A Serial Killer Once Gave Howard Stern A Confession Live On The Air!

“King of All Media” Howard Stern is known for his shocking radio broadcasts, but perhaps none was more disturbing than when in 1997, a serial killer confessed to the famous “shock jock” live on the air!

Fans of Howard Stern know that they can expect almost anything when they tune in to one of his radio shows. However, few, if anyone, ever expected to hear a murder confession!

On  August 17, 1997, a man named “Clay” called up the Howard Stern Show claiming that he had killed 12 prostitutes. At the time, there was speculation that the conversation was a hoax or that the caller was Russell Ellwood, a suspect in the “Storyville” murders in New Orleans. However, there has never been evidence to confirm “Clay’s” true identity.

The audio still continues to circulate on social media to this day, finding renewed life on Reddit and TikTok. The radio show call has never been proven legitimate, despite an FBI investigation.

In a bizarre 17-minute conversation with Stern and his co-host Robin Quivers,  “Clay” claimed he killed 12 prostitutes in New Orleans. He claimed his first murder took place when he was just 16 years old for a sense of power.

When Stern questioned whether he went in “knowing you were going to kill her,” he apparently confessed that he planned it out. The caller claimed he sent clues to “baffle” people, but no one took notice of the murder for a long time.

The hosts continually asked questions about the nature of the killings, prompting “Clay” to admit that he usually had sex with the prostitutes before committing the crimes.

After Stern asked if he’d eventually take his own life, “Clay” replied “no,” because then he’d “miss the next Batman movie.”

A day after the call, the FBI approached the show for a recorded copy as evidence.

During the 1990s, at least 24 prostitutes in New Orleans, Louisiana, were murdered by the “Storyville Slayer.” Internet sleuths believe “Clay’s” real identity may have been Russell Ellwood. Ellwood was the first suspect to be brought to authorities’ attention after being found “engaging in a lewd act near the area” where the bodies of Delores Mack and Cheryl Lewis were found.

In the Howard Stern “serial killer” call, “Clay” revealed that he was Caucasian but claimed the initial suspect when they found his victims was a Black police officer. This statement appeared to support the 1995 reports in which the initial Storyville Slayer suspect was Black New Orleans cop Victor Gant. Gant had been listed as a suspect in the murders of two of the victims, Sharon Robinson and her friend Karen Iverster.

However, Gant was never charged in relation to the crime and continued working on the force.

Ellwood was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment in August 1999 without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence for the murder of Lewis. The charges for Mack’s death were reportedly dropped since he had an alibi proving he was not in Louisiana at the time of her death.

While many believe it was indeed Russel Ellwood who called into the Stern show, the true identity of “Clay” has never been proven, nor has the call ever been confirmed to be real and not a hoax, and with it gaining new life on social media all these years later, the mystery lives on.