https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/crime-incident--7297584
Each Crime Incident episode rebuilds one case from the record: the police investigation as it really unfolded, the forensic evidence and the DNA that held up, the witness testimony that quietly fell apart, and what a jury finally decided. Some cases end in a verdict. Others end in an appeal, an exoneration, or a case file that has stayed open for forty years.

The catalog runs from famous murder trials to disappearances almost nobody covered. A missing person hunted as a suspect while his own body lay one floor above the crime scene. A killer caught by an embossed emblem on an envelope. A confession that arrived decades too late. A DNA profile matched to a phantom who never existed. Murders closed by forensic genetic genealogy, and murders where detectives are still asking for tips today.

Three rules hold in every Crime Incident episode. Confirmed evidence and disputed claims are never blurred together, and you are always told which is which. Victims are treated as people, not as plot devices. And when a case is still unsolved, you get its exact legal status, the reward if there is one, and the number to call.

Crime Incident is true crime for people who want the case file, not the rumor.

Crime Incident. The record, told straight.]]>enTrue CrimeCopyright OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENThttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/2a4ffd7c40782a0807c2d144534a8f00.jpghttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/crime-incident--7297584Sun, 06 Sep 2026 06:12:07 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTOBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTcreators@obomedia.comCrime Incident is a true crime podcast about murder investigations and the evidence they actually rest on. Each Crime Incident episode rebuilds one case from the record: the police investigation as it really unfolded, the forensic evidence and the...
Each Crime Incident episode rebuilds one case from the record: the police investigation as it really unfolded, the forensic evidence and the DNA that held up, the witness testimony that quietly fell apart, and what a jury finally decided. Some cases end in a verdict. Others end in an appeal, an exoneration, or a case file that has stayed open for forty years.

The catalog runs from famous murder trials to disappearances almost nobody covered. A missing person hunted as a suspect while his own body lay one floor above the crime scene. A killer caught by an embossed emblem on an envelope. A confession that arrived decades too late. A DNA profile matched to a phantom who never existed. Murders closed by forensic genetic genealogy, and murders where detectives are still asking for tips today.

Three rules hold in every Crime Incident episode. Confirmed evidence and disputed claims are never blurred together, and you are always told which is which. Victims are treated as people, not as plot devices. And when a case is still unsolved, you get its exact legal status, the reward if there is one, and the number to call.

Crime Incident is true crime for people who want the case file, not the rumor.

Crime Incident. The record, told straight.]]>false0aa6c84a-f8b9-5622-953c-8dc7fd4a9fe3episodichttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-road-that-kept-taking-them-the-highway-of-tears--74707831
Along roughly 720 kilometers of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, women and girls have been disappearing or turning up murdered since 1969. The RCMP officially recognizes 18 cases; Indigenous organizations count more than 40. Why did it take until 1998 for the pattern to even get a name? Why did the first bus service on this corridor arrive only in 2017, and cell coverage only in 2024? And how did DNA preserved for 38 years finally put a name to one killer while seventeen files stayed open?

In this episode, we drive the Highway of Tears from the coast inland, stopping where the road makes us stop: Tamara Chipman, a 22-year-old mother last seen near Prince Rupert in 2005; Ramona Wilson, 16, of Smithers, whose mother Matilda has walked the highway in her memory every June for three decades; and Aielah Saric-Auger, 14, found in a ditch east of Prince George in 2006. We follow Project E-Pana from its creation to its quiet defunding, and the 2012 Interpol match tying deceased American offender Bobby Jack Fowler to the 1974 murder of Colleen MacMillen, the pattern's only DNA resolution, along with the documented caveats around his suspected role.

Person: Tamara Chipman, 22; Ramona Wilson, 16; Aielah Saric-Auger, 14; Colleen MacMillen, 16; and the wider E-Pana list
Date: 1969 to 2006 (official list), with cases continuing after
Location: Highway 16 and connected Highways 97 and 5, northern British Columbia, Canada
Case: 13 homicides and 5 disappearances on the official RCMP list; 40+ per Indigenous organizations
Legal status: One E-Pana conviction (Garry Handlen, 2019); Fowler named by DNA but never charged; most files remain open and active

- The 23 First Nations communities left without transit or cell coverage for decades
- E-Pana's rise to 70 investigators and fall to 12
- The Fowler DNA match and what it does and does not prove
- The Highway of Tears Symposium's 33 recommendations, the Oppal report, and the MMIWG inquiry's 231 Calls for Justice
- The tip lines still open and the families still walking

The Highway of Tears missing women cases remain among Canada's most urgent unsolved files, and the Highway of Tears story is still being written.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707831Sun, 06 Sep 2026 06:12:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Road That Kept Taking Them: The Highway of Tears Along roughly 720 kilometers of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, women and girls have been disappearing or turning up murdered since 1969. The RCMP officially...
Along roughly 720 kilometers of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, women and girls have been disappearing or turning up murdered since 1969. The RCMP officially recognizes 18 cases; Indigenous organizations count more than 40. Why did it take until 1998 for the pattern to even get a name? Why did the first bus service on this corridor arrive only in 2017, and cell coverage only in 2024? And how did DNA preserved for 38 years finally put a name to one killer while seventeen files stayed open?

In this episode, we drive the Highway of Tears from the coast inland, stopping where the road makes us stop: Tamara Chipman, a 22-year-old mother last seen near Prince Rupert in 2005; Ramona Wilson, 16, of Smithers, whose mother Matilda has walked the highway in her memory every June for three decades; and Aielah Saric-Auger, 14, found in a ditch east of Prince George in 2006. We follow Project E-Pana from its creation to its quiet defunding, and the 2012 Interpol match tying deceased American offender Bobby Jack Fowler to the 1974 murder of Colleen MacMillen, the pattern's only DNA resolution, along with the documented caveats around his suspected role.

Person: Tamara Chipman, 22; Ramona Wilson, 16; Aielah Saric-Auger, 14; Colleen MacMillen, 16; and the wider E-Pana list
Date: 1969 to 2006 (official list), with cases continuing after
Location: Highway 16 and connected Highways 97 and 5, northern British Columbia, Canada
Case: 13 homicides and 5 disappearances on the official RCMP list; 40+ per Indigenous organizations
Legal status: One E-Pana conviction (Garry Handlen, 2019); Fowler named by DNA but never charged; most files remain open and active

- The 23 First Nations communities left without transit or cell coverage for decades
- E-Pana's rise to 70 investigators and fall to 12
- The Fowler DNA match and what it does and does not prove
- The Highway of Tears Symposium's 33 recommendations, the Oppal report, and the MMIWG inquiry's 231 Calls for Justice
- The tip lines still open and the families still walking

The Highway of Tears missing women cases remain among Canada's most urgent unsolved files, and the Highway of Tears story is still being written.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1231falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/two-files-on-one-death-the-kendrick-johnson-case--74707830
On January 11, 2013, students at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia, found 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson dead inside an upright rolled wrestling mat. The GBI ruled his death an accident, positional asphyxia. A pathologist hired by his family ruled blunt force trauma consistent with inflicted injury, and discovered that Kendrick's internal organs were missing, his body packed with newspaper before burial. How did no camera capture his final moments? Where did the organs go? And why does a case closed by the Justice Department, and closed again by the local sheriff, still carry a 500,000 dollar reward?

In this episode, we open the Kendrick Johnson case as two parallel files: the official one, built by the GBI, the DOJ and two sheriffs, and the family's, built through three autopsies and more than a decade of lawsuits. We follow the timeline from the 1:09 pm camera footage to the discovery in the old gym, the second autopsy and the missing organs, the 290 hours of surveillance video and its disputed gaps, the three-year federal probe closed in 2016, the cleared brothers the FBI found no evidence against, Sheriff Paulk's 2022 review of 17 boxes of federal files, and the litigation still alive in 2026.

Person: Kendrick Lamar Johnson, 17
Date: January 10 to 11, 2013
Location: Valdosta, Georgia
Case: Death inside a rolled gym mat at Lowndes High School; officially ruled accidental, disputed by family autopsies
Legal status: No one has ever been arrested or charged; DOJ closed its probe in 2016, Sheriff Paulk closed a reopened review in 2022, and the family's 10 billion dollar federal suit filed in March 2026 is pending, while the case remains active with a 500,000 dollar reward

- The camera that could not see the mat corner
- The second autopsy, the missing organs and the newspaper
- What the DOJ's three-year investigation did and did not conclude
- The accused brothers, cleared by the FBI and the sheriff
- Two files, thirteen years, and no version both sides can sign

The Kendrick Johnson case is still officially active, and the fight over the Kendrick Johnson autopsy findings is not over.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707830Fri, 04 Sep 2026 20:36:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTTwo Files on One Death: The Kendrick Johnson Case On January 11, 2013, students at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia, found 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson dead inside an upright rolled wrestling mat. The GBI ruled his death an accident,...
On January 11, 2013, students at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia, found 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson dead inside an upright rolled wrestling mat. The GBI ruled his death an accident, positional asphyxia. A pathologist hired by his family ruled blunt force trauma consistent with inflicted injury, and discovered that Kendrick's internal organs were missing, his body packed with newspaper before burial. How did no camera capture his final moments? Where did the organs go? And why does a case closed by the Justice Department, and closed again by the local sheriff, still carry a 500,000 dollar reward?

In this episode, we open the Kendrick Johnson case as two parallel files: the official one, built by the GBI, the DOJ and two sheriffs, and the family's, built through three autopsies and more than a decade of lawsuits. We follow the timeline from the 1:09 pm camera footage to the discovery in the old gym, the second autopsy and the missing organs, the 290 hours of surveillance video and its disputed gaps, the three-year federal probe closed in 2016, the cleared brothers the FBI found no evidence against, Sheriff Paulk's 2022 review of 17 boxes of federal files, and the litigation still alive in 2026.

Person: Kendrick Lamar Johnson, 17
Date: January 10 to 11, 2013
Location: Valdosta, Georgia
Case: Death inside a rolled gym mat at Lowndes High School; officially ruled accidental, disputed by family autopsies
Legal status: No one has ever been arrested or charged; DOJ closed its probe in 2016, Sheriff Paulk closed a reopened review in 2022, and the family's 10 billion dollar federal suit filed in March 2026 is pending, while the case remains active with a 500,000 dollar reward

- The camera that could not see the mat corner
- The second autopsy, the missing organs and the newspaper
- What the DOJ's three-year investigation did and did not conclude
- The accused brothers, cleared by the FBI and the sheriff
- Two files, thirteen years, and no version both sides can sign

The Kendrick Johnson case is still officially active, and the fight over the Kendrick Johnson autopsy findings is not over.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1191falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-ran-out-after-one-phone-call-the-rey-rivera-case--74707829
On May 16, 2006, Rey Rivera, a 32 year old writer and former professional water polo player, took a phone call at his Baltimore home and ran out the door saying he was late for something. Eight days later his body was found inside a locked, disused conference room of the historic Belvedere Hotel, beneath a hole in its roof. His phone and glasses sat near the opening, almost undamaged. Who called him from the switchboard of his employer's parent company that afternoon? Why was a cryptic note taped behind his computer, a note the FBI ruled was not a farewell? And how does a man with a documented fear of heights end up above a rooftop he had no known way to reach?

In this episode, we put the three competing explanations on trial before you, the listener: an accidental fall that no official body has endorsed, the Baltimore Police classification of probable suicide that was never formalized as a closure, and the staged homicide alleged by Rey's widow Allison and by Michael Baier, the first homicide detective on the case, who was reassigned three weeks into his investigation. Every claim is attributed, including Porter Stansberry's categorical denial of the allegation that his company obstructed investigators, and the medical examiner's only official ruling: manner of death undetermined.

Person: Rey Omar Rivera, 32, writer, videographer and former water polo coach
Date: Disappeared May 16, 2006; found May 24, 2006
Location: Belvedere Hotel annex, Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Maryland
Case: Disputed death; cause blunt force trauma from a fall, manner undetermined
Legal status: Open with Baltimore Police; no arrest, no named suspect and no change of classification as of 2026

- The unidentified switchboard call that made him run
- The tiny typed note hidden behind his computer and the FBI's analysis
- Flip-flops, undamaged glasses and a missing engraved money clip
- Detective Baier's staging claim and his abrupt reassignment
- The Netflix wave, the tips, and the homework nobody ever did

Nineteen years later, the Rey Rivera case still has three open verdicts and one unanswered phone call.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707829Thu, 03 Sep 2026 11:00:03 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Ran Out After One Phone Call: The Rey Rivera Case On May 16, 2006, Rey Rivera, a 32 year old writer and former professional water polo player, took a phone call at his Baltimore home and ran out the door saying he was late for something. Eight...
On May 16, 2006, Rey Rivera, a 32 year old writer and former professional water polo player, took a phone call at his Baltimore home and ran out the door saying he was late for something. Eight days later his body was found inside a locked, disused conference room of the historic Belvedere Hotel, beneath a hole in its roof. His phone and glasses sat near the opening, almost undamaged. Who called him from the switchboard of his employer's parent company that afternoon? Why was a cryptic note taped behind his computer, a note the FBI ruled was not a farewell? And how does a man with a documented fear of heights end up above a rooftop he had no known way to reach?

In this episode, we put the three competing explanations on trial before you, the listener: an accidental fall that no official body has endorsed, the Baltimore Police classification of probable suicide that was never formalized as a closure, and the staged homicide alleged by Rey's widow Allison and by Michael Baier, the first homicide detective on the case, who was reassigned three weeks into his investigation. Every claim is attributed, including Porter Stansberry's categorical denial of the allegation that his company obstructed investigators, and the medical examiner's only official ruling: manner of death undetermined.

Person: Rey Omar Rivera, 32, writer, videographer and former water polo coach
Date: Disappeared May 16, 2006; found May 24, 2006
Location: Belvedere Hotel annex, Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Maryland
Case: Disputed death; cause blunt force trauma from a fall, manner undetermined
Legal status: Open with Baltimore Police; no arrest, no named suspect and no change of classification as of 2026

- The unidentified switchboard call that made him run
- The tiny typed note hidden behind his computer and the FBI's analysis
- Flip-flops, undamaged glasses and a missing engraved money clip
- Detective Baier's staging claim and his abrupt reassignment
- The Netflix wave, the tips, and the homework nobody ever did

Nineteen years later, the Rey Rivera case still has three open verdicts and one unanswered phone call.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1162falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-will-never-find-him-the-timmothy-pitzen-case--74707828
On May 11, 2011, Amy Fry-Pitzen walked into Greenman Elementary School in Aurora, Illinois, and signed her six-year-old son Timmothy out of kindergarten, citing a family emergency that did not exist. For three days she took him on a farewell tour of everything he loved, a zoo and two water park resorts, before checking into a Rockford motel alone. She was found dead by suicide the next afternoon, leaving a note saying her son was safe with people who love him, and that he would never be found. Timmothy Pitzen has not been seen since.

In this episode, we walk the edges of the one question that defines the case: what did Amy do in the roughly six unaccounted hours after she switched off her phone near Sterling, Illinois, with Timmothy audible in the background of her final calls? We follow the forensic geology that reconstructed a treeless meadow from dust under her SUV, the unexplained winter trips she made to that same rural corridor months earlier, the secret email account, the blood evidence that alarmed investigators and was later explained, and the 2019 Brian Rini hoax that put a grieving family through a day of false hope before DNA ended it.

Person: Timmothy James Pitzen, 6 years old
Date: May 11 to 14, 2011
Location: Aurora, Wisconsin Dells, Sterling and Rockford, Illinois
Case: Missing child; mother died by suicide, never charged; no proof of life, no proof of death
Status: Open and active with Aurora Police; 15 years marked in May 2026; Timmothy would now be 21

- The false emergency and the three-day water park itinerary
- The last image at the Kalahari Resort and the phone switched off near Sterling
- The meadow reconstructed from the SUV: Lee and Whiteside Counties
- The note, the letters, and the child ID card left in Room 108
- The 2019 impostor, the only prosecution the case ever produced

Tips: NCMEC 1-800-THE-LOST or Aurora Police at 630-256-5516. Somewhere, someone remembers that meadow.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707828Wed, 02 Sep 2026 01:24:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTYou Will Never Find Him: The Timmothy Pitzen Case On May 11, 2011, Amy Fry-Pitzen walked into Greenman Elementary School in Aurora, Illinois, and signed her six-year-old son Timmothy out of kindergarten, citing a family emergency that did not...
On May 11, 2011, Amy Fry-Pitzen walked into Greenman Elementary School in Aurora, Illinois, and signed her six-year-old son Timmothy out of kindergarten, citing a family emergency that did not exist. For three days she took him on a farewell tour of everything he loved, a zoo and two water park resorts, before checking into a Rockford motel alone. She was found dead by suicide the next afternoon, leaving a note saying her son was safe with people who love him, and that he would never be found. Timmothy Pitzen has not been seen since.

In this episode, we walk the edges of the one question that defines the case: what did Amy do in the roughly six unaccounted hours after she switched off her phone near Sterling, Illinois, with Timmothy audible in the background of her final calls? We follow the forensic geology that reconstructed a treeless meadow from dust under her SUV, the unexplained winter trips she made to that same rural corridor months earlier, the secret email account, the blood evidence that alarmed investigators and was later explained, and the 2019 Brian Rini hoax that put a grieving family through a day of false hope before DNA ended it.

Person: Timmothy James Pitzen, 6 years old
Date: May 11 to 14, 2011
Location: Aurora, Wisconsin Dells, Sterling and Rockford, Illinois
Case: Missing child; mother died by suicide, never charged; no proof of life, no proof of death
Status: Open and active with Aurora Police; 15 years marked in May 2026; Timmothy would now be 21

- The false emergency and the three-day water park itinerary
- The last image at the Kalahari Resort and the phone switched off near Sterling
- The meadow reconstructed from the SUV: Lee and Whiteside Counties
- The note, the letters, and the child ID card left in Room 108
- The 2019 impostor, the only prosecution the case ever produced

Tips: NCMEC 1-800-THE-LOST or Aurora Police at 630-256-5516. Somewhere, someone remembers that meadow.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1199falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/every-phone-in-america-knows-her-name-the-amber-hagerman-case--74707827
On January 13, 1996, nine-year-old Amber Hagerman left her grandparents' house in Arlington, Texas, on her bicycle at 3:10 p.m. Eight minutes later, a neighbor watched a man in a black pickup truck grab her off the bike in an abandoned grocery store parking lot and drive away. Four days later she was found in a creek, and investigators concluded she had been kept alive for two days while the whole city searched. Her killer has never been identified. Yet her name is on every phone in the country: the AMBER Alert, credited with rescuing more than 1,100 abducted children, was born from her case, after one Dallas-Fort Worth radio listener asked a simple question: we have alerts for tornadoes, why not for abducted children?

In this episode, we follow the Amber Hagerman case in pure chronology: the eight minutes, the lone eyewitness and the truck description that has not changed in 30 years, the storm that washed away the evidence, six false confessions and more than 7,000 tips, the laundromat witnesses police believe never came forward out of fear, the 2021 disclosure of preserved DNA evidence, and the 30th anniversary in January 2026, when her mother spoke directly to the killer: turn yourself in, give Amber justice.

Person: Amber Rene Hagerman, 9, of Arlington, Texas
Date: Abducted January 13, 1996; found January 17, 1996
Location: Arlington, Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth)
Case: Abduction and murder; origin of the AMBER Alert system
Legal status: Unsolved and active; no suspect ever named or charged; tip line 817-575-8823; $10,000 Oak Farms Dairy reward

- The 3:10 departure, the bike ramp, and the eight-minute window
- Jimmie Kevil, the only eyewitness, and the black single-cab pickup
- Two days alive: what the timeline implies about the killer
- Diana Simone's radio call and how the AMBER Alert went national
- The 2021 DNA disclosure and the Carla Walker genealogy model

The system that saves the missing was built on a case nobody solved. Thirty years later, the Amber Hagerman case is still waiting for its own alert to be answered.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707827Mon, 31 Aug 2026 15:48:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTEvery Phone in America Knows Her Name: The Amber Hagerman Case On January 13, 1996, nine-year-old Amber Hagerman left her grandparents' house in Arlington, Texas, on her bicycle at 3:10 p.m. Eight minutes later, a neighbor watched a man in a black...
On January 13, 1996, nine-year-old Amber Hagerman left her grandparents' house in Arlington, Texas, on her bicycle at 3:10 p.m. Eight minutes later, a neighbor watched a man in a black pickup truck grab her off the bike in an abandoned grocery store parking lot and drive away. Four days later she was found in a creek, and investigators concluded she had been kept alive for two days while the whole city searched. Her killer has never been identified. Yet her name is on every phone in the country: the AMBER Alert, credited with rescuing more than 1,100 abducted children, was born from her case, after one Dallas-Fort Worth radio listener asked a simple question: we have alerts for tornadoes, why not for abducted children?

In this episode, we follow the Amber Hagerman case in pure chronology: the eight minutes, the lone eyewitness and the truck description that has not changed in 30 years, the storm that washed away the evidence, six false confessions and more than 7,000 tips, the laundromat witnesses police believe never came forward out of fear, the 2021 disclosure of preserved DNA evidence, and the 30th anniversary in January 2026, when her mother spoke directly to the killer: turn yourself in, give Amber justice.

Person: Amber Rene Hagerman, 9, of Arlington, Texas
Date: Abducted January 13, 1996; found January 17, 1996
Location: Arlington, Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth)
Case: Abduction and murder; origin of the AMBER Alert system
Legal status: Unsolved and active; no suspect ever named or charged; tip line 817-575-8823; $10,000 Oak Farms Dairy reward

- The 3:10 departure, the bike ramp, and the eight-minute window
- Jimmie Kevil, the only eyewitness, and the black single-cab pickup
- Two days alive: what the timeline implies about the killer
- Diana Simone's radio call and how the AMBER Alert went national
- The 2021 DNA disclosure and the Carla Walker genealogy model

The system that saves the missing was built on a case nobody solved. Thirty years later, the Amber Hagerman case is still waiting for its own alert to be answered.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1166falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-neighbor-across-the-street-the-origin-of-megan-s-law--74707826
On July 29, 1994, seven-year-old Megan Kanka was lured into the house directly across the street from her family's home in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, by a neighbor who promised to show her a puppy. Jesse Timmendequas had two prior convictions for sexually assaulting young girls and had spent six years in the state's treatment center for repetitive offenders. Her parents had lived on that street for sixteen years and knew none of it, because in 1994 no law required anyone to tell them. Why did the state know everything about that house while the street knew nothing? And how did one murder produce a new law in just 89 days?

In this episode, we follow the Megan Kanka case from the night search her killer joined, handing out flyers for the child he had murdered, to his confession one day later and the discovery that detonated under the town: three convicted sex offenders had been living in that one house, invisible to every family on the block. We trace Maureen Kanka's campaign, the fastest legislative sprint in modern memory, the 1997 capital trial, and the honest, still unresolved debate over whether notification laws actually prevent these crimes.

Person: Megan Nicole Kanka, 7 years old
Date: July 29, 1994
Location: Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey
Case: Abduction, sexual assault, and murder by a neighbor; solved in one day by confession
Legal status: Jesse Timmendequas convicted on all counts in 1997 and sentenced to death; sentence commuted to life without parole in December 2007 when New Jersey abolished the death penalty; he remains imprisoned with no possibility of release

- The house that held three convicted sex offenders no neighbor knew about
- The killer who joined the search for his own victim
- Megan's Law signed in New Jersey 89 days after the murder, federal law in 1996
- The penalty phase, the 2007 commutation, and Maureen Kanka's objection
- Megan's Place: the murder house demolished and turned into a children's park

The Megan Kanka case rewrote what every American family is allowed to know about the street where they live.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707826Sun, 30 Aug 2026 06:12:01 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Neighbor Across the Street: The Origin of Megan's Law On July 29, 1994, seven-year-old Megan Kanka was lured into the house directly across the street from her family's home in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, by a neighbor who promised to show...
On July 29, 1994, seven-year-old Megan Kanka was lured into the house directly across the street from her family's home in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, by a neighbor who promised to show her a puppy. Jesse Timmendequas had two prior convictions for sexually assaulting young girls and had spent six years in the state's treatment center for repetitive offenders. Her parents had lived on that street for sixteen years and knew none of it, because in 1994 no law required anyone to tell them. Why did the state know everything about that house while the street knew nothing? And how did one murder produce a new law in just 89 days?

In this episode, we follow the Megan Kanka case from the night search her killer joined, handing out flyers for the child he had murdered, to his confession one day later and the discovery that detonated under the town: three convicted sex offenders had been living in that one house, invisible to every family on the block. We trace Maureen Kanka's campaign, the fastest legislative sprint in modern memory, the 1997 capital trial, and the honest, still unresolved debate over whether notification laws actually prevent these crimes.

Person: Megan Nicole Kanka, 7 years old
Date: July 29, 1994
Location: Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey
Case: Abduction, sexual assault, and murder by a neighbor; solved in one day by confession
Legal status: Jesse Timmendequas convicted on all counts in 1997 and sentenced to death; sentence commuted to life without parole in December 2007 when New Jersey abolished the death penalty; he remains imprisoned with no possibility of release

- The house that held three convicted sex offenders no neighbor knew about
- The killer who joined the search for his own victim
- Megan's Law signed in New Jersey 89 days after the murder, federal law in 1996
- The penalty phase, the 2007 commutation, and Maureen Kanka's objection
- Megan's Place: the murder house demolished and turned into a children's park

The Megan Kanka case rewrote what every American family is allowed to know about the street where they live.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1159falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-answer-was-in-the-file-the-jacob-wetterling-case--74707825
On October 22, 1989, eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling was biking home from a convenience store in St. Joseph, Minnesota, with his brother and a friend when a masked man with a revolver took him and vanished. For 27 years his fate was unknown. But the man responsible, Danny Heinrich, was questioned by investigators within months of the abduction. They took his shoe prints, his tire impressions, and his hair samples, and then they let him go. His name sat inside a 41,787-page case file for a quarter of a century.

In this episode, we run two clocks in parallel: the night of 1989 and the long search that followed, and the 2015-2016 resolution that finally solved the case sideways, through DNA from a different victim's clothing. We follow the porch lights left on across Minnesota, the innocent farmer publicly branded a person of interest while his land was dug up with backhoes, the blogger and the survivor whose citizen work pushed the investigation back to life, and the plea deal that traded a murder charge for the truth: Heinrich confessed in open court and led investigators to Jacob's remains, but no one has ever been convicted of killing him, and no one now can be.

Person: Jacob Erwin Wetterling, 11
Date: October 22, 1989
Location: St. Joseph, Minnesota
Case: Abduction and murder; remains recovered September 2, 2016
Legal status: Danny Heinrich confessed under oath in 2016 and was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on a child pornography count; he was never charged with the murder and remains a candidate for civil commitment at release

- The 1990 questioning that collected evidence and released the killer
- Dan Rassier, the innocent man who lost six years to a label
- The Scheierl DNA match and the citizen sleuths who resurfaced the pattern
- The plea deal: truth or nothing
- The Jacob Wetterling Act and Patty Wetterling's 27 years of advocacy

The Jacob Wetterling case became the sheriff's own four-word verdict: all of us failed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707825Fri, 28 Aug 2026 20:36:01 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Answer Was in the File: The Jacob Wetterling Case On October 22, 1989, eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling was biking home from a convenience store in St. Joseph, Minnesota, with his brother and a friend when a masked man with a revolver took him...
On October 22, 1989, eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling was biking home from a convenience store in St. Joseph, Minnesota, with his brother and a friend when a masked man with a revolver took him and vanished. For 27 years his fate was unknown. But the man responsible, Danny Heinrich, was questioned by investigators within months of the abduction. They took his shoe prints, his tire impressions, and his hair samples, and then they let him go. His name sat inside a 41,787-page case file for a quarter of a century.

In this episode, we run two clocks in parallel: the night of 1989 and the long search that followed, and the 2015-2016 resolution that finally solved the case sideways, through DNA from a different victim's clothing. We follow the porch lights left on across Minnesota, the innocent farmer publicly branded a person of interest while his land was dug up with backhoes, the blogger and the survivor whose citizen work pushed the investigation back to life, and the plea deal that traded a murder charge for the truth: Heinrich confessed in open court and led investigators to Jacob's remains, but no one has ever been convicted of killing him, and no one now can be.

Person: Jacob Erwin Wetterling, 11
Date: October 22, 1989
Location: St. Joseph, Minnesota
Case: Abduction and murder; remains recovered September 2, 2016
Legal status: Danny Heinrich confessed under oath in 2016 and was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on a child pornography count; he was never charged with the murder and remains a candidate for civil commitment at release

- The 1990 questioning that collected evidence and released the killer
- Dan Rassier, the innocent man who lost six years to a label
- The Scheierl DNA match and the citizen sleuths who resurfaced the pattern
- The plea deal: truth or nothing
- The Jacob Wetterling Act and Patty Wetterling's 27 years of advocacy

The Jacob Wetterling case became the sheriff's own four-word verdict: all of us failed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1177falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/taken-from-her-own-sleepover-the-polly-klaas-case--74707823
On October 1, 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was abducted at knifepoint from her own bedroom in Petaluma, California, during a slumber party, while her mother slept in the next room. Hours later, sheriff's deputies stood face to face with her kidnapper on a rural road and helped him pull his car out of a ditch, never knowing who he was. Why did the all-points bulletin never reach their radios? Why was no criminal record check run on a twice-convicted kidnapper out on parole? And how did a single palm print on a bunk bed rail, useless for two months, finally end one of the largest manhunts in FBI history?

