i'm john seigenthaler.

i'm john seigenthaler.

i'm john seigenthaler, and this is "msnbc reports." when young girls disappear, it often becomes a huge national story. elizabeth smart, polly klaas, the heartbreaking case of carlie brucia, the florida sixth grader who was kidnapped and killed while on her way home from a friend's house. in that investigation, the amber alert system combined with media attention to help police find a suspect within days of carlie's disappearance. but sometimes young women disappear and no one notices. that's exactly what happened in this story. a string of women missing, and no one suspected a thing. it wasn't until years later that police were stunned to learn what had really been happening in their community and who had been to blame. here's rob stafford. >> i heard the doors clanging open, and i heard "i'm back"! i didn't know who it was going to be or what. >> the manicured suburbs of syracuse, new york, are an unlikely setting for the tale we're about to tell. a story of rape, bondage and victims whose screams no one

. ♪ >>> "city in fear" here is john seigenthaler. >> over the years, los angeles has seen its fair sharef high-profile crime. the manson murders, the hillside strangler killings, the murder of o.j. simpson's wife, but random barbaric attacks made for an unprecedented sense of terror in l.a. this stranger ultimately became known as the night stalker. los angeles, california, city of angels. known for its palm trees, beaches, and near perfect weather. but in the mid 1980s, the city became terrorized by a madman who drove the freeways at night randomly picking an exit and hunting down his victims. june 28, 1984. in the quiet community of glassell park, ten minutes from downtown l.a., an elderly woman is asleep in her apartment. a cool breeze blows through an open window. just before 5:00 a.m., an intruder removes the screen and climbs into the bedroom. within seconds he plunges a knife into her chest, stabbing her repeatedly and slashing her throat. police later lift fingerprints from the window screen, but without a suspect the clue leads them nowhere. almost a year goes by before the intr

i'm john seigenthaler >>> those other olympic games. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with the matter of war and peace that the president addressed today. listen to the president earlier today who said that i got the clear impression that we, the united states, are doing everything to prevent another islamic war in iran, and if we are helping israel in an act of war we could unleash consequences that are impossible now to see, but with hell on earth with hezbollah against us. and jordan teetering towards the islamic militant side and who knows what coming to our side thanks to the sleeper cell, war and peace. that is how the president laid it out today, and we need to talk about it with msnbc's andrea mitchell and mother jones' david corn and author of the book "showdown." olympic games i use that word because it was the code word for the george w. bush's code word to cripple the iranian nuclear program through high-tech hacking into it. >> the cyber war, and because the nuclear pro

i'm john seigenthaler. >> jeffrey dahmer brutally murdered several young boys. >> once it happened the first time, it seemed like they had control of my life. >> his killing spree lastd more than a decade. >> was there something sexual in the dismemberment of the bodies for you? >> yes, it was a sexual part to that. >> why the cannibalism? >> how could a seemingly normal american boy grow up to commit such terrible crimes? dahmer parents struggle to find answers. >> do you feel that you're being blamed? >> yes, i do. >> dahmer agreed to speak with us at the behest of his father, who had just written a revealing book. >> is there anything in this book that you strongly disagree with? >> yes. >> on the surface, the interview with lionel dahmer -- debeneath his composure, unbearable pain. >> they don't realize that i have very deep feelings inside. >> the interview with jeffrey dahmer's mother joyce was often contentious. >> i don't mean to argue with you. i am really scared. >> i interviewed jeffrey dahmer and his parents at length in 1994. much of what they shared has never been heard u

i'm john seigenthaler >>> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >>> there are 2 million people behind bars in america. we open the gates, "lockup." >> this place is crazy. it's totally insane. more insane than me. >> come on in. come on in. >> i don't really have a whole lot of respect for life in general, my own or anybody's. >> i took a knife and stabbed him with it, until he was dead, and then i butchered him with it. >> there is violence in here unheard of. but it was right up my alley. >> this is no way to spend your life. >> in medieval times, law breakers were punished in unspeakably cruel ways, so perhaps it was no accident that the architect who designed the kentucky state penitentiary more than a century ago, built a structure that resembles a castle where dungeons might have served as torture chambers. for even the most hardened criminals in kentucky today, the first sight of the prison can be overwhelming. during the next hour, we'll take you inside kentucky's maximum security prison, known as the castle on the cumberland.♪ the cumberland river winds

i'm john seigenthaler >> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. there are 2 million people behind bars in america. we open the gates. "lockup." >> when i came here. >> beat on that [ bleep ] door again. beat on the door again. you, you, i want you to do it. you do it. >> 98% of these son of a bitches in here ought to be taken out somewhere and shot in the back of the head. >> sell it, sell it, sell it, sell it. that's right. ♪ tell me what i'm gonna do oh, baby, just tell me what i'm gonna do ♪ >> idle hands is the devil's playground, you know, so i stay busy. ♪ >> you think this can get me on "american idol"? >> the execution team will escort the condemned from the death cell into the execution chamber and place him on a gurney. >> you ain't here for going to church. you ain't here because you was doing something constructive. you been doing something constructive, you never would have been here. >> i was doing something constructive until they [ bleep ] pulled me down the hall. >> oh, yeah. >> in southern alabama, the holman correctional facilit

i'm john seigenthaler.

i'm john seigenthaler. >>> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >>> there are 2 million people behind bars in america. we open the gates, "lockup." >> jail is hell. jail is hell. >> willie, will you come to the door, sir? >> a lot of the mental state hospitals have closed down, and the only options to the police agencies are bring them to the jails. >> it's dirty. the shower's dirty. the toilet's dirty. the floor's dirty. point-blank, dirty. >> anything can happen, any given time, at any moment, just like that. very fast, very quick. >> let's go, let's go, let's go. >> i'm not even looking for shanks. i just happened to stumble upon these. >> you never know what to expect. all we do all day is sit here like a time bomb waiting for something to happen. >> this is as close to a living hell as i think i ever want to come. >> when someone breaks the law, there is a distinct difference between going to prison and jail. prison is for convicted felons, many with long-term sentences. jail is where suspects spend a relatively short time, either while waiting for trial o

i'm john seigenthaler