Ed Kemper's mom thought her son was "a real weirdo". He had a near-genius IQ hidden within his lanky body and twisted mind. When he was fourteen he killed his grandparents to get back at his mother during her second honeymoon. He was sent to Atascadero State Hospital for five years where he grew into a strapping six-foot-nine-inch hate machine. When Ed was released from the hospital he went to live with his overbearing mother who had moved to Santa Cruz and was working in the state college. In 1972, after a vicious argument with mom, Ed left the house knowing he was going to kill someone. That night, a hapless female hitchhiker was the first to fall prey to Ed's Oedipal mania.

Over the ensuing years Ed proceeded to terrorize the coed community of Santa Cruz with the help to his campus pass obtained through his mother. He enjoyed decapitating his victims and having sex with their headless corpses. Once he visited his court-appointed psychiatrist with a head in the trunk of his car. He also buried a head outside his mother's bedroom window. He took Polaroids of his accomplishments and occasionally had one of his girls for dinner. Later he confessed that his acts of cannibalism were because "I wanted them to be a part of me- and now they are."

At the time Ed was killing there were two other maniacs, John Lindley Frazier and Herbert Mullin, operating in proximity. Police were baffled by the amount of bodies appearing around their peaceful and bucolic surfer community. Kemper became fascinated with the investigation of his and the other crimes. He even became friendly with the investigating officers by hanging out at their favorite haunts and grilling them for details.

Ed liked killing women who reminded him of his mother. On Easter Sunday 1973 he went after the root of his problem. He killed his mom, chopped her head off and threw her vocal chords down the garbage disposal. Then he used the head as a dart board. Not satisfied, he called mom's best friend, invited her over and killed her too. After he drove to Colorado, called his friends the cops and confessed his killings. At first the thought he was kidding. What they found at his mom's house made them change their mind. He now resides in the Vacaville Prison as their model serial killer prisoner with a heart of gold.