Between 1986 and 1991, the remains of four missing women were discovered in the same field in League City, Texas. Authorities couldn’t rule out the deaths were connected to a string of 30 murders outside of Houston since the 70s. Then another string of disappearances began in the mid-90s. Were all of these crimes linked in some way? And what is their connection to that secluded plot of land on Calder Road? Season three of “Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields” looks at the long history of murde...
Dec 01, 2022•45 min
Sheriff Alex Villanueva won office in 2018 campaigning as a reformer who’ll clean up the scandal-plagued L.A. County Sheriff's Department. After criticism he was doing the opposite, Villanueva doubled down on his efforts to abuse his power, vilify the press, and investigate his rivals. “Imperfect Paradise: The Sheriff” from LAist Studios examines the controversial head of one of the nation’s largest law enforcement agencies. Host Frank Stoltze interviews Villanueva and talks to his critics to le...
Nov 28, 2022•45 min
Jonelle Matthews vanished after her school Christmas recital in 1984. Colorado investigators had no leads, until a detective homed in on Jonelle’s neighbor, a man said to have a fixation on young girls. The case remained cold for decades until Jonelle’s body was discovered. Then police got a tip about another man in the girl’s orbit: a true crime fan who for years said he had information…but was continually ignored by police. Season two of Campside Media’s “Suspect: Vanished in the Snow'' is cur...
Nov 24, 2022•43 min
Giancarlo Granda was the pool boy at a Miami hotel when he was propositioned by Becki Falwell and her husband, the president of evangelical Liberty University, Jerry Falwell Jr. The couple lavished attention and money on Granda to keep the love triangle going and to keep it secret. Like his father before him, Falwell fancied himself a political kingmaker, influencing millions of evangelical voters. But if word of their arrangement with Granda came out it could damage Falwell's 2016 endorsement o...
Nov 21, 2022•42 min
After breaking up with longtime girlfriend Olivia Newton-John, Patrick McDermott set sail on an overnight fishing trip in June of 2005. When he didn’t get off the boat the next morning, officials presumed he fell overboard. But then the tabloids speculated whether McDermott had faked his death. Potential sightings of McDermott fueled the story. Journalists and private investigators scoured Mexico on tips he was living a new life. But were they reshaping the facts of an accident at sea for their ...
Nov 17, 2022•49 min
In 1983, 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi disappeared after her music lesson. Her family were citizens of the Vatican. Men claiming to be her abductors promised her return if authorities would release the man held for shooting Pope John Paul II. Other theories of the crime emerged. Did the Soviet Union take her to blunt the Pope’s political influence in Poland? Were mobsters using her as leverage to recover money laundered by the Vatican Bank? Or was she spirited away by the Church to prevent the ex...
Nov 14, 2022•45 min
Grace Williams has just lost her husband, John Paul. But her four sisters are not unhappy to see the man they called “The Prick” meet his demise. For months the Garvey girls had been plotting to kill the cruel and controlling spouse and get Grace out from under his thumb. Now that the deed is done, no one is suspicious - except for the life insurance agent with family secrets of his own. The Apple Original dark comedy series “Bad Sisters” features an Irish ensemble cast led by Sharon Horgan and ...
Nov 10, 2022•41 min
In 1982, authorities were baffled when seemingly healthy people were suddenly dying. They concluded the Tylenol they’d recently bought in Chicago-area stores had been laced with cyanide. In the past forty years, the culprit has not been identified. Investigators had two strong suspects but could not pin the crimes on either one of them. In the podcast “Unsealed: The Tylenol Murders” from the Chicago Tribune and At Will Media, reporters Christy Gutowski and Stacy St. Clair dig through the files o...
Nov 07, 2022•44 min
Rachel McKibbens didn’t even know her father and brother were sick with COVID until it was too late. She grappled with how the two people she loved the most turned unrecognizable due to pandemic misinformation. But her search for answers only renewed questions about her family history, a life filled with both fear and love that she and her brother experienced. Were the deaths a result of contemporary forces, or was this personal tragedy set in motion years earlier? The podcast “We Were Three” fr...
Oct 31, 2022•51 min
Alan Strauss is kidnapped and chained in the basement of his new patient. Sam Fortner reveals he’s a serial killer and wants the therapist to help him change his violent ways. During his captivity Alan ponders his many regrets in life, all while attempting to cure Sam’s murderous urges. Alan knows if he’s unsuccessful and can't prevent his patient from killing again, he’ll surely become his next victim. In Hulu’s ten-part miniseries “The Patient,” Steve Carell and Domhnall Gleeson each give tigh...
