Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
The Chilling Crimes of The Stocking Strangler | Serial Killer Exposed
23 Mar 2025
Carlton Michael Gary was an American serial killer convicted of the murders of three elderly women in Columbus, Georgia, between 1977 and 1978, though he is suspected of at least four more. Gary was arrested in December 1978 for an armed robbery and sentenced to 21 years in prison.Williams Book https://www.amazon.com/Columbus-Stocking-Strangler-William-Rawlings/dp/0881468428Follow me on all socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattcoxtruecrimeDo you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://forms.gle/5H7FnhvMHKtUnq7k7Send me an email here: [email protected] you want a custom "con man" painting to shown up at your doorstep every month? Subscribe to my Patreon: https: //www.patreon.com/insidetruecrimeDo you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopartListen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox Check out my true crime books! Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCFBent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TMIt's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5GDevil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3KBailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel!Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WXIf you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69Cashapp: $coxcon69 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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His first arrest was at age 17. He was without a doubt what people would describe as a career criminal. This was in fact the term that his own attorney used to describe him. During this period of time, he had about 30 months of unincarcerated freedom. During this time, he committed, in Columbus alone, at least seven murders. And this is one of the most fascinating stories I've ever heard.
And if you sat down and tried to write a novel, you couldn't come up with some of the same strange twists and turns that this story has. And given the racial climate of the city, the black population was up in arms saying, how are you going to blame this on black men? It's not good. And Ku Klux Klan decides, well, you know, we're going to start patrolling the neighborhood.
And of course, you know, that was beyond things. And it turned out that the police chief around the 1st of March gets a letter from someone signed by the chairman of the forces of evil. And this fellow says, we're a white supremacist group, and we're mad that a black man is killing white women in the city of Columbus.
And so what we're going to do, we're going to kill black women to avenge the murders of white women, hoping that this will pressure you to catch the slayer.
Hey, this is Matt Cox and I am here with William Rawlings. We are going to be doing an interview about one of his true crime books and he's got a really interesting story. I spoke with him for probably 30 minutes to an hour the other day and I think you guys are really going to enjoy the interview. So check it out. I appreciate you guys watching.
This book is about the Columbus Stocking Strangler episode. Briefly put, during an eight-month period in late 1977, early 1978, there were a total of nine vicious attacks in the city of Columbus, Georgia, which I'll say more about in a moment. Seven women were killed, two survived. There was a massive police presence, and the case went cold in April 1978.
Thereafter, it was six years later before the suspect was arrested. He was tried two years after that and eventually convicted, and there was a 32-year period between the time of his conviction and the time his sentence was carried out. A fascinating tale that spans almost half a century.
Okay. So real quick, you know, if you don't mind, like how, where were you born? You know, how, how did you, did you always want to be a writer? How did you get, how'd you kind of get into this?
No, no, no, no. I'm a good typist with too much time on my hands is my standard answer for that question. No, I am, by trade, a physician. I live in a very small town in Georgia. My family's lived here for the last couple hundred years, and I went off to school and got educated and came to my senses and moved back to the family farm where I have lived for the last several decades.
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