It was a random Wednesday morning in August 1997. Howard Stern was doing what he does—cracking jokes, pushing boundaries, and keeping the E! cameras rolling. Then the phone rang. A guy named "Clay" was on the line, sounding way too calm for what he was about to say. He claimed he’d killed 12 women. Not just killed them, but "practiced" on them. This wasn't a prank call about Baba Booey or some goofy bit. The howard stern serial killer call became one of the most bone-chilling moments in radio history because, for seventeen minutes, the world thought they were listening to a monster describe his craft.
Stern, to his credit, didn't hang up. He leaned in. He asked about the locations, the methods, and the "why." Clay talked about New Orleans. He talked about "the swamp." He mentioned specific details about how the bodies were found that hadn't been blasted all over the national news yet. Honestly, you've probably heard snippets of it on TikTok or YouTube lately because the audio has gone viral again. People are still obsessed with whether Clay was the real deal or just a very sick, very talented actor.
The Chilling Details of the Clay Call
When Clay called in, he didn't sound like a movie villain. There was no heavy breathing or distorted voice. He sounded like a guy you'd see at a hardware store. He told Howard that he targeted "street walkers" in the New Orleans area. He claimed he was "very good" at what he did and that the police were clueless.
What's really wild is that at the time, there was an active investigation into a series of murders in Louisiana. The media called the perpetrator the "Storyville Slayer." Between 1991 and 1996, over two dozen women had been found dead, many of them dumped in canals or swamps around New Orleans and Jefferson Parish. Clay’s numbers lined up. His geography lined up. He even mentioned that he didn't leave "clues" because he didn't want to get caught—he just wanted to share his "signature" with Howard.
The room was dead silent. Robin Quivers looked visibly shaken. Howard kept digging, trying to get a name or a specific location. Clay wouldn't give it up, but he did say he was calling from a payphone and that he "couldn't stop." He basically admitted that the urge was like a hunger.
Was Clay Actually Russell Ellwood?
For years, the biggest theory was that Clay was actually Russell Ellwood. Ellwood was a taxi driver who was eventually convicted of the murder of Cheryl Khachigan and was a massive person of interest in the Storyville Slayer cases. Investigators actually listened to the Stern tapes. They compared the voices.
Some people say the cadence is a match. Others think it’s a stretch. Ellwood died in prison in 2014, taking whatever secrets he had to the grave. But here’s the thing: while Ellwood was definitely a killer, many experts believe the Storyville Slayer wasn't just one person. They think it was multiple predators working the same area because the "signature" of the bodies varied too much.
If Clay was telling the truth about 12 victims, he might have been a completely different guy who never got caught. That’s the part that keeps people up at night. The howard stern serial killer might still be out there, or he might have just been a guy who knew enough about the local news to pull off the ultimate, twisted prank.
Why the Call Still Creeps Us Out
We live in an era of true crime saturation. We’ve seen every Netflix documentary and listened to every podcast. But there’s something different about live radio. There’s no edit button. There’s no "viewer discretion" warning that prepares you for a guy casually explaining how he disposes of bodies while Howard Stern tries to figure out if he should call the cops or keep the ratings climbing.
- The call lasted nearly 20 minutes.
- Clay mentioned the "swamp" multiple times as a dumping ground.
- He expressed a weird sense of pride in his "work."
- The FBI actually requested the tapes from the show.
The Legend of the Howard Stern Serial Killer
The legacy of this call isn't just about the crimes. It’s about the vulnerability of live media. Stern’s show was always a circus, but this was a moment where the "Shock Jock" met something actually shocking. It changed how the show handled "heavy" callers.
Some skeptics believe it was a "professional" prankster. There’s a community of Stern fans who think it might have been a guy who frequently called in with different personas. But the details about the New Orleans victims were so specific—things like the specific types of knots or the way the bodies were positioned in the water—that it made local detectives take it very seriously.
What We Know for Sure
Honestly, we might never have a 100% confirmed answer. Russell Ellwood is the best "official" candidate, but the voice on the tape has a certain coldness that doesn't perfectly align with Ellwood's recorded interviews. If it wasn't him, then Howard Stern basically interviewed an active serial killer who used a national platform to brag before vanishing back into the shadows.
It's a reminder that the world is a lot darker than the stuff we see on a screen. Sometimes the monster isn't under the bed; he's on the other end of a phone line, waiting for his turn to talk to a radio host.
Practical Steps to Learn More:
If you want to go down this rabbit hole yourself, start by listening to the full, unedited 17-minute clip. You can find it on various "Best of Stern" archives or true crime YouTube channels. Pay close attention to the way he describes the "practice" sessions. After that, look up the "Storyville Slayer" case files from New Orleans in the mid-90s. Comparing the police reports to Clay's claims is where the real mystery begins. You’ll find that the "12 victims" number he cited was almost exactly what the task force was looking at during that specific month in 1997.