In this episode, we follow the Polly Klaas case through one question: how many times was the system one step away from saving her? From the parole release of Richard Allen Davis to the Pythian Road encounter on the night of the kidnapping, from a missed DUI arrest in Ukiah to the near-impossible records chase that found his palm print in a 1985 Modesto booking file, we trace the layered institutional failures behind 65 days of searching, 60,000 tips, and the confession that led investigators to a grave near Cloverdale.

Person: Polly Hannah Klaas, 12
Date: October 1, 1993
Location: Petaluma, California
Case: Kidnapping and murder; suspect identified by palm print match
Legal status: Richard Allen Davis convicted in 1996 and sentenced to death; upheld by the California Supreme Court in 2009; his petition to vacate the death sentence was denied in May 2024, and the sentence stands under California's execution moratorium

- The deputies who freed his stuck car hours after the abduction
- The APB that never reached their radio channels
- 48 latent prints, one unmatched palm, and a borrowed light source
- Dana Jaffe's hillside discovery and a detective's all-night phone hunt
- Three Strikes, the Polly Klaas Foundation, and the reforms that followed

The Polly Klaas kidnapping changed FBI forensics and California law, and the questions raised by the Polly Klaas case are still open.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707823Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:00:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTTaken From Her Own Sleepover: The Polly Klaas Case On October 1, 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was abducted at knifepoint from her own bedroom in Petaluma, California, during a slumber party, while her mother slept in the next room. Hours later,...
On October 1, 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was abducted at knifepoint from her own bedroom in Petaluma, California, during a slumber party, while her mother slept in the next room. Hours later, sheriff's deputies stood face to face with her kidnapper on a rural road and helped him pull his car out of a ditch, never knowing who he was. Why did the all-points bulletin never reach their radios? Why was no criminal record check run on a twice-convicted kidnapper out on parole? And how did a single palm print on a bunk bed rail, useless for two months, finally end one of the largest manhunts in FBI history?

In this episode, we follow the Polly Klaas case through one question: how many times was the system one step away from saving her? From the parole release of Richard Allen Davis to the Pythian Road encounter on the night of the kidnapping, from a missed DUI arrest in Ukiah to the near-impossible records chase that found his palm print in a 1985 Modesto booking file, we trace the layered institutional failures behind 65 days of searching, 60,000 tips, and the confession that led investigators to a grave near Cloverdale.

Person: Polly Hannah Klaas, 12
Date: October 1, 1993
Location: Petaluma, California
Case: Kidnapping and murder; suspect identified by palm print match
Legal status: Richard Allen Davis convicted in 1996 and sentenced to death; upheld by the California Supreme Court in 2009; his petition to vacate the death sentence was denied in May 2024, and the sentence stands under California's execution moratorium

- The deputies who freed his stuck car hours after the abduction
- The APB that never reached their radio channels
- 48 latent prints, one unmatched palm, and a borrowed light source
- Dana Jaffe's hillside discovery and a detective's all-night phone hunt
- Three Strikes, the Polly Klaas Foundation, and the reforms that followed

The Polly Klaas kidnapping changed FBI forensics and California law, and the questions raised by the Polly Klaas case are still open.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1158falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/ninety-minutes-too-late-the-adam-walsh-case--74707822
How does a six-year-old vanish from a Sears that stood directly across the street from a police station? Why did more than ninety minutes pass before anyone called the police? And how did the confessed killer's own car, with blood on the floorboards, simply disappear from an evidence room?

In this episode, we follow the Adam Walsh case from the beginning: a routine shopping trip to the Hollywood Mall in Florida on July 27, 1981, an Atari kiosk, a security guard who put a shy little boy out the wrong door, and the sixteen-day search that ended in a drainage canal one hundred thirty miles away. We trace the drifting confessions of Ottis Toole, the catastrophic loss of the physical evidence that could have proven or destroyed them, the Jeffrey Dahmer detour, and the 2008 announcement that closed the case without a single day in court. Then we follow what the Walsh family built out of the wreckage, because this is the case that rewired how America responds when a child goes missing.

Person: Adam John Walsh, 6 years old
Date: July 27, 1981
Location: Hollywood, Florida, United States
Case: Child abduction and murder, closed by police in 2008 and attributed to Ottis Toole
Legal status: No one was ever arrested, charged, or convicted; Toole died in prison in 1996, and the 2008 closure was an administrative determination, never tested in court

- The store procedure that ejected a timid six-year-old through an unfamiliar exit, alone
- The ninety-minute gap before police were called, in an era that told parents to wait days
- Ottis Toole's twenty-four confessions, his recantations, and the details he got wrong
- The bloodstained carpet and the Cadillac that investigators lost before DNA testing existed
- The legacy: Code Adam, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, America's Most Wanted, and the Adam Walsh Act

The Adam Walsh case changed American law, policing, and parenting forever. Listen now to understand why the Adam Walsh case is remembered as the abduction that built the modern missing-children system.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707822Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:47 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTNinety Minutes Too Late: The Adam Walsh Case How does a six-year-old vanish from a Sears that stood directly across the street from a police station? Why did more than ninety minutes pass before anyone called the police? And how did the confessed...
How does a six-year-old vanish from a Sears that stood directly across the street from a police station? Why did more than ninety minutes pass before anyone called the police? And how did the confessed killer's own car, with blood on the floorboards, simply disappear from an evidence room?

In this episode, we follow the Adam Walsh case from the beginning: a routine shopping trip to the Hollywood Mall in Florida on July 27, 1981, an Atari kiosk, a security guard who put a shy little boy out the wrong door, and the sixteen-day search that ended in a drainage canal one hundred thirty miles away. We trace the drifting confessions of Ottis Toole, the catastrophic loss of the physical evidence that could have proven or destroyed them, the Jeffrey Dahmer detour, and the 2008 announcement that closed the case without a single day in court. Then we follow what the Walsh family built out of the wreckage, because this is the case that rewired how America responds when a child goes missing.

Person: Adam John Walsh, 6 years old
Date: July 27, 1981
Location: Hollywood, Florida, United States
Case: Child abduction and murder, closed by police in 2008 and attributed to Ottis Toole
Legal status: No one was ever arrested, charged, or convicted; Toole died in prison in 1996, and the 2008 closure was an administrative determination, never tested in court

- The store procedure that ejected a timid six-year-old through an unfamiliar exit, alone
- The ninety-minute gap before police were called, in an era that told parents to wait days
- Ottis Toole's twenty-four confessions, his recantations, and the details he got wrong
- The bloodstained carpet and the Cadillac that investigators lost before DNA testing existed
- The legacy: Code Adam, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, America's Most Wanted, and the Adam Walsh Act

The Adam Walsh case changed American law, policing, and parenting forever. Listen now to understand why the Adam Walsh case is remembered as the abduction that built the modern missing-children system.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1093falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-told-him-not-to-call-the-police-the-maura-murray-case--74707821
On February 9, 2004, 21-year-old nursing student Maura Murray crashed her Saturn on a dark curve of Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire. A bus driver stopped to help; by his account, she waved him off, saying she had already called AAA, on a road with no cell service. Nineteen minutes after the first 911 call, police found a locked car and no driver. She has never been seen again. Why would she claim to have called AAA on a road with no signal? Where did she go in those nineteen minutes? And why did a full search not begin for 36 hours?

In this episode, we rebuild the last four days of Maura Murray's life, the phone call that left her sobbing at her campus security desk, the 3:30 a.m. guardrail crash in her father's car, the false email about a death in the family, the $280 withdrawn from an ATM, and the nineteen-minute window on Wild Ammonoosuc Road where she vanished. Then we follow the case into the rooms where it was fought: the 36-hour delay before a full search, the "voluntary departure" framing that shaped everything, and the Right-to-Know lawsuit that forced New Hampshire to reveal a 2,938-page file, four polygraphs, and a sworn affidavit putting the odds of criminal charges at 75 percent, while a father was handed only 50 pages.

Person: Maura Ann Murray, 21, UMass Amherst nursing student and former West Point cadet
Date: February 9, 2004
Location: Route 112 (Wild Ammonoosuc Road), Haverhill, New Hampshire
Case: Suspicious disappearance; no body ever found
Legal status: No arrests or charges ever filed; open and active with the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit and FBI ViCAP, with an age-progression image released in 2024

- The three phone calls of February 9, and the one that could never have connected
- The scent trail that reportedly ended in the middle of the road
- The basement excavation, the 2021 bone fragments, and the 2022 search
- The fingerprint reported on a CD in her car, alleged, denied, and never charged
- A family's fight for a New Hampshire Cold Case Commission

Twenty-two years later, the case remains open, and investigators say one phone call could still break it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707821Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:43 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Told Him Not to Call the Police On February 9, 2004, 21-year-old nursing student Maura Murray crashed her Saturn on a dark curve of Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire. A bus driver stopped to help; by his account, she waved him off, saying...
On February 9, 2004, 21-year-old nursing student Maura Murray crashed her Saturn on a dark curve of Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire. A bus driver stopped to help; by his account, she waved him off, saying she had already called AAA, on a road with no cell service. Nineteen minutes after the first 911 call, police found a locked car and no driver. She has never been seen again. Why would she claim to have called AAA on a road with no signal? Where did she go in those nineteen minutes? And why did a full search not begin for 36 hours?

In this episode, we rebuild the last four days of Maura Murray's life, the phone call that left her sobbing at her campus security desk, the 3:30 a.m. guardrail crash in her father's car, the false email about a death in the family, the $280 withdrawn from an ATM, and the nineteen-minute window on Wild Ammonoosuc Road where she vanished. Then we follow the case into the rooms where it was fought: the 36-hour delay before a full search, the "voluntary departure" framing that shaped everything, and the Right-to-Know lawsuit that forced New Hampshire to reveal a 2,938-page file, four polygraphs, and a sworn affidavit putting the odds of criminal charges at 75 percent, while a father was handed only 50 pages.

Person: Maura Ann Murray, 21, UMass Amherst nursing student and former West Point cadet
Date: February 9, 2004
Location: Route 112 (Wild Ammonoosuc Road), Haverhill, New Hampshire
Case: Suspicious disappearance; no body ever found
Legal status: No arrests or charges ever filed; open and active with the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit and FBI ViCAP, with an age-progression image released in 2024

- The three phone calls of February 9, and the one that could never have connected
- The scent trail that reportedly ended in the middle of the road
- The basement excavation, the 2021 bone fragments, and the 2022 search
- The fingerprint reported on a CD in her car, alleged, denied, and never charged
- A family's fight for a New Hampshire Cold Case Commission

Twenty-two years later, the case remains open, and investigators say one phone call could still break it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1191falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/gone-before-the-ship-docked-the-amy-bradley-disappearance--74707820
How does a twenty-three-year-old woman vanish from a cruise ship balcony in the thirty minutes between her father's two glances? Why did the crew let two thousand passengers walk off the ship while her family begged for a lockdown? And what do three unverified sightings across the Caribbean, a dock, a beach, a bathroom in Barbados, really add up to?

In this episode, we follow the disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley from the Royal Caribbean ship Rhapsody of the Seas in March 1998, hour by hour: the 3:40 a.m. keycard record that is the case's only hard fact, the witnesses who claim they saw her with a band member at dawn, the cabin cleaned before the FBI ever arrived, and the sightings and photographs that convinced her family she was taken, a theory alleged but never proven. No arrests. No body. An FBI file still open, and a reward quadrupled to $100,000 in 2026.

Person: Amy Lynn Bradley, 23, of Chesterfield County, Virginia
Date: March 24, 1998
Location: Aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas, docking in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles
Case: Missing person, open FBI investigation, foul play considered a serious possibility
Legal status: No arrests or charges ever filed; declared legally dead in absentia in 2010; family disputes it

- The keycard log, the balcony, and the thirty-minute window in which Amy vanished
- The ship that opened its gangways anyway, and the cabin housekeeping wiped clean
- Alister "Yellow" Douglas: the witnesses, the inconclusive polygraph, and his denials
- The taxi driver, the beach, the Navy sailor, and the Barbados restroom sighting of 2005
- The 2025 Netflix documentary, new persons of interest with trafficking ties, and the $100,000 reward

The Amy Bradley disappearance remains one of the most haunting unsolved cruise ship mysteries ever recorded, and the Amy Bradley file is still open, because someone out there still remembers something.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707820Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:39 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTGone Before the Ship Docked: The Amy Bradley Cruise Disappearance How does a twenty-three-year-old woman vanish from a cruise ship balcony in the thirty minutes between her father's two glances? Why did the crew let two thousand passengers walk off...
How does a twenty-three-year-old woman vanish from a cruise ship balcony in the thirty minutes between her father's two glances? Why did the crew let two thousand passengers walk off the ship while her family begged for a lockdown? And what do three unverified sightings across the Caribbean, a dock, a beach, a bathroom in Barbados, really add up to?

In this episode, we follow the disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley from the Royal Caribbean ship Rhapsody of the Seas in March 1998, hour by hour: the 3:40 a.m. keycard record that is the case's only hard fact, the witnesses who claim they saw her with a band member at dawn, the cabin cleaned before the FBI ever arrived, and the sightings and photographs that convinced her family she was taken, a theory alleged but never proven. No arrests. No body. An FBI file still open, and a reward quadrupled to $100,000 in 2026.

Person: Amy Lynn Bradley, 23, of Chesterfield County, Virginia
Date: March 24, 1998
Location: Aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas, docking in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles
Case: Missing person, open FBI investigation, foul play considered a serious possibility
Legal status: No arrests or charges ever filed; declared legally dead in absentia in 2010; family disputes it

- The keycard log, the balcony, and the thirty-minute window in which Amy vanished
- The ship that opened its gangways anyway, and the cabin housekeeping wiped clean
- Alister "Yellow" Douglas: the witnesses, the inconclusive polygraph, and his denials
- The taxi driver, the beach, the Navy sailor, and the Barbados restroom sighting of 2005
- The 2025 Netflix documentary, new persons of interest with trafficking ties, and the $100,000 reward

The Amy Bradley disappearance remains one of the most haunting unsolved cruise ship mysteries ever recorded, and the Amy Bradley file is still open, because someone out there still remembers something.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1212falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-letter-she-was-forced-to-write-the-sylvia-likens-case--74707818
On October 26, 1965, police entered a house at 3850 East New York Street in Indianapolis and found the body of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens, along with a letter, written in her own handwriting, claiming she had run away with a group of boys. The letter was dictated two days before she died. Why was a cover story drafted before the death it explained? How did three months of escalating abuse unfold on a crowded residential block where neighbors admitted they heard screams? And why did the case's only justice depend on a whispered sentence from a disabled 15-year-old girl?

In this episode, we follow the Sylvia Likens case from a $20-a-week boarding arrangement between carnival workers and an overwhelmed single mother, Gertrude Baniszewski, through an escalation the trial record documents in more than 150 separate injuries, abuse carried out largely by children, at an adult's direction. We center Sylvia herself, her sister Jenny's courage as the state's key witness, and the institutional failure that is the real story: a church, a school, a family, and a street full of neighbors who, in the era before mandatory reporting laws, decided another household was not their business.

Person: Sylvia Marie Likens, 16
Date: July, October 26, 1965
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Case: Torture and murder by caregiver Gertrude Baniszewski, her children, and neighborhood minors
Legal status: Closed. Gertrude Baniszewski convicted of first-degree murder in 1966 and again on retrial in 1971; paroled in 1985 over a 40,000-signature protest; died 1990. Co-defendants served from under two years to about six.

- The dictated letter prosecutors used to prove premeditation
- Jenny Likens: "Get me out of here and I'll tell you everything"
- The neighbors who heard, the documented Genovese case, one year after Kitty Genovese
- Verdicts, reversals, paroles, and the 2012 exposure of Paula Baniszewski in Iowa
- The Willard Park memorial and how the case helped build mandatory reporting laws

The Sylvia Likens case remains Indiana's most infamous crime, and the reason looking away is no longer legal.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707818Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:35 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Letter She Was Forced to Write: The Sylvia Likens Case On October 26, 1965, police entered a house at 3850 East New York Street in Indianapolis and found the body of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens, along with a letter, written in her own...
On October 26, 1965, police entered a house at 3850 East New York Street in Indianapolis and found the body of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens, along with a letter, written in her own handwriting, claiming she had run away with a group of boys. The letter was dictated two days before she died. Why was a cover story drafted before the death it explained? How did three months of escalating abuse unfold on a crowded residential block where neighbors admitted they heard screams? And why did the case's only justice depend on a whispered sentence from a disabled 15-year-old girl?

In this episode, we follow the Sylvia Likens case from a $20-a-week boarding arrangement between carnival workers and an overwhelmed single mother, Gertrude Baniszewski, through an escalation the trial record documents in more than 150 separate injuries, abuse carried out largely by children, at an adult's direction. We center Sylvia herself, her sister Jenny's courage as the state's key witness, and the institutional failure that is the real story: a church, a school, a family, and a street full of neighbors who, in the era before mandatory reporting laws, decided another household was not their business.

Person: Sylvia Marie Likens, 16
Date: July, October 26, 1965
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Case: Torture and murder by caregiver Gertrude Baniszewski, her children, and neighborhood minors
Legal status: Closed. Gertrude Baniszewski convicted of first-degree murder in 1966 and again on retrial in 1971; paroled in 1985 over a 40,000-signature protest; died 1990. Co-defendants served from under two years to about six.

- The dictated letter prosecutors used to prove premeditation
- Jenny Likens: "Get me out of here and I'll tell you everything"
- The neighbors who heard, the documented Genovese case, one year after Kitty Genovese
- Verdicts, reversals, paroles, and the 2012 exposure of Paula Baniszewski in Iowa
- The Willard Park memorial and how the case helped build mandatory reporting laws

The Sylvia Likens case remains Indiana's most infamous crime, and the reason looking away is no longer legal.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1198falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-spoke-her-own-name-for-the-first-time-in-18-years-the-jaycee-dugard-case--74707817
On June 10, 1991, 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard was taken from a hillside in Meyers, California, on her way to the school bus stop, by a convicted kidnapper and rapist who was on parole, wearing a GPS ankle monitor, and receiving regular home visits from the state. For 18 years, 4 months and 16 days she was hidden in a concealed backyard compound in Antioch, 120 miles away. How did firefighters, a sheriff's deputy and parole agents all stand at that property, one agent face to face with a twelve-year-old girl who was not in any file, and drive away? And how did two women at UC Berkeley end it with a single phone call?

In this episode, we follow the Jaycee Dugard case as a story of survival and institutional failure: Phillip Garrido's 1976 conviction and early release, the hidden compound behind 1554 Walnut Avenue, the missed 911 call of 2006, the 2002 fire response that never reached the parole file, the Inspector General's finding that Garrido was wrongly classified as low-risk, and the moment in a Concord parole office in August 2009 when Jaycee let go of the false identity that had kept her and her daughters alive, and said her name.

Person: Jaycee Lee Dugard, abducted at age 11; survivor, author and advocate
Date: June 10, 1991, August 26, 2009
Location: Meyers (South Lake Tahoe) and Antioch, California
Case: Kidnapping and 18-year captivity by Phillip and Nancy Garrido
Legal status: Guilty pleas in April 2011; Phillip Garrido sentenced to 431 years to life, Nancy Garrido to 36 years to life; both waived appeal; California paid Jaycee a $20 million settlement in 2010

- A parolee's file that said "low-level supervision", and what flowed from that single error
- The three visits that could have ended it: the pool call, the 911 tents report, the girl at the door
- Lisa Campbell and Ally Jacobs: the instinct-driven escalation that worked
- Why Jaycee rejects the "Stockholm syndrome" label: "I adapted to survive my circumstance"
- Her life now: two memoirs, her daughters, and the JAYC Foundation

The Jaycee Dugard case is the definitive study of supervision failure in America, and one of its only unambiguous happy endings.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707817Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:31 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Spoke Her Own Name for the First Time in 18 Years: The Jaycee Dugard Case On June 10, 1991, 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard was taken from a hillside in Meyers, California, on her way to the school bus stop, by a convicted kidnapper and rapist who...
On June 10, 1991, 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard was taken from a hillside in Meyers, California, on her way to the school bus stop, by a convicted kidnapper and rapist who was on parole, wearing a GPS ankle monitor, and receiving regular home visits from the state. For 18 years, 4 months and 16 days she was hidden in a concealed backyard compound in Antioch, 120 miles away. How did firefighters, a sheriff's deputy and parole agents all stand at that property, one agent face to face with a twelve-year-old girl who was not in any file, and drive away? And how did two women at UC Berkeley end it with a single phone call?

In this episode, we follow the Jaycee Dugard case as a story of survival and institutional failure: Phillip Garrido's 1976 conviction and early release, the hidden compound behind 1554 Walnut Avenue, the missed 911 call of 2006, the 2002 fire response that never reached the parole file, the Inspector General's finding that Garrido was wrongly classified as low-risk, and the moment in a Concord parole office in August 2009 when Jaycee let go of the false identity that had kept her and her daughters alive, and said her name.

Person: Jaycee Lee Dugard, abducted at age 11; survivor, author and advocate
Date: June 10, 1991, August 26, 2009
Location: Meyers (South Lake Tahoe) and Antioch, California
Case: Kidnapping and 18-year captivity by Phillip and Nancy Garrido
Legal status: Guilty pleas in April 2011; Phillip Garrido sentenced to 431 years to life, Nancy Garrido to 36 years to life; both waived appeal; California paid Jaycee a $20 million settlement in 2010

- A parolee's file that said "low-level supervision", and what flowed from that single error
- The three visits that could have ended it: the pool call, the 911 tents report, the girl at the door
- Lisa Campbell and Ally Jacobs: the instinct-driven escalation that worked
- Why Jaycee rejects the "Stockholm syndrome" label: "I adapted to survive my circumstance"
- Her life now: two memoirs, her daughters, and the JAYC Foundation

The Jaycee Dugard case is the definitive study of supervision failure in America, and one of its only unambiguous happy endings.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1211falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/38-witnesses-watched-her-die-except-they-didn-t-the-kitty-genovese-case--74707816
In the early hours of March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old bar manager, was stalked and stabbed to death outside her Kew Gardens, Queens apartment. Two weeks later, a front-page story claimed 38 neighbors watched and did nothing, a number that was wrong in the headline, wrong in the text, and false at its core. So who actually shouted the killer away? Who called the police before 911 existed? And who was holding Kitty Genovese in her arms when the ambulance finally came?

In this episode, we follow the Kitty Genovese case from her real life, the double shifts, the restaurant dream, her partner Mary Ann Zielonko, erased as a "roommate" in 1964, through the two attacks by Winston Moseley, the neighbors who did intervene, and the lunch between a police commissioner and a newspaper editor that manufactured the myth of urban apathy. Then we trace the demolition: the 2007 American Psychologist review that found no evidence for the 38, Kevin Cook's count of what the police files really contained, the reporter who admitted the truth "would have ruined the story," and the 2016 editors' note in which the New York Times called its own famous reporting flawed.

Person: Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28
Date: March 13, 1964
Location: Kew Gardens, Queens, New York
Case: Murder; Winston Moseley arrested six days later during an unrelated burglary and confessed
Legal status: Convicted June 1964; death sentence commuted to life in 1967; parole denied 18 times; Moseley died in prison in 2016 after 52 years

- Kitty Genovese before the myth: the bar, the savings, the hidden relationship
- Robert Mozer's shout and Sophia Farrar, the friend who held her as she died
- The pre-911 phone problem the legend never mentions
- "One for the books": how the 38-witnesses story was built, and knowingly kept
- The real bystander-effect science, the 911 system, and the 2016 correction

The Kitty Genovese murder became the most influential false story in true crime, and the correction took 52 years to reach the front page that started it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707816Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:27 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENT38 Witnesses Watched Her Die, Except They Didn't In the early hours of March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old bar manager, was stalked and stabbed to death outside her Kew Gardens, Queens apartment. Two weeks later, a front-page story...
In the early hours of March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old bar manager, was stalked and stabbed to death outside her Kew Gardens, Queens apartment. Two weeks later, a front-page story claimed 38 neighbors watched and did nothing, a number that was wrong in the headline, wrong in the text, and false at its core. So who actually shouted the killer away? Who called the police before 911 existed? And who was holding Kitty Genovese in her arms when the ambulance finally came?

In this episode, we follow the Kitty Genovese case from her real life, the double shifts, the restaurant dream, her partner Mary Ann Zielonko, erased as a "roommate" in 1964, through the two attacks by Winston Moseley, the neighbors who did intervene, and the lunch between a police commissioner and a newspaper editor that manufactured the myth of urban apathy. Then we trace the demolition: the 2007 American Psychologist review that found no evidence for the 38, Kevin Cook's count of what the police files really contained, the reporter who admitted the truth "would have ruined the story," and the 2016 editors' note in which the New York Times called its own famous reporting flawed.

Person: Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28
Date: March 13, 1964
Location: Kew Gardens, Queens, New York
Case: Murder; Winston Moseley arrested six days later during an unrelated burglary and confessed
Legal status: Convicted June 1964; death sentence commuted to life in 1967; parole denied 18 times; Moseley died in prison in 2016 after 52 years

- Kitty Genovese before the myth: the bar, the savings, the hidden relationship
- Robert Mozer's shout and Sophia Farrar, the friend who held her as she died
- The pre-911 phone problem the legend never mentions
- "One for the books": how the 38-witnesses story was built, and knowingly kept
- The real bystander-effect science, the 911 system, and the 2016 correction

The Kitty Genovese murder became the most influential false story in true crime, and the correction took 52 years to reach the front page that started it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1200falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/they-left-a-working-car-and-walked-into-the-snow-the-yuba-county-five--74707815
On the night of February 24, 1978, five friends from Yuba City and Marysville, California, watched a college basketball game in Chico, bought pies and sodas at a corner market, and started the short drive home. Four days later, their turquoise Mercury Montego was found 70 miles in the wrong direction, at 4,400 feet on a snowbound mountain road in the Plumas National Forest, running, fueled, undamaged, and empty. Why did five men with a Special Olympics tournament the next morning drive up a frozen mountain none of them knew? And why did they walk away from a car they could have pushed free?

In this episode, we follow the Yuba County Five from the last confirmed sighting at Behr's Market to the Forest Service trailer found in June 1978, 19.4 miles up the road, where Ted Weiher had survived for roughly three months, beside an unlit fireplace, untouched winter clothing, and a locker holding a year's worth of food that was never opened. We trace the stranded witness who heard voices in the dark, the ranger who saw the car on day one, the unverified Brownsville sighting police called credible, and the 2020 sheriff's letter, kept from the public until 2023, that reclassified the fate of the one man never found.

Person: Ted Weiher, 32; Jack Madruga, 30; Bill Sterling, 29; Gary Mathias, 25; Jackie Huett, 24
Date: February 24, 1978
Location: Chico to the Plumas National Forest, California
Case: Disappearance; four deaths attributed to hypothermia and starvation
Legal status: Unsolved; no arrests ever made; Gary Mathias still missing, his case reclassified in 2020 as an open missing person/homicide matter

- The impossible route: 70 miles the wrong way, in light jackets, with a quarter tank left
- Joseph Schons's account: headlights, voices, and lights that went out
- The trailer paradox: C-rations opened, a year of food untouched
- The evidence someone stayed: a P-38 can opener, missing shoes, eight sheets
- The families' charge that disabled men were searched for last

The Yuba County Five case remains one of America's most confounding unsolved disappearances, and the question of that mountain road is still open.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707815Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:22 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThey Left a Working Car and Walked Into the Snow: The Yuba County Five On the night of February 24, 1978, five friends from Yuba City and Marysville, California, watched a college basketball game in Chico, bought pies and sodas at a corner market,...
On the night of February 24, 1978, five friends from Yuba City and Marysville, California, watched a college basketball game in Chico, bought pies and sodas at a corner market, and started the short drive home. Four days later, their turquoise Mercury Montego was found 70 miles in the wrong direction, at 4,400 feet on a snowbound mountain road in the Plumas National Forest, running, fueled, undamaged, and empty. Why did five men with a Special Olympics tournament the next morning drive up a frozen mountain none of them knew? And why did they walk away from a car they could have pushed free?

In this episode, we follow the Yuba County Five from the last confirmed sighting at Behr's Market to the Forest Service trailer found in June 1978, 19.4 miles up the road, where Ted Weiher had survived for roughly three months, beside an unlit fireplace, untouched winter clothing, and a locker holding a year's worth of food that was never opened. We trace the stranded witness who heard voices in the dark, the ranger who saw the car on day one, the unverified Brownsville sighting police called credible, and the 2020 sheriff's letter, kept from the public until 2023, that reclassified the fate of the one man never found.