Oct 24, 2022•43 min
A Florida judge reaches out to author Gilbert King, saying an innocent man has been in prison for three decades. Leo Schofield was convicted of murdering his wife despite no physical evidence and thin witness accounts. Schofield maintains he was not the one who stabbed Michelle and left her body in a roadside canal. Gilbert learns authorities never examined fingerprints found on the hood of Michelle’s car, evidence that points to a different suspect. But rather than clear his name, authorities a...
Oct 20, 2022•51 min
Robert Berchtold seemed the perfect neighbor and close friend to the Broberg family. But his fixation on their daughter Jan led him to abduct the girl and flee to Mexico. Parents Bob and Mary Ann were left confused as to why their trusted friend would take their child. But long after their return, Berchtold continued to hold Jan under his spell, keeping each parent at arm's length through blackmail. His diabolical scheme to possess Jan lasted years and threatened to tear the Broberg family apart...
Oct 17, 2022•47 min
Ana Mendieta was a provocative performance artist. Her husband was the mercurial legendary sculptor Carl Andre. They were the It couple of the New York art scene, until 1985 when Ana mysteriously fell from their 34th floor apartment after an argument. Andre’s arrest for his wife’s death split the artistic community. Thirty-five years later, those who knew the couple remain tight lipped on what they think happened that night. From Pushkin Industries and Somethin’ Else comes the podcast “Death of ...
Oct 13, 2022•45 min
Immigrants and payday borrowers were receiving calls from the US government: either pay the money they owe or be arrested. But it was all an international scam, tricking people into turning over thousands of dollars to con men traveling the country. But with the calls originating from India, authorities had little hope of finding the players and shutting the operation down. In season four of Chameleon from Campside Media, “Scam Likely” host Yudhijit Bhattacharjee talks to victims, investigators,...
Oct 10, 2022•45 min
In 1995, a pair of eight-year-old girls were kidnapped from the Belgian countryside. Later, two teens vanished after leaving a magic show. Then another set of girls disappeared. Hysteria gripped the country, while the police response seemed not up to the task. After questioning, Marc Dutroux would take investigators to his home where they discovered two of the girls being held in a dungeon. Dutroux’s arrest set in motion a controversy over police errors, government ineptitude, and accusations of...
Oct 06, 2022•38 min
In an effort to stop a ski resort expansion in Vail, Colorado, environmental activists set fire to several buildings. It was the work of the Earth Liberation Front, an extremist group that targeted companies they felt were damaging the environment. The FBI labeled the group eco-terrorists and the country’s greatest domestic terror threat. For decades, two of its leaders have been on the run. Now it’s time for them…and the rest of the world…to face the consequences of their actions. From BBC Soun...
Oct 03, 2022•40 min
In August 1996, 19-year-old Zach Snarr took his friend Yvette to a secluded reservoir to take photos of the moon. But their date was interrupted by “George” Benvenuto, a stranger who fatally shot Zach and wounded Yvette without provocation. Zach’s family wanted justice, hoping Benvenuto would rot in prison. But the years brought little comfort and grief turned to anger. That’s when the letter came. “The Letter” from Lemonada and KSL Podcasts looks at the effects of the murder on the Snarr family...
Sep 29, 2022•44 min
Last week, after two decades in prison, Adnan Syed walked out of a Baltimore courtroom when his conviction for Hae Min Lee’s murder was vacated. Sarah Koenig's new episode 13 of “Serial” may play like an epilogue to Adnan's story, but its creation has sparked new consideration for what the famous podcast got wrong, its ongoing obligation to the subject, and whether making Adnan the world’s most famous wrongfully-convicted inmate was enough. Then...the Phoenix Goddess Temple said it was a house o...
Sep 26, 2022•49 min
John McAfee made hundreds of millions of dollars on his ubiquitous anti-virus software and retired to Belize. But after his neighbor was murdered in 2012, McAfee went on the run. Rather than keep a low profile, he let a camera crew film his every move. McAfee uses his unscrupulous methods and considerable wealth to escape his predicament in Central America. But when he gets into trouble in the US, a paranoid, drug-addled, and heavily armed McAfee invites cameras on his luxury yacht as he takes t...
Sep 22, 2022•42 min
To get to the top of the best-seller list takes more than just writing a good book. And going from acclaimed author to scandalous fraud can happen with the turn of a page. Like Kaavya Viswanathan - the young phenom whose book contained plagiarized passages. Or Dan Mallory, the author of The Woman in the Window whose life of adversity was an elaborate hoax played upon the literary community. The eight-part podcast series “Missing Pages” from The Podglomerate dives into stories of famous authors b...
