True Crime - Best Binge Worthy, One Case Deep Dives
A curated podcast list by AmyinAlabama
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About This List
To me, the best of the best true crime deep dives are those that not only catch and hold my attention quickly, but those that keep me invested so much that I binge the entire pod.
Bonus points for truly empathetic investigative journalists with integrity.
Always looking for a new listen to grab and hook me; updating pods as completed.
These are their stories.
- Serial investigative journalism from APM Reports, with host Madeleine Baran and a team of reporters. Season 1 looked at the abduction of Jacob Wetterling in rural Minnesota and the accountability of sheriffs in solving crime. Season 2 examined the case of Curtis Flowers, who was tried six times for the same crime. Also, a special report on Covid-19 in the Mississippi Delta.
- Susan Powell vanished on Dec. 7, 2009. Her body has never been found. From the beginning, West Valley City, Utah police suspected Susan's husband, Josh Powell, had murdered her. They never arrested him. COLD dives deep into the case files, uncovering never-before-heard details. You'll learn why Susan stayed with an abusive husband, why Josh did what he did and how the justice system failed Susan and her two boys.
- Fifteen years ago, 21-year-old Jennifer Cave went out with her friend Colton Pitonyak to celebrate getting a new job. She never showed up for her first day of work. Two days later, Jennifer’s body was found at The Orange Tree, a condo complex near the University of Texas at Austin. Pitonyak, a promising UT business student who lived in the condo, had fled to Mexico … and he wasn’t alone. He had gone with another UT student, Laura Hall. The crime’s gruesome nature, Pitonyak’s surprising defense and Hall’s mysterious involvement shocked the city of Austin. The Orange Tree is reported and hosted by Tinu Thomas and Haley Butler, who started working on the story when they were journalism students who lived and went to classes just a few blocks from the crime scene. From The Drag, a new audio production house based in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-orange-tree/support
- Host David Ridgen joins victims' family members as they investigate cold cases, tracking down leads, speaking to suspects and searching for answers. S1: Adrien McNaughton. S2: Sheryl Sheppard. S3: Dee & Moore. S4: Greavette. S5: Kerrie Brown. S6: Donald Izzett Jr.
- "Somebody Somewhere" is a true crime investigative podcast series from RainStream Media, Inc. In Season 1, hosts David Payne and Jody Gottlieb tackle the open federal investigation into the 2001 murder of federal prosecutor Tom Wales. This 18-year-old case remains one of the highest priorities of the U.S. Department of Justice and has a $1.5 million reward. In Season 2, Payne and Gottlieb take you into a world few people ever experience as they investigate a 2016 mass shooting in a Seattle homeless encampment known as "The Jungle." Three teenage brothers were arrested for the crime, but are they the real killers? Only the Jungle knows.
- Two barrels, four bodies, and an enigmatic killer. The cold case that changed the way murders will be investigated forever.
- How do you take down a criminal network that’s hidden in the shadows? How do you rescue child abuse victims who could be anywhere in the world? Hunting Warhead follows the journalists and police on a global mission to expose the darkest corners of the internet. What they discover shocks them. Host Daemon Fairless tracks down the investigators, survivors and criminals themselves. A co-production of CBC Podcasts and the Norwegian newspaper VG.
- S-Town is a new podcast from Serial and This American Life, hosted by Brian Reed, about a man named John who despises his Alabama town and decides to do something about it. He asks Brian to investigate the son of a wealthy family who's allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder. But when someone else ends up dead, the search for the truth leads to a nasty feud, a hunt for hidden treasure, and an unearthing of the mysteries of one man's life.
- Now in its third season, Hell And Gone is a podcast from iHeartRadio and School of Humans that follows writer and private investigator Catherine Townsend as she investigates unsolved deaths. This season, she investigates the death of Mitrice Richardson in Malibu, California.On September 16, 2009, the Lost Hills Sheriff's department responded to a 911 at a local restaurant where 24 year old Mitrice was behaving erratically and refused to pay her bill. Police took her to jail then released her in the middle of the night without her phone, wallet or access to her car. She was never seen alive again.
- In January of 1989 the director of Oregon’s Department of Corrections, Michael Francke, was brutally stabbed to death outside his office in Salem. The murder was quickly ruled a “car burglary gone wrong” and pinned on a low-level drug dealer named Frank Gable, a man who Francke's own brother, Kevin, along with storied Oregon reporter Phil Stanford, believe has been wrongfully imprisoned for nearly 30 years. They contend Francke had uncovered a trail of corruption in the prison system— one that led to the top of Oregon’s political establishment. Murder In Oregon follows the two men on a decades-long journey, bordering on obsession, into Oregon’s drug and crime-infested underworld to answer one question: Who really killed Michael Francke?
- Serial is a podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial unfolds one story - a true story - over the course of a whole season. The show follows the plot and characters wherever they lead, through many surprising twists and turns. Sarah won't know what happens at the end of the story until she gets there, not long before you get there with her. Each week she'll bring you the latest chapter, so it's important to listen in, starting with Episode 1. New episodes are released on Thursday mornings.
- Up and Vanished is an investigative true crime podcast hosted by Atlanta filmmaker Payne Lindsey. In Season 1, Payne tackles his first cold case story, the unsolved disappearance of Georgia high school teacher and former pageant queen, Tara Grinstead. The 11-year-old case remains the largest case file in Georgia history and is still unfolding. Season 2 focuses on the disappearance of young mother Kristal Reisinger from a remote mountain town in Colorado. Up and Vanished aims to tell compelling, true stories and give these cases the exposure they deserve.
