Carolyn Arellano was a stripper at 18 and a dr*g boss at 19. A man she rejected wore a wire and put her in prison. She kicked the door open and ran. For 14 days bounty hunters hunted her family. Then she walked back to the prison gates with Xanax hidden inside her body.
She grew up in Newark, New Jersey, between gang members and dealers. At 15 she was one step away from joining a gang. On her 18th birthday a strip club hired her. Behind the bar she made $150 a night. On stage the girls made $800. She got on stage. The customers were dealers, and within months she had her own supply and her own people selling for her.
The club manager wanted her. She said no and cut him off. She had no idea the cops had already raided his house and turned him. He came back wearing a wire. One day he stood outside her door, begging to use her bathroom. Two minutes inside was all he needed.
Weeks later undercover cops threw her against her truck in the street. They kicked in her door, took her stash, took her jewelry, and sat her in a room: "10 years. Your kids go to foster care. Give us names." She didn't give them a single one.
18 months to 5 years. Her cellmate one bunk over was her own daughter's aunt, locked up for armed robbery. Inside she fell for a woman and ended up in fist fight after fist fight with that woman's exes. Girls planted contraband in her room to get her written up. She was weeks away from job release and knew that if she stayed one more day, she was going to seriously hurt someone.
So she called her fiancé: pick me up at this time. Then she kicked the door and walked out.
14 days on the run. Manicure. Pedicure. Fresh tattoo. She even bought a car and registered it at the DMV while she was a fugitive. Then bounty hunters started banging on her father's door, and her grandmother was about to lose her house.
She had her fiancé drive her to the prison, called the guards on speakerphone and said, "I ran away two weeks ago. Here's my ID number. Open the gates." She went back in with tobacco to sell and Xanax for herself, smuggled inside her body. They threw her in maximum security and solitary.
Today she owns a cleaning company.
Would you have walked back in?
Carolyn Arellano was a stripper at 18 and a dr*g boss at 19. A man she rejected wore a wire and put her in prison. She kicked the door open and ran. For 14 days bounty hunters hunted her family. Then she walked back to the prison gates with Xanax hidden inside her body.
She grew up in Newark, New Jersey, between gang members and dealers. At 15 she was one step away from joining a gang. On her 18th birthday a strip club hired her. Behind the bar she made $150 a night. On stage the girls made $800. She got on stage. The customers were dealers, and within months she had her own supply and her own people selling for her.
The club manager wanted her. She said no and cut him off. She had no idea the cops had already raided his house and turned him. He came back wearing a wire. One day he stood outside her door, begging to use her bathroom. Two minutes inside was all he needed.
Weeks later undercover cops threw her against her truck in the street. They kicked in her door, took her stash, took her jewelry, and sat her in a room: "10 years. Your kids go to foster care. Give us names." She didn't give them a single one.
18 months to 5 years. Her cellmate one bunk over was her own daughter's aunt, locked up for armed robbery. Inside she fell for a woman and ended up in fist fight after fist fight with that woman's exes. Girls planted contraband in her room to get her written up. She was weeks away from job release and knew that if she stayed one more day, she was going to seriously hurt someone.
So she called her fiancé: pick me up at this time. Then she kicked the door and walked out.
14 days on the run. Manicure. Pedicure. Fresh tattoo. She even bought a car and registered it at the DMV while she was a fugitive. Then bounty hunters started banging on her father's door, and her grandmother was about to lose her house.
She had her fiancé drive her to the prison, called the guards on speakerphone and said, "I ran away two weeks ago. Here's my ID number. Open the gates." She went back in with tobacco to sell and Xanax for herself, smuggled inside her body. They threw her in maximum security and solitary.
Today she owns a cleaning company.
Would you have walked back in?
Chloe Ayling was 20 when she flew to Milan for a photoshoot and woke up naked inside a duffel bag in the trunk of a car. Her kidnappers injected her with ketamine, chained her to a dresser and demanded €300,000. If nobody paid, she would be auctioned off on the dark web.
It was July 2017. A British glamour model from London got booked for what looked like a high-profile gig in one of the fashion capitals of the world. She walked up to the studio, reached for the door, and a gloved hand clamped over her mouth and nose from behind. A second man rushed her from the front. They pinned her to the floor, the needle went in, and everything went black.
