Popular Reviews of The Vanished Podcast

This is the first podcast I ever listened to and still my favorite. I used to work as a private investigator and have always had an interest in missing person cases. A woman went missing from my condo complex under very strange circumstances and she was found several months later deceased. I can't imagine the horror families must go through. Marissa Jones obviously does very thorough research and you can hear the compassion she has for the family members she interviews. I love her dedication to helping solve these cases and she has a friendly, comforting voice that makes me wish I knew her in person.

Marissa is wonderful at helping families get the word out about their missing loved ones. She does great research and is always respectful of the missing.

This podcast is absolutely horrible. Terribly exploitative. The host tries to spin this into a virtuous endeavor, as she appears to profit from others misery. Often, she claims to continuously approach law enforcement and watches as her listeners do the same. In many cases this appears to amount to a reckless waste of law enforcement resources. When her requests are refused, she often maligns the specific department on her podcast. I'm a fan of true crime, but this is exactly why journalists require a college degree and more specifically, an overview of journalistic ethics. Shame on the host!

This is one of the best true crime podcasts out there! It is very well done and the host's voice is a pleasure to listen to. Love this!

First off, let me say that I get it. The host is trying to go for something different and a unique way to approach the usual tell the story, mix in a couple of soundbites, True Crime podcast. But there are wayyyy too many interviews and it derails the story much of the time. I found myself forgetting the actual story many times because three or four interviews are played back to back. We get a lot of unnecessary background information from these people and honestly, I just got frustrated and gave up. It's a shame because the subjects are interesting and I thought I would enjoy this one, it's just the format that is horrible and ultimately makes me not want to listen anymore.

I kept wanting to like this podcast and would listen to episode after episode hoping for something to improve but it is ultimately a frustrating waste of time. Case in point the Melissa Highsmith story. There is absolutely no reason that it needed to be two episodes. If they aren't going to get information from the police or any credible source, for the love of God at least pay for both a 23&Me and Ancestry DNA test for the families! The same speculative information gets repeated over and over again and nothing of substance ever comes to light. I feel like this show exploits people and families who have gone through a horrific loss of a loved one under the weak guise of trying to be 'helpful' but the whole production feels very rushed and unprofessional.

Host has monotone rambling dialogue and constant, over the top judgment of the bad decisions, laziness and lack of character of anyone and everyone involved, and any government agency involved except the families she interviews, which she constantly paints as absolutely blameless and glowing angels. Maybe point out things to look for, and instead of just blaming every agency that tried to help. Lots of good and helpful podcast out there but this isn't one of them.

All my stars are for the subject, the host and the thought behind the podcast. The two stars missing are for the way the show is build up. All the different voices of all the people involved are confusing to me (not a native english speaker, but usually i can understand english fluently). Oftentimes the voices and what they say are also hard to make out, because it sounds like telephone calls. Especially the almost inaudible 911 calls can be left out imho. I only turn to this podcast when my fav. ones dont have any new episodes anymore..

This podcast brings to light disappearances that may not otherwise get widespread attention. Marissa is always respectful to the victims and episodes mostly consist of interviews with family or friends of the missing person. Very well done!