Plot Synopsis

INSIDE EVIL WITH CHRIS CUOMO is an investigative series that follows Chris Cuomo as he explores the psyche of these criminal offenders and the impact of nature vs nurture on their violent behavior. Cuomo dives deep through on-the-ground interviews with serial killers who committed heinous acts, and behavioral scientists and criminal psychologists who studied these monsters.

In Season 1, Cuomo sits down with New York City mass murderer Joel 'The Ripper' Rifkin and the manipulative and podcast-famed John Meehan, nicknamed 'Dirty John,' to get their outlier perspectives, and meets with survivors of domestic violence and rape to hear their stories of strength. Episodes in the first season include:

"The Mind of a Serial Killer" (airdate: June 17): Cuomo goes inside a maximum-security prison for an exclusive interview with one of America's most notorious serial killers, Joel Rifkin. Cuomo is Rifkin's mind-hunter, asking him tough questions about his sordid sex life, why he brutally murdered 17 women and how he was eventually caught. Beyond the horrors of the killings themselves, Cuomo tries to understand what motivated Rifkin, who is serving more than 200 years for his grizzly yet methodical crimes.

"Sexual Predators" (airdate: June 24): Julie was abducted from her church parking lot by a stranger. Gabrielle was attacked as she walked home from work alone at night after the Uber app on her phone malfunctioned. Despite the growing attention on sexual assault, an alarming number of rapes go unpunished; more than 98% of the time the perpetrators never spend a single day in prison. Cuomo hears the firsthand accounts of rape survivors and examines what hurdles they face to get justice. This episode was previously titled "The Anatomy of a Rape."

"Doctor Love" (airdate: July 1): When Debra Newell clicked on John Meehan's online dating profile, she thought she'd finally found the perfect man. He said he was a doctor who volunteered his services in Iraq, but as their relationship grew, Debra began to have an uneasy feeling. Cuomo unravels the twisted tale of what happened to Debra when her promising love story went horribly wrong and somebody ended up dead.

"Til Death Do Us Part" (airdate: July 8): Three women a day are killed by a former or current husband or boyfriend. Nicole Beverly is desperately trying to avoid that fate. When she met her husband in college he was a football star and they were in love. She never imagined the relationship would turn violent and he would end up holding a gun to her head. Kevin is in prison for his violent attacks on her. Now his release date is coming up and a judge will decide if he should go free. Cuomo follows Nicole as she goes through the court system, trying frantically to keep him behind bars. If he gets out, she is convinced he will kill her...so she is prepared to go on the run and into hiding with her two sons. Cuomo goes inside the epidemic of intimate partner violence that can turn lethal for so many women.

"The Killer Twins" (airdate: July 15): Like most identical twins, the Spahalski brothers have a lot in common...but they may be the only identical twins who have both separately committed murder. Cuomo meets face-to-face with Robert Spahalski inside a maximum-security prison where he's serving 100 years to life for four murders. The host confronts him with details of his crimes and tries to glean insight into the cause of his murderous urges. Could the desire to kill be a genetic trait? Cuomo tries to find some answers to the age-old question of nature versus nurture.
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HLN premiered a new season of INSIDE EVIL WITH CHRIS CUOMO on Sunday, June 30, 2019 at 9pm ET/PT. The five episodes in the new season include:

"Confessions of a Serial Killer (Part 1)" (airdate: June 30): Few have heard the name, Andrew Urdiales, which is frightening because he's been convicted of killing more women than Jack the Ripper. Between 1986 and 1996, Urdiales hunted and murdered eight women for seemingly no reason, in cold blood. Their cases were unsolved and unconnected until Illinois police arrested Urdiales in 1997. Within minutes of his first interrogation, he admitted to three murders in Illinois, and mentioned another five homicides and a failed attempt at an abduction in California. Chris Cuomo speaks with the one woman who got away, Jennifer Asbenson who shares the terrifying story of her encounter with Urdiales and her dramatic escape.

"Confessions of a Serial Killer (Part 2)" (airdate: June 30): Chris Cuomo tries to get inside the mind of Andrew Urdiales in the final interview he will ever give. Was he insane? Did he hate women? What went wrong in his childhood to turn this man into such a monster? CNN courtroom footage of Urdiales standing trial for the five homicides in California show him as he was extradited to face the death penalty. Would he finally be sentenced to death?

"Murder in the Family" (airdate: July 7): Charity Lee has the uniquely tragic misfortune of being the mother of a young daughter who was murdered, and the mother of the teenage boy who killed her. She essentially lost both of her children on the night of February 4, 2007, when police came to her workplace to share the unfathomable news. Her son, Paris Lee Bennett would never return home and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Chris Cuomo travels to Texas to speak with Paris, now 25, in a maximum-security prison, to find out what drove him to murder the sister he claims to have loved.

"Revenge Killing" (airdate: July 14): In the Ozarks, some people feel the need to take justice into their own hands. On a bleak morning in 1987, a distraught 19-year-old Jennifer Fair returned to her apartment which she shared with friends crying that she had been raped by a local businessman, John Hill. The teenagers set out to find him and, hell-bent on revenge, commit one of the most heinous crimes the Ozarks has ever seen. Chris Cuomo travels to southwestern Missouri to speak with members of the group, including Lisa Harris who is still in prison 30 years later. Chris talks to the members who have long since done their time, and they explain why believe Lisa deserves a shot at freedom like everybody else. Does a terrible teenage decision have to last a lifetime?

"Killer Writing" (airdate: July 21): A truth-is-stranger-than-fiction scenario is playing out in a dangerous maximum-security prison where a mind-hunter is seeking answers -- as a convicted killer himself. Sing Sing inmate No. 04A0823, John J. Lennon is currently serving a 28 year to life sentence for the cold-blooded murder of a fellow drug dealer. He killed him with a machine gun at close range. Lennon has spent years behind bars at the most notorious prisons in New York where he learned to utilize his unique access to the killers around him and built a career writing about the system, infamous inmates and criminal justice issues. Chris Cuomo talks to John about his crime, doing his time and why he traded his gun for a pen.