When she woke up, her mouth was taped, her hands were cuffed to her ankles and she was zipped inside a black bag with no clothes and no shoes. She banged on the trunk and screamed "driver, driver." Nobody stopped.
They drove her two hours out of Milan to a remote farmhouse and handcuffed her to a piece of furniture. When she asked why, the answer was worse than the kidnapping: "You've already been put up for sale." Her photos were posted on the dark web like a product listing, and her captor told her there was "huge interest."
He told her that if she tried to run, she would be killed.
For six days she kept him talking. Then she told him she had a two-year-old son. That changed everything. They drove her to the British Consulate in Milan and let her go.
And then the internet turned on her. During those six days she had gone shoe shopping with one of her kidnappers, so half the world called it a publicity stunt. Other models posted photos mocking her. "It's disgusting," she says.
The court didn't think it was a stunt. Lukasz Herba got 16 years and 9 months in prison. His brother Michal was extradited from the UK and convicted too. Years later, Chloe was diagnosed with autism, and she says that explains why she reacted so calmly that people refused to believe her.
In 2024 the BBC turned her story into a six-part drama called Kidnapped.
Do you believe Chloe Ayling, or do you still think it was staged?
Chloe Ayling was 20 when she flew to Milan for a photoshoot and woke up naked inside a duffel bag in the trunk of a car. Her kidnappers injected her with ketamine, chained her to a dresser and demanded €300,000. If nobody paid, she would be auctioned off on the dark web.
It was July 2017. A British glamour model from London got booked for what looked like a high-profile gig in one of the fashion capitals of the world. She walked up to the studio, reached for the door, and a gloved hand clamped over her mouth and nose from behind. A second man rushed her from the front. They pinned her to the floor, the needle went in, and everything went black.
When she woke up, her mouth was taped, her hands were cuffed to her ankles and she was zipped inside a black bag with no clothes and no shoes. She banged on the trunk and screamed "driver, driver." Nobody stopped.
They drove her two hours out of Milan to a remote farmhouse and handcuffed her to a piece of furniture. When she asked why, the answer was worse than the kidnapping: "You've already been put up for sale." Her photos were posted on the dark web like a product listing, and her captor told her there was "huge interest."
He told her that if she tried to run, she would be killed.
For six days she kept him talking. Then she told him she had a two-year-old son. That changed everything. They drove her to the British Consulate in Milan and let her go.
And then the internet turned on her. During those six days she had gone shoe shopping with one of her kidnappers, so half the world called it a publicity stunt. Other models posted photos mocking her. "It's disgusting," she says.
The court didn't think it was a stunt. Lukasz Herba got 16 years and 9 months in prison. His brother Michal was extradited from the UK and convicted too. Years later, Chloe was diagnosed with autism, and she says that explains why she reacted so calmly that people refused to believe her.
In 2024 the BBC turned her story into a six-part drama called Kidnapped.
Do you believe Chloe Ayling, or do you still think it was staged?
Charles Manson ordered 7 murders in 2 nights, including Sharon Tate, 8 and a half months pregnant. The Beach Boys and Guns N' Roses recorded his songs. Sentenced to death, he lived 46 more years. In 1987, he told TV cameras: "Maybe I should have killed 500 people."
Half of TODAY's own staff said that interview should never air. They aired it anyway. And it wasn't even the worst thing he said.
In the video below, Manson is asked if he has ever felt remorse.
He doesn't even let the question finish. "Remorse for what? You people have done everything in the world to me. Doesn't that give me equal right? I can do anything I want to you people at any time I want to." Then he goes further. "I haven't done anything I'm ashamed of. Maybe I haven't done enough." That's when he says it: "Maybe I should have killed 500 people. Then I would have felt better."
He picks up the interviewer's book. "If I wanted to kill somebody, I'd take this book and beat you to death with it, and I wouldn't feel a thing. It'd be just like walking to the drugstore."
A minute later, he flips completely. He calls himself stupid, a failure, a petty car thief. He says he's had all the money in the world 3 times and had to give it back. And then, to the camera: "What do you want to call me a murderer for? I've never killed anyone."