Person: Ted Weiher, 32; Jack Madruga, 30; Bill Sterling, 29; Gary Mathias, 25; Jackie Huett, 24
Date: February 24, 1978
Location: Chico to the Plumas National Forest, California
Case: Disappearance; four deaths attributed to hypothermia and starvation
Legal status: Unsolved; no arrests ever made; Gary Mathias still missing, his case reclassified in 2020 as an open missing person/homicide matter

- The impossible route: 70 miles the wrong way, in light jackets, with a quarter tank left
- Joseph Schons's account: headlights, voices, and lights that went out
- The trailer paradox: C-rations opened, a year of food untouched
- The evidence someone stayed: a P-38 can opener, missing shoes, eight sheets
- The families' charge that disabled men were searched for last

The Yuba County Five case remains one of America's most confounding unsolved disappearances, and the question of that mountain road is still open.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1157falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-confession-nobody-believed-ed-kemper-the-co-ed-killer--74707814
In April 1973, a six-foot-nine man stood in a phone booth in Pueblo, Colorado, and confessed eight murders to Santa Cruz police officers who knew him personally, and he had to call three times before they believed him. Why did the killer they had hunted for a year turn out to be the friendly giant who drank with detectives at the Jury Room? How did California parole a double murderer into the custody of the very mother his doctors had warned about, and then erase his juvenile record in the middle of his killing spree?

In this episode, we tell the Ed Kemper case against its own fame. The "Co-Ed Killer" became a celebrity through FBI interviews and Mindhunter, but the story belongs to his victims: Fresno State students Mary Ann Pesce and Anita Luchessa, 15-year-old dancer Aiko Koo, Cabrillo College student Cindy Schall, UCSC students Rosalind Thorpe and Alice Liu, his mother Clarnell Strandberg, and her best friend Sally Hallett, women doing the most ordinary things in early-1970s California, in a county absorbing three serial killers at once. And we follow the two institutional decisions that made it all possible.

Person: Edmund Kemper III, the "Co-Ed Killer"; ten victims, 1964, 1973
Date: Murders May 1972, April 1973; surrender April 23/24, 1973
Location: Santa Cruz County, California
Case: Eight counts of first-degree murder; hitchhiking students, his mother, and her friend
Legal status: Convicted November 8, 1973, eight concurrent terms of 7 years to life; parole denied for the 14th time on July 9, 2024; next hearing tentatively July 2031; incarcerated at the California Medical Facility, Vacaville

- The 1969 parole granted against psychiatrists' advice, into his mother's home
- November 29, 1972: the juvenile record expunged mid-spree
- Three killers in one county, and the "murder capital of the world"
- The Jury Room problem: a suspect who drank with the detectives
- Why the famous prison interviews deserve suspicion, not fascination

The Ed Kemper case was never solved by detectives, it was surrendered by its killer, and the system's fingerprints are all over it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707814Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:19 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Had to Call Three Times: Ed Kemper and the Santa Cruz Co-Ed Murders In April 1973, a six-foot-nine man stood in a phone booth in Pueblo, Colorado, and confessed eight murders to Santa Cruz police officers who knew him personally, and he had to...
In April 1973, a six-foot-nine man stood in a phone booth in Pueblo, Colorado, and confessed eight murders to Santa Cruz police officers who knew him personally, and he had to call three times before they believed him. Why did the killer they had hunted for a year turn out to be the friendly giant who drank with detectives at the Jury Room? How did California parole a double murderer into the custody of the very mother his doctors had warned about, and then erase his juvenile record in the middle of his killing spree?

In this episode, we tell the Ed Kemper case against its own fame. The "Co-Ed Killer" became a celebrity through FBI interviews and Mindhunter, but the story belongs to his victims: Fresno State students Mary Ann Pesce and Anita Luchessa, 15-year-old dancer Aiko Koo, Cabrillo College student Cindy Schall, UCSC students Rosalind Thorpe and Alice Liu, his mother Clarnell Strandberg, and her best friend Sally Hallett, women doing the most ordinary things in early-1970s California, in a county absorbing three serial killers at once. And we follow the two institutional decisions that made it all possible.

Person: Edmund Kemper III, the "Co-Ed Killer"; ten victims, 1964, 1973
Date: Murders May 1972, April 1973; surrender April 23/24, 1973
Location: Santa Cruz County, California
Case: Eight counts of first-degree murder; hitchhiking students, his mother, and her friend
Legal status: Convicted November 8, 1973, eight concurrent terms of 7 years to life; parole denied for the 14th time on July 9, 2024; next hearing tentatively July 2031; incarcerated at the California Medical Facility, Vacaville

- The 1969 parole granted against psychiatrists' advice, into his mother's home
- November 29, 1972: the juvenile record expunged mid-spree
- Three killers in one county, and the "murder capital of the world"
- The Jury Room problem: a suspect who drank with the detectives
- Why the famous prison interviews deserve suspicion, not fascination

The Ed Kemper case was never solved by detectives, it was surrendered by its killer, and the system's fingerprints are all over it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1195falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-report-she-never-filed-the-vanessa-guillen-case--74707813
On April 22, 2020, Specialist Vanessa Guillén, a 20-year-old soldier from Houston, walked to a fellow soldier's arms room at Fort Hood, Texas, and was never seen alive again. Her keys, ID, and wallet were left behind in the armory. Why did it take 70 days, a family's protests at the gates, and a construction worker by the Leon River to find her? And how did one soldier's disappearance end with 14 Fort Hood leaders fired or suspended and the biggest military justice reform in generations?

In this episode, we follow the case from Vanessa's childhood dream of enlisting to the federal complaint that finally explained her death: the hammer attack inside the arms room described in court documents, the "tough box" witnesses saw Specialist Aaron Robinson wheel out that afternoon, the phone records that broke his alibi, and Cecily Aguilar's shifting statements that led investigators to the river. We cover Robinson's suicide as police closed in, Aguilar's 30-year maximum sentence, and the independent review that found Fort Hood's command climate "permissive of sexual harassment and sexual assault", confirming the fear Vanessa had confided to her sisters all along.

Person: Spc. Vanessa Guillén, 20, U.S. Army, 3rd Cavalry Regiment
Date: April 22, 2020
Location: Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos), Killeen, Texas
Case: Murder on post; remains found June 30, 2020, near the Leon River, Bell County
Legal status: Aaron Robinson died by suicide July 1, 2020, and was never tried; Cecily Aguilar pleaded guilty in 2022 and was sentenced in 2023 to 30 years in federal prison

- The harassment she told her sisters she was afraid to report
- The family campaign that forced the case into the national spotlight
- The accidental discovery of missing soldier Pvt. Gregory Morales
- The Fort Hood Independent Review: 14 leaders removed, 70 recommendations accepted
- The I Am Vanessa Guillén Act: harassment as a standalone military crime, prosecution moved outside the chain of command

The Vanessa Guillén case changed federal law, and her name now guards the report she never got to file.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707813Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:15 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Was Killed at Work on a Secure Army Base: The Vanessa Guillén Fort Hood Case On April 22, 2020, Specialist Vanessa Guillén, a 20-year-old soldier from Houston, walked to a fellow soldier's arms room at Fort Hood, Texas, and was never seen alive...
On April 22, 2020, Specialist Vanessa Guillén, a 20-year-old soldier from Houston, walked to a fellow soldier's arms room at Fort Hood, Texas, and was never seen alive again. Her keys, ID, and wallet were left behind in the armory. Why did it take 70 days, a family's protests at the gates, and a construction worker by the Leon River to find her? And how did one soldier's disappearance end with 14 Fort Hood leaders fired or suspended and the biggest military justice reform in generations?

In this episode, we follow the case from Vanessa's childhood dream of enlisting to the federal complaint that finally explained her death: the hammer attack inside the arms room described in court documents, the "tough box" witnesses saw Specialist Aaron Robinson wheel out that afternoon, the phone records that broke his alibi, and Cecily Aguilar's shifting statements that led investigators to the river. We cover Robinson's suicide as police closed in, Aguilar's 30-year maximum sentence, and the independent review that found Fort Hood's command climate "permissive of sexual harassment and sexual assault", confirming the fear Vanessa had confided to her sisters all along.

Person: Spc. Vanessa Guillén, 20, U.S. Army, 3rd Cavalry Regiment
Date: April 22, 2020
Location: Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos), Killeen, Texas
Case: Murder on post; remains found June 30, 2020, near the Leon River, Bell County
Legal status: Aaron Robinson died by suicide July 1, 2020, and was never tried; Cecily Aguilar pleaded guilty in 2022 and was sentenced in 2023 to 30 years in federal prison

- The harassment she told her sisters she was afraid to report
- The family campaign that forced the case into the national spotlight
- The accidental discovery of missing soldier Pvt. Gregory Morales
- The Fort Hood Independent Review: 14 leaders removed, 70 recommendations accepted
- The I Am Vanessa Guillén Act: harassment as a standalone military crime, prosecution moved outside the chain of command

The Vanessa Guillén case changed federal law, and her name now guards the report she never got to file.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1176falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/they-shelved-the-charge-he-kept-killing-the-robert-pickton-case--74707811
Between 1995 and 2002, some 65 women vanished from a few blocks of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and the DNA of 33 of them was later found on one Port Coquitlam pig farm. Why did the Crown shelve an attempted murder charge against the farm's owner in 1998, when a survivor's account was backed by a handcuff on her wrist and the key in his pocket? Why was a police profiler's 1998 serial killer warning blocked inside his own department? And how did 19 more women disappear in the four years between that stayed charge and the arrest?

In this episode, we tell the Robert Pickton case the way the victims' families have asked for it to be told: with the women at the center and the institutional failure as the story. We follow Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Georgina Faith Papin, and Marnie Frey, the six women whose murders were proven in court, through the ignored reports, the jurisdictional wall between Vancouver police and the RCMP, the 2002 firearms warrant that finally broke the case, and the Oppal inquiry's one-word verdict on the system: Forsaken.

Person: Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Georgina Faith Papin, Marnie Frey, and the women of the Downtown Eastside
Date: Disappearances mid-1990s to 2001; arrest February 2002
Location: Vancouver and Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Case: Serial murders of women, many Indigenous, ignored for years by police
Legal status: Convicted in 2007 on six counts of second-degree murder; 20 further charges stayed in 2010; Pickton died May 31, 2024 after a prison attack; his killer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in September 2025; the fight to preserve 14,000 exhibits for future DNA identification continues

- The 1997 attempted murder charge the Crown stayed, and the 19 women lost after it
- Kim Rossmo's blocked serial killer warning and Lori Shenher's ignored tips
- Canada's largest forensic investigation: 33 women identified, some still unnamed
- The Forsaken report: "The women didn't go missing. They were taken."
- The 2025 prison report, the parole controversy, and the evidence still in storage

The Vancouver missing women case remains Canada's defining reckoning with systemic bias, and for the unnamed women on that farm, the file is still open.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707811Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:11 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Charge They Shelved: The Vancouver Missing Women Case Between 1995 and 2002, some 65 women vanished from a few blocks of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and the DNA of 33 of them was later found on one Port Coquitlam pig farm. Why did the Crown...
Between 1995 and 2002, some 65 women vanished from a few blocks of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and the DNA of 33 of them was later found on one Port Coquitlam pig farm. Why did the Crown shelve an attempted murder charge against the farm's owner in 1998, when a survivor's account was backed by a handcuff on her wrist and the key in his pocket? Why was a police profiler's 1998 serial killer warning blocked inside his own department? And how did 19 more women disappear in the four years between that stayed charge and the arrest?

In this episode, we tell the Robert Pickton case the way the victims' families have asked for it to be told: with the women at the center and the institutional failure as the story. We follow Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Georgina Faith Papin, and Marnie Frey, the six women whose murders were proven in court, through the ignored reports, the jurisdictional wall between Vancouver police and the RCMP, the 2002 firearms warrant that finally broke the case, and the Oppal inquiry's one-word verdict on the system: Forsaken.

Person: Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Georgina Faith Papin, Marnie Frey, and the women of the Downtown Eastside
Date: Disappearances mid-1990s to 2001; arrest February 2002
Location: Vancouver and Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Case: Serial murders of women, many Indigenous, ignored for years by police
Legal status: Convicted in 2007 on six counts of second-degree murder; 20 further charges stayed in 2010; Pickton died May 31, 2024 after a prison attack; his killer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in September 2025; the fight to preserve 14,000 exhibits for future DNA identification continues

- The 1997 attempted murder charge the Crown stayed, and the 19 women lost after it
- Kim Rossmo's blocked serial killer warning and Lori Shenher's ignored tips
- Canada's largest forensic investigation: 33 women identified, some still unnamed
- The Forsaken report: "The women didn't go missing. They were taken."
- The 2025 prison report, the parole controversy, and the evidence still in storage

The Vancouver missing women case remains Canada's defining reckoning with systemic bias, and for the unnamed women on that farm, the file is still open.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1284falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-alarm-was-off-and-no-one-had-broken-in-the-barry-and-honey-sherman-case--74707810
On December 15, 2017, a real estate agent showing a Toronto mansion found its owners, pharmaceutical billionaire Barry Sherman, 75, and his wife Honey, 70, dead beside their indoor pool, seated side by side with belts around their necks. Why did police spend six weeks entertaining a murder-suicide theory that the physical evidence could not support? What did the family's private autopsy find that the first one missed? And how does a $35 million reward, the largest private reward in Canadian history, go unclaimed for years?

In this episode, we follow the Barry and Honey Sherman case from their last confirmed hours on December 13, 2017, through the two days of silence before the discovery, into the contested first six weeks of the investigation and the reversal that reclassified the deaths as a targeted double homicide. We examine the staged scene, the second ligature that was never recovered, the wrist markings that dismantled the official theory, the search-warrant files a newspaper sued for years to unseal, and the 22-second "Walking Man" video that remains the only public image of a possible answer.

Person: Barry Sherman, 75, founder of Apotex, and Honey Sherman, 70
Date: Killed on or about December 13, 2017; found December 15, 2017
Location: 50 Old Colony Road, North York, Toronto, Canada
Case: Targeted double homicide by ligature neck compression; scene staged
Legal status: Unsolved, no arrests, no charges, no named suspect; open Toronto Police homicide investigation with a $35 million family reward

- The last phone call, the last email, and the two days nobody checked
- The murder-suicide theory and the private autopsy that overturned it
- Six lost weeks: what an early wrong theory can cost an investigation
- The "Walking Man" video and the persons of interest never named
- Philanthropy and lawsuits: the two documented faces of the Shermans

The Barry and Honey Sherman murders remain among the richest unsolved killings in the world, and after nearly nine years, the question is still standing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707810Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:07 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Alarm Was Off, and No One Had Broken In: The Barry and Honey Sherman Murders On December 15, 2017, a real estate agent showing a Toronto mansion found its owners, pharmaceutical billionaire Barry Sherman, 75, and his wife Honey, 70, dead beside...
On December 15, 2017, a real estate agent showing a Toronto mansion found its owners, pharmaceutical billionaire Barry Sherman, 75, and his wife Honey, 70, dead beside their indoor pool, seated side by side with belts around their necks. Why did police spend six weeks entertaining a murder-suicide theory that the physical evidence could not support? What did the family's private autopsy find that the first one missed? And how does a $35 million reward, the largest private reward in Canadian history, go unclaimed for years?

In this episode, we follow the Barry and Honey Sherman case from their last confirmed hours on December 13, 2017, through the two days of silence before the discovery, into the contested first six weeks of the investigation and the reversal that reclassified the deaths as a targeted double homicide. We examine the staged scene, the second ligature that was never recovered, the wrist markings that dismantled the official theory, the search-warrant files a newspaper sued for years to unseal, and the 22-second "Walking Man" video that remains the only public image of a possible answer.

Person: Barry Sherman, 75, founder of Apotex, and Honey Sherman, 70
Date: Killed on or about December 13, 2017; found December 15, 2017
Location: 50 Old Colony Road, North York, Toronto, Canada
Case: Targeted double homicide by ligature neck compression; scene staged
Legal status: Unsolved, no arrests, no charges, no named suspect; open Toronto Police homicide investigation with a $35 million family reward

- The last phone call, the last email, and the two days nobody checked
- The murder-suicide theory and the private autopsy that overturned it
- Six lost weeks: what an early wrong theory can cost an investigation
- The "Walking Man" video and the persons of interest never named
- Philanthropy and lawsuits: the two documented faces of the Shermans

The Barry and Honey Sherman murders remain among the richest unsolved killings in the world, and after nearly nine years, the question is still standing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1205falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/they-stopped-the-right-car-and-let-it-go-the-d-c-sniper-attacks--74707808
For 23 days in October 2002, the Washington, D.C. region lived under a rifle. Thirteen people were shot at gas stations, parking lots, and a middle school, ten died, while schools locked down, stations hung tarps over their pumps, and drivers crouched behind car doors. Why did thousands of officers spend three weeks hunting a white van that never existed? And how many times did police stop the blue Chevrolet Caprice, the actual rolling sniper's nest, and wave it through?

In this episode, we follow the Beltway sniper case from the first shot in a Wheaton grocery parking lot to the 3:19 a.m. arrest at a Myersville rest stop, where John Allen Muhammad, 41, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 17, were found asleep beside a Bushmaster rifle and a trunk with a firing hole cut above the license plate. We trace the hidden cross-country trail of earlier shootings, the tarot card and the $10 million letter, the Alabama fingerprint that broke the case, and the profiling failure that kept an entire manhunt blind while the killers rolled through its checkpoints.

Perpetrators: John Allen Muhammad, 41, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 17
Person: Ten killed in the D.C. area, James Martin, Sonny Buchanan, Premkumar Walekar, Sarah Ramos, Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, Pascal Charlot, Dean Meyers, Kenneth Bridges, Linda Franklin, and Conrad Johnson
Date: October 2, 24, 2002 (linked shootings from February 2002)
Location: Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia; earlier crimes across ~10 states
Case: Serial sniper attacks; 13 shot, 10 killed in the D.C. area; 27 shot, 17 killed overall
Legal status: Muhammad executed November 10, 2009; Malvo serving 10 consecutive life sentences at Keen Mountain Correctional Center, Virginia, his court-ordered Maryland resentencing, ordered in 2022, remains postponed indefinitely, a delay upheld on appeal in May 2026

- Ten victims by name: from landscaper Sonny Buchanan to bus driver Conrad Johnson
- The white-van feedback loop that contaminated witness memory region-wide
- The tarot Death card, the leaked message, and the broken channel with police
- "Look at Montgomery": the fingerprint from an Alabama liquor store murder
- The juvenile-sentencing fight two states have stalled for four years

The D.C. sniper attacks remain the defining study of how a manhunt goes blind, and the Beltway sniper case is still not legally over.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707808Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:04:03 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThey Stopped the Right Car and Let It Go: The D.C. Sniper Attacks For 23 days in October 2002, the Washington, D.C. region lived under a rifle. Thirteen people were shot at gas stations, parking lots, and a middle school, ten died, while schools...
For 23 days in October 2002, the Washington, D.C. region lived under a rifle. Thirteen people were shot at gas stations, parking lots, and a middle school, ten died, while schools locked down, stations hung tarps over their pumps, and drivers crouched behind car doors. Why did thousands of officers spend three weeks hunting a white van that never existed? And how many times did police stop the blue Chevrolet Caprice, the actual rolling sniper's nest, and wave it through?

In this episode, we follow the Beltway sniper case from the first shot in a Wheaton grocery parking lot to the 3:19 a.m. arrest at a Myersville rest stop, where John Allen Muhammad, 41, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 17, were found asleep beside a Bushmaster rifle and a trunk with a firing hole cut above the license plate. We trace the hidden cross-country trail of earlier shootings, the tarot card and the $10 million letter, the Alabama fingerprint that broke the case, and the profiling failure that kept an entire manhunt blind while the killers rolled through its checkpoints.

Perpetrators: John Allen Muhammad, 41, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 17
Person: Ten killed in the D.C. area, James Martin, Sonny Buchanan, Premkumar Walekar, Sarah Ramos, Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, Pascal Charlot, Dean Meyers, Kenneth Bridges, Linda Franklin, and Conrad Johnson
Date: October 2, 24, 2002 (linked shootings from February 2002)
Location: Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia; earlier crimes across ~10 states
Case: Serial sniper attacks; 13 shot, 10 killed in the D.C. area; 27 shot, 17 killed overall
Legal status: Muhammad executed November 10, 2009; Malvo serving 10 consecutive life sentences at Keen Mountain Correctional Center, Virginia, his court-ordered Maryland resentencing, ordered in 2022, remains postponed indefinitely, a delay upheld on appeal in May 2026

- Ten victims by name: from landscaper Sonny Buchanan to bus driver Conrad Johnson
- The white-van feedback loop that contaminated witness memory region-wide
- The tarot Death card, the leaked message, and the broken channel with police
- "Look at Montgomery": the fingerprint from an Alabama liquor store murder
- The juvenile-sentencing fight two states have stalled for four years

The D.C. sniper attacks remain the defining study of how a manhunt goes blind, and the Beltway sniper case is still not legally over.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1257falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-was-smiling-on-primetime-the-whole-time-dating-game-killer-rodney-alcala--74707807
In September 1978, ABC's The Dating Game introduced bachelor number one as a "successful photographer." He was a twice-paroled registered sex offender who had already murdered women on both coasts, and he won the date. Why did the bachelorette refuse to go out with him? How did a rerun of that same episode help detectives catch him a year later? And why are hundreds of photographs found in his Seattle storage locker still unidentified today?

In this episode, we follow the Rodney Alcala case far beyond the game show: from the 1968 attack on eight-year-old Tali Shapiro and the two paroles that put a documented predator back on the street, through the murders of Robin Samsoe, Jill Barcomb, Georgia Wixted, Charlotte Lamb, Jill Parenteau, Cornelia Crilley, Ellen Hover, and Christine Thornton, to the secretly recorded jailhouse visit that revealed a storage locker holding more than 1,000 photographs, and a pouch of earrings that included a murdered twelve-year-old's gold bells. We trace three trials, three death sentences, the DNA breakthrough that linked four cold cases at once, and the 2010 trial where Alcala represented himself and cross-examined his victim's mother.

Person: Rodney James Alcala, convicted of seven murders across California and New York
Date: 1968, 1979 (crimes); 1980, 2013 (trials); died July 24, 2021
Location: Los Angeles and Orange County, California; New York City; Wyoming
Case: Serial murder; the "Dating Game Killer"
Legal status: Convicted on five California counts (2010) and two New York guilty pleas (2012); died of natural causes on death row in 2021, 42 years to the day after his arrest; Wyoming charge dismissed at his death

- The 1974 and 1977 paroles that preceded two killing sprees
- The Dating Game taping, and the woman who trusted her instinct
- The Seattle locker: photographs, trophies, and a DNA-matched earring
- The 2013 motorcycle photo that solved Christine Thornton's case
- The still-unidentified faces investigators released to the public in 2010

The Rodney Alcala case is remembered for a game show, but its last open question is an album of unnamed faces that families of the missing can still search today.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707807Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:58 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Won the Date on Live TV: The Rodney Alcala "Dating Game Killer" Case In September 1978, ABC's The Dating Game introduced bachelor number one as a "successful photographer." He was a twice-paroled registered sex offender who had already murdered...
In September 1978, ABC's The Dating Game introduced bachelor number one as a "successful photographer." He was a twice-paroled registered sex offender who had already murdered women on both coasts, and he won the date. Why did the bachelorette refuse to go out with him? How did a rerun of that same episode help detectives catch him a year later? And why are hundreds of photographs found in his Seattle storage locker still unidentified today?

In this episode, we follow the Rodney Alcala case far beyond the game show: from the 1968 attack on eight-year-old Tali Shapiro and the two paroles that put a documented predator back on the street, through the murders of Robin Samsoe, Jill Barcomb, Georgia Wixted, Charlotte Lamb, Jill Parenteau, Cornelia Crilley, Ellen Hover, and Christine Thornton, to the secretly recorded jailhouse visit that revealed a storage locker holding more than 1,000 photographs, and a pouch of earrings that included a murdered twelve-year-old's gold bells. We trace three trials, three death sentences, the DNA breakthrough that linked four cold cases at once, and the 2010 trial where Alcala represented himself and cross-examined his victim's mother.

Person: Rodney James Alcala, convicted of seven murders across California and New York
Date: 1968, 1979 (crimes); 1980, 2013 (trials); died July 24, 2021
Location: Los Angeles and Orange County, California; New York City; Wyoming
Case: Serial murder; the "Dating Game Killer"
Legal status: Convicted on five California counts (2010) and two New York guilty pleas (2012); died of natural causes on death row in 2021, 42 years to the day after his arrest; Wyoming charge dismissed at his death

- The 1974 and 1977 paroles that preceded two killing sprees
- The Dating Game taping, and the woman who trusted her instinct
- The Seattle locker: photographs, trophies, and a DNA-matched earring
- The 2013 motorcycle photo that solved Christine Thornton's case
- The still-unidentified faces investigators released to the public in 2010

The Rodney Alcala case is remembered for a game show, but its last open question is an album of unnamed faces that families of the missing can still search today.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1180falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-jury-saw-a-few-seconds-of-tape-the-darlie-routier-case--74707806
At 2:31 a.m. on June 6, 1996, Darlie Routier called 911 from her Rowlett, Texas home to say a man had stabbed her and her two little boys. Devon, 6, was dead; Damon, 5, died of his wounds; her own throat was cut within two millimeters of the carotid artery. Twelve days later, she was the one charged with capital murder. Why did a bloody fingerprint on the coffee table match no one in the house? How did a sock with both boys' blood end up 75 yards down the alley? And why, after courts first ordered DNA testing in 2008, are the results still unreleased as she waits on death row?

In this episode, we follow the Darlie Routier case from a six-minute 911 call to a Kerrville courtroom where prosecutors argued a staged scene, self-inflicted wounds, and a financial motive, and where a graveside video of the family spraying Silly String on Devon's birthday became the emotional centerpiece. We weigh the defense's answers with equal rigor: the timeline that leaves almost no window for staging, the insurance math that made the boys the least valuable targets in the house, the juror who swore the full unedited footage would have changed his vote, the corrupted trial transcript with tens of thousands of errors, and the DNA limbo that has now stretched nearly two decades.

Person: Devon Routier, 6, and Damon Routier, 5; mother Darlie Routier convicted
Date: June 6, 1996
Location: Rowlett, Texas
Case: Double child murder; intruder claim vs. staging theory
Legal status: Darlie Routier convicted of Damon's murder in February 1997 and sentenced to death; conviction stands after appeals; court-ordered DNA testing (2008, 2014, 2018, 2021) remains without publicly released results as of 2026, with her 2005 habeas petition on hold

- The slashed window screen, the luminol, and the untouched jewelry
- The unidentified bloody fingerprint that survived a 2019 FBI database run
- Silly String vs. the prayer service the jury never saw
- The transcript scandal that corrupted a capital appeal
- Eighteen years of DNA orders with no answer

The Darlie Routier case remains one of America's most disputed death row convictions, and its final chapter is still sitting in a laboratory.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707806Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:55 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Silly String Video That Sent a Mother to Death Row: The Darlie Routier Case At 2:31 a.m. on June 6, 1996, Darlie Routier called 911 from her Rowlett, Texas home to say a man had stabbed her and her two little boys. Devon, 6, was dead; Damon, 5,...
At 2:31 a.m. on June 6, 1996, Darlie Routier called 911 from her Rowlett, Texas home to say a man had stabbed her and her two little boys. Devon, 6, was dead; Damon, 5, died of his wounds; her own throat was cut within two millimeters of the carotid artery. Twelve days later, she was the one charged with capital murder. Why did a bloody fingerprint on the coffee table match no one in the house? How did a sock with both boys' blood end up 75 yards down the alley? And why, after courts first ordered DNA testing in 2008, are the results still unreleased as she waits on death row?

In this episode, we follow the Darlie Routier case from a six-minute 911 call to a Kerrville courtroom where prosecutors argued a staged scene, self-inflicted wounds, and a financial motive, and where a graveside video of the family spraying Silly String on Devon's birthday became the emotional centerpiece. We weigh the defense's answers with equal rigor: the timeline that leaves almost no window for staging, the insurance math that made the boys the least valuable targets in the house, the juror who swore the full unedited footage would have changed his vote, the corrupted trial transcript with tens of thousands of errors, and the DNA limbo that has now stretched nearly two decades.

Person: Devon Routier, 6, and Damon Routier, 5; mother Darlie Routier convicted
Date: June 6, 1996
Location: Rowlett, Texas
Case: Double child murder; intruder claim vs. staging theory
Legal status: Darlie Routier convicted of Damon's murder in February 1997 and sentenced to death; conviction stands after appeals; court-ordered DNA testing (2008, 2014, 2018, 2021) remains without publicly released results as of 2026, with her 2005 habeas petition on hold

- The slashed window screen, the luminol, and the untouched jewelry
- The unidentified bloody fingerprint that survived a 2019 FBI database run
- Silly String vs. the prayer service the jury never saw
- The transcript scandal that corrupted a capital appeal
- Eighteen years of DNA orders with no answer

The Darlie Routier case remains one of America's most disputed death row convictions, and its final chapter is still sitting in a laboratory.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1171falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-wrote-her-own-warning-the-disappearance-of-susan-powell--74707805
Why would a young mother hide a handwritten will in a safe-deposit box her husband couldn't open? What did a four-year-old mean when he told detectives his mommy stayed "where the crystals are"? And how did the only person of interest in her disappearance end up alone behind a locked door with her two little boys?

