Content warning: today’s episode covers sensitive topics including pedophilia and sexual abuse, please take care while listening. If you need support for sexual abuse, please visit: https://www.rainn.org/about-national-sexual-assault-telephone-hotline I watched Cheer Season 2 and decided: We need to talk about Jerry. Our beloved athlete known for his inspiring “mat talks” has had a fall from grace after being sued for child sexual abuse and subsequently charged with attempting to receive child p...
Feb 02, 2022•54 min
Let's go back to 1970's Chicago when the mob ruled the courts. What could go wrong? I had an incredible conversation with the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Jake Halpern. Jake is the host of the new investigative podcast, Mob Land, which just dropped this week! The story centers around Bob Cooley - a mafia "fixer" turned FBI cooperator. Jake and I get into whether or not Bob can be trusted, what justice is or isn't — especially when corruption exists — and I think I stun Jake into silence wi...
Jan 26, 2022•50 min
Ethical, transparent and accessible. Is that what comes to mind when you think of private law practice? Me either. But the work my guest today is doing, is trying to change all that. Laurie Gilbert left her work as a Prosecutor in New York City, where she tried everything from fraud to murder cases. In fact her last case was highly unique in that it took three times to get the defendant an attempted murder conviction despite the plethora of evidence and solid witnesses. This was the trial of Chr...
Jan 19, 2022•41 min
Content warning: Today's episode deals with kidnapping and abuse of minors and has some harsh language in one part. Please listen with care. Today's big question: Is it ever ok to do the wrong thing, for the right reason? We're talking about vigilantes on the show today. My guest, Sam Walker, is a multi-award winning journalist, broadcaster and podcaster. Her show, American Vigilante, is about a man named KC. KC is the American Vigilante. A hugely complex, intelligent, contradictory man who coul...
Jan 12, 2022•39 min
A DIE-ALOGUE first: CRYPTO CURRENCY. Welcome Sheona Macdonald, director of the new true crime documentary, DEAD MAN’S SWITCH: A CRYPTO MYSTERY. Streams on Discovery Plus Thursday, December 23. Don’t worry if you don’t know a lot (or anything) about crypto - at its heart, this is a true crime story complete with fraud, a mysterious death, and a suspiciously specific will! Sheona and I have an interesting conversation about what drives fraudsters and how powerful greed is. Listen to the interview ...
Dec 22, 2021•35 min
What happens when a true crime enthusiast and a true crime podcaster face off in the true crime trivia? Who wins? Who loses? Who crumbles under the pressure? You will have to listen and find out. DIE-ALOGUE Presents: a special, limited series show: YELLOW TAPE: true crime mystery trivia! Rebekah Sebastian will call a true crime contestant and a true crime podcaster, and play the game she’s hosted in NYC and in live events across the country — YELLOW TAPE: true crime trivia! Play along as you lis...
Dec 15, 2021•22 min
What happens when a true crime enthusiast and a true crime podcaster face off in the true crime trivia? Who wins? Who loses? Who crumbles under the pressure? You will have to listen and find out. DIE-ALOGUE Presents: a special, limited series show: YELLOW TAPE: true crime mystery trivia! Rebekah Sebastian will call a true crime contestant and a true crime podcaster, and play the game she’s hosted in NYC and in live events across the country — YELLOW TAPE: true crime trivia! Play along as you lis...
Dec 08, 2021•21 min
What happens when a true crime enthusiast and a true crime podcaster face off in the true crime trivia? Who wins? Who loses? Who crumbles under the pressure? You will have to listen and find out. DIE-ALOGUE Presents: a special, limited series show: YELLOW TAPE: true crime mystery trivia! Rebekah Sebastian will call a true crime contestant and a true crime podcaster, and play the game she’s hosted in NYC and in live events across the country — YELLOW TAPE: true crime trivia! Play along as you lis...
Dec 03, 2021•33 min
CONTENT WARNING: This episode deals with topics of sexual abuse against minors. As you prepare to gather with loved ones this holiday, think about how you might have some difficult, but very important conversations., particularly with the kids and teens in your life about online safety. Perhaps you're like me and you go back and forth between wanting to educate myself on this topic and, also wanting to stick my fingers in my ears and pretend it doesn't effect me or my family because the subject ...
Nov 24, 2021•50 min
What happens when a true crime enthusiast and a true crime podcaster face off in the true crime trivia? Who wins? Who loses? Who crumbles under the pressure? You will have to listen and find out. DIE-ALOGUE Presents: a special, limited series show: YELLOW TAPE: true crime mystery trivia! Every Friday for the next six weeks, Rebekah Sebastian will call a true crime contestant and a true crime podcaster, and play the game she’s hosted in NYC and in live events across the country — YELLOW TAPE: tru...
