Episode notes
In 1992, David Wood was convicted of murdering young women and girls and burying them in the desert outside El Paso. He has been on death row ever since. “The Last 12 Weeks” takes you behind the scenes as a capital defense team races against the clock to stop an execution 30 years in the making.
Podcast
The Last 12 Weeks
Serial Productions & The New York Times · True Crime · English
In 1992, David Wood was convicted of murdering young women and girls and burying them in the desert outside El Paso, earning him the nickname the Desert Killer. More than 30 years later, his lawyers have one last chance to argue his innocence and stop his execution. “The Last 12 Weeks” follows a te
More from The Last 12 Weeks All episodes →
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S1 · E5 · 18 Jun 2026 · 39 min
Episode 5: A Quiet Morning
Days before the execution, the defense team scrambles to respond to an unexpected ruling, while the lead lawyer makes what may be his final visit to David Wood on death row. Everyone waits to find out Wood’s fate.
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S1 · E4 · 18 Jun 2026 · 31 min
Episode 4: David Wood
To justify sentencing David Wood to death, prosecutors argued that he was a convicted rapist turned serial killer. And yet, Wood has insisted all along that isn’t true. We head to death row to hear him tell us why. But not before a victim of his earlier crimes has her say about the kind of person she believes he is.
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S1 · E3 · 18 Jun 2026 · 44 min
Episode 3: The Mother & The Informant
In the final weeks before the execution date, the defense team has to decide just how far it’s willing to push people to save David Wood’s life. The team’s deliberations lead to a key witness on his deathbed … and the mother of one of the Desert Killer’s victims.
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S1 · E2 · 18 Jun 2026 · 46 min
Episode 2: The Whataburger Declaration
The way the state constructed the case, there’s no one big shiny piece of evidence for the defense to knock down. Instead, there are a million little threads to pull at. With less than two months until the execution, the lawyers comb through the evidence one last time, and a new witness offers unexpected revelations.
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S1 · E1 · 18 Jun 2026 · 41 min
Episode 1: What If I Follow You Around?
In 1992, David Wood became El Paso’s most notorious convicted serial killer. He has been on death row ever since. More than 30 years later, his lawyers have just a few months to argue his innocence and stop his execution.
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