In this episode, we follow the Susan Powell case from an ordinary Sunday in West Valley City, Utah, in December 2009, church in the morning, a neighbor's visit in the afternoon, to the moment police found her purse, keys and ID inside an empty house with box fans drying a freshly cleaned carpet. We trace her husband Josh Powell's midnight "camping trip" into a blizzard, the 807 unexplained rental-car miles, the raid that uncovered his father Steven Powell's secret archive, and the custody decisions that ended in an unthinkable act in Graham, Washington, in February 2012. No one was ever charged in Susan's disappearance; police publicly stated in 2013 that they believed Josh killed his wife, a conclusion that will never be tested in court.

Person: Susan Cox Powell, 28, stockbroker and mother of two
Date: Last seen December 6, 2009
Location: West Valley City, Utah
Case: Disappearance; presumed homicide per investigators; active investigation closed May 2013, still officially a missing-person case
Legal status: No arrests or charges ever filed; Josh Powell named sole person of interest, never charged; $98.5 million negligence verdict against Washington's DSHS reinstated on appeal

- The secret will that warned: "it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one"
- A camping alibi in a blizzard that police could never verify
- Two children's words: "where the crystals are" and a drawing of a van
- The 2011 raid that revealed thousands of covert images, and flipped custody
- The systems failure a jury priced at ninety-eight point five million dollars

If you follow the Susan Powell case, this is the definitive timeline, the Susan Powell case explained from her own recorded warnings to the verdict that finally named a failure.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707805Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:50 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Wrote Her Own Warning: The Disappearance of Susan Powell Why would a young mother hide a handwritten will in a safe-deposit box her husband couldn't open? What did a four-year-old mean when he told detectives his mommy stayed "where the...
Why would a young mother hide a handwritten will in a safe-deposit box her husband couldn't open? What did a four-year-old mean when he told detectives his mommy stayed "where the crystals are"? And how did the only person of interest in her disappearance end up alone behind a locked door with her two little boys?

In this episode, we follow the Susan Powell case from an ordinary Sunday in West Valley City, Utah, in December 2009, church in the morning, a neighbor's visit in the afternoon, to the moment police found her purse, keys and ID inside an empty house with box fans drying a freshly cleaned carpet. We trace her husband Josh Powell's midnight "camping trip" into a blizzard, the 807 unexplained rental-car miles, the raid that uncovered his father Steven Powell's secret archive, and the custody decisions that ended in an unthinkable act in Graham, Washington, in February 2012. No one was ever charged in Susan's disappearance; police publicly stated in 2013 that they believed Josh killed his wife, a conclusion that will never be tested in court.

Person: Susan Cox Powell, 28, stockbroker and mother of two
Date: Last seen December 6, 2009
Location: West Valley City, Utah
Case: Disappearance; presumed homicide per investigators; active investigation closed May 2013, still officially a missing-person case
Legal status: No arrests or charges ever filed; Josh Powell named sole person of interest, never charged; $98.5 million negligence verdict against Washington's DSHS reinstated on appeal

- The secret will that warned: "it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one"
- A camping alibi in a blizzard that police could never verify
- Two children's words: "where the crystals are" and a drawing of a van
- The 2011 raid that revealed thousands of covert images, and flipped custody
- The systems failure a jury priced at ninety-eight point five million dollars

If you follow the Susan Powell case, this is the definitive timeline, the Susan Powell case explained from her own recorded warnings to the verdict that finally named a failure.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1161falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-killed-a-family-then-stayed-for-ice-cream-the-setagaya-family-murders--74707804
On the night of December 30, 2000, someone climbed through a second-floor bathroom window in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward and murdered all four members of the Miyazawa family, Mikio, 44, Yasuko, 41, Niina, 8, and Rei, 6. Then he did the unthinkable: he stayed for hours. He ate their ice cream and melon, drank their barley tea, used their computer, treated his wounds with their first-aid kit, and walked out leaving his blood in more than ten places, his fingerprints, his clothes, and even sand from an American desert in his abandoned hip bag. How does a killer leave his blood, his fingerprints, and his clothes behind and still have no name? And why would he stay for hours in a house with four bodies? Twenty-five years later, the Setagaya family murders remain unsolved, and no one has ever been named.

In this episode, we follow the Setagaya case from an ordinary year-end evening in a nearly emptied neighborhood beside Soshigaya Park to the largest unsolved investigation in Japanese history: some 298,300 officers mobilized, more than 12,500 pieces of evidence, over 5 million fingerprints taken and 1.3 million DNA comparisons run, with zero matches. We weigh the skateboarder theory against a journalist's contested hitman allegation, unpack the 2025 DNA methylation finding that re-aged the killer to a man in his 30s, and confront the legal wall: Japan's restrictions on DNA phenotyping that keep the richest evidence trove in the country's history from producing a face.

Person: The Miyazawa family, Mikio, 44; Yasuko, 41; Niina, 8; Rei, 6
Date: Night of December 30, 31, 2000
Location: Kamisoshigaya, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, Japan
Case: Quadruple murder in the family home; unsolved
Legal status: No arrest in 25 years; Japan abolished the statute of limitations for murder in 2010, so the case can never be closed; a 20 million yen reward stands

- The intruder's two-to-ten-hour stay: ice cream, barley tea, and the family computer
- The abandoned kit: a rare Uniqlo shirt, Korean-made Slazenger shoes, Mojave Desert sand
- Competing theories and their on-record rebuttals, no suspect ever named
- 298,300 officers, 5 million fingerprints, 1.3 million DNA comparisons, zero matches
- The 25th-anniversary flyers, and Mikio's 94-year-old mother still asking for the truth

The Setagaya family murders left everything behind except a name, and the search is not over.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707804Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:47 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Killed a Family, Then Stayed for Ice Cream On the night of December 30, 2000, someone climbed through a second-floor bathroom window in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward and murdered all four members of the Miyazawa family, Mikio, 44, Yasuko, 41, Niina, 8,...
On the night of December 30, 2000, someone climbed through a second-floor bathroom window in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward and murdered all four members of the Miyazawa family, Mikio, 44, Yasuko, 41, Niina, 8, and Rei, 6. Then he did the unthinkable: he stayed for hours. He ate their ice cream and melon, drank their barley tea, used their computer, treated his wounds with their first-aid kit, and walked out leaving his blood in more than ten places, his fingerprints, his clothes, and even sand from an American desert in his abandoned hip bag. How does a killer leave his blood, his fingerprints, and his clothes behind and still have no name? And why would he stay for hours in a house with four bodies? Twenty-five years later, the Setagaya family murders remain unsolved, and no one has ever been named.

In this episode, we follow the Setagaya case from an ordinary year-end evening in a nearly emptied neighborhood beside Soshigaya Park to the largest unsolved investigation in Japanese history: some 298,300 officers mobilized, more than 12,500 pieces of evidence, over 5 million fingerprints taken and 1.3 million DNA comparisons run, with zero matches. We weigh the skateboarder theory against a journalist's contested hitman allegation, unpack the 2025 DNA methylation finding that re-aged the killer to a man in his 30s, and confront the legal wall: Japan's restrictions on DNA phenotyping that keep the richest evidence trove in the country's history from producing a face.

Person: The Miyazawa family, Mikio, 44; Yasuko, 41; Niina, 8; Rei, 6
Date: Night of December 30, 31, 2000
Location: Kamisoshigaya, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, Japan
Case: Quadruple murder in the family home; unsolved
Legal status: No arrest in 25 years; Japan abolished the statute of limitations for murder in 2010, so the case can never be closed; a 20 million yen reward stands

- The intruder's two-to-ten-hour stay: ice cream, barley tea, and the family computer
- The abandoned kit: a rare Uniqlo shirt, Korean-made Slazenger shoes, Mojave Desert sand
- Competing theories and their on-record rebuttals, no suspect ever named
- 298,300 officers, 5 million fingerprints, 1.3 million DNA comparisons, zero matches
- The 25th-anniversary flyers, and Mikio's 94-year-old mother still asking for the truth

The Setagaya family murders left everything behind except a name, and the search is not over.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1223falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-photograph-taken-after-she-vanished-the-tara-calico-case--74707803
How does a nineteen-year-old vanish in broad daylight, two miles from home, on a highway full of witnesses? Why did a Polaroid of a bound and gagged young woman surface nine months later, two thousand miles away, on film that did not exist when she disappeared? And how can investigators say they know who killed her while the names stay sealed in a court file no one is allowed to read?

In this episode, we follow Tara Calico from her front door in Belen, New Mexico, onto State Road 47 on the morning of September 20, 1988, the routine ride, the pickup truck witnesses saw trailing her, the twenty-minute window that swallowed her whole. Then we trace the case's infamous turn: the Port St. Joe Polaroid, the scar and the paperback that convinced her mother, and the three-way forensic deadlock, Scotland Yard said yes, Los Alamos said no, the FBI couldn't say, that was never resolved. Finally, we walk through the quiet institutional failures: evidence that existed only as words in a file, a collapsed mine shaft never dug out because it was "not cost-effective," and a 2023 probable-cause finding still frozen at the district attorney's office.

Person: Tara Leigh Calico, 19, college sophomore and bank employee
Date: September 20, 1988
Location: Belen, Valencia County, New Mexico
Case: Presumed abduction and homicide; disappearance during a daily bike ride
Legal status: Declared legally dead in 1998; suspects identified with probable cause in 2023, sealed and uncharged; FBI reward up to $20,000

- The stalking warning Tara's mother gave weeks before the disappearance
- A cassette, a broken Walkman, and a mother's theory of a trail of breadcrumbs
- The Polaroid found June 15, 1989, and the film stock that dates it
- The Michael Henley misidentification that collapsed the case's best theory
- The mine shaft, the fly traps, and the prosecution that never came

The Tara Calico case remains one of America's most haunting unsolved disappearances. If this story stayed with you, share it, someone out there still holds the missing piece of the Tara Calico case.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707803Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:43 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Polaroid in the Parking Lot: The Disappearance of Tara Calico How does a nineteen-year-old vanish in broad daylight, two miles from home, on a highway full of witnesses? Why did a Polaroid of a bound and gagged young woman surface nine months...
How does a nineteen-year-old vanish in broad daylight, two miles from home, on a highway full of witnesses? Why did a Polaroid of a bound and gagged young woman surface nine months later, two thousand miles away, on film that did not exist when she disappeared? And how can investigators say they know who killed her while the names stay sealed in a court file no one is allowed to read?

In this episode, we follow Tara Calico from her front door in Belen, New Mexico, onto State Road 47 on the morning of September 20, 1988, the routine ride, the pickup truck witnesses saw trailing her, the twenty-minute window that swallowed her whole. Then we trace the case's infamous turn: the Port St. Joe Polaroid, the scar and the paperback that convinced her mother, and the three-way forensic deadlock, Scotland Yard said yes, Los Alamos said no, the FBI couldn't say, that was never resolved. Finally, we walk through the quiet institutional failures: evidence that existed only as words in a file, a collapsed mine shaft never dug out because it was "not cost-effective," and a 2023 probable-cause finding still frozen at the district attorney's office.

Person: Tara Leigh Calico, 19, college sophomore and bank employee
Date: September 20, 1988
Location: Belen, Valencia County, New Mexico
Case: Presumed abduction and homicide; disappearance during a daily bike ride
Legal status: Declared legally dead in 1998; suspects identified with probable cause in 2023, sealed and uncharged; FBI reward up to $20,000

- The stalking warning Tara's mother gave weeks before the disappearance
- A cassette, a broken Walkman, and a mother's theory of a trail of breadcrumbs
- The Polaroid found June 15, 1989, and the film stock that dates it
- The Michael Henley misidentification that collapsed the case's best theory
- The mine shaft, the fly traps, and the prosecution that never came

The Tara Calico case remains one of America's most haunting unsolved disappearances. If this story stayed with you, share it, someone out there still holds the missing piece of the Tara Calico case.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1155falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-killer-was-on-camera-for-thirty-minutes-the-missy-bevers-case--74707802
Before dawn on April 18, 2016, church security cameras in Midlothian, Texas recorded a figure in full police SWAT gear breaking into rooms with a pry bar, waiting. Minutes later, fitness instructor Missy Bevers walked in alone to set up her 5 a.m. boot camp class. She was found dead shortly after five, killed by puncture wounds to the head and chest. Nothing was taken, not her purse, her iPad, or her wedding ring. Why would a killer film themselves for half an hour and still never be identified? And was the person under that helmet a man... or a woman?

In this episode, we follow the Missy Bevers case minute by minute: the storm that moved her class indoors, the Nissan Altima circling a nearby parking lot at 2 a.m., the intruder pacing the hallways of Creekside Church of Christ, and the student who found her body. We unpack the case's most viral clue, the suspect's strange, hitching walk and its "feminine sway", and how a forensic podiatrist commissioned by the FBI in 2021 concluded the gait was distorted by the weight of the gear and cannot reveal the killer's sex. We also set the record straight on the family: husband Brandon Bevers, cleared by plane tickets and rental car receipts from a Mississippi fishing trip, and father-in-law Randy Bevers, cleared when lab tests proved the blood on his shirt came from a family dog.

Person: Terri "Missy" Bevers, 45, fitness instructor and former special-education teacher
Date: April 18, 2016
Location: Creekside Church of Christ, Midlothian, Texas
Case: Unsolved murder; suspect in police-style tactical gear captured on surveillance video
Status: Active, no arrests, no charges, no publicly named suspect in ten years; police say no one has been ruled out

- The minute-by-minute timeline, from the 2 a.m. Altima to the 5 a.m. discovery
- The "creepy and strange" LinkedIn message and eight persons of interest, none now suspects
- The FBI gait study that neutralized the internet's favorite theory
- The family cleared: plane tickets, rental car receipts, and lab tests that traced the blood to a dog
- How online sleuths hurt the living while the reward climbed to $150,000

Crime Stoppers of Ellis County: 972-937-7297. The Missy Bevers murder is still unsolved, and someone knows who was under that helmet.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707802Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:39 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Killer Was on Camera for Thirty Minutes: The Missy Bevers Church Murder Case Before dawn on April 18, 2016, church security cameras in Midlothian, Texas recorded a figure in full police SWAT gear breaking into rooms with a pry bar, waiting....
Before dawn on April 18, 2016, church security cameras in Midlothian, Texas recorded a figure in full police SWAT gear breaking into rooms with a pry bar, waiting. Minutes later, fitness instructor Missy Bevers walked in alone to set up her 5 a.m. boot camp class. She was found dead shortly after five, killed by puncture wounds to the head and chest. Nothing was taken, not her purse, her iPad, or her wedding ring. Why would a killer film themselves for half an hour and still never be identified? And was the person under that helmet a man... or a woman?

In this episode, we follow the Missy Bevers case minute by minute: the storm that moved her class indoors, the Nissan Altima circling a nearby parking lot at 2 a.m., the intruder pacing the hallways of Creekside Church of Christ, and the student who found her body. We unpack the case's most viral clue, the suspect's strange, hitching walk and its "feminine sway", and how a forensic podiatrist commissioned by the FBI in 2021 concluded the gait was distorted by the weight of the gear and cannot reveal the killer's sex. We also set the record straight on the family: husband Brandon Bevers, cleared by plane tickets and rental car receipts from a Mississippi fishing trip, and father-in-law Randy Bevers, cleared when lab tests proved the blood on his shirt came from a family dog.

Person: Terri "Missy" Bevers, 45, fitness instructor and former special-education teacher
Date: April 18, 2016
Location: Creekside Church of Christ, Midlothian, Texas
Case: Unsolved murder; suspect in police-style tactical gear captured on surveillance video
Status: Active, no arrests, no charges, no publicly named suspect in ten years; police say no one has been ruled out

- The minute-by-minute timeline, from the 2 a.m. Altima to the 5 a.m. discovery
- The "creepy and strange" LinkedIn message and eight persons of interest, none now suspects
- The FBI gait study that neutralized the internet's favorite theory
- The family cleared: plane tickets, rental car receipts, and lab tests that traced the blood to a dog
- How online sleuths hurt the living while the reward climbed to $150,000

Crime Stoppers of Ellis County: 972-937-7297. The Missy Bevers murder is still unsolved, and someone knows who was under that helmet.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1227falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-said-she-d-be-right-in-the-jodi-huisentruit-disappearance--74707801
Around four in the morning on June 27, 1995, TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit answered her producer's wake-up call and said she was on her way to the studio. She was abducted minutes later, twelve steps from her own door, and neighbors who heard the screams never called for help. Why did a stalking report she filed nine months earlier go unresolved? Why did leads sit hidden from state investigators for seven years? And how does a case with blood, a palm print, and drag marks stay unsolved for three decades?

In this episode, we follow the Jodi Huisentruit case from a Minnesota small town to the KIMT anchor desk in Mason City, Iowa, where a 27-year-old on her way to a Twin Cities career vanished from her apartment parking lot at dawn. We reconstruct the crime scene, the bent car key, the scattered heels and hair spray, the tote bag full of a journalist's notebooks that was never found, and the documented warning signs that came before it: the black truck that followed her while jogging, the self-defense class, the annoying phone calls she mentioned on her last day. Then we open the accountability file: a state legislator's account of leads concealed from the Iowa DCI, a leaked journal, and persons of interest, including John Vansice, investigated for decades and dead in 2024 without ever being charged.

Person: Jodi Sue Huisentruit, 27, morning anchor at KIMT-TV
Date: June 27, 1995
Location: Mason City, Iowa
Case: Disappearance; court-appointed investigator concluded she was taken by force; declared legally dead in 2001; body never found
Legal status: No one has ever been arrested or charged; the investigation remains active

- The 4 a.m. phone call and the twelve steps she never finished
- Screams dismissed as noisy campers, and the 911 call that came three hours late
- The unresolved 1994 stalking report and the leads hidden until 2015
- Vansice, the GPS warrant unsealed after his death, and the presumption of innocence
- A 2025 Hulu docuseries, the October 2024 Minnesota search, and a $100,000 reward still active via findjodi.com

The Jodi Huisentruit disappearance remains one of America's most haunting open cases, and the Jodi Huisentruit file has never been closed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707801Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:35 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Said She'd Be Right In: The Jodi Huisentruit Disappearance Around four in the morning on June 27, 1995, TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit answered her producer's wake-up call and said she was on her way to the studio. She was abducted minutes later,...
Around four in the morning on June 27, 1995, TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit answered her producer's wake-up call and said she was on her way to the studio. She was abducted minutes later, twelve steps from her own door, and neighbors who heard the screams never called for help. Why did a stalking report she filed nine months earlier go unresolved? Why did leads sit hidden from state investigators for seven years? And how does a case with blood, a palm print, and drag marks stay unsolved for three decades?

In this episode, we follow the Jodi Huisentruit case from a Minnesota small town to the KIMT anchor desk in Mason City, Iowa, where a 27-year-old on her way to a Twin Cities career vanished from her apartment parking lot at dawn. We reconstruct the crime scene, the bent car key, the scattered heels and hair spray, the tote bag full of a journalist's notebooks that was never found, and the documented warning signs that came before it: the black truck that followed her while jogging, the self-defense class, the annoying phone calls she mentioned on her last day. Then we open the accountability file: a state legislator's account of leads concealed from the Iowa DCI, a leaked journal, and persons of interest, including John Vansice, investigated for decades and dead in 2024 without ever being charged.

Person: Jodi Sue Huisentruit, 27, morning anchor at KIMT-TV
Date: June 27, 1995
Location: Mason City, Iowa
Case: Disappearance; court-appointed investigator concluded she was taken by force; declared legally dead in 2001; body never found
Legal status: No one has ever been arrested or charged; the investigation remains active

- The 4 a.m. phone call and the twelve steps she never finished
- Screams dismissed as noisy campers, and the 911 call that came three hours late
- The unresolved 1994 stalking report and the leads hidden until 2015
- Vansice, the GPS warrant unsealed after his death, and the presumption of innocence
- A 2025 Hulu docuseries, the October 2024 Minnesota search, and a $100,000 reward still active via findjodi.com

The Jodi Huisentruit disappearance remains one of America's most haunting open cases, and the Jodi Huisentruit file has never been closed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1187falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/her-last-search-was-for-a-region-in-france-the-chandra-levy-case--74707799
At 12:59 p.m. on May 1, 2001, a laptop in a Dupont Circle apartment ran one final, never-explained search, Alsace-Lorraine, France. Minutes or hours later, 24-year-old federal intern Chandra Levy walked out with only her house keys and vanished. Why did the search party stop a hundred yards short of where she lay? How did a jailhouse tip naming the right park, and a man already convicted of attacking two women there, get shelved for seven years? And how does a case produce a 60-year sentence and still end with nobody guilty?

In this episode, we follow the Chandra Levy case down three roads that all end on the same wooded slope in Rock Creek Park: the browser history that pointed to the park from day one, corrupted by an untrained officer; the congressman scandal that devoured a summer of headlines and detective hours without ever producing a charge; and the September 2001 tip about Ingmar Guandique that police dismissed, until a Washington Post investigation forced the case back open, a jury convicted him on a jailhouse informant's word, and secret recordings proved that word was a lie.

Person: Chandra Ann Levy, 24, Federal Bureau of Prisons intern
Date: Last seen April 30, 2001; last digital trace May 1, 2001
Location: Washington, D.C., Rock Creek Park
Case: Disappearance and homicide; remains found May 22, 2002
Legal status: OPEN and unsolved. Ingmar Guandique's 2010 conviction was vacated, charges dismissed in 2016, he is listed as exonerated, and he was deported in 2017. Gary Condit was never charged and was cleared by police. No one stands convicted 25 years later.

- The 11:33 a.m. map click and the month-long forensic delay
- The search perimeter order that covered the roads but never the trails
- The shin bone and wire found by the family's own investigators
- Armando Morales, the fanny-pack detail, and the recordings that unraveled a conviction
- A prosecutor found to have committed grave misconduct, after the case collapsed

Twenty-five years on, the Chandra Levy case remains what its failures made it: an open homicide with no one left to answer for it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707799Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:31 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHer Last Search Was for a Region in France At 12:59 p.m. on May 1, 2001, a laptop in a Dupont Circle apartment ran one final, never-explained search, Alsace-Lorraine, France. Minutes or hours later, 24-year-old federal intern Chandra Levy walked...
At 12:59 p.m. on May 1, 2001, a laptop in a Dupont Circle apartment ran one final, never-explained search, Alsace-Lorraine, France. Minutes or hours later, 24-year-old federal intern Chandra Levy walked out with only her house keys and vanished. Why did the search party stop a hundred yards short of where she lay? How did a jailhouse tip naming the right park, and a man already convicted of attacking two women there, get shelved for seven years? And how does a case produce a 60-year sentence and still end with nobody guilty?

In this episode, we follow the Chandra Levy case down three roads that all end on the same wooded slope in Rock Creek Park: the browser history that pointed to the park from day one, corrupted by an untrained officer; the congressman scandal that devoured a summer of headlines and detective hours without ever producing a charge; and the September 2001 tip about Ingmar Guandique that police dismissed, until a Washington Post investigation forced the case back open, a jury convicted him on a jailhouse informant's word, and secret recordings proved that word was a lie.

Person: Chandra Ann Levy, 24, Federal Bureau of Prisons intern
Date: Last seen April 30, 2001; last digital trace May 1, 2001
Location: Washington, D.C., Rock Creek Park
Case: Disappearance and homicide; remains found May 22, 2002
Legal status: OPEN and unsolved. Ingmar Guandique's 2010 conviction was vacated, charges dismissed in 2016, he is listed as exonerated, and he was deported in 2017. Gary Condit was never charged and was cleared by police. No one stands convicted 25 years later.

- The 11:33 a.m. map click and the month-long forensic delay
- The search perimeter order that covered the roads but never the trails
- The shin bone and wire found by the family's own investigators
- Armando Morales, the fanny-pack detail, and the recordings that unraveled a conviction
- A prosecutor found to have committed grave misconduct, after the case collapsed

Twenty-five years on, the Chandra Levy case remains what its failures made it: an open homicide with no one left to answer for it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1188falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-was-tied-up-when-she-made-the-call-the-jennifer-pan-case--74707798
On the night of November 8, 2010, a whispered 911 call came from an upstairs bedroom in Markham, Ontario: armed intruders, a daughter tied to a banister with a shoelace, a father screaming outside. In the basement, Bich Ha Pan, 53, was dead, shot three times in the head. Her husband, Huei Hann Pan, survived being shot in the face. Fourteen days later, police arrested the caller: their own daughter. Why did home invaders leave the cash and the witness? How did a woman with her hands tied dial a phone? And why is the ending everyone saw on Netflix no longer the real ending?

In this episode, we follow the case from a quiet suburban street to the Supreme Court of Canada, the decade-long double life built on forged report cards and a University of Toronto pharmacology degree that never existed, the hospital-bed testimony of a father who survived his own daughter's plot, the interrogation where her story collapsed, and the 2023, 2026 appellate arc that dismantled the first-degree murder verdict most of the world still believes stands.

Person: Bich Ha Pan, 53, killed; Huei Hann Pan, 57, survived
Date: November 8, 2010
Location: Markham, Ontario, Canada
Case: Murder-for-hire plot; contracted home invasion staged as random attack
Legal status: 2014 first-degree murder convictions vacated on appeal, confirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in April 2025; in 2026, Jennifer Pan pleaded guilty to manslaughter in her mother's death, admitting she hired hitmen to kill her father; attempted-murder life sentences stand and all four co-accused are now parole-eligible

- The 911 call, the shoelace, and the demonstration that broke the story
- A fake scholarship, fake classes, and a fake degree sustained for years
- Over 100 texts and calls in the six hours before the shooting
- The jury question that undid the verdict: one target, or two?
- The 2026 pleas and what the legal record actually says today

The Jennifer Pan case became world-famous with the wrong ending, this is the one the record now holds.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707798Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:27 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Was Tied Up When She Made the Call: The Jennifer Pan Case On the night of November 8, 2010, a whispered 911 call came from an upstairs bedroom in Markham, Ontario: armed intruders, a daughter tied to a banister with a shoelace, a father...
On the night of November 8, 2010, a whispered 911 call came from an upstairs bedroom in Markham, Ontario: armed intruders, a daughter tied to a banister with a shoelace, a father screaming outside. In the basement, Bich Ha Pan, 53, was dead, shot three times in the head. Her husband, Huei Hann Pan, survived being shot in the face. Fourteen days later, police arrested the caller: their own daughter. Why did home invaders leave the cash and the witness? How did a woman with her hands tied dial a phone? And why is the ending everyone saw on Netflix no longer the real ending?

In this episode, we follow the case from a quiet suburban street to the Supreme Court of Canada, the decade-long double life built on forged report cards and a University of Toronto pharmacology degree that never existed, the hospital-bed testimony of a father who survived his own daughter's plot, the interrogation where her story collapsed, and the 2023, 2026 appellate arc that dismantled the first-degree murder verdict most of the world still believes stands.

Person: Bich Ha Pan, 53, killed; Huei Hann Pan, 57, survived
Date: November 8, 2010
Location: Markham, Ontario, Canada
Case: Murder-for-hire plot; contracted home invasion staged as random attack
Legal status: 2014 first-degree murder convictions vacated on appeal, confirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in April 2025; in 2026, Jennifer Pan pleaded guilty to manslaughter in her mother's death, admitting she hired hitmen to kill her father; attempted-murder life sentences stand and all four co-accused are now parole-eligible

- The 911 call, the shoelace, and the demonstration that broke the story
- A fake scholarship, fake classes, and a fake degree sustained for years
- Over 100 texts and calls in the six hours before the shooting
- The jury question that undid the verdict: one target, or two?
- The 2026 pleas and what the legal record actually says today

The Jennifer Pan case became world-famous with the wrong ending, this is the one the record now holds.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1212falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-murder-weapon-came-from-across-the-street-the-martha-moxley-case--74707797
Around midday on Halloween 1975, the body of 15-year-old Martha Moxley was found beneath a pine tree on her own family's lawn in Belle Haven, the gated enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut, beaten with a golf club swung so hard it shattered. The club was traced to a set owned by the family directly across the street: the Skakels, relatives by marriage of the Kennedys. So why was that house never searched under warrant? Why is the club's handle, the piece a hand would have held, still missing 50 years later? And how did a conviction won in 2002 end with the case legally back at zero?

In this episode, we follow the Martha Moxley case from mischief night in Belle Haven, the Lincoln Continental, the 9:30 window, the last sighting by the pool, through the overnight search that never checked the lawn, to an investigation that toured the most important house in the case as guests instead of processing it as a scene. Then the long arc: the 1991 reopening, the private investigation that backfired, Michael Skakel's 2000 arrest and 2002 conviction, and the reversals that erased it, vacated by the Connecticut Supreme Court in 2018, the charge dropped in 2020. Skakel, who has always maintained his innocence, is today not convicted of any crime; the murder is officially unsolved.