Nov 19, 2021•32 min
Content Warning: Today’s episode deals with sexual abuse and domestic violence. Please take care while listening. If you need help, please reach out to the National Domestic Abuse Hotline: 1-888- 799-SAFE. Today I spoke with Justine Ven der Leun, host of BELIEVE HER, a new podcast by Lemonada Media. BELIEVE HER is not a whodunnit. This is a complicated look at what happens when a woman who has endured abuse at the hands of her partner, shoots and kills him. Nikki Addimando went from being viewed...
Nov 17, 2021•44 min
What happens when a true crime enthusiast and a true crime podcaster face off in the true crime trivia? Who wins? Who loses? Who crumbles under the pressure? You will have to listen and find out. DIE-ALOGUE Presents: a special, limited series show: YELLOW TAPE: true crime mystery trivia! Every Friday for the next six weeks, Rebekah Sebastian will call a true crime contestant and a true crime podcaster, and play the game she’s hosted in NYC and in live events across the country — YELLOW TAPE: tru...
Nov 12, 2021•19 min
Hope you're ready to laugh about true crime! My guest today is an author, illustrator, (best known for her cartoons in The New Yorker) and comedian. She just launched a hilarious yet poignant memoir on true crime and she isn't shying away from the light side of all this darkness. Please listen so you understand what I mean because you know respect and sensitivity are always really important to me! If you'd like to win a copy of this book, I am giving one away! Just like last week, snap a pic of ...
Nov 10, 2021•42 min
What happens when a true crime enthusiast and a true crime podcaster face off in the true crime trivia? Who wins? Who loses? Who crumbles under the pressure? You will have to listen and find out. DIE-ALOGUE Presents: a special, limited series show: YELLOW TAPE: true crime mystery trivia! Every Friday for the next six weeks, Rebekah Sebastian will call a true crime contestant and a true crime podcaster, and play the game she’s hosted in NYC and in live events across the country — YELLOW TAPE: tru...
Nov 05, 2021•22 min
David Dominé has written about food, history and Southern culture with an emphasis on the city he now calls home, Louisville, Kentucky. His latest book, A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City is his first true crime book and he came by it honestly. Interested in buying an old Victorian home in the historic district of Louisville, David soon learns it was the home where two men stood accused of a vicious murder. And the victim? Jamie Carol was found in the basement buried beneath the dirt floor. Get co...
Nov 03, 2021•37 min
Elle Johnson knows how to tell a cop story. Her father was a New York City parole officer. Her uncle was an NYPD homicide detective. She’s written and produced for several shows including Homicide Life on the Street, Law & Order, and Bosch. She also wrote a memoir about her cousin Karen’s 1981 murder. Her book, The Officer’s Daughter: A Memoir of Family and Forgiveness, explores that tragedy, her complicated relationship with her father, and the surrounding criminal justice themes like sente...
Oct 27, 2021•50 min
This episode is one of my favorites to date, and I did not see that coming! I absolutely loved talking to Elie Honig. Elie is currently private counsel at a law firm, but he spent 14 years as federal and NJ state Prosecutor in Organized crime. He is responsible for taking down big names in the Italian mafia of NYC and NJ. His stories are better than the movies ( which I confess, I haven't seen) and he's telling them all in his new podcast, UP AGAINST THE MOB. Listen here: https://open.spotify.co...
Oct 20, 2021•56 min
What a thrill meeting and speaking with Rebecca Jarvis, ABC News Chief business, economics, and technology correspondent, and of course, host of the Drop Out, now in its' second season: Elizabeth Holmes on trial. We waste no time and get right into the current trial of Elizabeth Holmes, why we remain so captivated by her, who might be funding her defense, and how inaccurate Theranos results have had devastating effects on the patients who used it. Stay tuned to The Drop Out because this trial is...
Oct 13, 2021•24 min
Welcome to the perfect storm. Today's interview is with Sarah Treleaven, a writer, who produced and hosted the new podcast about Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, called The Followers: Madness of Two. You will hear a trailer at the top of the episode! In keeping with the 'Cult Adjacent' series, we discuss how Lori and Chad's beliefs factor into this story. Was Chad a cult leader? Was Lori a follower? Or vice versa? OR are the doomsday beliefs just a distraction for us, and a justification for what t...
Oct 06, 2021•52 min
It's a DIE-ALOGUE first! A top 10 list brought in part by my guest, Nick Emel, one host of the super cool show, 10ish Podcast. Nick brings me 5 cults from the year 2000- Present, and I prepared 5 from the years 1980-1999. I don't think you'll have heard of many of these? Listen and quiz yourself, but later on, refer back to the show notes for the full Top 10 list below, complete with our research sources. You can learn and enjoy a variety (like over 150) of Top 10 lists on Nick and his co-host B...