- NXIVM (pronounced "Nexium") calls itself a humanitarian community. Experts call it a cult. Uncover: Escaping NXIVM is an investigative podcast series about the group, its leader Keith Raniere and one woman's journey to get out. From CBC Podcasts and CBC News.
- Markis, Hannah, Devonte, Abigail, Jeremiah, and Sierra Hart—six beautiful black children, ranging in age from 12 to 19—were all adopted by Sarah and Jennifer Hart, both white. On Jen’s Facebook page, it looked as if they were the perfect blended family, even earning the nickname “Hart Tribe” from friends. Then, on March 26, 2018, the family’s GMC Yukon was found belly-up on the rocks below California’s Highway 1. The news of the murder-suicide shocked their friends and made national headlines, leaving many wondering what possibly led to the fatal crash. Could these lives have been saved? Broken Harts, a new podcast from Glamour and HowStuffWorks, investigates this question with more than 30 never-before-heard interviews. Cohosts and Glamour editors Justine Harman and Elisabeth Egan and reporter Lauren Smiley follow the family’s journey from South Dakota through Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington, and finally to that 100-foot cliff in California.
- Case Closed is a true crime podcast about the times the bad guy didn’t get away with it. On season 3 of Case Closed, we look at the murder of Barbara Weaver, an Amish woman who was found shot dead in her Ohio home. But this story is so much more than a murder in the night. What secrets were hiding behind the perfectly manicured fields of Amish Country? Listen to season 3 for more.
- We all have limits. And some people who are pushed beyond those limits will do unspeakable things.In “Tally,” season One of OVER MY DEAD BODY, Dan and Wendi are two good-looking attorneys whose wedding is featured in the New York Times. But when this “perfect” couple falls apart, it leads to a bad breakup, a worse divorce, and a murder case involving a menagerie of high-priced lawyers and unexpected co-conspirators. Reported by Matthew Shaer and Eric Benson, and hosted by Matthew Shaer.Our season 2 story has moved! You can now find it with the show title Joe Exotic: Tiger King on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening right now. LINK - wondery.fm/JoeExoticTK
- In Feb 2018, an aspiring actress vanished from her Hollywood apartment. Rolling Stone journalist Neil Strauss was asked to help the family get answers. Together, they found them...sometimes at great personal risk. For the first time in a serial podcast, go inside a gripping multi-state investigation as it unfolds from the moment of the disappearance to each twist and turn in the case. Stay not only more informed than the news, but listen as the official story is dismantled with in-the-moment first-hand reporting with the leading figures in the investigation. The new #1 podcast from the team behind Up & Vanished and Atlanta Monster.
- Culpable explores unsettled cases where the people who seem deserving of blame have somehow eluded justice. On February 26, 2014, Christian Andreacchio was found dead in the upstairs bathroom of his apartment from a single gunshot wound to the head. After a mere 45-minute investigation, local police ruled his death a suicide, despite substantial evidence that points to Christian’s death not only being a homicide, but premeditated murder. Host Dennis Cooper investigates and shares a compelling story about this suspicious death, the questions surrounding it, and a grieving family’s ongoing fight for justice.
- Two days after Christmas, 2011, Russ Faria came home from game night to find his wife, Betsy, dead. He was soon charged and convicted of her murder. But Russ Faria insisted he did not kill his wife. Betsy’s brutal murder set off a chain of events that would leave one man dead, another man implicated, and expose a diabolical scheme. It would also see Dateline NBC—the true-crime original—become a part of the never-ending saga that proves the old adage: Truth is stranger than fiction. This original series from Keith Morrison and Dateline defies all expectations.
- We’re at our most vulnerable when we go to our doctors. We trust the person at the other end of that scalpel. We trust the hospital. We trust the system.Christopher Duntsch was a neurosurgeon who radiated confidence. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. If you had back pain, and had tried everything else, Dr. Duntsch could give you the spine surgery that would take your pain away.But soon his patients started to experience complications, and the system failed to protect them. Which begs the question: who - or what - is that system meant to protect?From Wondery, the network behind the hit podcast Dirty John, DR. DEATH is a story about a charming surgeon, 33 patients and a spineless system. Reported and hosted by Laura Beil.
- Debra Newell is a successful interior designer. She meets John Meehan, a handsome man who seems to check all the boxes: attentive, available, just back from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders. But her family doesn’t like John, and they get entangled in an increasingly complex web of love, deception, forgiveness, denial, and ultimately, survival. Reported and hosted by Christopher Goffard from the L.A. Times.
- I look in to some Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Ontario, Canada.
- In April 2016, hours after an argument with his wife Jessica, Griffin, Georgia police officer Matthew Boynton radios for assistance and reports hearing two gunshots coming from inside his home. Officers rush to the scene to find Jessica Boynton inside a locked closet, with an apparent gunshot wound to her head. Underneath her body, officers find her husband's service weapon. But this story of small-town romance gone wrong was far from over. The investigation into what really happened inside that closet and what happened next would captivate a small town and change the lives of one family forever. The Officer's Wife is a VAULT Studios production in collaboration with 11Alive in Atlanta.
- Welcome signs proclaim it “America’s Most Beautiful Small Town.” It’s considered the Bourbon Capital of the World. And in many ways, Bardstown, Kentucky is just like a lot of small, tight-knit communities all across the country. But just under the surface, there’s something darker. Not everyone wants to talk about it. And a lot of people would rather forget. That’s because since 2013, Bardstown has also been the site of five unsolved murders. Now, the team behind “Bomber,” “True Crime Chronicles,” and “88 Days” is digging into these cases to find out what’s really happening in Bardstown, and whether these murders could be related. And along the way uncovering a history of violence and fear in this otherwise quintessential southern town.
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