Person: Martha Elizabeth Moxley, 15
Date: night of October 30, 1975; body found October 31, 1975
Location: Belle Haven, Greenwich, Connecticut
Case: Homicide; blunt-force trauma with a Toney Penna 6-iron traced to the Skakel household
Legal status: Michael Skakel's 2002 conviction vacated in 2018; charge dropped in 2020; officially unsolved as of the case's 50th anniversary, with no one charged

- The diary that became courtroom evidence
- The alibi essay on Abraham Lincoln that was never assigned
- The tutor whose first night in the house was the night of the murder
- The lost swabs finally tested in 2018, and what they didn't show
- Legal exoneration vs. factual innocence: what each ruling actually means

Fifty years on, the Martha Moxley murder remains an open homicide, and the week that could have solved it was lost in 1975.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707797Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:23 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Murder Weapon Came From Across the Street Around midday on Halloween 1975, the body of 15-year-old Martha Moxley was found beneath a pine tree on her own family's lawn in Belle Haven, the gated enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut, beaten with a...
Around midday on Halloween 1975, the body of 15-year-old Martha Moxley was found beneath a pine tree on her own family's lawn in Belle Haven, the gated enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut, beaten with a golf club swung so hard it shattered. The club was traced to a set owned by the family directly across the street: the Skakels, relatives by marriage of the Kennedys. So why was that house never searched under warrant? Why is the club's handle, the piece a hand would have held, still missing 50 years later? And how did a conviction won in 2002 end with the case legally back at zero?

In this episode, we follow the Martha Moxley case from mischief night in Belle Haven, the Lincoln Continental, the 9:30 window, the last sighting by the pool, through the overnight search that never checked the lawn, to an investigation that toured the most important house in the case as guests instead of processing it as a scene. Then the long arc: the 1991 reopening, the private investigation that backfired, Michael Skakel's 2000 arrest and 2002 conviction, and the reversals that erased it, vacated by the Connecticut Supreme Court in 2018, the charge dropped in 2020. Skakel, who has always maintained his innocence, is today not convicted of any crime; the murder is officially unsolved.

Person: Martha Elizabeth Moxley, 15
Date: night of October 30, 1975; body found October 31, 1975
Location: Belle Haven, Greenwich, Connecticut
Case: Homicide; blunt-force trauma with a Toney Penna 6-iron traced to the Skakel household
Legal status: Michael Skakel's 2002 conviction vacated in 2018; charge dropped in 2020; officially unsolved as of the case's 50th anniversary, with no one charged

- The diary that became courtroom evidence
- The alibi essay on Abraham Lincoln that was never assigned
- The tutor whose first night in the house was the night of the murder
- The lost swabs finally tested in 2018, and what they didn't show
- Legal exoneration vs. factual innocence: what each ruling actually means

Fifty years on, the Martha Moxley murder remains an open homicide, and the week that could have solved it was lost in 1975.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1231falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-flat-tire-that-never-stranded-anyone-the-crystal-rogers-case--74707796
On July 5, 2015, Crystal Rogers' maroon Chevrolet Impala was found abandoned on the Bluegrass Parkway near Bardstown, Kentucky, flat tire, keys in the ignition, purse and phone inside. The 35-year-old mother of five, a woman never known to go anywhere without her children, was gone. Why did her boyfriend, Brooks Houck, wait days without reporting her missing? Why did his brother, a serving Bardstown police officer, call mid-interview to tell him to stop talking to detectives? And how did Kentucky convict three men of her murder a decade later without ever finding her body?

In this episode, we follow the Crystal Rogers case from a "surprise date night" at the Houck family farm to a landmark no-body verdict built on Google location data, surveillance video, and a staged roadside breakdown. Along the way: the unsolved shooting of Crystal's father, Tommy Ballard, killed while searching for his daughter; the FBI's 2020 takeover and years of excavations on Houck-linked properties; and a small town, the self-declared Bourbon Capital of the World, already haunted by the unsolved killings of Officer Jason Ellis and the Netherland family.

Person: Crystal Maria Rogers (Ballard), 35, mother of five
Date: Last seen July 3, 2015; reported missing July 5, 2015
Location: Bardstown, Kentucky
Case: Disappearance and murder; body never recovered
Legal status: Brooks Houck convicted July 2025, sentenced to life plus five years; Joseph Lawson 25 years; Steven Lawson 17 years. Nick Houck faces a perjury trial set for November 2026, he is charged, not convicted, and presumed innocent.

- The staged car at mile marker 14 and the midnight phone calls
- A police officer's call that ended his brother's interview, and his career
- Tommy Ballard: the searching father shot dead, a case still unsolved
- The digital evidence that broke a decade of silence: "his phone was not anywhere near what his story was"
- Ten years to a verdict, and the question Bardstown still can't answer

The Crystal Rogers case is now Kentucky's defining no-body prosecution, but until she is found, it is only decided, not finished.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707796Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:19 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA Flat Tire, Keys in the Ignition, and a Mother Who Vanished: The Crystal Rogers Case On July 5, 2015, Crystal Rogers' maroon Chevrolet Impala was found abandoned on the Bluegrass Parkway near Bardstown, Kentucky, flat tire, keys in the ignition,...
On July 5, 2015, Crystal Rogers' maroon Chevrolet Impala was found abandoned on the Bluegrass Parkway near Bardstown, Kentucky, flat tire, keys in the ignition, purse and phone inside. The 35-year-old mother of five, a woman never known to go anywhere without her children, was gone. Why did her boyfriend, Brooks Houck, wait days without reporting her missing? Why did his brother, a serving Bardstown police officer, call mid-interview to tell him to stop talking to detectives? And how did Kentucky convict three men of her murder a decade later without ever finding her body?

In this episode, we follow the Crystal Rogers case from a "surprise date night" at the Houck family farm to a landmark no-body verdict built on Google location data, surveillance video, and a staged roadside breakdown. Along the way: the unsolved shooting of Crystal's father, Tommy Ballard, killed while searching for his daughter; the FBI's 2020 takeover and years of excavations on Houck-linked properties; and a small town, the self-declared Bourbon Capital of the World, already haunted by the unsolved killings of Officer Jason Ellis and the Netherland family.

Person: Crystal Maria Rogers (Ballard), 35, mother of five
Date: Last seen July 3, 2015; reported missing July 5, 2015
Location: Bardstown, Kentucky
Case: Disappearance and murder; body never recovered
Legal status: Brooks Houck convicted July 2025, sentenced to life plus five years; Joseph Lawson 25 years; Steven Lawson 17 years. Nick Houck faces a perjury trial set for November 2026, he is charged, not convicted, and presumed innocent.

- The staged car at mile marker 14 and the midnight phone calls
- A police officer's call that ended his brother's interview, and his career
- Tommy Ballard: the searching father shot dead, a case still unsolved
- The digital evidence that broke a decade of silence: "his phone was not anywhere near what his story was"
- Ten years to a verdict, and the question Bardstown still can't answer

The Crystal Rogers case is now Kentucky's defining no-body prosecution, but until she is found, it is only decided, not finished.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1200falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-motel-they-searched-four-times-the-debanhi-escobar-case--74707795
In the early hours of April 9, 2022, a driver photographed 18-year-old law student Debanhi Escobar standing alone on the highway outside Monterrey, Mexico, a picture he said he took to prove she was alive. Thirteen days later, her body was found in a water cistern at the Motel Nueva Castilla, a property police had already searched at least four times. How does a 200-person operation with drones and dogs miss a body that motel workers found by smell? Why did three autopsies reach three different conclusions? And why, four years later, has no one been charged with her death?

In this episode, we follow the Debanhi Escobar case frame by frame: the disputed party, the driver who was questioned and released, the last surveillance image at 4:56 a.m., and the cistern where everything the state said began to unravel. We weigh the first autopsy's "accidental fall" against the family's independent exam and the internationally supervised third autopsy that concluded suffocation, and we trace the institutional collapse the state itself admitted, in its security chief's words, was "a massive human failure."

Person: Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldúa, 18, law student
Date: Disappeared April 9, 2022; found April 21, 2022
Location: Escobedo, Nuevo León (Monterrey metropolitan area), Mexico
Case: Death investigation; body found in a motel cistern after a 13-day search
Legal status: No one charged with her death as of 2026; two former motel employees bound over for trial for cover-up (no verdict); four former state officials in a pre-trial cover-up proceeding; the family's fourth expert review (metaperitaje) is pending, and the federal prosecutor's office still has not classified the case as femicide

- The roadside photograph and the driver's unresolved role
- Four searches of the motel, and the workers who found her instead
- Three autopsies: skull contusion, abuse before death, suffocation
- The body in one tank, her bag in another, her phone in a third
- A father's four-year fight against four official versions

The Debanhi Escobar case became the emblem of Mexico's disappeared women, and the question of what happened at that motel is still open.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707795Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:15 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTPolice Searched the Motel Four Times: The Debanhi Escobar Case In the early hours of April 9, 2022, a driver photographed 18-year-old law student Debanhi Escobar standing alone on the highway outside Monterrey, Mexico, a picture he said he took to...
In the early hours of April 9, 2022, a driver photographed 18-year-old law student Debanhi Escobar standing alone on the highway outside Monterrey, Mexico, a picture he said he took to prove she was alive. Thirteen days later, her body was found in a water cistern at the Motel Nueva Castilla, a property police had already searched at least four times. How does a 200-person operation with drones and dogs miss a body that motel workers found by smell? Why did three autopsies reach three different conclusions? And why, four years later, has no one been charged with her death?

In this episode, we follow the Debanhi Escobar case frame by frame: the disputed party, the driver who was questioned and released, the last surveillance image at 4:56 a.m., and the cistern where everything the state said began to unravel. We weigh the first autopsy's "accidental fall" against the family's independent exam and the internationally supervised third autopsy that concluded suffocation, and we trace the institutional collapse the state itself admitted, in its security chief's words, was "a massive human failure."

Person: Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldúa, 18, law student
Date: Disappeared April 9, 2022; found April 21, 2022
Location: Escobedo, Nuevo León (Monterrey metropolitan area), Mexico
Case: Death investigation; body found in a motel cistern after a 13-day search
Legal status: No one charged with her death as of 2026; two former motel employees bound over for trial for cover-up (no verdict); four former state officials in a pre-trial cover-up proceeding; the family's fourth expert review (metaperitaje) is pending, and the federal prosecutor's office still has not classified the case as femicide

- The roadside photograph and the driver's unresolved role
- Four searches of the motel, and the workers who found her instead
- Three autopsies: skull contusion, abuse before death, suffocation
- The body in one tank, her bag in another, her phone in a third
- A father's four-year fight against four official versions

The Debanhi Escobar case became the emblem of Mexico's disappeared women, and the question of what happened at that motel is still open.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1198falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-doctors-signed-an-accident-the-maria-marta-garcia-belsunce-case--74707794
On October 27, 2002, sociologist María Marta García Belsunce, co-founder of Missing Children Argentina, was found dead in her bathtub inside the Carmel Country Club, an exclusive gated community outside Buenos Aires. No police were called, a death certificate citing non-traumatic cardiac arrest was arranged that same night, and the burial went ahead. How did a bullet fragment found near her body get dismissed as a "pituto", a random plumbing fitting, and flushed down the toilet during the wake? Why did it take five weeks and an exhumation for an autopsy to find five .32-caliber bullets in her head? And how did Argentina's justice system spend the next 22 years getting the answer wrong before getting it right?

In this episode, we follow the case from the storm, the bicycle, and the Sunday routine that left one house empty, and one woman inside it, through the false death certificate and the crime scene that was scrubbed before it ever existed, to the widower who served seven and a half years of a life sentence before being declared innocent, and the neighbor whose 2022 acquittal was reversed on appeal: three trials, two wrong official truths, and a story about what happens when the first 24 hours after a death are handed a mop instead of a magistrate.

Person: María Marta García Belsunce, 50, sociologist and vice president of Missing Children Argentina
Date: October 27, 2002
Location: Carmel Country Club, Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Case: Death recorded as an accident for 36 days; exhumation and autopsy revealed five .32-caliber bullets in her skull and a sixth graze
Legal status: Carlos Carrascosa and María Marta's relatives were ultimately absolved or had their cases dismissed. Nicolás Pachelo, convicted to life with the sentence confirmed in February 2025, maintains his innocence before Argentina's highest courts, with final appeals still pending.

- The bullet fragment mistaken for a plumbing fitting and flushed away during the wake
- The false death certificate and the bathroom cleaned before any investigator ever saw it
- The unknown male DNA that undid the case against the widower and the family
- Nicolás Pachelo: the neighbor who treated the gated community as a hunting ground, and the alibi that died with his mother
- Three trials, two wrong official truths, and a life sentence confirmed 22 years later

The María Marta García Belsunce case is the story of what a wall cannot keep out, and the questions the María Marta García Belsunce murder opened about Argentina's justice system have still not fully closed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707794Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:11 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTFive Bullets, One "Accident": The María Marta García Belsunce Case On October 27, 2002, sociologist María Marta García Belsunce, co-founder of Missing Children Argentina, was found dead in her bathtub inside the Carmel Country Club, an exclusive...
On October 27, 2002, sociologist María Marta García Belsunce, co-founder of Missing Children Argentina, was found dead in her bathtub inside the Carmel Country Club, an exclusive gated community outside Buenos Aires. No police were called, a death certificate citing non-traumatic cardiac arrest was arranged that same night, and the burial went ahead. How did a bullet fragment found near her body get dismissed as a "pituto", a random plumbing fitting, and flushed down the toilet during the wake? Why did it take five weeks and an exhumation for an autopsy to find five .32-caliber bullets in her head? And how did Argentina's justice system spend the next 22 years getting the answer wrong before getting it right?

In this episode, we follow the case from the storm, the bicycle, and the Sunday routine that left one house empty, and one woman inside it, through the false death certificate and the crime scene that was scrubbed before it ever existed, to the widower who served seven and a half years of a life sentence before being declared innocent, and the neighbor whose 2022 acquittal was reversed on appeal: three trials, two wrong official truths, and a story about what happens when the first 24 hours after a death are handed a mop instead of a magistrate.

Person: María Marta García Belsunce, 50, sociologist and vice president of Missing Children Argentina
Date: October 27, 2002
Location: Carmel Country Club, Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Case: Death recorded as an accident for 36 days; exhumation and autopsy revealed five .32-caliber bullets in her skull and a sixth graze
Legal status: Carlos Carrascosa and María Marta's relatives were ultimately absolved or had their cases dismissed. Nicolás Pachelo, convicted to life with the sentence confirmed in February 2025, maintains his innocence before Argentina's highest courts, with final appeals still pending.

- The bullet fragment mistaken for a plumbing fitting and flushed away during the wake
- The false death certificate and the bathroom cleaned before any investigator ever saw it
- The unknown male DNA that undid the case against the widower and the family
- Nicolás Pachelo: the neighbor who treated the gated community as a hunting ground, and the alibi that died with his mother
- Three trials, two wrong official truths, and a life sentence confirmed 22 years later

The María Marta García Belsunce case is the story of what a wall cannot keep out, and the questions the María Marta García Belsunce murder opened about Argentina's justice system have still not fully closed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1231falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-evidence-sat-on-a-shelf-for-25-months-paul-bernardo-and-karla-homolka--74707793
In November 1990, a polite, cooperative suspect voluntarily handed Toronto police his own saliva, blood, and hair. The samples sat untested at a forensic lab for more than two years, and in that window, Paul Bernardo raped four more young women and killed two teenage girls. Why did tips naming him go nowhere for years? How did two police forces hunting the same man end up, in a judge's words, operating as if in different countries? And why did prosecutors sign a 12-year plea deal with Karla Homolka before anyone had seen the videotapes hidden above a bathroom ceiling?

In this episode, we follow the case from the Scarborough Rapist series through the deaths of Tammy Homolka, Leslie Mahaffy, and Kristen French in southern Ontario, told in the clinical language of the court record and centered on the victims, not the mythology. We unpack the "deal with the devil", the manslaughter plea the Crown negotiated in the dark while defense lawyer Ken Murray secretly held the tapes for 17 months, and the Campbell Inquiry's verdict of systemic failure: the DNA black hole, the jurisdictional turf war, and the reforms written in the victims' names.

Person: Tammy Homolka, 15; Leslie Mahaffy, 14; Kristen French, 15
Date: December 1990, April 1992 (killings); 1987, 1992 (Scarborough Rapist series)
Location: Scarborough, Burlington, and St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Case: Serial rapes and the schoolgirl murders; the Homolka plea agreement
Legal status: Bernardo convicted of first-degree murder in 1995, declared a dangerous offender; parole denied for the third time in November 2024. Homolka served her full 12 years and has been free since 2005, with no supervision conditions.

- The tips that named Bernardo years before his arrest, and why they were discounted
- The wedding held the same day Leslie Mahaffy's remains were found
- The plea deal signed before the tapes surfaced, and the review that upheld it
- The Campbell Inquiry: dozens of mistakes, no villains, systemic failure
- The French and Mahaffy families' 30-year fight that reshaped Canadian justice

The Paul Bernardo case remains Canada's defining institutional failure, and the questions it opened have never fully closed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707793Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:07 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Evidence Sat on a Shelf for 25 Months: The Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka Case In November 1990, a polite, cooperative suspect voluntarily handed Toronto police his own saliva, blood, and hair. The samples sat untested at a forensic lab for...
In November 1990, a polite, cooperative suspect voluntarily handed Toronto police his own saliva, blood, and hair. The samples sat untested at a forensic lab for more than two years, and in that window, Paul Bernardo raped four more young women and killed two teenage girls. Why did tips naming him go nowhere for years? How did two police forces hunting the same man end up, in a judge's words, operating as if in different countries? And why did prosecutors sign a 12-year plea deal with Karla Homolka before anyone had seen the videotapes hidden above a bathroom ceiling?

In this episode, we follow the case from the Scarborough Rapist series through the deaths of Tammy Homolka, Leslie Mahaffy, and Kristen French in southern Ontario, told in the clinical language of the court record and centered on the victims, not the mythology. We unpack the "deal with the devil", the manslaughter plea the Crown negotiated in the dark while defense lawyer Ken Murray secretly held the tapes for 17 months, and the Campbell Inquiry's verdict of systemic failure: the DNA black hole, the jurisdictional turf war, and the reforms written in the victims' names.

Person: Tammy Homolka, 15; Leslie Mahaffy, 14; Kristen French, 15
Date: December 1990, April 1992 (killings); 1987, 1992 (Scarborough Rapist series)
Location: Scarborough, Burlington, and St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Case: Serial rapes and the schoolgirl murders; the Homolka plea agreement
Legal status: Bernardo convicted of first-degree murder in 1995, declared a dangerous offender; parole denied for the third time in November 2024. Homolka served her full 12 years and has been free since 2005, with no supervision conditions.

- The tips that named Bernardo years before his arrest, and why they were discounted
- The wedding held the same day Leslie Mahaffy's remains were found
- The plea deal signed before the tapes surfaced, and the review that upheld it
- The Campbell Inquiry: dozens of mistakes, no villains, systemic failure
- The French and Mahaffy families' 30-year fight that reshaped Canadian justice

The Paul Bernardo case remains Canada's defining institutional failure, and the questions it opened have never fully closed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1229falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-hill-that-kept-them-the-frog-boys-of-south-korea--74707792
How do three hundred thousand searchers miss five bodies buried four hundred meters from home? Why did police call it hypothermia when the skulls told a different story? And who walked down that mountain in 1991 knowing exactly where five children lay, and stayed silent for thirty-five years?

In this episode, we follow the Frog Boys case from the morning of March 26, 1991, when five elementary school students left their Daegu neighborhood to collect salamander eggs on Mount Waryong and never came home. It was a national election holiday, the one day the entire country was looking elsewhere, and the police response began with skepticism instead of urgency. What followed became the largest manhunt in South Korean history: a presidential mobilization, twenty-two million flyers, the boys' faces printed on cigarette packs, and five fathers who quit their jobs to search the nation by truck. Then, in September 2002, two men gathering acorns found the answer that had been lying on the same hill all along, and the forensic findings that followed contradicted everything the authorities first announced.

Person: Woo Cheol-won, Jo Ho-yeon, Kim Yeong-gyu, Park Chan-in, Kim Jong-sik
Date: March 26, 1991, present
Location: Mount Waryong, Dalseo District, Daegu, South Korea
Case: Disappearance and unsolved homicide of five children (the Frog Boys case)
Legal status: Unsolved; statute of limitations expired in 2006; active truth-finding investigation by the Daegu cold case unit

- The election-day blind spot that swallowed the first, most critical hours of the search
- Five hundred searches of one small hill, and the remains found four hundred meters from the boys' village
- The 2002 discovery: police shovels, a hypothermia verdict, and the forensic team that ruled it murder in two days
- Bullet casings beside a military firing range, knotted clothing, and the theories that were never proven
- Three fathers who died without answers, and the laws the case changed for every family after theirs

The Frog Boys case remains one of true crime's most haunting unsolved mysteries. If unsolved true crime stories like the Frog Boys case stay with you long after the episode ends, follow the show and share it with someone who needs to hear this one.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707792Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:03:03 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Hill That Kept Them: The Frog Boys of Daegu and Korea's Coldest Unsolved Case How do three hundred thousand searchers miss five bodies buried four hundred meters from home? Why did police call it hypothermia when the skulls told a different...
How do three hundred thousand searchers miss five bodies buried four hundred meters from home? Why did police call it hypothermia when the skulls told a different story? And who walked down that mountain in 1991 knowing exactly where five children lay, and stayed silent for thirty-five years?

In this episode, we follow the Frog Boys case from the morning of March 26, 1991, when five elementary school students left their Daegu neighborhood to collect salamander eggs on Mount Waryong and never came home. It was a national election holiday, the one day the entire country was looking elsewhere, and the police response began with skepticism instead of urgency. What followed became the largest manhunt in South Korean history: a presidential mobilization, twenty-two million flyers, the boys' faces printed on cigarette packs, and five fathers who quit their jobs to search the nation by truck. Then, in September 2002, two men gathering acorns found the answer that had been lying on the same hill all along, and the forensic findings that followed contradicted everything the authorities first announced.

Person: Woo Cheol-won, Jo Ho-yeon, Kim Yeong-gyu, Park Chan-in, Kim Jong-sik
Date: March 26, 1991, present
Location: Mount Waryong, Dalseo District, Daegu, South Korea
Case: Disappearance and unsolved homicide of five children (the Frog Boys case)
Legal status: Unsolved; statute of limitations expired in 2006; active truth-finding investigation by the Daegu cold case unit

- The election-day blind spot that swallowed the first, most critical hours of the search
- Five hundred searches of one small hill, and the remains found four hundred meters from the boys' village
- The 2002 discovery: police shovels, a hypothermia verdict, and the forensic team that ruled it murder in two days
- Bullet casings beside a military firing range, knotted clothing, and the theories that were never proven
- Three fathers who died without answers, and the laws the case changed for every family after theirs

The Frog Boys case remains one of true crime's most haunting unsolved mysteries. If unsolved true crime stories like the Frog Boys case stay with you long after the episode ends, follow the show and share it with someone who needs to hear this one.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1191falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-killer-passed-the-polygraph-the-colonial-parkway-murders--74707791
Between 1986 and 1989, at least eight young people were murdered or vanished along the Colonial Parkway, the 23-mile federal road connecting Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, Virginia. Couples in parked cars. Valuables untouched. Cars left behind like messages. Why did investigators suspect a police impostor? How did a distinctive local fisherman, surveilled and searched by the FBI in 1988, walk away after passing a polygraph? And why did it take until 2024 for DNA to finally say his name, seven years after he died?

In this episode, we follow the case from the 1986 discovery of Cathleen Thomas and Rebecca Dowski at the Cheatham Annex Overlook, through the killings of David Knobling and 14-year-old Robin Edwards, the disappearance of Keith Call and Cassandra Hailey, and the deaths of Annamaria Phelps, Daniel Lauer, Laurie Ann Powell and Teresa Howell, and then through the cold-case review that linked six of those deaths to Alan Wade Wilmer Sr., a waterman known as "Pokey" who was never charged in his lifetime.

Person: At least eight victims, ages 14 to 29; suspect Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. (died 2017)
Date: October 1986, September 1989; identifications announced 2024, 2026
Location: Colonial Parkway and Tidewater region, Virginia
Case: Serial murders and disappearances of young couples
Legal status: Wilmer died in 2017 without ever being arrested or charged; the FBI and Virginia State Police concluded via DNA that he committed six of the killings, and prosecutors stated charges would have been filed had he lived, a posthumous determination, not a conviction. The Call/Hailey and Phelps/Lauer cases remain officially open.

- The truck with the engine running and the window half down
- The 1988 surveillance of Wilmer, and the polygraph that cleared him
- The CODIS blind spot: a killer with no felony record
- Three announcements: January 2024, November 2025, January 2026
- The two couples still waiting, and why police say it is not too late to come forward

The Colonial Parkway murders were finally given a name, but for two families, the Colonial Parkway murders are still an open wound.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707791Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:59 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Killer Passed the Polygraph: The Colonial Parkway Murders Between 1986 and 1989, at least eight young people were murdered or vanished along the Colonial Parkway, the 23-mile federal road connecting Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown,...
Between 1986 and 1989, at least eight young people were murdered or vanished along the Colonial Parkway, the 23-mile federal road connecting Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, Virginia. Couples in parked cars. Valuables untouched. Cars left behind like messages. Why did investigators suspect a police impostor? How did a distinctive local fisherman, surveilled and searched by the FBI in 1988, walk away after passing a polygraph? And why did it take until 2024 for DNA to finally say his name, seven years after he died?

In this episode, we follow the case from the 1986 discovery of Cathleen Thomas and Rebecca Dowski at the Cheatham Annex Overlook, through the killings of David Knobling and 14-year-old Robin Edwards, the disappearance of Keith Call and Cassandra Hailey, and the deaths of Annamaria Phelps, Daniel Lauer, Laurie Ann Powell and Teresa Howell, and then through the cold-case review that linked six of those deaths to Alan Wade Wilmer Sr., a waterman known as "Pokey" who was never charged in his lifetime.

Person: At least eight victims, ages 14 to 29; suspect Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. (died 2017)
Date: October 1986, September 1989; identifications announced 2024, 2026
Location: Colonial Parkway and Tidewater region, Virginia
Case: Serial murders and disappearances of young couples
Legal status: Wilmer died in 2017 without ever being arrested or charged; the FBI and Virginia State Police concluded via DNA that he committed six of the killings, and prosecutors stated charges would have been filed had he lived, a posthumous determination, not a conviction. The Call/Hailey and Phelps/Lauer cases remain officially open.

- The truck with the engine running and the window half down
- The 1988 surveillance of Wilmer, and the polygraph that cleared him
- The CODIS blind spot: a killer with no felony record
- Three announcements: January 2024, November 2025, January 2026
- The two couples still waiting, and why police say it is not too late to come forward

The Colonial Parkway murders were finally given a name, but for two families, the Colonial Parkway murders are still an open wound.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1209falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-drew-his-victims-before-he-killed-them-the-doodler-case--74707790
At 1:25 a.m. on January 27, 1974, a caller told San Francisco police there might be a dead man on Ocean Beach. He was the first of at least five, probably six, gay men murdered between 1974 and 1975 by a killer who sketched his targets in Castro bars before luring them to the foggy edges of the city. Police had a detailed composite by 1975, a name from tipsters, and a "strong suspect" in an interview room by January 1976. So why was no one ever charged? Because the three men who survived his attacks, reportedly including a well-known entertainer and a diplomat, refused to testify rather than be outed in open court. And is the man detectives questioned in 1976, and again in 2018, still living quietly in the East Bay today?

In this episode, we follow the Doodler case from the 911 call that opened it to the 2026 appeal that keeps it alive: the six victims restored as full human beings, the era of forced silence that protected the killer, the Zodiac and Zebra murders that swallowed the headlines, the 2018 cold-case reopening, and the living, unnamed person of interest in the East Bay, including the wordless encounter between him and the lead investigator.

Case: The Doodler serial killings, unsolved
Person: Gerald Cavanagh, 49; Joseph "Jae" Stevens, 27; Klaus Christmann, 31; Frederick Capin, 32; Harald Gullberg, 66; Warren Andrews, 52 (named as probable sixth victim in 2022)
Date: January 1974, September 1975
Location: Ocean Beach, Golden Gate Park, and Lands End, San Francisco, California
Legal status: Never solved. No arrest or charge ever filed; a person of interest, questioned in 1976 and again in 2018, remains unnamed and presumed innocent. SFPD reward: $250,000, active as of 2026.