Sep 29, 2021•1 hr 29 min
I had so much fun talking with Amanda Montell, a linguist, who uses that background as the lens through which to explore cults. Between that and her Dad coming of age in the cult, Synanon, she has a lot to say about cults, and the language we all have grown used to which is ... cultish. This is a fascinating and funny conversation and will make you think twice next time you go to Soul Cycle, recovery meeting, or Boss Babe seminar. You can check out her book, CULTISH, which I really enjoyed, and ...
Sep 22, 2021•48 min
Let's kick off Season 3 with a really interesting conversation around MLM's, shall we? Are MLM's a cult? Why do so many end in disaster? The directors of LuluRich, Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason, delve into their why's and how they got LulaRow founders, Mark and Deanne, to talk, and also a burgeoning new category of content: TRUE COMEDY. Our conversation transcends leggings and gets into a more meta exploration of the genre, our broken country, and how it makes us long for something we ...
Sep 15, 2021•49 min
If DIE-ALOGUE did state of the union addresses, this episode would be considered one. WELCOME! Today you will hear all about what is ahead for Season 3 of DIE-ALOGUE. I will continue to host and produce the long form interviews you know ( and I hope love,) and I will also be adding to a few elements to the show! Time for a shake up! In addition to two in depth interviews a month, I will be adding one TRIALOGUE courtroom conversation to the main feed once a month. In these sometimes shorter, some...
Aug 25, 2021•15 min
FINAL EPISODE IN THE SUMMER SERIES! Most of you know that I have followed the NXIVM cult closely. Reporter + author, Sarah Berman, joined me on the podcast earlier this year, and today, I am airing another part of our conversation - previously only released on my Patreon exclusive show, TRIALOGUE: a court room conversation. You can learn more about TRIALOGUE and become a patron here: https://www.patreon.com/diealogue Sarah and I continue our conversation about NXIVM and Keith Raniere, with a foc...
Aug 18, 2021•18 min
I am thrilled to bring Matthew Horace back to continue the important conversation around the Chauvin verdict and what it means for police reform. Matthew is perfectly suited to lead this conversation as a former LE officer, frequent guest on news outlets, and security analyst at the Mayo Clinic. He also lives near Minneapolis and talks about the palpable relief in the community. You can learn more about him and his book which we talked about length in his original interview on DIE-ALOGUE: S1 Ep5...
Aug 11, 2021•17 min
Have you signed up for my newsletter yet? There are announcements for the podcast coming soon and I don't want you ( yes, YOU!) to miss them. There's a pop up and a box at the bottom on my website —> https://www.rebekahsebastian.com/ Love DIE-ALOGUE? Please rate + review the show! ——> https://podfollow.com/diealogue Now for today's episode! Have you kept up with Robert Durst since watching HBO's The Jinx? (Please tell me you've watched The Jinx. If not, go to HBO and watch it immediately. ...
Aug 04, 2021•31 min
SUMMER SERIES! Many of you know that I followed Derek Chauvin's trial very closely, and so his sentencing was of particular interest to me. TRIALOGUE was the perfect place to debrief the sentence which was ruled on Friday, June 25. I am playing that episode for everyone here on the main feed as it is an important conversation, not just about Chauvin's sentence, but about criminal justice reform and the matters of defunding the police/police reform. I brought on two experienced lawyers and fantas...
Jul 21, 2021•29 min
First of all, #FREEBRITNEY I was lucky ( subtle Britney reference) enough to grab some time with my friend and podcast colleague, Dr. Scott, of LA Not So Confidential Podcast. As a former dancer and forensic psychologist who works with clients facing conservatorships, he was the perfect guest to break down the ongoing legal saga around Britney Spears' conservatorship. He and his co-host, Dr. Shiloh, did an excellent deep dive episode on their show, which you can find here: https://anchor.fm/lans...
Jul 14, 2021•1 hr 3 min
This is going to be the true crime series everyone is talking about. It begins as a documentary covering one family's search for their missing daughter, Christina Whittaker. But as my guest, director, Christina Fontana, will tell you: it turns into a whole lot more. Lies, secrets, and too many WTF moments to count. Christina has been covering this story for over a decade, and she shares how she approached making the film - especially when the story took a real turn, her thoughts on sensitivity i...
Jul 07, 2021•45 min
SURPRISE! It's a bonus episode and this is one is important. This is time sensitive so please read on and then listen to the interview! UNCOVERED is a brilliant platform that is combining data and tech with great design with the energy and passion of the true crime community to help find answers and justice for COLD + UNSOLVED MISSING AND MURDERED CASES! Explore their site here: https://uncovered.com/ I spoke with Ashlee Fujawa about her role at Uncovered, how their mission developed, the best p...
Jul 01, 2021•30 min
