Why is (almost) everyone talking about the Karen Read case? If you've also been wondering, you're in luck. Rebecca was asked to dive into it for the Boston Globe 's Say More podcast , and on this special crossover edition of Crime Writers On, we're thrilled to share that episode. Rebecca chats with host Shirley Leung and courts reporter Sean Cotter about the case, why it's gotten so much attention, and what's happening in the trial. Plus, what should we be watching for? FOLLOW SAY MORE FROM THE ...
May 22, 2024•32 min
A hardscrabble journalist is reassigned to help an American podcaster investigate a cold case in a remote Irish village. After twenty years, Bodkin is set to resume its annual Samhain celebration - a tradition that was canceled after three people disappeared the night of the pagan festival. While host Gilbert Power focuses primarily on the human interest angle, Dove Maloney thinks a larger story is hiding within Bodkin. Along with their researcher Emmy, Dove looks for connections between the fes...
May 20, 2024•41 min
Donnie Dunn, an aspiring stand-up comedian, extends a courtesy to a distraught pub customer. Martha Scott becomes a friend and a regular at the bar, but her fixation on Donnie starts crossing boundaries. He tries to push away, but a spurned Martha begins an unrelenting stalking campaign which upends his life. The stress of the stalking triggers repressed feelings of Donnie’s own sexual assault at the hands of an influential television writer. As things continue to spin out of control, Donnie str...
May 16, 2024•45 min
Police in Austin, Texas had no clue as to who was behind a package bomb that killed a homeowner in March 2018. Ten days later, when two more devices exploded in the city, investigators knew they were dealing with a serial bomber. With each new attack, the devices were more sophisticated. But authorities caught a break when bombs found at a FedEx facility could be traced to a suspicious man who dropped them off. In the newest installment of the series from Campside Media, Pegalo Pictures and Sony...
May 13, 2024•43 min
Grifter Thomas Ripley is hired by a wealthy businessman to convince his prodigal son to return from his extended holiday in Italy. But instead he ingratiates himself with Dickie Greenleaf and shares in his host’s life of luxury. Once he overstays his welcome, Ripley hatches a plan to get rid of Dickie and assume his playboy identity. Instead of Easy Street, Ripley finds himself living one step ahead of Dickie’s suspicious girlfriend, Marge, and an Italian detective investigating the missing bon ...
May 09, 2024•39 min
In 1988, three months after going missing from a lake in San Angelo, Texas, the bodies of teenagers Shane Stewart and Sally McNelly were discovered - the pair had been shot. Among those in their friend group were a collection of self-styled occultists, and evidence of satanic rituals was found near the park where they vanished. Evidence suggested there was more than one killer and rumors of a falling out between the victims and members of the cult interested investigators. Other possibilities in...
May 06, 2024•40 min
Among the missing persons cases online sleuth Todd Matthews followed were that of two boys from the same family who vanished 25 years apart. He was shocked to receive a call from a man who thought he might be Phillip Steven Brandenburg, the baby who went missing in 1974. Todd determined Steve Patterson was indeed the John Doe they’d been searching for and helped him reconnect with the mother he never knew. Sandi Brandenburgh claimed the underground adoption was brokered by her husband. Soon afte...
May 02, 2024•44 min
In 2014, Sarah Koenig and Dana Chivvis traveled to Guantánamo Bay hoping to find the untold stories about the infamous military prison. They found many friendly soldiers willing to repeat Army talking points, but no one willing to be candid about life at the detention center. A decade later, the pair reached out to those people, many who had left the military and were now willing to go on the record. Many remembered Gitmo as a plum wartime assignment in sunny Cuba, filled with strong drinks and ...
Apr 29, 2024•52 min
After being booked, defendants in Nashville’s justice system must navigate a labyrinth of challenges. They include people whose mental illness gets them in trouble, an abuse survivor who finds herself both victim and defendant, a couple using jail as an opportunity to get clean from heroin, and teenagers facing life sentences for murder. There are also judges and corrections officials who acknowledge the system’s default setting is for incarceration, not rehabilitation. And they recognize the in...
