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The DC Snipers: John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo

Episode 106 Published 4 years, 6 months ago
Description

In October 2002, the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area was gripped by a terrifying question:

Who would be next?

People were being shot while pumping gas, walking through parking lots, mowing lawns, and simply going about their daily lives. The attacks appeared random, the victims seemed unconnected, and the killer could strike almost anywhere.

Behind the shootings were John Allen Muhammad and 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo, who used a modified blue Chevrolet Caprice as a mobile sniper’s nest. A hole cut into the trunk allowed them to fire a high-powered Bushmaster rifle while remaining concealed inside the car.

Between October 2 and October 24, 2002, the pair killed 10 people and seriously wounded three others in the Washington-area sniper attacks. Their victims were chosen in public places across Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., creating widespread panic throughout the region. Schools locked their doors, sporting events were canceled or moved indoors, and people began zigzagging across parking lots or crouching beside their cars while pumping gas.

Then investigators received messages from the killers themselves.

One communication demanded $10 million and threatened additional killings. As police followed clues scattered across multiple crime scenes, attention eventually shifted toward Muhammad, Malvo, and their dark blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice.

In the early morning hours of October 24, police found the two men sleeping inside that car at a rest area near Myersville, Maryland.

Inside was the rifle used in the attacks.

The nightmare was finally over.

Investigators later connected Muhammad and Malvo to additional shootings outside the D.C. area committed before the October rampage, revealing that their violence stretched farther than anyone initially realized.

Muhammad was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Virginia executed him by lethal injection on November 10, 2009. Malvo received multiple life sentences; because he was a juvenile when the crimes occurred, later changes in juvenile sentencing law made him eligible to seek parole in Virginia, though parole has been denied.

This is the true crime story of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo—the D.C. Snipers—two killers hidden inside an ordinary-looking car, a series of random shootings that paralyzed an entire region, and 23 days when millions of people wondered whether an everyday errand might put them in a sniper’s sights.

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