- The cocktail-napkin sketches that gave a serial killer his name
- The survivors who could not speak, and Harvey Milk's defense of their silence
- Fox Plaza, the psychiatrist's lost tip, and the southeastern U.S. trail
- Three sketches, fifty years apart, and DNA still being tested
- Warren Andrews, the probable sixth victim it took the SFPD forty-eight years to count

The Doodler case is San Francisco's forgotten serial killer investigation, and with $250,000 on the table, the SFPD says one caller from 1975 could still put a name to the Doodler.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707790Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:55 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Drew His Victims Before He Killed Them: The Doodler, San Francisco's Unsolved Serial Killer At 1:25 a.m. on January 27, 1974, a caller told San Francisco police there might be a dead man on Ocean Beach. He was the first of at least five,...
At 1:25 a.m. on January 27, 1974, a caller told San Francisco police there might be a dead man on Ocean Beach. He was the first of at least five, probably six, gay men murdered between 1974 and 1975 by a killer who sketched his targets in Castro bars before luring them to the foggy edges of the city. Police had a detailed composite by 1975, a name from tipsters, and a "strong suspect" in an interview room by January 1976. So why was no one ever charged? Because the three men who survived his attacks, reportedly including a well-known entertainer and a diplomat, refused to testify rather than be outed in open court. And is the man detectives questioned in 1976, and again in 2018, still living quietly in the East Bay today?

In this episode, we follow the Doodler case from the 911 call that opened it to the 2026 appeal that keeps it alive: the six victims restored as full human beings, the era of forced silence that protected the killer, the Zodiac and Zebra murders that swallowed the headlines, the 2018 cold-case reopening, and the living, unnamed person of interest in the East Bay, including the wordless encounter between him and the lead investigator.

Case: The Doodler serial killings, unsolved
Person: Gerald Cavanagh, 49; Joseph "Jae" Stevens, 27; Klaus Christmann, 31; Frederick Capin, 32; Harald Gullberg, 66; Warren Andrews, 52 (named as probable sixth victim in 2022)
Date: January 1974, September 1975
Location: Ocean Beach, Golden Gate Park, and Lands End, San Francisco, California
Legal status: Never solved. No arrest or charge ever filed; a person of interest, questioned in 1976 and again in 2018, remains unnamed and presumed innocent. SFPD reward: $250,000, active as of 2026.

- The cocktail-napkin sketches that gave a serial killer his name
- The survivors who could not speak, and Harvey Milk's defense of their silence
- Fox Plaza, the psychiatrist's lost tip, and the southeastern U.S. trail
- Three sketches, fifty years apart, and DNA still being tested
- Warren Andrews, the probable sixth victim it took the SFPD forty-eight years to count

The Doodler case is San Francisco's forgotten serial killer investigation, and with $250,000 on the table, the SFPD says one caller from 1975 could still put a name to the Doodler.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1220falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/three-children-one-bus-sixty-years-the-beaumont-children-disappearance--74707789
On Australia Day, January 26, 1966, Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont, nine, seven and four, took a five-minute bus ride to Glenelg Beach near Adelaide and were never seen again. Who was the tall, sun-tanned man witnesses saw playing with them at Colley Reserve? Where did the one-pound note they spent at the bakery come from, when their mother had given them only six shillings and sixpence? And how does a nation search for six decades without finding a single one of the seventeen items three children carried to the beach?

In this episode, we reconstruct the last confirmed morning of the Beaumont children, the bus, the sprinklers, the bakery, the stranger the children already seemed to know, and follow the case through the overwhelmed five-man police station that received it, the psychic who cost the public a fortune, and the hoax letters that fed the parents false hope for decades before fingerprints exposed them in 1992. We walk the suspect roster as it deserves to be walked: as theories, never charges, from von Einem and Percy to the Harry Phipps allegations that drove three excavations of the Castalloy factory site, ending with the massive, privately funded 2025 dig that police refused to join and that found nothing.

Person: Jane (9), Arnna (7) and Grant (4) Beaumont
Date: January 26, 1966, Australia Day
Location: Glenelg Beach, Adelaide, South Australia
Case: Suspected abduction and murder; no remains ever found
Legal status: Open and unsolved; no arrest or charge in sixty years; A$1 million government reward standing since 2018; case held by South Australia Police Major Crime

- The £1 note, the meat pie, and the "boyfriend down the beach"
- One phone, five officers: the 1966 investigation without modern forensics
- The 1968 hoax letters and the 1992 fingerprint reveal
- The Castalloy digs of 2013, 2018 and 2025, and the police rift
- The 2026 Bill Cotton allegations, presented as claims, not findings

The Beaumont children disappearance remains Australia's defining cold case, and after sixty years, the Beaumont children reward is still waiting for one name.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707789Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:51 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThree Children, One Bus, Sixty Years: The Beaumont Children Disappearance On Australia Day, January 26, 1966, Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont, nine, seven and four, took a five-minute bus ride to Glenelg Beach near Adelaide and were never seen...
On Australia Day, January 26, 1966, Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont, nine, seven and four, took a five-minute bus ride to Glenelg Beach near Adelaide and were never seen again. Who was the tall, sun-tanned man witnesses saw playing with them at Colley Reserve? Where did the one-pound note they spent at the bakery come from, when their mother had given them only six shillings and sixpence? And how does a nation search for six decades without finding a single one of the seventeen items three children carried to the beach?

In this episode, we reconstruct the last confirmed morning of the Beaumont children, the bus, the sprinklers, the bakery, the stranger the children already seemed to know, and follow the case through the overwhelmed five-man police station that received it, the psychic who cost the public a fortune, and the hoax letters that fed the parents false hope for decades before fingerprints exposed them in 1992. We walk the suspect roster as it deserves to be walked: as theories, never charges, from von Einem and Percy to the Harry Phipps allegations that drove three excavations of the Castalloy factory site, ending with the massive, privately funded 2025 dig that police refused to join and that found nothing.

Person: Jane (9), Arnna (7) and Grant (4) Beaumont
Date: January 26, 1966, Australia Day
Location: Glenelg Beach, Adelaide, South Australia
Case: Suspected abduction and murder; no remains ever found
Legal status: Open and unsolved; no arrest or charge in sixty years; A$1 million government reward standing since 2018; case held by South Australia Police Major Crime

- The £1 note, the meat pie, and the "boyfriend down the beach"
- One phone, five officers: the 1966 investigation without modern forensics
- The 1968 hoax letters and the 1992 fingerprint reveal
- The Castalloy digs of 2013, 2018 and 2025, and the police rift
- The 2026 Bill Cotton allegations, presented as claims, not findings

The Beaumont children disappearance remains Australia's defining cold case, and after sixty years, the Beaumont children reward is still waiting for one name.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1243falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-killer-who-never-existed-the-hillside-strangler-case--74707787
Between October 1977 and February 1978, ten girls and young women, aged 12 to 28, were abducted in Los Angeles, strangled, and left on the hillsides above Glendale and Eagle Rock. The press named the killer the Hillside Strangler, one man. Police knew almost from the start that it was two: cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, who lured victims with a fake police badge and killed nearly all of them inside Buono's Glendale upholstery shop. How did two men turn the uniform of safety into a weapon? Why did the case break a thousand miles away instead of in Los Angeles? And how close did prosecutors come to letting one of the killers walk?

In this episode, we follow the case from the abduction of schoolgirls Dolores Cepeda, 12, and Sonja Johnson, 14, through the citywide panic that made young women afraid of police cars, to the break that came a thousand miles away in Bellingham, Washington, where Bianchi murdered students Karen Mandic and Diane Wilder and was caught in a day. Then the twists: Bianchi's faked multiple-personality defense, dismantled by psychiatrist Dr. Martin Orne in a landmark study of malingering, and the moment in 1981 when the DA's office moved to dismiss all ten murder charges against Buono, stopped only by Judge Ronald George's refusal to sign.

Person: Ten Los Angeles victims aged 12, 28, including Dolores Cepeda and Sonja Johnson; Karen Mandic and Diane Wilder in Washington
Date: October 17, 1977, February 17, 1978; Bellingham murders January 11, 1979
Location: Los Angeles, California, and Bellingham, Washington
Case: Serial abduction, rape, and strangulation by two cousins posing as police
Legal status: Buono convicted of nine murders, died in prison in 2002; Bianchi, serving life under the new name Anthony D'Amato, was denied parole again on July 10, 2025, with his next hearing set ten years out

- The badge: how the killers turned the uniform of safety into bait
- Catharine Lorre, spared by calculation because of her famous father
- The fake alter ego exposed on hypnosis tapes, and the copycat plot from jail
- The longest criminal trial in U.S. history to that point: 400 witnesses, 1,800 exhibits
- The 2025 parole hearing that pulled victims' families back into the room

The Hillside Strangler case is the story of a name that was wrong, because the Hillside Strangler was never one man, but two.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707787Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:47 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Killer Who Never Existed: The Hillside Strangler Case of Bianchi and Buono Between October 1977 and February 1978, ten girls and young women, aged 12 to 28, were abducted in Los Angeles, strangled, and left on the hillsides above Glendale and...
Between October 1977 and February 1978, ten girls and young women, aged 12 to 28, were abducted in Los Angeles, strangled, and left on the hillsides above Glendale and Eagle Rock. The press named the killer the Hillside Strangler, one man. Police knew almost from the start that it was two: cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, who lured victims with a fake police badge and killed nearly all of them inside Buono's Glendale upholstery shop. How did two men turn the uniform of safety into a weapon? Why did the case break a thousand miles away instead of in Los Angeles? And how close did prosecutors come to letting one of the killers walk?

In this episode, we follow the case from the abduction of schoolgirls Dolores Cepeda, 12, and Sonja Johnson, 14, through the citywide panic that made young women afraid of police cars, to the break that came a thousand miles away in Bellingham, Washington, where Bianchi murdered students Karen Mandic and Diane Wilder and was caught in a day. Then the twists: Bianchi's faked multiple-personality defense, dismantled by psychiatrist Dr. Martin Orne in a landmark study of malingering, and the moment in 1981 when the DA's office moved to dismiss all ten murder charges against Buono, stopped only by Judge Ronald George's refusal to sign.

Person: Ten Los Angeles victims aged 12, 28, including Dolores Cepeda and Sonja Johnson; Karen Mandic and Diane Wilder in Washington
Date: October 17, 1977, February 17, 1978; Bellingham murders January 11, 1979
Location: Los Angeles, California, and Bellingham, Washington
Case: Serial abduction, rape, and strangulation by two cousins posing as police
Legal status: Buono convicted of nine murders, died in prison in 2002; Bianchi, serving life under the new name Anthony D'Amato, was denied parole again on July 10, 2025, with his next hearing set ten years out

- The badge: how the killers turned the uniform of safety into bait
- Catharine Lorre, spared by calculation because of her famous father
- The fake alter ego exposed on hypnosis tapes, and the copycat plot from jail
- The longest criminal trial in U.S. history to that point: 400 witnesses, 1,800 exhibits
- The 2025 parole hearing that pulled victims' families back into the room

The Hillside Strangler case is the story of a name that was wrong, because the Hillside Strangler was never one man, but two.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1211falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-girl-police-walked-past-the-elizabeth-smart-kidnapping--74707786
How does a 14-year-old vanish from her own bedroom in one of Salt Lake City's safest neighborhoods, and stay hidden for nine months just miles from home? Why did the answer to the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping sit inside police files for four months while the wrong man died in custody? And what happens when a detective stands feet away from a living, recoverable child in a public library, and walks away?

In this episode, we reconstruct the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping of June 5, 2002: the panhandler her mother paid five dollars, the knife in the dark, the nine-year-old sister who pretended to sleep, and whose memory of a voice ultimately solved the case when investigators wouldn't listen. From the contaminated crime scene and the 16,000 tips that led nowhere, to the attempted abduction of her cousin, the library encounter, and the citizens who recognized her captor from America's Most Wanted, this is a story of institutional failure, and of a survivor who refused every script written for her.

Person: Elizabeth Smart, 14, abducted at knifepoint by Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee
Date: June 5, 2002, March 12, 2003 (nine months in captivity)
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah; later San Diego County, California
Case: Aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault; rescued alive in Sandy, Utah
Legal status: Mitchell serving life without parole; Barzee released 2018, rearrested 2025 on park-entry charges

In this episode:
- The five-dollar bill that put a predator on the family's roof
- Mary Katherine, the nine-year-old witness who cracked the case, and the sketch police withheld
- Richard Ricci: the suspect who died in custody, never charged
- The library encounter: hope walking out the door
- "Thou sayest", the two words that ended nine months of captivity

The Elizabeth Smart kidnapping remains one of America's most studied child-abduction cases, a landmark in eyewitness memory, institutional failure, and survival. Subscribe for more true crime, and hear why the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping still changes how we search for the missing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707786Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:42 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTTítulo: Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping: The Girl Police Walked Past How does a 14-year-old vanish from her own bedroom in one of Salt Lake City's safest neighborhoods, and stay hidden for nine months just miles from home? Why did the answer to the...
How does a 14-year-old vanish from her own bedroom in one of Salt Lake City's safest neighborhoods, and stay hidden for nine months just miles from home? Why did the answer to the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping sit inside police files for four months while the wrong man died in custody? And what happens when a detective stands feet away from a living, recoverable child in a public library, and walks away?

In this episode, we reconstruct the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping of June 5, 2002: the panhandler her mother paid five dollars, the knife in the dark, the nine-year-old sister who pretended to sleep, and whose memory of a voice ultimately solved the case when investigators wouldn't listen. From the contaminated crime scene and the 16,000 tips that led nowhere, to the attempted abduction of her cousin, the library encounter, and the citizens who recognized her captor from America's Most Wanted, this is a story of institutional failure, and of a survivor who refused every script written for her.

Person: Elizabeth Smart, 14, abducted at knifepoint by Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee
Date: June 5, 2002, March 12, 2003 (nine months in captivity)
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah; later San Diego County, California
Case: Aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault; rescued alive in Sandy, Utah
Legal status: Mitchell serving life without parole; Barzee released 2018, rearrested 2025 on park-entry charges

In this episode:
- The five-dollar bill that put a predator on the family's roof
- Mary Katherine, the nine-year-old witness who cracked the case, and the sketch police withheld
- Richard Ricci: the suspect who died in custody, never charged
- The library encounter: hope walking out the door
- "Thou sayest", the two words that ended nine months of captivity

The Elizabeth Smart kidnapping remains one of America's most studied child-abduction cases, a landmark in eyewitness memory, institutional failure, and survival. Subscribe for more true crime, and hear why the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping still changes how we search for the missing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1182falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/twenty-stab-wounds-behind-a-locked-door-the-ellen-greenberg-case--74707784
On January 26, 2011, during a blizzard, 27-year-old Philadelphia schoolteacher Ellen Greenberg was found dead in her locked Manayunk apartment with a knife in her chest and twenty stab wounds, ten of them to the back of her neck. The medical examiner first ruled her death a homicide. Weeks later, after a closed-door meeting with police and prosecutors, the same pathologist changed the ruling, and in 2025, he signed a statement saying he no longer believes that second answer. What happened in that meeting? Why did ten wounds to the back of her neck not settle the question? And how does one death certificate come to exist in three versions?

In this episode, we follow the Ellen Greenberg case from the kitchen of apartment 603, the half-made fruit salad, the swing bar latch, the 911 call, through the unraveling of the locked-door narrative: the doorman who denied witnessing the forced entry, the surveillance footage, the apartment cleaned before a warrant, and the devices removed by a relative before police examined them. We weigh the forensic war over one spinal wound, the consulting neuropathologist with no invoice on record, the dueling experts, the $650,000 settlement, the October 2025 review that found more injuries yet reaffirmed the ruling, and the federal subpoenas now probing how the institutions handled it all.

Person: Ellen Rae Greenberg, 27, first-grade teacher
Date: January 26, 2011
Location: Manayunk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Case: Death by multiple stab wounds; manner of death disputed for 15 years
Legal status: No one has ever been arrested, charged, or named a suspect; her fiancé was never accused of wrongdoing. The official ruling by the medical examiner stands, reaffirmed in October 2025 and contested by the family. A federal inquiry into how agencies handled the case opened in 2026.

- The autopsy that said homicide, and the meeting that preceded the reversal
- The doorman, the latch, and the phone records that dissolved the official narrative
- One spinal wound, three official explanations, zero trials
- Wecht, Lee, Ross, and photogrammetry versus the city's hesitation-wound theory
- The 2025 settlement, the 32-page review, and the federal subpoenas

The Ellen Greenberg case is no longer only about one night in Manayunk, it is about the institutions that wrote three versions of Ellen Greenberg's death.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707784Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:39 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTTwenty Stab Wounds Behind a Locked Door: The Ellen Greenberg Case On January 26, 2011, during a blizzard, 27-year-old Philadelphia schoolteacher Ellen Greenberg was found dead in her locked Manayunk apartment with a knife in her chest and twenty...
On January 26, 2011, during a blizzard, 27-year-old Philadelphia schoolteacher Ellen Greenberg was found dead in her locked Manayunk apartment with a knife in her chest and twenty stab wounds, ten of them to the back of her neck. The medical examiner first ruled her death a homicide. Weeks later, after a closed-door meeting with police and prosecutors, the same pathologist changed the ruling, and in 2025, he signed a statement saying he no longer believes that second answer. What happened in that meeting? Why did ten wounds to the back of her neck not settle the question? And how does one death certificate come to exist in three versions?

In this episode, we follow the Ellen Greenberg case from the kitchen of apartment 603, the half-made fruit salad, the swing bar latch, the 911 call, through the unraveling of the locked-door narrative: the doorman who denied witnessing the forced entry, the surveillance footage, the apartment cleaned before a warrant, and the devices removed by a relative before police examined them. We weigh the forensic war over one spinal wound, the consulting neuropathologist with no invoice on record, the dueling experts, the $650,000 settlement, the October 2025 review that found more injuries yet reaffirmed the ruling, and the federal subpoenas now probing how the institutions handled it all.

Person: Ellen Rae Greenberg, 27, first-grade teacher
Date: January 26, 2011
Location: Manayunk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Case: Death by multiple stab wounds; manner of death disputed for 15 years
Legal status: No one has ever been arrested, charged, or named a suspect; her fiancé was never accused of wrongdoing. The official ruling by the medical examiner stands, reaffirmed in October 2025 and contested by the family. A federal inquiry into how agencies handled the case opened in 2026.

- The autopsy that said homicide, and the meeting that preceded the reversal
- The doorman, the latch, and the phone records that dissolved the official narrative
- One spinal wound, three official explanations, zero trials
- Wecht, Lee, Ross, and photogrammetry versus the city's hesitation-wound theory
- The 2025 settlement, the 32-page review, and the federal subpoenas

The Ellen Greenberg case is no longer only about one night in Manayunk, it is about the institutions that wrote three versions of Ellen Greenberg's death.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1318falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/ten-thousand-fragments-the-fox-hollow-farm-killer-herb-baumeister--74707782
Beginning June 24, 1996, searchers recovered roughly 10,000 human bone fragments from the wooded grounds of Fox Hollow Farm, an 18-acre estate in Westfield, Indiana. The man who owned it, thrift store founder and family man Herb Baumeister, fled to Canada and killed himself before he could ever be arrested, charged, or tried. Thirty years later, about 9,500 fragments still have no name. Why did a 1993 tip naming him go nowhere? And can the investigation running right now finally name his victims?

In this episode, we follow the case investigators concluded was the work of "Brian Smart", the alias a suburban businessman used in the gay bars of early-1990s Indianapolis, where at least eight men vanished between May 1993 and March 1995. We trace the tip that sat in the system from 1993, the license plate that finally unmasked him in 1995, the search his wife authorized in 1996, and the suicide note that apologized to a park but never mentioned a single victim. Then the part most retellings skip: why the remains sat on a university shelf for 26 years, and how Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison's reopened investigation has named victim after victim since 2022, Allen Livingston, Manuel Resendez, Daniel Halloran, Roger Goodlet, with at least 11 identified as of February 2026 and possibly 25 or more in total.

Person: At least 11 identified victims, including Johnny Bayer, Jeff Jones, Richard Hamilton, Manuel Resendez, Steven Hale, Allen Broussard, Roger Goodlet, Michael Kiern, Allen Livingston, and Daniel Halloran
Date: Disappearances May 1993, March 1995; search began June 24, 1996; investigation reopened November 28, 2022
Location: Fox Hollow Farm, Westfield, Hamilton County, Indiana
Case: Suspected serial killings of men from the Indianapolis gay bar scene; no trial ever occurred
Legal status: Baumeister died by suicide July 3, 1996, before charges; the active proceeding today is the coroner's victim-identification effort

- The double life: Sav-A-Lot owner by day, "Brian Smart" by night
- The skull his own son found in the yard, and the explanation his wife believed
- Why disappearances of gay men in the AIDS era drew so little urgency
- Mark Goodyear's 2025 on-camera admission that upended the "survivor" account
- The DNA campaign: families of men missing from Indianapolis (mid-1980s, mid-1990s) can call the Hamilton County Coroner at 317-770-4415

The Fox Hollow Farm case has no verdict, only a laboratory still returning names from Fox Hollow Farm, one family at a time.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707782Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:35 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTTen Thousand Fragments: The Herb Baumeister Fox Hollow Farm Case Beginning June 24, 1996, searchers recovered roughly 10,000 human bone fragments from the wooded grounds of Fox Hollow Farm, an 18-acre estate in Westfield, Indiana. The man who owned...
Beginning June 24, 1996, searchers recovered roughly 10,000 human bone fragments from the wooded grounds of Fox Hollow Farm, an 18-acre estate in Westfield, Indiana. The man who owned it, thrift store founder and family man Herb Baumeister, fled to Canada and killed himself before he could ever be arrested, charged, or tried. Thirty years later, about 9,500 fragments still have no name. Why did a 1993 tip naming him go nowhere? And can the investigation running right now finally name his victims?

In this episode, we follow the case investigators concluded was the work of "Brian Smart", the alias a suburban businessman used in the gay bars of early-1990s Indianapolis, where at least eight men vanished between May 1993 and March 1995. We trace the tip that sat in the system from 1993, the license plate that finally unmasked him in 1995, the search his wife authorized in 1996, and the suicide note that apologized to a park but never mentioned a single victim. Then the part most retellings skip: why the remains sat on a university shelf for 26 years, and how Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison's reopened investigation has named victim after victim since 2022, Allen Livingston, Manuel Resendez, Daniel Halloran, Roger Goodlet, with at least 11 identified as of February 2026 and possibly 25 or more in total.

Person: At least 11 identified victims, including Johnny Bayer, Jeff Jones, Richard Hamilton, Manuel Resendez, Steven Hale, Allen Broussard, Roger Goodlet, Michael Kiern, Allen Livingston, and Daniel Halloran
Date: Disappearances May 1993, March 1995; search began June 24, 1996; investigation reopened November 28, 2022
Location: Fox Hollow Farm, Westfield, Hamilton County, Indiana
Case: Suspected serial killings of men from the Indianapolis gay bar scene; no trial ever occurred
Legal status: Baumeister died by suicide July 3, 1996, before charges; the active proceeding today is the coroner's victim-identification effort

- The double life: Sav-A-Lot owner by day, "Brian Smart" by night
- The skull his own son found in the yard, and the explanation his wife believed
- Why disappearances of gay men in the AIDS era drew so little urgency
- Mark Goodyear's 2025 on-camera admission that upended the "survivor" account
- The DNA campaign: families of men missing from Indianapolis (mid-1980s, mid-1990s) can call the Hamilton County Coroner at 317-770-4415

The Fox Hollow Farm case has no verdict, only a laboratory still returning names from Fox Hollow Farm, one family at a time.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1240falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/twenty-nine-minutes-in-a-snowstorm-the-sandra-birchmore-case--74707780
On February 1, 2021, as a nor'easter buried Canton, Massachusetts, a masked man entered Sandra Birchmore's apartment building at 9:14 p.m. and left twenty-nine minutes later. Her phone had locked at 9:13 and never unlocked again. Three days later, the 23-year-old teacher's aide, ten weeks pregnant and planning a Valentine's Day announcement, was found dead, and the paperwork said suicide from the first hour. So why did police never find the surveillance video a property manager later handed over? Why was the man on the camera Matthew Farwell, a Stoughton police detective she had met at age twelve in the department's own youth Explorers program? And how does a ruling survive twenty-nine minutes it cannot explain?

In this episode, we follow the Sandra Birchmore case from the mentorship program where prosecutors allege the grooming began, through the warning call to the police department that was relayed to the accused officer himself twelve days before her death, to the first investigation's failures: the surveillance video found by a property manager instead of police, the broken flamingo necklace never documented in any report, and the deleted searches about recovering iMessages. Then the reversal, the FBI reinvestigation, the strap-buckle imprint and health-app data, the federal murder indictment, and the April 2026 amendment that changed her death certificate from suicide to undetermined.

Person: Sandra Birchmore, 23, and her unborn son
Date: February 1, 4, 2021
Location: Canton and Stoughton, Massachusetts
Case: Death first ruled suicide, now charged federally as the killing of a witness; manner of death amended to undetermined in April 2026
Legal status: Matthew Farwell has pleaded not guilty to killing a witness and causing the death of a child in utero; he is presumed innocent, held without bail, with trial set for October 5, 2026 in Boston

- The Explorers program and the three officers named by internal affairs
- The January 2021 tip routed back to the accused
- Eight steps at 9:40 p.m.: the phone data that reopened the case
- The paternity DNA twist and what it does not change
- The department that did not see her

The Sandra Birchmore case is now a federal murder trial, and the institution that failed Sandra Birchmore is on trial with it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707780Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:31 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTTwenty-Nine Minutes in a Snowstorm: The Sandra Birchmore Case On February 1, 2021, as a nor'easter buried Canton, Massachusetts, a masked man entered Sandra Birchmore's apartment building at 9:14 p.m. and left twenty-nine minutes later. Her phone...
On February 1, 2021, as a nor'easter buried Canton, Massachusetts, a masked man entered Sandra Birchmore's apartment building at 9:14 p.m. and left twenty-nine minutes later. Her phone had locked at 9:13 and never unlocked again. Three days later, the 23-year-old teacher's aide, ten weeks pregnant and planning a Valentine's Day announcement, was found dead, and the paperwork said suicide from the first hour. So why did police never find the surveillance video a property manager later handed over? Why was the man on the camera Matthew Farwell, a Stoughton police detective she had met at age twelve in the department's own youth Explorers program? And how does a ruling survive twenty-nine minutes it cannot explain?

In this episode, we follow the Sandra Birchmore case from the mentorship program where prosecutors allege the grooming began, through the warning call to the police department that was relayed to the accused officer himself twelve days before her death, to the first investigation's failures: the surveillance video found by a property manager instead of police, the broken flamingo necklace never documented in any report, and the deleted searches about recovering iMessages. Then the reversal, the FBI reinvestigation, the strap-buckle imprint and health-app data, the federal murder indictment, and the April 2026 amendment that changed her death certificate from suicide to undetermined.

Person: Sandra Birchmore, 23, and her unborn son
Date: February 1, 4, 2021
Location: Canton and Stoughton, Massachusetts
Case: Death first ruled suicide, now charged federally as the killing of a witness; manner of death amended to undetermined in April 2026
Legal status: Matthew Farwell has pleaded not guilty to killing a witness and causing the death of a child in utero; he is presumed innocent, held without bail, with trial set for October 5, 2026 in Boston

- The Explorers program and the three officers named by internal affairs
- The January 2021 tip routed back to the accused
- Eight steps at 9:40 p.m.: the phone data that reopened the case
- The paternity DNA twist and what it does not change
- The department that did not see her

The Sandra Birchmore case is now a federal murder trial, and the institution that failed Sandra Birchmore is on trial with it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1193falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-packed-her-own-bag-the-asha-degree-disappearance--74707779
In the predawn hours of February 14, 2000, nine-year-old Asha Degree left her family's home in Shelby, North Carolina, and walked alone down Highway 18 through a raging storm, carrying a bookbag she had packed in advance. Truck drivers saw her. One turned around to help, and watched her run into the woods. She has never been seen again. Why would a shy, cautious fourth-grader who was afraid of the dark leave her bed at 2:30 a.m.? And how did her bookbag end up buried 26 miles away, wrapped in trash bags, holding items that were never hers?

In this episode, we follow the Asha Degree case across 26 years: the search dogs that couldn't find a scent, the shed evidence that sat unreported for two days, the bookbag unearthed by construction workers in 2001, and the two mystery items, a library book and a concert T-shirt, the FBI withheld from the public for 17 years. Then the 2024, 2025 breakthrough: search warrants alleging DNA links to a local family and a dead man, a seized green car, and a secondhand "confession" investigators are still trying to corroborate. No one has been arrested. No one has been charged. The named family denies any involvement.