Apr 25, 2024•46 min
With the nation already on edge after 9/11, envelopes containing deadly anthrax were mailed to journalists and politicians. It killed five postal workers and reporters, and sickened Congressional staffers. Government officials claimed these attacks originated overseas, and used the threat as justification for the invasion of Iraq. The FBI relied on leading experts to decipher the anthrax, and traced the weaponized strain to a particular beaker in a US biolab. Was one of the scientists working wi...
Apr 22, 2024•47 min
The 2012 murders of 20 school children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary shocked the nation and shattered their grieving families. But InfoWars host Alex Jones immediately unspooled a series of conspiracy theories accusing the parents of faking their kids’ deaths in an elaborate hoax. For years, the families were harassed by conspiracy theorists and routinely slandered by Jones. Fed up, a group of parents sued the host for libel and asked courts in Texas and Connecticut to hold him account...
Apr 18, 2024•45 min
In June 2021, Ella Mae Begay vanished from her Sweetwater, Arizona home in the middle of the night. Preston Henry Tolth admitted to tribal police he stole the 62-year-old’s truck and beat her, but Ella Mae’s family pressured him to say where on the Navajo reservation he left her. A year later, 38-year-old Kristina Carrillo went missing from the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. But as host Connie Walker investigates her disappearance, she uncovers an unlikely connection between the two cases. In the ...
Apr 15, 2024•42 min
To engage his sociology students, Elizabethton High School teacher Alex Campbell created a unique lesson plan. The class would research a 1970s cold case known as the Redhead Murders. By semester's end, the students had created a profile of the possible serial killer. Six months after the class released their findings, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified someone who fit their profile. They said DNA linked a now-deceased truck driver to one of the half-dozen murders. But with links t...
Apr 11, 2024•45 min
Imogene Scott finds herself aboard a luxury cruise ship chartered by the Collier family. The guest list includes powerful friends, as well as Chinese investors interested in acquiring their clothing factory. But after setting sail, an obnoxious passenger is killed with a harpoon through his chest. Also on board is a figure from Imogene’s childhood: world famous detective Rufus Cotesworth, who tried to solve her mother’s car bombing but abruptly dropped the case. The murdered passenger was actual...
Apr 08, 2024•54 min
It was the scandal that took down a President…but it didn’t happen all at once. The road to Watergate was paved over time with small turns and little-known stories that need to be heard. In this CWO Classic: we’ll revisit our December 8, 2017 review of the classic podcast “Slow Burn.” For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon . Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com....
Apr 04, 2024•32 min
After profiling lawyer Shane Correia years ago for her podcast, part of his story stuck with host Amory Sivertson. He grew up under the cloud that his sister Sophia had been arrested for murdering her mother-in-law. And it was his brother Sean who said he witnessed Sophia commit the crime. But something about the story bothered Sivertson. Did the six-month pregnant 23-year-old really beat Marlyne Johnson with fireplace tongs just to steal some money? Why does the blood evidence only point to Sea...
Apr 01, 2024•48 min
He went from NFL tight end to having three murder charges. Could his rags-to-riches-to-ruin story have been different? In this CWO Classic, we’ll revisit our October 29, 2018 review of "Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football, Inc." from Wondery and the Boston Globe Spotlight team. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon . Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com....
Mar 28, 2024•27 min
Western news outlets became fascinated with Chen Guangcheng, a blind self-taught lawyer who advocated for human rights inside communist China. When Guangcheng escaped house arrest and fled to the US in 2012, he was held up as a symbol of freedom and democracy. But in the subsequent years, observers were puzzled when Guangcheng re-entered the public sphere as a Trump supporter, repeating right-wing talking points. And the humble dissident who stood up to China’s authoritarian government was spott...
Mar 25, 2024•46 min
“Twin Peaks” actor Kyle MacLachlan had a crazy story for his friend. In the 1980s, kingpin Pablo Escobar bribed an entire North Carolina town to let him land airplanes and smuggle cocaine into the US. The little-known story happened in Varnamtown, population 300. They found that residents, many with the last name of Varnam, got rich as a cog in the cartel's trafficking operation. But one fisherman who refused to be intimidated took on the town in a quixotic effort to stop the smuggling. It took ...
Mar 21, 2024•46 min
Concerned by her adolescent behavior, Katherine Daniel’s parents sent the teenager to the Academy at Ivy Ridge, a school that promised to set her straight through a rigorous program. But within its walls, Ivy Ridge’s students were subjected to humiliation and violence at the hands of its staff. Years later, Katherine and her former classmates returned to the now-closed school. Riffling through its abandoned files and surveillance tape, they put together the pieces of their traumatic experiences,...
