimmern. do i want to know what it was? >> probably not. >> reporter: it's a good chance guts are what you're eating. >> eyes, lips, cheeks, ears, tongue, neck. >> reporter: so much better when you don't say it while i'm eating it. >> reporter: but in truth, the minced eyes, ears and lips are miled compared so some of the fare zimmern has sampled. >> the fact that i've had 60 or 70 different kind of animal penis in my mouth at one time is a huge amusement to many people. to me, you know, i'm just curious. i hope to find one that's really good. but size does matter. the bigger ones cook better and have better flavor. >> reporter: i wish you were mature enough to sit here without laughing. >> me, too. >> reporter: chalk it up to the hazards of one of the strangest jobs on planet earth. he's the host of "bizarre foods" on the travel channel. >> welcome to samoa. >> reporter: he goes everywhere and eements everything. >> that's good squirrel. >> reporter: how many countries have you been to? >> 80. >> reporter: how many rats have you eaten? >> 15 different types. >> reporter: how many parts of a cow have you eaten? >> every one of them. >> reporter: including the bile sack, which he had in thailand. >> wow. >> reporter: and? >> raw blood, out of a cow, i mean, we nicked a cow's artery, filled a jug, took mud and feces to stop the bleeding and drink the jug in the field. that's what they drink before they go to work. >> reporter: big pick me up. >> huge. very good for you. you're serious, right? >> yes. >> reporter: but there is a real message behind the bile, bugs, bats and flood he puts into his system. >> the sour milk and fresh blood is a very nice combination. >> reporter: he likes to say, one man's weird is another man's wonderful. >> don't practice contempt prior to investigation. we balling at things that we know nothing about. we assume that we want like what's in that pot of stew, simply because of the way it smells or the look of the guy who made it, or the poverty that is surrounding the room that it's in. >> reporter: he might be considered something of a culinary anthropologist. >> when i'm in a market or with a tribe or with a family and they say, well, we do have metal and glass for you to eat, i say, why do you eat that? and if they have a good reason, well, all of our ancestors did, i'm like, well, let me try it. the food is a vehicle that allows us to tell the stories of the people. i've already considered the eyeball a delicacy. >> reporter: and, of course, it makes for good tv. >> that's fantastic. >> reporter: the hook is a freak show element. >> yeah. >> reporter: but it's a freak show with a purpose. >> a freak show with a purpose. i'll take that. >> reporter: it's obvious that this freak show with a purpose has a huge following. walking through the maxwell street market in chicago with zimmern was like taking a stroll with a big, bald elvis. >> we love the show. >> thank you. >> whatever you eat, i'm eating. when we going to get some fried roaches. >> taste like crabs. incredible. >> reporter: the show has earned him many nicknames around the world. including -- >> the one that i love, and apparently it's a term of endeerment that means he who eats like a pig and [ bleep ] like a cow. it's meant in a really nice way. it's a real man. >> reporter: a real man who introduced me to tongue tacos. >> we usually peel the taste goods. >> reporter: but it didn't measure up to the soup called menudo. ricky martin? which including cow shin, foot, stomach -- >> that's a piece of the intestinal wall. >> reporter: all right. cheers. >> you're a good man for trying this. >> reporter: it's the best intestine i've ever had. honestly, i was faking it. is this stomach here? >> yeah. >> reporter: something zimmern does occasionally, too. you don't always like it, do you? >> no. i'm a normal eater just like anybody else. >> reporter: you are not a normal eater. >> yes, i am. absolutely am. >> reporter: people don't eat bile. >> and regular viewers of the program know if i love something, i look at the camera and i say, this is the best best thing i've had. and if i don't eat something, and i like at the camera and i say, this is very interesting. thank you. >> tasty? >> oh, wow. >> reporter: after three years on the job and goodness knows what in his mouth, zimmern says he has never gotten sick. >> lungs, heart, liver. >> reporter: is this what you wanted to do when you were growing up? >> kind of. >> reporter: you said, i want to be a guy that eats weird stuff? >> i begged my parents to let me work nights during the summer in restaurants. i didn't want to do landscaping. >> reporter: but his journey took a dark turn. a serious drug addiction. >> i lived in an abandoned building in lower manhattan, one that we squatted. i would steal purses off the backs of chairs in those cafes. get on the subway, go down to the lower east side and sell the credit cards and passports in the purses for money to support my drug and alcohol habit and i was the guy you crossed the street to avoid. >> reporter: he was only saved, he says, after friends put him on a plane to the hazelton clinic in minnesota. that was 1982. he's been sober since. how much of a role in your life does that period now play? >> the largest. i don't know how to phrase it any other way. every decision that i make, everything that i do, every single consideration of my day goes through the prism of what my former experience has been. >> reporter: he stayed in minnesota as a chef before coming up with the idea for "bizarre foods." and now he lives and eats by just a few rules. >> every time i say i'm not going to eat it again, i'm reminded of my rule is, i have to try it twice. oh. >> reporter: and -- >> never tell someone who has cooked something that their food sucks. >> reporter: what won't you eat? >> human beings. >> reporter: though he is willing to make one exception. >> my goal for the very last episode of "bizarre foods," if we get there, i would like my hand, just best a little barbecue sauce on it and fade to black as it's going up to my mouth. >> reporter: and then you say --

i hope to find one that's really >> reporter: and?