Person: Asha Jaquilla Degree, 9, of Shelby, North Carolina
Date: February 14, 2000
Location: Highway 18, Cleveland County, North Carolina
Case: Disappearance; reclassified as a homicide investigation in February 2025
Legal status: No arrests and no charges as of February 2026; allegations come from search-warrant affidavits, unproven in court; combined reward now $100,000

- The pre-packed bookbag and the storm-soaked walk down Highway 18
- The storage shed 100 yards from the last sighting, and the two-day reporting delay
- The buried bookbag, the Dr. Seuss book, and the shirt that wasn't hers
- What the warrants allege: DNA, a green car, and an uncorroborated party confession
- 26 years of institutional gaps, and a mother who still believes her daughter is alive

The Asha Degree disappearance remains unsolved after 26 years, and the Asha Degree case may finally be approaching an answer.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707779Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:27 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Packed Her Own Bag: The Asha Degree Disappearance In the predawn hours of February 14, 2000, nine-year-old Asha Degree left her family's home in Shelby, North Carolina, and walked alone down Highway 18 through a raging storm, carrying a bookbag...
In the predawn hours of February 14, 2000, nine-year-old Asha Degree left her family's home in Shelby, North Carolina, and walked alone down Highway 18 through a raging storm, carrying a bookbag she had packed in advance. Truck drivers saw her. One turned around to help, and watched her run into the woods. She has never been seen again. Why would a shy, cautious fourth-grader who was afraid of the dark leave her bed at 2:30 a.m.? And how did her bookbag end up buried 26 miles away, wrapped in trash bags, holding items that were never hers?

In this episode, we follow the Asha Degree case across 26 years: the search dogs that couldn't find a scent, the shed evidence that sat unreported for two days, the bookbag unearthed by construction workers in 2001, and the two mystery items, a library book and a concert T-shirt, the FBI withheld from the public for 17 years. Then the 2024, 2025 breakthrough: search warrants alleging DNA links to a local family and a dead man, a seized green car, and a secondhand "confession" investigators are still trying to corroborate. No one has been arrested. No one has been charged. The named family denies any involvement.

Person: Asha Jaquilla Degree, 9, of Shelby, North Carolina
Date: February 14, 2000
Location: Highway 18, Cleveland County, North Carolina
Case: Disappearance; reclassified as a homicide investigation in February 2025
Legal status: No arrests and no charges as of February 2026; allegations come from search-warrant affidavits, unproven in court; combined reward now $100,000

- The pre-packed bookbag and the storm-soaked walk down Highway 18
- The storage shed 100 yards from the last sighting, and the two-day reporting delay
- The buried bookbag, the Dr. Seuss book, and the shirt that wasn't hers
- What the warrants allege: DNA, a green car, and an uncorroborated party confession
- 26 years of institutional gaps, and a mother who still believes her daughter is alive

The Asha Degree disappearance remains unsolved after 26 years, and the Asha Degree case may finally be approaching an answer.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1225falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-answer-under-her-fingernails-the-yogurt-shop-murders--74707778
Four teenage girls were bound, shot, and left in a burning yogurt shop, so why did Texas convict two innocent men? What was hiding under the fingernails of the youngest victim, a thirteen-year-old who fought back? And how did a shell casing sit in an evidence drawer for decades, one database search away from the truth?

In this episode, we follow the Austin yogurt shop murders from the night of December 6, 1991, when Amy Ayers, Sarah Harbison, Jennifer Harbison, and Eliza Thomas were killed at an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop on West Anderson Lane, through one of the most complete institutional reckonings in American cold-case history. We trace the fire that destroyed the evidence, the coerced confessions that sent Robert Springsteen to death row and Michael Scott to a life sentence, the Y-STR DNA test that shattered the state's own case, the FBI database standoff that consumed years, and the 2025 breakthrough that finally matched serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers, dead by suicide since 1999, to the crime through DNA and ballistics.

Person: Robert Eugene Brashers, serial killer identified by DNA in 2025
Date: December 6, 1991, resolution announced September 26, 2025
Location: Austin, Texas, United States
Case: Quadruple murder of four teenage girls; wrongful convictions; cold case solved by DNA
Legal status: Case attributed to Brashers (deceased, no prosecution possible); four men formally exonerated February 19, 2026; $35 million settlement approved May 2026

- The fingernail DNA from thirteen-year-old Amy Ayers that identified her killer at odds of 2.5 million to one
- The Border Patrol stop two days after the murders, and the pistol whose serial number closed the loop
- The confessions that convicted two innocent men with no physical evidence at all
- The .380 casing never submitted to the national ballistics database, and the hit that came back in weeks
- The exoneration, the largest settlement in Austin's history, and the reform written over the failure

The yogurt shop murders reshaped Austin, and the yogurt shop murders now stand as the definitive case of a truth that outlasted every failure. Listen now.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707778Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:23 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Yogurt Shop Murders: How Four Girls' Killer Robert Brashers Hid for 34 Years Four teenage girls were bound, shot, and left in a burning yogurt shop, so why did Texas convict two innocent men? What was hiding under the fingernails of the...
Four teenage girls were bound, shot, and left in a burning yogurt shop, so why did Texas convict two innocent men? What was hiding under the fingernails of the youngest victim, a thirteen-year-old who fought back? And how did a shell casing sit in an evidence drawer for decades, one database search away from the truth?

In this episode, we follow the Austin yogurt shop murders from the night of December 6, 1991, when Amy Ayers, Sarah Harbison, Jennifer Harbison, and Eliza Thomas were killed at an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop on West Anderson Lane, through one of the most complete institutional reckonings in American cold-case history. We trace the fire that destroyed the evidence, the coerced confessions that sent Robert Springsteen to death row and Michael Scott to a life sentence, the Y-STR DNA test that shattered the state's own case, the FBI database standoff that consumed years, and the 2025 breakthrough that finally matched serial killer Robert Eugene Brashers, dead by suicide since 1999, to the crime through DNA and ballistics.

Person: Robert Eugene Brashers, serial killer identified by DNA in 2025
Date: December 6, 1991, resolution announced September 26, 2025
Location: Austin, Texas, United States
Case: Quadruple murder of four teenage girls; wrongful convictions; cold case solved by DNA
Legal status: Case attributed to Brashers (deceased, no prosecution possible); four men formally exonerated February 19, 2026; $35 million settlement approved May 2026

- The fingernail DNA from thirteen-year-old Amy Ayers that identified her killer at odds of 2.5 million to one
- The Border Patrol stop two days after the murders, and the pistol whose serial number closed the loop
- The confessions that convicted two innocent men with no physical evidence at all
- The .380 casing never submitted to the national ballistics database, and the hit that came back in weeks
- The exoneration, the largest settlement in Austin's history, and the reform written over the failure

The yogurt shop murders reshaped Austin, and the yogurt shop murders now stand as the definitive case of a truth that outlasted every failure. Listen now.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1165falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/vanished-at-ten-thousand-feet-the-d-b-cooper-mystery--74707776
On Thanksgiving Eve 1971, a polite man in a business suit boarded a thirty-minute flight from Portland to Seattle, handed a flight attendant a note claiming he had a bomb, and calmly extorted $200,000 from Northwest Orient Airlines. Hours later he stepped off the rear stairs of a Boeing 727 into a freezing storm, and was never seen again. How does a man jump into the night with nineteen pounds of marked twenty-dollar bills and leave no body, no parachute, and no trace? Why did $5,800 of that ransom surface nine years later on a riverbank where the current alone should not have put it? And why did the FBI quietly take a suspect's parachute in 2023, then hand it back in 2025 without a word?

In this episode, we follow the only unsolved hijacking in American commercial aviation history: from the note passed in seat 18, through the two-hour standoff over Puget Sound, the ransom exchange in Seattle, the jump at 8:13 p.m., and the manhunt that collapsed in the woods of southwest Washington, plus the clip-on tie whose 180,000 microscopic particles may hold the hijacker's résumé, and the press error that had the world hunting a name that never existed.

Person: Unknown hijacker, alias "Dan Cooper", misreported as D.B. Cooper
Date: November 24, 1971
Location: Northwest Orient Flight 305, Portland to Seattle; jump over southwest Washington
Case: Air piracy and extortion, $200,000 ransom, parachute escape
Legal status: Unsolved; 1976 John Doe indictment still active; FBI suspended the case in 2016

- The $1.49 JC Penney clip-on tie now scanned particle by particle, titanium, rare in 1971, points to a specific industrial world
- An eight-year-old boy digs $5,800 of the ransom out of Tena Bar in 1980, and a geologist's finding breaks the simplest explanation
- The dummy parachute: authorities handed the hijacker a training rig sewn shut, and never explained why
- Copycat Richard McCoy: a near-identical hijacking five months later, a 45-year sentence, and a family still claiming he was Cooper
- Not one of the 10,000 marked bills has ever surfaced in circulation, dead man, iron discipline, or something else?

The D.B. Cooper hijacking rewrote airline security forever, yet the D.B. Cooper case remains exactly what it was on that stormy night in 1971: open, unclaimed, and unsolved.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707776Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:19 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTVanished at Ten Thousand Feet: The D.B. Cooper Hijacking That America Never Solved On Thanksgiving Eve 1971, a polite man in a business suit boarded a thirty-minute flight from Portland to Seattle, handed a flight attendant a note claiming he had a...
On Thanksgiving Eve 1971, a polite man in a business suit boarded a thirty-minute flight from Portland to Seattle, handed a flight attendant a note claiming he had a bomb, and calmly extorted $200,000 from Northwest Orient Airlines. Hours later he stepped off the rear stairs of a Boeing 727 into a freezing storm, and was never seen again. How does a man jump into the night with nineteen pounds of marked twenty-dollar bills and leave no body, no parachute, and no trace? Why did $5,800 of that ransom surface nine years later on a riverbank where the current alone should not have put it? And why did the FBI quietly take a suspect's parachute in 2023, then hand it back in 2025 without a word?

In this episode, we follow the only unsolved hijacking in American commercial aviation history: from the note passed in seat 18, through the two-hour standoff over Puget Sound, the ransom exchange in Seattle, the jump at 8:13 p.m., and the manhunt that collapsed in the woods of southwest Washington, plus the clip-on tie whose 180,000 microscopic particles may hold the hijacker's résumé, and the press error that had the world hunting a name that never existed.

Person: Unknown hijacker, alias "Dan Cooper", misreported as D.B. Cooper
Date: November 24, 1971
Location: Northwest Orient Flight 305, Portland to Seattle; jump over southwest Washington
Case: Air piracy and extortion, $200,000 ransom, parachute escape
Legal status: Unsolved; 1976 John Doe indictment still active; FBI suspended the case in 2016

- The $1.49 JC Penney clip-on tie now scanned particle by particle, titanium, rare in 1971, points to a specific industrial world
- An eight-year-old boy digs $5,800 of the ransom out of Tena Bar in 1980, and a geologist's finding breaks the simplest explanation
- The dummy parachute: authorities handed the hijacker a training rig sewn shut, and never explained why
- Copycat Richard McCoy: a near-identical hijacking five months later, a 45-year sentence, and a family still claiming he was Cooper
- Not one of the 10,000 marked bills has ever surfaced in circulation, dead man, iron discipline, or something else?

The D.B. Cooper hijacking rewrote airline security forever, yet the D.B. Cooper case remains exactly what it was on that stormy night in 1971: open, unclaimed, and unsolved.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1373falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-corridor-of-vanished-backpackers-charles-sobhraj-the-serpent--74707774
In 1975, young travelers on Asia's hippie trail began turning up drowned, strangled, and burned, from the beaches of Pattaya to the fields outside Kathmandu. How did one charming "gem dealer" drug and rob his way across an entire continent while police in three countries held him and let him go? Why did an escape from India's most secure prison actually help him beat the death penalty? And how is a man linked to more than a dozen killings living free in France today?

In this episode, we follow the trail of Charles Sobhraj, the con man the press called The Serpent and the Bikini Killer, through the poisoning parties of Bangkok's Kanit House, the murders of Teresa Knowlton, Vitali Hakim, Henk Bintanja and Cocky Hemker, and Connie Jo Bronzich and Laurent Carrière, the one-man investigation by Dutch diplomat Herman Knippenberg that forced the case onto front pages, the drugged birthday sweets that opened the gates of Tihar Jail in 1986, and the 2004 Nepal trial that finally, twenty-nine years late, produced a murder conviction.

Person: Charles Sobhraj, French con man known as "The Serpent" and the "Bikini Killer"
Date: 1975, 1976 killing spree; convicted 2004 and 2014; released December 2022
Location: Thailand, Nepal, and India, along the Asian hippie trail
Case: At least 12 attributed victims, most drugged, robbed, and killed for their passports
Legal status: Convicted of two murders in Nepal; freed on health grounds in 2022; lives in France; Thai charges never tried

- A would-be Buddhist nun found floating in the Gulf of Thailand, ruled an accident for months
- A Dutch couple poisoned, nursed, and then burned while still alive
- A junior diplomat who did the work of three police forces
- The bribery allegation behind Thailand's failure to hold him
- The statute-of-limitations math that erased six murder charges forever

The Charles Sobhraj case is more than a serial killer story, it is the map of every gap between borders, police forces, and courts. Step onto the hippie trail and follow the Charles Sobhraj case to its unsettling end.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707774Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:15 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Corridor of Vanished Backpackers: Inside the Crimes of Charles Sobhraj, "The Serpent" In 1975, young travelers on Asia's hippie trail began turning up drowned, strangled, and burned, from the beaches of Pattaya to the fields outside Kathmandu....
In 1975, young travelers on Asia's hippie trail began turning up drowned, strangled, and burned, from the beaches of Pattaya to the fields outside Kathmandu. How did one charming "gem dealer" drug and rob his way across an entire continent while police in three countries held him and let him go? Why did an escape from India's most secure prison actually help him beat the death penalty? And how is a man linked to more than a dozen killings living free in France today?

In this episode, we follow the trail of Charles Sobhraj, the con man the press called The Serpent and the Bikini Killer, through the poisoning parties of Bangkok's Kanit House, the murders of Teresa Knowlton, Vitali Hakim, Henk Bintanja and Cocky Hemker, and Connie Jo Bronzich and Laurent Carrière, the one-man investigation by Dutch diplomat Herman Knippenberg that forced the case onto front pages, the drugged birthday sweets that opened the gates of Tihar Jail in 1986, and the 2004 Nepal trial that finally, twenty-nine years late, produced a murder conviction.

Person: Charles Sobhraj, French con man known as "The Serpent" and the "Bikini Killer"
Date: 1975, 1976 killing spree; convicted 2004 and 2014; released December 2022
Location: Thailand, Nepal, and India, along the Asian hippie trail
Case: At least 12 attributed victims, most drugged, robbed, and killed for their passports
Legal status: Convicted of two murders in Nepal; freed on health grounds in 2022; lives in France; Thai charges never tried

- A would-be Buddhist nun found floating in the Gulf of Thailand, ruled an accident for months
- A Dutch couple poisoned, nursed, and then burned while still alive
- A junior diplomat who did the work of three police forces
- The bribery allegation behind Thailand's failure to hold him
- The statute-of-limitations math that erased six murder charges forever

The Charles Sobhraj case is more than a serial killer story, it is the map of every gap between borders, police forces, and courts. Step onto the hippie trail and follow the Charles Sobhraj case to its unsettling end.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1366falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-girl-the-newspapers-invented-the-black-dahlia-murder--74707772
On a January morning in 1947, a young mother pushing a stroller through a half-built Los Angeles neighborhood saw what she thought was a discarded mannequin in the weeds. It was a twenty-two-year-old woman, posed, drained of blood, and left a step from the sidewalk. Within days the whole country knew her by a nickname she never used in life. But who was Elizabeth Short before the press turned her into the "Black Dahlia"? What happened during the six days between the hotel lobby where she was last seen and the vacant lot where she was found? And why, seventy-nine years later, is her autopsy report still locked away?

In this episode, we follow Elizabeth Short's real life, the Depression childhood, the father who faked his own death, the fiancé lost days before the war ended, the letters she wrote every day to a family she hoped would become hers, and then trace how five warring newspapers and a chaotic police force built a myth on top of her murder: the fabricated "starlet," the gasoline-soaked package mailed to an editor instead of a detective, the rogue psychiatrist whose illegal interrogation triggered a grand jury, the wiretapped suspect who was never charged, and a case file that remains sealed to this day.

Person: Elizabeth "Betty" Short, 22, waitress from Medford, Massachusetts
Date: Last seen January 9, 1947; body discovered January 15, 1947
Location: Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California
Case: Unsolved homicide, the oldest officially open murder case in Los Angeles
Legal status: No one ever arrested, charged, or tried; LAPD cold case since 1950

- The six-day gap between the Biltmore Hotel lobby and the vacant lot that no investigator has ever filled
- The manila envelope containing her birth certificate and address book, wiped clean and sent to the press
- The FBI identification that took fifty-six minutes, thanks to a teenage arrest record
- The Gangster Squad scandal that toppled a police chief while the killer walked free
- The postwar moral panic that blamed a murdered woman for her own death

The Black Dahlia case has produced books, films, suspects, and confessions, but the Black Dahlia was never a real person, and this is the story of the woman who was.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707772Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:11 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Girl the Newspapers Invented: The Black Dahlia Murder of Elizabeth Short On a January morning in 1947, a young mother pushing a stroller through a half-built Los Angeles neighborhood saw what she thought was a discarded mannequin in the weeds....
On a January morning in 1947, a young mother pushing a stroller through a half-built Los Angeles neighborhood saw what she thought was a discarded mannequin in the weeds. It was a twenty-two-year-old woman, posed, drained of blood, and left a step from the sidewalk. Within days the whole country knew her by a nickname she never used in life. But who was Elizabeth Short before the press turned her into the "Black Dahlia"? What happened during the six days between the hotel lobby where she was last seen and the vacant lot where she was found? And why, seventy-nine years later, is her autopsy report still locked away?

In this episode, we follow Elizabeth Short's real life, the Depression childhood, the father who faked his own death, the fiancé lost days before the war ended, the letters she wrote every day to a family she hoped would become hers, and then trace how five warring newspapers and a chaotic police force built a myth on top of her murder: the fabricated "starlet," the gasoline-soaked package mailed to an editor instead of a detective, the rogue psychiatrist whose illegal interrogation triggered a grand jury, the wiretapped suspect who was never charged, and a case file that remains sealed to this day.

Person: Elizabeth "Betty" Short, 22, waitress from Medford, Massachusetts
Date: Last seen January 9, 1947; body discovered January 15, 1947
Location: Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California
Case: Unsolved homicide, the oldest officially open murder case in Los Angeles
Legal status: No one ever arrested, charged, or tried; LAPD cold case since 1950

- The six-day gap between the Biltmore Hotel lobby and the vacant lot that no investigator has ever filled
- The manila envelope containing her birth certificate and address book, wiped clean and sent to the press
- The FBI identification that took fifty-six minutes, thanks to a teenage arrest record
- The Gangster Squad scandal that toppled a police chief while the killer walked free
- The postwar moral panic that blamed a murdered woman for her own death

The Black Dahlia case has produced books, films, suspects, and confessions, but the Black Dahlia was never a real person, and this is the story of the woman who was.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1374falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-hotel-that-never-opened-h-h-holmes-and-the-murder-castle--74707770
How does a man kill his closest associates for years in the middle of America's busiest city, and get caught only when an insurance company audits a claim? How much of the infamous "Murder Castle," with its trapdoors and gas chambers, was real, and how much was invented by the yellow press after his arrest? And why did a condemned man sell a confession naming victims who were still alive?

In this episode, we follow Herman Webster Mudgett, the swindler who became H.H. Holmes, from a New Hampshire farm town to a Chicago pharmacy, into the strange three-story building he raised through fraud at Sixty-Third and Wallace, and through the disappearances of the women who trusted him: Julia and Pearl Conner, Emeline Cigrand, and the Williams sisters. Then comes the ten-thousand-dollar insurance scheme that turned deadly, the murders of Benjamin Pitezel and three of his children, and Detective Frank Geyer's extraordinary search, following a packet of unsent children's letters across half a continent to a Toronto cellar. Finally, we separate the documented nine victims from the mythical two hundred, and ask how the legend swallowed the truth.

Person: Herman Webster Mudgett, alias H.H. Holmes
Date: 1886, 1896 (crimes confirmed 1891, 1894)
Location: Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia; Indianapolis; Toronto
Case: Serial murder, insurance fraud, and the "Murder Castle" of the 1893 World's Fair era
Legal status: Convicted of the murder of Benjamin Pitezel; executed by hanging, May 7, 1896

- The "World's Fair Hotel" third floor was never finished, furnished, or opened to guests
- Contractors filed roughly sixty lawsuits against Holmes, and no authority connected them
- He forged wedding announcements to explain away a murdered secretary
- His paid confession claimed twenty-seven victims; several were found alive
- A 2017 exhumation of his concrete-encased grave confirmed he never escaped the gallows

The H.H. Holmes Murder Castle case is where American true crime began, and where its myths began too. Step inside the real story of the H.H. Holmes Murder Castle.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707770Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:07 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Hotel That Never Opened: The True Story of H.H. Holmes and the Murder Castle How does a man kill his closest associates for years in the middle of America's busiest city, and get caught only when an insurance company audits a claim? How much of...
How does a man kill his closest associates for years in the middle of America's busiest city, and get caught only when an insurance company audits a claim? How much of the infamous "Murder Castle," with its trapdoors and gas chambers, was real, and how much was invented by the yellow press after his arrest? And why did a condemned man sell a confession naming victims who were still alive?

In this episode, we follow Herman Webster Mudgett, the swindler who became H.H. Holmes, from a New Hampshire farm town to a Chicago pharmacy, into the strange three-story building he raised through fraud at Sixty-Third and Wallace, and through the disappearances of the women who trusted him: Julia and Pearl Conner, Emeline Cigrand, and the Williams sisters. Then comes the ten-thousand-dollar insurance scheme that turned deadly, the murders of Benjamin Pitezel and three of his children, and Detective Frank Geyer's extraordinary search, following a packet of unsent children's letters across half a continent to a Toronto cellar. Finally, we separate the documented nine victims from the mythical two hundred, and ask how the legend swallowed the truth.

Person: Herman Webster Mudgett, alias H.H. Holmes
Date: 1886, 1896 (crimes confirmed 1891, 1894)
Location: Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia; Indianapolis; Toronto
Case: Serial murder, insurance fraud, and the "Murder Castle" of the 1893 World's Fair era
Legal status: Convicted of the murder of Benjamin Pitezel; executed by hanging, May 7, 1896

- The "World's Fair Hotel" third floor was never finished, furnished, or opened to guests
- Contractors filed roughly sixty lawsuits against Holmes, and no authority connected them
- He forged wedding announcements to explain away a murdered secretary
- His paid confession claimed twenty-seven victims; several were found alive
- A 2017 exhumation of his concrete-encased grave confirmed he never escaped the gallows

The H.H. Holmes Murder Castle case is where American true crime began, and where its myths began too. Step inside the real story of the H.H. Holmes Murder Castle.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1331falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/they-turned-her-away-for-fourpence-jack-the-ripper-s-victims--74707768
In the autumn of 1888, five women were murdered within a half mile of London pavement, and the world has spent more than a century obsessing over the man who killed them. But who were Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane before the night that erased them? Why did the police put one of them out of a station cell, sober, penniless, and alone, less than an hour before she died? And why did a police commissioner personally order the killer's only written clue scrubbed off a wall before it could be photographed?

In this episode, we follow the five canonical victims of the Whitechapel murders from the marriages, trades, and families they once had, down through the doss houses and workhouses of the Victorian East End, to the ten weeks of terror that made them famous for all the wrong reasons. We walk through the institutional collapse behind the legend, a detective chief who left on holiday the day of the second murder, two rival police forces that would not share information, and a press that likely invented the most famous name in crime to sell newspapers, and we ask why the most enduring mystery in history has always been pointed at the wrong question.

Person: Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, Mary Jane Kelly
Date: August 31, November 9, 1888
Location: Whitechapel and Spitalfields, East End of London, England
Case: The Whitechapel murders, the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper
Legal status: Unsolved; no one was ever arrested, charged, or tried for the murders

- The lodging house economics that put five women on the street the nights they died
- A police cell that was the safest place in London, until officers emptied it at one a.m.
- The chalk message on Goulston Street, and the commissioner who ordered it destroyed
- Why the "Dear Boss" letter that named the killer was likely written by a journalist
- The suspects, the shawl DNA claim, and why every named culprit remains pure theory

The Jack the Ripper case has been told for over a century as a hunt for a monster, this is the Jack the Ripper story told from the side of the women he tried to erase.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707768Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:02:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThey Turned Her Away for Fourpence: The True Story of Jack the Ripper's Victims In the autumn of 1888, five women were murdered within a half mile of London pavement, and the world has spent more than a century obsessing over the man who killed...
In the autumn of 1888, five women were murdered within a half mile of London pavement, and the world has spent more than a century obsessing over the man who killed them. But who were Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane before the night that erased them? Why did the police put one of them out of a station cell, sober, penniless, and alone, less than an hour before she died? And why did a police commissioner personally order the killer's only written clue scrubbed off a wall before it could be photographed?

In this episode, we follow the five canonical victims of the Whitechapel murders from the marriages, trades, and families they once had, down through the doss houses and workhouses of the Victorian East End, to the ten weeks of terror that made them famous for all the wrong reasons. We walk through the institutional collapse behind the legend, a detective chief who left on holiday the day of the second murder, two rival police forces that would not share information, and a press that likely invented the most famous name in crime to sell newspapers, and we ask why the most enduring mystery in history has always been pointed at the wrong question.

Person: Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, Mary Jane Kelly
Date: August 31, November 9, 1888
Location: Whitechapel and Spitalfields, East End of London, England
Case: The Whitechapel murders, the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper
Legal status: Unsolved; no one was ever arrested, charged, or tried for the murders

- The lodging house economics that put five women on the street the nights they died
- A police cell that was the safest place in London, until officers emptied it at one a.m.
- The chalk message on Goulston Street, and the commissioner who ordered it destroyed
- Why the "Dear Boss" letter that named the killer was likely written by a journalist
- The suspects, the shawl DNA claim, and why every named culprit remains pure theory

The Jack the Ripper case has been told for over a century as a hunt for a monster, this is the Jack the Ripper story told from the side of the women he tried to erase.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1169falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-last-four-minutes-elisa-lam-and-the-cecil-hotel-mystery--74707766
A twenty-one-year-old student steps into a hotel elevator just after midnight, and the doors refuse to close. Why did Elisa Lam press every button, hide in the corner, and gesture to someone the camera never shows? How did she end up inside a rooftop water tank that police had walked right past during their search? And why did millions of people decide a ghost was more believable than the truth sitting in the coroner's file?

In this episode, we follow Elisa Lam from her home in Vancouver to the Cecil Hotel on Los Angeles' Skid Row, a building with sixteen violent deaths and two serial killers in its past. We trace her final days through a bookstore, a television taping gone wrong, and the surveillance video that turned a missing-persons case into a global obsession. Then we open the evidence the internet ignored: the toxicology report, the pill count that revealed she had stopped taking her medication, and the accidental-drowning ruling that closed the case, while web sleuths hunted an innocent musician nearly to death.

Person: Elisa Lam, 21, student from Vancouver, Canada
Date: January 31, February 19, 2013
Location: Cecil Hotel (Stay on Main), 640 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, California
Case: Disappearance and death; body found in rooftop water tank; viral elevator footage
Legal status: Ruled accidental drowning (bipolar disorder a significant condition); case closed June 2013; no arrests ever made; family's negligence lawsuit dismissed in 2015

- The four-minute elevator video, the frozen timestamp, and the "missing" fifty-three seconds explained
- The Cecil Hotel's dark century: suicides, murders, and the Night Stalker down the hall
- The police search that stood beside the water tanks, and never opened them
- The pill count from a Vancouver pharmacy that solved what the internet couldn't
- Pablo "Morbid" Vergara: the innocent man an online mob nearly destroyed

The Elisa Lam case is remembered for a haunting video, but the real story of the Elisa Lam case is what happens when the world chooses a mystery over a young woman's truth. Listen now.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707766Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:59 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Last Four Minutes: The Elisa Lam Cecil Hotel Elevator Mystery A twenty-one-year-old student steps into a hotel elevator just after midnight, and the doors refuse to close. Why did Elisa Lam press every button, hide in the corner, and gesture to...
A twenty-one-year-old student steps into a hotel elevator just after midnight, and the doors refuse to close. Why did Elisa Lam press every button, hide in the corner, and gesture to someone the camera never shows? How did she end up inside a rooftop water tank that police had walked right past during their search? And why did millions of people decide a ghost was more believable than the truth sitting in the coroner's file?

In this episode, we follow Elisa Lam from her home in Vancouver to the Cecil Hotel on Los Angeles' Skid Row, a building with sixteen violent deaths and two serial killers in its past. We trace her final days through a bookstore, a television taping gone wrong, and the surveillance video that turned a missing-persons case into a global obsession. Then we open the evidence the internet ignored: the toxicology report, the pill count that revealed she had stopped taking her medication, and the accidental-drowning ruling that closed the case, while web sleuths hunted an innocent musician nearly to death.

