If you're a fan of Netflix's MINDHUNTER, then it's likely that you have something of a fascination with true crime. After all, many of the characters on the David Fincher-helmed series are based on real-life serial killers and FBI agents. One such murderer who makes an appearance is Edmund Kemper, a.k.a. "The Co-Ed Killer," who conducted interviews with the FBI following his incarceration for his brutal crimes.
While Kemper's murders have been largely documented — and are discussed at often uncomfortable length in MINDHUNTER — there is a part of Kemper's life in prison that may surprise students of true crime: Apparently, Kemper had a charitable streak while behind bars.
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As unearthed by Redditor OttawaMan35, Kemper reportedly recorded over 5,000 hours of audiobooks for the blind.
According to a Los Angeles Times article published in 1987, Kemper ran a program in which inmates at the California Medical Facility State Prison at Vacaville recorded audiobooks that would be donated to those in need. By the time the article was written, Kemper had been doing the program for 10 years, and had recorded hundreds of books.
"I can't begin to tell you what this has meant to me, to be able to do something constructive for someone else, to be appreciated by so many people, the good feeling it gives me after what I have done," the murderer told the Los Angeles Times.
According to Biography, Kemper, now 68, is still serving time at Vacaville, though it's unclear if this program still exists.
None of this is to say that Kemper is absolved in any way for people he murdered, beginning with his grandparents at age 15. However, in MINDHUNTER, the serial killer speaks with the FBI partly so he can help people who want to kill go a different route, as well as so that the people who will commit crimes like his are apprehended.
The audiobooks may be a small attempt at redemption, but you could not pay me to listen to Kemper's audio recording of Flowers In the Attic. Feel differently? Click below.