His last words in the interview: "Believe me, if I started murdering people, there'd be none of you left."
His death sentence was wiped out in 1972, when California abolished the death penalty. He was denied parole 12 times. The book about his case, Helter Skelter, sold over 7 million copies, the best-selling true crime book in history. Manson died in prison in 2017, at 83.
Was Charles Manson a mastermind who controlled people like puppets, or a petty car thief the world turned into a monster?
Charles Manson ordered 7 murders in 2 nights, including Sharon Tate, 8 and a half months pregnant. The Beach Boys and Guns N' Roses recorded his songs. Sentenced to death, he lived 46 more years. In 1987, he told TV cameras: "Maybe I should have killed 500 people."
Half of TODAY's own staff said that interview should never air. They aired it anyway. And it wasn't even the worst thing he said.
In the video below, Manson is asked if he has ever felt remorse.
He doesn't even let the question finish. "Remorse for what? You people have done everything in the world to me. Doesn't that give me equal right? I can do anything I want to you people at any time I want to." Then he goes further. "I haven't done anything I'm ashamed of. Maybe I haven't done enough." That's when he says it: "Maybe I should have killed 500 people. Then I would have felt better."
He picks up the interviewer's book. "If I wanted to kill somebody, I'd take this book and beat you to death with it, and I wouldn't feel a thing. It'd be just like walking to the drugstore."
A minute later, he flips completely. He calls himself stupid, a failure, a petty car thief. He says he's had all the money in the world 3 times and had to give it back. And then, to the camera: "What do you want to call me a murderer for? I've never killed anyone."
His last words in the interview: "Believe me, if I started murdering people, there'd be none of you left."
His death sentence was wiped out in 1972, when California abolished the death penalty. He was denied parole 12 times. The book about his case, Helter Skelter, sold over 7 million copies, the best-selling true crime book in history. Manson died in prison in 2017, at 83.
Was Charles Manson a mastermind who controlled people like puppets, or a petty car thief the world turned into a monster?
Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 men and kept parts of them in his apartment. When police opened his fridge in 1991, they found a human head. In his closet, 7 skulls. Two months earlier, officers had walked a drugged 14-year-old boy straight back into that apartment.
Netflix's Monster about him was watched for over 1 billion hours in its first 60 days. But this tape came first. In 1993, from the maximum security prison where he was serving 999 years, Dahmer gave one exclusive interview. It sat in the Inside Edition archive for almost 30 years.
In the video below, Dahmer explains to Nancy Glass why he did it, and admits the urges never went away.
He was 33. Three guards brought him in, one on each arm, in handcuffs. Nobody was taking chances with the most notorious killer in America. On camera, his hands won't stay still.
He says he didn't kill out of anger or hate. "I wanted to keep them with me." As the obsession grew, he started saving skulls and skeletons. Eventually, he turned to cannibalism. He picked up his victims in gay bars and brought them home, where a drink with sleeping pills was already prepared. Once they fell asleep, he strangled them.
Then Nancy Glass asks the question nobody expected him to answer honestly. Does he still feel those compulsions?
"I wish I could say that it just left completely. But no. There are times when I still do have the old compulsions."
He sleeps most of the day in prison. During the interview, he keeps asking for breaks. "Can we cut the film here?"
On November 28, 1994, less than two years after this tape, another inmate beat him to death with a metal bar in the prison gym. Dahmer was 34. He had already said what he thought he deserved.
"I deserve death."
Was Jeffrey Dahmer a monster who knew exactly what he was, or a sick man the system kept letting walk free?
Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 men and kept parts of them in his apartment. When police opened his fridge in 1991, they found a human head. In his closet, 7 skulls. Two months earlier, officers had walked a drugged 14-year-old boy straight back into that apartment.
Netflix's Monster about him was watched for over 1 billion hours in its first 60 days. But this tape came first. In 1993, from the maximum security prison where he was serving 999 years, Dahmer gave one exclusive interview. It sat in the Inside Edition archive for almost 30 years.
In the video below, Dahmer explains to Nancy Glass why he did it, and admits the urges never went away.