Mar 18, 2024•51 min
Journalist Jess Shane had become disillusioned with the documentary industry and its effects on those profiled. She set off to create a new paradigm and craft stories with input from the people whose lives she’s covering. Shane reveals her process of creating a new kind of storytelling, featuring four people who’ll receive compensation and editorial input. But after months of collaboration, the subjects are unable to offer meaningful contributions to Shane’s presentation of their life stories. A...
Mar 14, 2024•56 min
Sierra Barter’s step-grandfather had terrorized her family for years before his death in 2008. Jim Mordecai sexually abused the women in his life, including his step-daughter and his high school students. But he also seemed to have knowledge about a string of 1970s unsolved murders involving hitchhikers near his Northern California hometown. Sierra launches an investigation into Jim’s life which draws her closer to estranged relatives, but what she learns of her dead step-grandfather fits the pr...
Mar 11, 2024•47 min
A young filmmaker sets off to find his mother’s killer. What he uncovers shocks him. In this CWO Classic Rewind we’ll revisit our December 7, 2020 review of HBO’s “Murder on Middle Beach.” For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon . Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
Mar 07, 2024•34 min
Sunset Mesa Funeral Home was a trusted business for bereaved residents in Montrose, Colorado. Director Megan Hess smooth-talked family members and offered steep discounts on cremations for those who donated their bodies to science. But the community was shocked when it learned the ashes in their urns were not those of their loved ones. Investigators discovered customers were being misled as to how their remains would be used. Hess was getting rich in the shadowy world of body dealing. In the bac...
Mar 04, 2024•50 min
An aging detective with a failing memory struggles to solve the kidnapping case that has haunted him his whole career. On this CWO Classic Rewind, we'll revisit our February 4, 2019 and March 4, 2019 reviews of HBO's "True Detective" season three. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon . Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
Feb 29, 2024•51 min
After the last sunset of the year, a group of scientists vanish from their arctic research station near Ennis, Alaska. Police Chief Liz Danvers later finds the men naked and flash-frozen in the ice with no indication of how they got there. Danvers reluctantly reunites with Trooper Evangeline Navarro, her former partner still haunted by the unsolved killing of an indigenous woman. The uneasy pair seek to answer what happened at Tsalal station and whether it’s connected to Annie K’s murder. But as...
Feb 26, 2024•49 min
In 1985, Irish residents were stunned to learn the man they knew as country gentleman Michael O’Shea was actually Joseph Maloney, a fugitive from America, accused of poisoning his wife twenty years earlier. He had fled to Ireland after escaping custody in New York. Though a court ruled he be sent back to the US, a legal glitch with his extradition order allowed Maloney to flee with his second wife. Decades later, the accused murderer remains on the run, frustrating authorities on two continents....
Feb 22, 2024•41 min
The case of an unidentified hiker found dead in the Florida Everglades baffled police. He’d gone by the trail nickname “Mostly Harmless,” but no one knew who he really was. His story energized Internet sleuths who started their own investigation into the John Doe. The online community grew toxic, with splinter groups competing with one another in a search for answers. But when the identity of Mostly Harmless was uncovered and the questions to his life on the trail were answered, some wondered wh...
Feb 19, 2024•48 min
When Valentino Rodriguez Jr. died at home, his family believed it had something to do with his time in an elite investigative unit inside New Folsom Prison. He’d been driven out of the job by other corrections officers Valentino believed were behind the abuse of prisoners. KQED reporters Sukey Lewis and Julie Small began to dig through reams of newly-released documents and interview tapes, hoping to shed light on what was happening in California’s most violent prison. Meanwhile, with guidance fr...
Feb 15, 2024•43 min
Doctor Serhat Gumrukcu had been hailed as a genius whose experimental treatments for cancer and AIDS made a half-billion dollars for Enochian Biosciences. But the researcher seemed to have two obsessions: one was performing magic tricks and the other was a penchant for secrecy. Financial investors turned up troubling information on Serhat. His diplomas and other credentials were phony, and he’d left a trail of white collar crimes. They’d soon learn, on the other side of the country, a man in a b...
Feb 12, 2024•44 min