>> don't practice contempt prior

show element. him many nicknames around the

>> reporter: but it didn't >> you're a good man for trying

say, this is very interesting.

>> that is a good hand! >> reporter: i'm john hberman fr "nightline" in chicago. >> wow. thanks to john berman for that interesting report. when we return, we're going to take a look at the growing internet fascination with every day human folly, from awkward family photos to odd ball arts and crafts. it's oops.com.

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what do you love? see how cheerios can help you do it. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. >> fail. we've all done it. what's so fascinating about human failure? the internet has spawned a cottage industry of sites devoted to poking fun of all kinds of human folly. and for jeremy hubbard, the best kinds of human folly. and for jeremy hubbard, the best of the worst in human error is tonight's "sign of the times." >> reporter: let's all pause for a moment and celebrate human failure. it's everywhere on the internet, from those family photos that aren't exactly frame-worthy, to those cooking experiences that have turned into cake wrecks. and then there are those arts and crafts projects that, well, i don't even know what to say i don't even know what to say about this. >> you know, everybody is so

sensitive, and if you make fun of their hat. >> reporter: april says it's time we let go of our ego. >> i don't think that is funny at all. >> reporter: i've been really interested in things that are misguided or miss the market. >> this might be my favorite part. ready? i love bad music, i love bad acting. one of my favorite movies is "show girls." she makes a living making fun. >> these are lobster still life panties. >> reporter: awhile back, she discovered a website called etsy where artists sell their crafts. some of these works of art are so questionable, she couldn't resist starting her own parody site, regret sy. site, regret sy. and she has a book where she skewers the worst of the worst. there she is, auctioning off some of the most cringe-inducing

crafts. >> this is called "menstrual night." and three ladies just having a heavy day. >> reporter: but not everyone thinks this is funny. >> the people who are the most upset tend to be people who i have never featured. there's a -- a lot of people who feel obligated to be offended on your behalf. that happens a lot. that happens a lot. >> reporter: righteous indignation. indignation. >> we say adult on set cry-abetes. >> reporter: poking fun is now a cottage industry. this turned into a real job. cottage industry. >> yeah, exactly. >> reporter: we met up with april at m.i.t. at a conference called rofl-con where some of the brightest and snarkiest blo bloggers and fans gather to crack each other up. bloggers and fans gather to crack each other up. >> you can't buy these anymore. >> reporter: probably worth >> reporter: probably worth something. >> yeah. >> reporter: among the panelists, this guy from lamebook, a website that scours

facebook for its most ridiculous postings. >> someone sneezed on her, she had diabetes and she thought it was contagious. >> reporter: and then there's christian lander. >> what is the stuff that white christian lander. people like? >> yoga, "the wire," religions their parents don't belong to. >> reporter: he became an overnight success jabs caucasians. clearly, it doesn't always pay clearly, it doesn't always pay to be nice. writers try their entire lives to get a book deal. within days, you have several offers. >> yes. but we didn't know what we were doing. >> reporter: like bender and doug chernak's website, awkward family photos. it was a overnight sensation. what is an awkward photo? >> forced poses. vacation shots where you can tell the parents might be very excited. the kids are miserable. >> reporter: finally, we have permission to be snide, thanks

to these websites. >> come into the house. >> reporter: but who really gets the last laugh? >> i use mouse skulls, mostly, for my work. >> reporter: maybe it's those willing to put their awkward lives onryan in the first place. >> i'm an artist on etsy and i ended up on regretsy. >> reporter: like raven that makes really weird paintings inspired by road kill. >> i got more sales. i got more word of mouth. since i've been on regretsy, people have more of an interest in me. >> reporter: she's proof being made fun of isn't really such a bad thing after all. >> my python died recently. i may actually do a memento with some report his parts. i'm not sure yet. >> reporter: i'm jeremy hubbard for "nightline" in boston. >> thanks to jeremy hubbard for that interesting report. we'll be right back, but first, here's jimmy kimmel with what's coming up on jimmy kimmel. >> thanks, terry.

tonight, christina apple gate, comedian shane mausz, and hugh hefner is here to invite us all to move in with him at his mans. hefner is here to invite us all to move in with him at his mans. wouldn't thatttttttttttttttttttt ok. what if i just had a small slice? i was good today, i deserve it! or, i could have a medium slice and some celery sticks and they would ccel each other out, right? or...ok. i could ha one large slice and jog in place as i eat it or...ok. how about one large slice while jogging in place followed by eight celery... mmm raspberrcheesecake... i have been thinking about this all day.

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