He was 33. Three guards brought him in, one on each arm, in handcuffs. Nobody was taking chances with the most notorious killer in America. On camera, his hands won't stay still.
He says he didn't kill out of anger or hate. "I wanted to keep them with me." As the obsession grew, he started saving skulls and skeletons. Eventually, he turned to cannibalism. He picked up his victims in gay bars and brought them home, where a drink with sleeping pills was already prepared. Once they fell asleep, he strangled them.
Then Nancy Glass asks the question nobody expected him to answer honestly. Does he still feel those compulsions?
"I wish I could say that it just left completely. But no. There are times when I still do have the old compulsions."
He sleeps most of the day in prison. During the interview, he keeps asking for breaks. "Can we cut the film here?"
On November 28, 1994, less than two years after this tape, another inmate beat him to death with a metal bar in the prison gym. Dahmer was 34. He had already said what he thought he deserved.
"I deserve death."
Was Jeffrey Dahmer a monster who knew exactly what he was, or a sick man the system kept letting walk free?
Sydney Biddle Barrows' ancestors arrived in America on the Mayflower. She went to the best schools and moved in New York high society. And for 5 years, she secretly ran one of the most expensive escort services in Manhattan. $175 an hour. Reportedly over $1 million a year. Her clients were some of the richest men in the city.
In 1984 police raided her apartment, and the whole city wanted just one thing: her client list. She never gave up a single name. The press called her the Mayflower Madam.
In the video below, she explains on live television how she ran the entire operation without, technically, breaking the law.
The charge was promoting prostitution. "It's a class B felony," she said, "which is the same as murder, manslaughter."
Her whole defense came down to one loophole. Clients paid for time, not for s*x. $175 for every hour a woman was there, no matter what did or did not happen. Nothing happened, he paid the same. Something happened, not a cent more.
"In the spirit of the law, we broke it," she admitted. "Technically, we did not."
She kept $75 of every $175. The women kept $100.
Her phones were tapped, so the agency spoke in code. A client who wanted a second woman asked for someone to come over and "play bridge."
Some men paid for five women at once just to sit around drinking champagne for hours. One regular never booked anyone for less than 8 hours.
The night before the raid, a client wrote her a check for $3,000. She never got to cash it.
When the host asked if she ever enjoyed that side of the business, she didn't flinch: "Does the president of Philip Morris smoke a lot?"
She walked away with a $5,000 fine and no prison time. Her book became a bestseller and a TV movie starring Candice Bergen. The names in her files are still a secret.
Was she a criminal, or just the only person in New York who read the law closely enough?
Sydney Biddle Barrows' ancestors arrived in America on the Mayflower. She went to the best schools and moved in New York high society. And for 5 years, she secretly ran one of the most expensive escort services in Manhattan. $175 an hour. Reportedly over $1 million a year. Her clients were some of the richest men in the city.
In 1984 police raided her apartment, and the whole city wanted just one thing: her client list. She never gave up a single name. The press called her the Mayflower Madam.
In the video below, she explains on live television how she ran the entire operation without, technically, breaking the law.
The charge was promoting prostitution. "It's a class B felony," she said, "which is the same as murder, manslaughter."
Her whole defense came down to one loophole. Clients paid for time, not for s*x. $175 for every hour a woman was there, no matter what did or did not happen. Nothing happened, he paid the same. Something happened, not a cent more.
"In the spirit of the law, we broke it," she admitted. "Technically, we did not."
She kept $75 of every $175. The women kept $100.
Her phones were tapped, so the agency spoke in code. A client who wanted a second woman asked for someone to come over and "play bridge."
Some men paid for five women at once just to sit around drinking champagne for hours. One regular never booked anyone for less than 8 hours.
The night before the raid, a client wrote her a check for $3,000. She never got to cash it.
When the host asked if she ever enjoyed that side of the business, she didn't flinch: "Does the president of Philip Morris smoke a lot?"
She walked away with a $5,000 fine and no prison time. Her book became a bestseller and a TV movie starring Candice Bergen. The names in her files are still a secret.
Was she a criminal, or just the only person in New York who read the law closely enough?