Sep 19, 2022•49 min
In the 60s and 70s, Synanon emerged as an experimental residential program dedicated to helping drug addicts into recovery. But its founder, Chuck Dederich, reclassified the organization as a church, manipulating followers with fear and intimidation. Synanon would soon be caught up in crime and abuse, with Dederich espousing violence to maintain control. “The Sunshine Place” from C13Originals is hosted by Sari Crawford, the daughter of a former Synanon leader. While some credit the program for t...
Sep 15, 2022•42 min
Rebecca and Kevin give an urgent True Crime Update on the breaking news from the Wall Street Journal . Prosecutors are asking a circuit court judge to vacate Adnan Syed's murder conviction. They cite their new investigation that uncovered new suspects and information withheld from the defense. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon . Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com....
Sep 14, 2022•6 min
Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered when a car bomb exploded outside her home in Malta. After her death, a group of international reporters took up Daphne’s work, looking to complete the stories that cost her her life. Their investigation into who was behind her assassination would focus on Malta’s most powerful people and even threaten to topple the government. Wondery presents the six-part podcast “Who Killed Daphne?” Host Stephen Grey takes us inside the quest to avenge her death t...
Sep 12, 2022•44 min
In June 2019, Anthony Templet told police he shot his father after an argument in their Baton Rouge home. It seemed to be a straight-forward case, but then information came to light about Anthony that even he didn’t know about. This all raised new questions about the victim. Was Burt Templet the generous provider that he seemed? Or did his controlling ways drive his son to commit murder? Netflix's three-part series “I Just Killed My Dad” provides a look at Anthony’s complex psyche and brings us ...
Sep 05, 2022•46 min
For years, the mafia ran Youngstown, OH, providing the drugs, gambling, and prostitution the blue collar town was known for. As crime got worse, Jim Traficant ran for sheriff on a platform to kick out the mob…at the same time he was taking money from them. Even after the FBI arrested him, Traficant was a beloved figure in Youngstown. He was elected to Congress as a populist candidate who fought for his district - all while taking bribes and evading taxes. “Crimetown” creator Marc Smirling is bac...
Aug 29, 2022•45 min
Organizers of Woodstock ‘99 set out to recreate the vibe of the original concert, all while turning a profit. But the three-day festival was beset by broken toilets, contaminated water, endless garbage, and corporate sponsors price gouging the concert goers. Meanwhile, the organizers failed to appreciate their headline acts were thrash-rock bands who whipped up the oversexed, over-drugged audience into a frenzy - which culminated in a fiery riot. The Netflix documentary series “Trainwreck: Woods...
Aug 22, 2022•47 min
Jimmy Keene is offered a get-out-of-jail card if he can provide the FBI evidence against a serial killer. Larry Hall is poised to leave prison on appeal. Questions remain about his interrogation, and whether the things he said were true or false. Keene draws in the psychopath, delving deeper into a serial killer’s mind. But Hall’s habit of false confessions leaves it unclear whether there’s anything to learn before he’s released. Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser star in the Apple Original se...
Aug 15, 2022•46 min
Did former President Trump break the law trying to influence Georgia election officials? That monumental legal question will be answered by County D.A. Fani Willis. While Congress and the Justice Department investigate a nationwide effort to overturn the election, Willis is probing whether state law was violated in her county. Breakdown season 9 from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is a real-time report on the progress of the Trump grand jury. Hosts Bill Rankin and Tamar Hallerman cover what fo...
Aug 08, 2022•49 min
After Tonya Hughes is killed in a 1990 hit-and-run accident in Tulsa, her friends learn she’d been living under an assumed name. She left behind a young boy and her much-older husband, Clarence, who tried to control every aspect of her life. And after he kidnaps the boy from school and disappears, authorities hope to learn who each of these people really are. The Netflix documentary “Girl in the Picture” follows an investigation that looks backwards at the young woman’s identity, while looking f...
Aug 01, 2022•43 min
After the 1985 rape and murder of grandmother Helen Wilson, investigators obtained confessions from six people who said they were there when it happened. But even after they were exonerated decades later, family members and cops don’t believe the so-called Beatrice Six would implicate themselves in a crime they didn’t commit. Meantime, a community theater in the small Nebraska town attempts to confront the crime’s impacts by staging a play based on transcripts of the suspects’ controversial inte...
Jul 25, 2022•50 min
