<div>September 22nd, 1991. Guilford, Connecticut. Early that evening, a mysterious man visited the home of Christine Brendel and delivered some shocking news – her brother Ernest and his family had been kidnapped, and were being held for ransom by the Mafia. It turned out the man at the door, 42-year-old Christopher Hightower, was a pathological liar and a killer. He claimed he needed $75,000 to release the family, but in reality, they had already met their fate. Most shocking of all was Hightower's methods. He killed Ernest – who was a friend of his – with a crossbow, strangled his wife Alice, and then drugged their eight-year-old daughter Emily, and dumped her in a shallow grave. But in court he continued his lies, claiming he saw the mob carry out the killings. <br>
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What Makes a Killer is sponsored by <a href="https://www.betterhelp.com/get-started/?go=true&transaction_id=102f45f70046a869cef5807bfe464e&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=1378&utm_medium=Desktop&utm_content=&utm_term=what&not_found=1&gor=start">BetterHelp</a> & <a href="https://www.sinisterhood.com/">Sinisterhood</a>.<br>
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Original music by <a href="https://soundcloud.com/ben-krejci">Ben Krejci</a>, <a href="https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/">Lee Rosevere</a>, <a href="https://www.kai-engel.com/">Kai Engel</a>, and <a href="https://www.danielbirchmusic.com/">Daniel Birch</a>. Additional music provided by <a href="https://www.epidemicsound.com/">Epidemic Sound</a>.<br>
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Licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License</a>.</div>