Person: Elisa Lam, 21, student from Vancouver, Canada
Date: January 31, February 19, 2013
Location: Cecil Hotel (Stay on Main), 640 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, California
Case: Disappearance and death; body found in rooftop water tank; viral elevator footage
Legal status: Ruled accidental drowning (bipolar disorder a significant condition); case closed June 2013; no arrests ever made; family's negligence lawsuit dismissed in 2015

- The four-minute elevator video, the frozen timestamp, and the "missing" fifty-three seconds explained
- The Cecil Hotel's dark century: suicides, murders, and the Night Stalker down the hall
- The police search that stood beside the water tanks, and never opened them
- The pill count from a Vancouver pharmacy that solved what the internet couldn't
- Pablo "Morbid" Vergara: the innocent man an online mob nearly destroyed

The Elisa Lam case is remembered for a haunting video, but the real story of the Elisa Lam case is what happens when the world chooses a mystery over a young woman's truth. Listen now.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1389falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-killer-who-buried-his-plans-years-in-advance-the-israel-keyes-case--74707765
How does a man commit murders across the United States for a decade without a single agency noticing him? Why did a family deposit thirty thousand dollars in ransom for a daughter who was already gone? And how did the one man who could name every victim end an eleven-murder investigation from inside a jail cell?

In this episode, we follow the abduction of eighteen-year-old barista Samantha Koenig from an Anchorage coffee stand in February 2012, the crime that finally exposed Israel Keyes, the killer the FBI called unlike anything they had ever seen. We trace his system of buried "kill caches" stashed years in advance, the random home invasion that took Vermont couple Bill and Lorraine Currier, the ATM trail along Interstate 10 that ended in a Texas traffic stop, the forty hours of jailhouse bargaining with federal agents, and the suicide that left seven suspected victims unnamed, along with the institutional failures that made every one of those outcomes possible.

Person: Israel Keyes; victims Samantha Koenig, Bill Currier, Lorraine Currier
Date: Crimes attributed 2001, 2012; arrested March 13, 2012; died December 2, 2012
Location: Anchorage, Alaska; Essex, Vermont; caches recovered in New York, Alaska, Oregon, and Louisiana
Case: Kidnapping and murder of Samantha Koenig; confessed murders of the Curriers; FBI believes 11 victims total
Legal status: Died by suicide in custody before trial; no judicial verdict; FBI investigation into unidentified victims remains open

- A ransom photo staged with a victim who had been dead for weeks
- Kill kits with guns, silencers, and cash buried years before each murder
- A demolition crew that smelled decomposition and told no one
- Eleven skulls drawn in blood, found under a jail cell bed
- An FBI admission: all investigative leads exhausted, seven victims unnamed

The Israel Keyes case remains open to this day, if you think you know how the Israel Keyes story ends, this episode will prove the ending was never written.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707765Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:55 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Buried Buckets: Inside the Israel Keyes Kill Kits and the FBI Case That Never Closed How does a man commit murders across the United States for a decade without a single agency noticing him? Why did a family deposit thirty thousand dollars in...
How does a man commit murders across the United States for a decade without a single agency noticing him? Why did a family deposit thirty thousand dollars in ransom for a daughter who was already gone? And how did the one man who could name every victim end an eleven-murder investigation from inside a jail cell?

In this episode, we follow the abduction of eighteen-year-old barista Samantha Koenig from an Anchorage coffee stand in February 2012, the crime that finally exposed Israel Keyes, the killer the FBI called unlike anything they had ever seen. We trace his system of buried "kill caches" stashed years in advance, the random home invasion that took Vermont couple Bill and Lorraine Currier, the ATM trail along Interstate 10 that ended in a Texas traffic stop, the forty hours of jailhouse bargaining with federal agents, and the suicide that left seven suspected victims unnamed, along with the institutional failures that made every one of those outcomes possible.

Person: Israel Keyes; victims Samantha Koenig, Bill Currier, Lorraine Currier
Date: Crimes attributed 2001, 2012; arrested March 13, 2012; died December 2, 2012
Location: Anchorage, Alaska; Essex, Vermont; caches recovered in New York, Alaska, Oregon, and Louisiana
Case: Kidnapping and murder of Samantha Koenig; confessed murders of the Curriers; FBI believes 11 victims total
Legal status: Died by suicide in custody before trial; no judicial verdict; FBI investigation into unidentified victims remains open

- A ransom photo staged with a victim who had been dead for weeks
- Kill kits with guns, silencers, and cash buried years before each murder
- A demolition crew that smelled decomposition and told no one
- Eleven skulls drawn in blood, found under a jail cell bed
- An FBI admission: all investigative leads exhausted, seven victims unnamed

The Israel Keyes case remains open to this day, if you think you know how the Israel Keyes story ends, this episode will prove the ending was never written.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1185falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-ticket-in-the-broken-glass-the-son-of-sam-case--74707764
For thirteen months, a gunman with a .44 revolver turned New York City into a place where young women cut off their hair and millions stayed home after dark. How did a killer who named himself in letters to the police and the press evade the largest manhunt in the city's history, three hundred detectives strong? Why was his name already sitting in the task force's own tip files before the final murder? And how did a routine parking ticket succeed where an entire police department failed?

In this episode, we follow the Son of Sam case from the first shots in the Bronx in July nineteen seventy-six to the smiling arrest in Yonkers in August nineteen seventy-seven. We walk through each attack and the young lives behind the headlines, the ballistics breakthrough that finally linked the shootings, the letters that built a killer's legend and sold a million newspapers, the neighbors who solved the case before the police did, and the courtroom battle over sanity that ended with a guilty plea and six sentences of twenty-five years to life.

Person: David Berkowitz, 24-year-old postal worker, the self-named "Son of Sam"
Date: July 1976, August 1977
Location: The Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn, New York City
Case: Serial shootings with a .44 Bulldog revolver; six killed, seven wounded
Legal status: Pleaded guilty in 1978; denied parole twelve times; imprisoned at Shawangunk Correctional Facility

- The cold open: an eighteen-year-old trainee medic killed in a parked car outside her own home
- The letter left in shattered glass that turned an anonymous gunman into a brand name
- Operation Omega: three hundred detectives, thousands of tips, and the suspect hiding in their own files
- The parking ticket, the eyewitness, and the police dispatcher who happened to be the right neighbor's daughter
- The demon-dog story Berkowitz later admitted was a hoax, and the cult theory that was never proven

The Son of Sam case remains the definitive story of a city hunted by one man, and the Son of Sam manhunt remains a warning about what happens when institutions stop listening to the people they protect.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707764Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:51 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Ticket in the Broken Glass: How a Parking Fine Caught the Son of Sam For thirteen months, a gunman with a .44 revolver turned New York City into a place where young women cut off their hair and millions stayed home after dark. How did a killer...
For thirteen months, a gunman with a .44 revolver turned New York City into a place where young women cut off their hair and millions stayed home after dark. How did a killer who named himself in letters to the police and the press evade the largest manhunt in the city's history, three hundred detectives strong? Why was his name already sitting in the task force's own tip files before the final murder? And how did a routine parking ticket succeed where an entire police department failed?

In this episode, we follow the Son of Sam case from the first shots in the Bronx in July nineteen seventy-six to the smiling arrest in Yonkers in August nineteen seventy-seven. We walk through each attack and the young lives behind the headlines, the ballistics breakthrough that finally linked the shootings, the letters that built a killer's legend and sold a million newspapers, the neighbors who solved the case before the police did, and the courtroom battle over sanity that ended with a guilty plea and six sentences of twenty-five years to life.

Person: David Berkowitz, 24-year-old postal worker, the self-named "Son of Sam"
Date: July 1976, August 1977
Location: The Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn, New York City
Case: Serial shootings with a .44 Bulldog revolver; six killed, seven wounded
Legal status: Pleaded guilty in 1978; denied parole twelve times; imprisoned at Shawangunk Correctional Facility

- The cold open: an eighteen-year-old trainee medic killed in a parked car outside her own home
- The letter left in shattered glass that turned an anonymous gunman into a brand name
- Operation Omega: three hundred detectives, thousands of tips, and the suspect hiding in their own files
- The parking ticket, the eyewitness, and the police dispatcher who happened to be the right neighbor's daughter
- The demon-dog story Berkowitz later admitted was a hoax, and the cult theory that was never proven

The Son of Sam case remains the definitive story of a city hunted by one man, and the Son of Sam manhunt remains a warning about what happens when institutions stop listening to the people they protect.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1289falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-river-kept-count-gary-ridgway-the-green-river-killer--74707763
How does a man murder forty-nine women while detectives question him, search his home, and collect his DNA, and still walk free for nineteen years? Why did a single polygraph test outweigh eyewitnesses, work records, and a wife's chilling warning? And what was really traded away in the deal that spared the deadliest convicted serial killer in American history from execution?

In this episode, we follow the Green River Killer case from the summer of 1982, when five young women were pulled from a quiet river south of Seattle in a single month, through two decades of institutional failure along the ungoverned SeaTac Strip. We meet the victims the system wrote off as runaways and "second-class" cases, Opal Mills at a pay phone, Marcia Chapman's children waiting by the door, fourteen-year-old Wendy Stephens nameless for four decades, and trace how Gary Ridgway's bet on official indifference paid out until a fourteen-year-old saliva sample finally caught up with him.

Person: Gary Leon Ridgway, truck painter, Auburn, Washington
Date: 1982, 1998 killings; arrested November 30, 2001; guilty pleas November 5, 2003 and February 18, 2011
Location: SeaTac Strip and Green River, King County, Washington
Case: 49 women and girls murdered, the Green River Killer investigation, the largest serial-murder case in U.S. history
Legal status: Convicted on 49 counts of aggravated first-degree murder; serving 49 consecutive life sentences without parole

- The 1984 polygraph that cleared the best suspect, later ruled incomplete and invalid
- Microscopic paint spheres on the first victim's jeans, unread in an evidence locker for twenty years
- The Marie Malvar tip that led police to Ridgway's front door in 1983, and nowhere
- The plea bargain that traded execution for the locations of missing daughters
- Victims still being identified by DNA as recently as 2024

The Green River Killer was caught by science, but the Green River Killer was created by indifference, and this is the story of both.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707763Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:47 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe River Kept Count: the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, and the women Seattle looked past How does a man murder forty-nine women while detectives question him, search his home, and collect his DNA, and still walk free for nineteen years? Why...
How does a man murder forty-nine women while detectives question him, search his home, and collect his DNA, and still walk free for nineteen years? Why did a single polygraph test outweigh eyewitnesses, work records, and a wife's chilling warning? And what was really traded away in the deal that spared the deadliest convicted serial killer in American history from execution?

In this episode, we follow the Green River Killer case from the summer of 1982, when five young women were pulled from a quiet river south of Seattle in a single month, through two decades of institutional failure along the ungoverned SeaTac Strip. We meet the victims the system wrote off as runaways and "second-class" cases, Opal Mills at a pay phone, Marcia Chapman's children waiting by the door, fourteen-year-old Wendy Stephens nameless for four decades, and trace how Gary Ridgway's bet on official indifference paid out until a fourteen-year-old saliva sample finally caught up with him.

Person: Gary Leon Ridgway, truck painter, Auburn, Washington
Date: 1982, 1998 killings; arrested November 30, 2001; guilty pleas November 5, 2003 and February 18, 2011
Location: SeaTac Strip and Green River, King County, Washington
Case: 49 women and girls murdered, the Green River Killer investigation, the largest serial-murder case in U.S. history
Legal status: Convicted on 49 counts of aggravated first-degree murder; serving 49 consecutive life sentences without parole

- The 1984 polygraph that cleared the best suspect, later ruled incomplete and invalid
- Microscopic paint spheres on the first victim's jeans, unread in an evidence locker for twenty years
- The Marie Malvar tip that led police to Ridgway's front door in 1983, and nowhere
- The plea bargain that traded execution for the locations of missing daughters
- Victims still being identified by DNA as recently as 2024

The Green River Killer was caught by science, but the Green River Killer was created by indifference, and this is the story of both.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1309falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-celebrated-his-anniversary-the-night-before-the-aileen-wuornos-case--74707762
Seven men vanished along Florida's highways in thirteen months, a repair shop owner, a construction worker, a rodeo hand, a missionary, a delivery driver, a retired police chief, a trucker, and six county sheriff's offices never connected them until it was almost over. How did an inked thumbprint on a pawn shop receipt crack a murder series that months of investigation could not? Why did the detectives building the case negotiate a movie deal before the first trial even began? And what was in the prison record the jury was never allowed to hear?

In this episode, we follow the Aileen Wuornos case from a leap-year birth in Michigan through a childhood no institution ever protected, onto the dark highway corridors of central Florida in 1989 and 1990, where seven men were shot with the same .22 revolver and left in the woods while their cars were scattered across distant counties. We trace the pawn slip that broke the case, the recorded jailhouse calls in which Wuornos confessed to protect the woman she loved, the trial where evidence of her first alleged attacker's history of sexual violence was kept from the jury, the profiteering scandal that tainted police and witnesses alike, and the decade on death row that ended with a disputed competency ruling and a lethal injection.

Person: Aileen Carol Wuornos
Date: November 1989, November 1990; executed October 9, 2002
Location: Central Florida highway corridor, USA
Case: Serial murder and robbery of seven men; six death sentences
Legal status: Case closed, convicted, sentenced to death, executed by the State of Florida

- The victim who celebrated his 35th wedding anniversary one day before he disappeared
- The pawn shop thumbprint that connected murders across six counties
- The immunity deal and recorded phone calls that produced a confession made out of love
- The rape conviction a TV reporter found in public records after the death sentence
- The detectives who resigned over movie negotiations conducted mid-investigation

The Aileen Wuornos case is remembered for the woman the media crowned a monster, but the full Aileen Wuornos story belongs just as much to the seven men whose names the world forgot.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707762Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:42 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTTitle: He Celebrated His Anniversary the Night Before: the Aileen Wuornos case Seven men vanished along Florida's highways in thirteen months, a repair shop owner, a construction worker, a rodeo hand, a missionary, a delivery driver, a retired...
Seven men vanished along Florida's highways in thirteen months, a repair shop owner, a construction worker, a rodeo hand, a missionary, a delivery driver, a retired police chief, a trucker, and six county sheriff's offices never connected them until it was almost over. How did an inked thumbprint on a pawn shop receipt crack a murder series that months of investigation could not? Why did the detectives building the case negotiate a movie deal before the first trial even began? And what was in the prison record the jury was never allowed to hear?

In this episode, we follow the Aileen Wuornos case from a leap-year birth in Michigan through a childhood no institution ever protected, onto the dark highway corridors of central Florida in 1989 and 1990, where seven men were shot with the same .22 revolver and left in the woods while their cars were scattered across distant counties. We trace the pawn slip that broke the case, the recorded jailhouse calls in which Wuornos confessed to protect the woman she loved, the trial where evidence of her first alleged attacker's history of sexual violence was kept from the jury, the profiteering scandal that tainted police and witnesses alike, and the decade on death row that ended with a disputed competency ruling and a lethal injection.

Person: Aileen Carol Wuornos
Date: November 1989, November 1990; executed October 9, 2002
Location: Central Florida highway corridor, USA
Case: Serial murder and robbery of seven men; six death sentences
Legal status: Case closed, convicted, sentenced to death, executed by the State of Florida

- The victim who celebrated his 35th wedding anniversary one day before he disappeared
- The pawn shop thumbprint that connected murders across six counties
- The immunity deal and recorded phone calls that produced a confession made out of love
- The rape conviction a TV reporter found in public records after the death sentence
- The detectives who resigned over movie negotiations conducted mid-investigation

The Aileen Wuornos case is remembered for the woman the media crowned a monster, but the full Aileen Wuornos story belongs just as much to the seven men whose names the world forgot.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1213falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-confession-no-court-can-touch-the-natalee-holloway-case--74707759
How does an eighteen-year-old honors graduate vanish from a Caribbean island crawling with searchers, soldiers, and FBI agents, and never be found? Why did the last three people seen with her walk free again and again while two innocent men sat in jail? And what does justice even mean when the killer finally confesses in open court, eighteen years later, protected by a deal that guarantees he can never be charged with her murder?

In this episode, we follow the Natalee Holloway case from a Mountain Brook High School graduation trip to Aruba in May 2005 through the largest search in the island's history, the shifting stories of Joran van der Sloot, the hidden-camera confession that changed nothing, the extortion scheme that took money from a grieving mother and financed a trip to Peru, where Stephany Flores was murdered five years to the day after Natalee vanished, and the stunning 2023 courtroom confession that answered the oldest question while closing the door on prosecution forever.

Person: Natalee Ann Holloway, 18, of Mountain Brook, Alabama
Date: May 30, 2005
Location: Oranjestad, Aruba
Case: Disappearance; declared legally dead in 2012; remains never recovered
Legal status: Joran van der Sloot admitted to the killing in a 2023 federal proffer but has never been charged with her murder; convicted of extortion and wire fraud (20 years) and of the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores in Peru (28 years)

- The cover story that put two innocent security guards behind bars while the real suspects roamed free for nine days
- A father inside the justice system, and an investigation the prime minister admitted was mishandled
- The hidden-camera tape, the Emmy, and the arrest that never came
- The 25,000-dollar wire that ended with a second young woman dead in Lima
- A confession legally ring-fenced so it can never become a murder charge

The Natalee Holloway case is the story of every institution failing at once, and the Natalee Holloway confession of 2023 proves an answer is not the same as justice.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707759Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:39 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTVanished in Paradise: The Natalee Holloway Disappearance and Joran van der Sloot How does an eighteen-year-old honors graduate vanish from a Caribbean island crawling with searchers, soldiers, and FBI agents, and never be found? Why did the last...
How does an eighteen-year-old honors graduate vanish from a Caribbean island crawling with searchers, soldiers, and FBI agents, and never be found? Why did the last three people seen with her walk free again and again while two innocent men sat in jail? And what does justice even mean when the killer finally confesses in open court, eighteen years later, protected by a deal that guarantees he can never be charged with her murder?

In this episode, we follow the Natalee Holloway case from a Mountain Brook High School graduation trip to Aruba in May 2005 through the largest search in the island's history, the shifting stories of Joran van der Sloot, the hidden-camera confession that changed nothing, the extortion scheme that took money from a grieving mother and financed a trip to Peru, where Stephany Flores was murdered five years to the day after Natalee vanished, and the stunning 2023 courtroom confession that answered the oldest question while closing the door on prosecution forever.

Person: Natalee Ann Holloway, 18, of Mountain Brook, Alabama
Date: May 30, 2005
Location: Oranjestad, Aruba
Case: Disappearance; declared legally dead in 2012; remains never recovered
Legal status: Joran van der Sloot admitted to the killing in a 2023 federal proffer but has never been charged with her murder; convicted of extortion and wire fraud (20 years) and of the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores in Peru (28 years)

- The cover story that put two innocent security guards behind bars while the real suspects roamed free for nine days
- A father inside the justice system, and an investigation the prime minister admitted was mishandled
- The hidden-camera tape, the Emmy, and the arrest that never came
- The 25,000-dollar wire that ended with a second young woman dead in Lima
- A confession legally ring-fenced so it can never become a murder charge

The Natalee Holloway case is the story of every institution failing at once, and the Natalee Holloway confession of 2023 proves an answer is not the same as justice.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1342falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/everyone-remembers-her-roommate-not-her-the-amanda-knox-case--74707758
She chose Perugia because she believed it was safer than Rome. She phoned her sick mother every single day, until one call cut off at four minutes to nine and never came again. So how did a twenty-one-year-old victim become a footnote to her own murder? Why did police arrest three innocent people while the man whose DNA covered the crime scene boarded a train out of the country? And how does an investigation rack up fifty-four documented forensic failures and still call itself justice?

In this episode, we follow Meredith Kercher from south London to the walled hill town she worked airport shifts to reach, through the night of All Saints' Day 2007, and into the investigation that went wrong from the first hour: the "see you later" text that police read as a murder appointment, the coerced statements that jailed an innocent bar owner, the contaminated knife and the bra clasp collected forty-six days late, the independent review that dismantled the case, and the eight-year rollercoaster of convictions and acquittals that ended with Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito definitively cleared by Italy's highest court, and Rudy Guede standing alone as the only person ever convicted of killing her.

Person: Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher, 21, British exchange student from the University of Leeds
Date: November 1, 2007
Location: Via della Pergola 7, Perugia, Umbria, Italy
Case: Murder and sexual assault of Meredith Kercher, the Amanda Knox case
Legal status: Rudy Guede definitively convicted (released 2021); Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito definitively acquitted by Italy's Supreme Court in 2015

- The last phone call home that cut off before it connected
- A two-word text message that destroyed an innocent man's life
- Fifty-four documented failures in a single forensic investigation
- The burglar police caught with a knife weeks earlier, and released
- Eight years of verdicts before the truth was finally fixed in law

The murder of Meredith Kercher deserves to be remembered as her story, not a celebrity trial, this is the murder of Meredith Kercher, told from the victim's side.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707758Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:35 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Forgotten Name in the Famous File: the Amanda Knox case and the murder of Meredith Kercher She chose Perugia because she believed it was safer than Rome. She phoned her sick mother every single day, until one call cut off at four minutes to...
She chose Perugia because she believed it was safer than Rome. She phoned her sick mother every single day, until one call cut off at four minutes to nine and never came again. So how did a twenty-one-year-old victim become a footnote to her own murder? Why did police arrest three innocent people while the man whose DNA covered the crime scene boarded a train out of the country? And how does an investigation rack up fifty-four documented forensic failures and still call itself justice?

In this episode, we follow Meredith Kercher from south London to the walled hill town she worked airport shifts to reach, through the night of All Saints' Day 2007, and into the investigation that went wrong from the first hour: the "see you later" text that police read as a murder appointment, the coerced statements that jailed an innocent bar owner, the contaminated knife and the bra clasp collected forty-six days late, the independent review that dismantled the case, and the eight-year rollercoaster of convictions and acquittals that ended with Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito definitively cleared by Italy's highest court, and Rudy Guede standing alone as the only person ever convicted of killing her.

Person: Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher, 21, British exchange student from the University of Leeds
Date: November 1, 2007
Location: Via della Pergola 7, Perugia, Umbria, Italy
Case: Murder and sexual assault of Meredith Kercher, the Amanda Knox case
Legal status: Rudy Guede definitively convicted (released 2021); Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito definitively acquitted by Italy's Supreme Court in 2015

- The last phone call home that cut off before it connected
- A two-word text message that destroyed an innocent man's life
- Fifty-four documented failures in a single forensic investigation
- The burglar police caught with a knife weeks earlier, and released
- Eight years of verdicts before the truth was finally fixed in law

The murder of Meredith Kercher deserves to be remembered as her story, not a celebrity trial, this is the murder of Meredith Kercher, told from the victim's side.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1237falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/forty-six-minutes-on-tape-the-west-memphis-three--74707757
Three eight-year-old best friends rode their bikes into the woods of West Memphis, Arkansas, on a warm May evening in 1993, and were pulled from a drainage ditch the next day, bound with their own shoelaces. How did a town's terror of devil worship turn three teenagers into convicted ritual killers without a single piece of physical evidence? What really happened during the eleven unrecorded hours of a twelve-hour interrogation of a boy with the mind of a young child? And whose hair was tied into the knot that bound one of the victims, a hair that matches none of the men who went to prison?

In this episode, we follow the murders of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers from their last bike ride through Robin Hood Hills to one of the most infamous wrongful-conviction sagas in American history: the coerced confession of Jessie Misskelley, the trials of Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin built on black T-shirts and a diploma-mill "occult expert," the forensic experts who concluded the "satanic mutilation" was animal predation, the DNA that pointed somewhere else entirely, and the Alford plea that freed three men while denying them exoneration, as new M-Vac DNA testing may finally answer who killed the boys.

Person: Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, Christopher Byers (victims); Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley (convicted)
Date: May 5, 1993
Location: West Memphis, Arkansas, USA
Case: Triple child homicide; satanic panic prosecution; alleged wrongful conviction
Legal status: Released 2011 via Alford plea; still convicted felons; advanced DNA testing pending

- A murder file stamped with a case number ending in 666
- A 12-hour interrogation with only 46 minutes ever recorded
- A jury foreman who smuggled an inadmissible confession into deliberations
- Forensic experts who say turtles, not a cult, inflicted the infamous wounds
- A stepfather's hair in a ligature knot, and an investigation that never followed it

The West Memphis Three case is not history, it is an open wound, and the DNA now under the microscope may prove the West Memphis Three innocent at last.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707757Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:31 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTForty-Six Minutes on Tape: The West Memphis Three and the Satanic Panic That Convicted Them Three eight-year-old best friends rode their bikes into the woods of West Memphis, Arkansas, on a warm May evening in 1993, and were pulled from a drainage...
Three eight-year-old best friends rode their bikes into the woods of West Memphis, Arkansas, on a warm May evening in 1993, and were pulled from a drainage ditch the next day, bound with their own shoelaces. How did a town's terror of devil worship turn three teenagers into convicted ritual killers without a single piece of physical evidence? What really happened during the eleven unrecorded hours of a twelve-hour interrogation of a boy with the mind of a young child? And whose hair was tied into the knot that bound one of the victims, a hair that matches none of the men who went to prison?

In this episode, we follow the murders of Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers from their last bike ride through Robin Hood Hills to one of the most infamous wrongful-conviction sagas in American history: the coerced confession of Jessie Misskelley, the trials of Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin built on black T-shirts and a diploma-mill "occult expert," the forensic experts who concluded the "satanic mutilation" was animal predation, the DNA that pointed somewhere else entirely, and the Alford plea that freed three men while denying them exoneration, as new M-Vac DNA testing may finally answer who killed the boys.

Person: Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, Christopher Byers (victims); Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley (convicted)
Date: May 5, 1993
Location: West Memphis, Arkansas, USA
Case: Triple child homicide; satanic panic prosecution; alleged wrongful conviction
Legal status: Released 2011 via Alford plea; still convicted felons; advanced DNA testing pending

- A murder file stamped with a case number ending in 666
- A 12-hour interrogation with only 46 minutes ever recorded
- A jury foreman who smuggled an inadmissible confession into deliberations
- Forensic experts who say turtles, not a cult, inflicted the infamous wounds
- A stepfather's hair in a ligature knot, and an investigation that never followed it

The West Memphis Three case is not history, it is an open wound, and the DNA now under the microscope may prove the West Memphis Three innocent at last.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1378falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-documentary-made-her-a-footnote-the-steven-avery-case--74707756
A hundred million people watched the documentary about the man convicted of killing her, but who was Teresa Halbach? How does a routine Halloween photo assignment at a Wisconsin salvage yard end with a young woman's bones in a burn pit? And what happens to a murder investigation when the county collecting the evidence is being sued by the prime suspect for thirty-six million dollars?

In this episode, we follow Teresa Halbach, a twenty-five-year-old photographer who graduated summa cum laude, traveled the world, and came home to Wisconsin on purpose, through the last afternoon of her life and the two decades of legal war that followed. We trace the discovery of her hidden RAV4 among four thousand junked cars, the contested spare key found on a sixth search of Steven Avery's bedroom, the blood-vial planting theory the defense argued and courts rejected, and the coerced-confession fight over sixteen-year-old Brendan Dassey that split a federal appeals court four to three. Convictions upheld, questions unresolved, and a victim the cameras forgot.

Person: Teresa Marie Halbach, 25, freelance photographer from Calumet County, Wisconsin
Date: October 31, 2005
Location: Avery's Auto Salvage, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin
Case: Homicide of Teresa Halbach; State of Wisconsin v. Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, the Making a Murderer case
Legal status: Avery serving life without parole; Dassey serving life with parole eligibility in 2048; both convictions upheld through 2025 appeals

- The $36 million wrongful-conviction lawsuit that put Manitowoc County under pressure when Teresa disappeared
- The RAV4 found in thirty minutes on a forty-acre lot, plates removed, battery disconnected
- The spare key with Avery's DNA but none of Teresa's, found only on the sixth entry
- Brendan Dassey's videotaped confession: no lawyer, no parent, no physical evidence
- The Netflix wave, the rebuttal documentary, and the exhausted appeals

The Steven Avery Teresa Halbach case turned one victim into a footnote of her own story, this episode of the Steven Avery Teresa Halbach story puts her back at the center.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707756Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:26 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Photographer and the Salvage Yard: the Steven Avery and Teresa Halbach case from Making a Murderer A hundred million people watched the documentary about the man convicted of killing her, but who was Teresa Halbach? How does a routine Halloween...
A hundred million people watched the documentary about the man convicted of killing her, but who was Teresa Halbach? How does a routine Halloween photo assignment at a Wisconsin salvage yard end with a young woman's bones in a burn pit? And what happens to a murder investigation when the county collecting the evidence is being sued by the prime suspect for thirty-six million dollars?

In this episode, we follow Teresa Halbach, a twenty-five-year-old photographer who graduated summa cum laude, traveled the world, and came home to Wisconsin on purpose, through the last afternoon of her life and the two decades of legal war that followed. We trace the discovery of her hidden RAV4 among four thousand junked cars, the contested spare key found on a sixth search of Steven Avery's bedroom, the blood-vial planting theory the defense argued and courts rejected, and the coerced-confession fight over sixteen-year-old Brendan Dassey that split a federal appeals court four to three. Convictions upheld, questions unresolved, and a victim the cameras forgot.

Person: Teresa Marie Halbach, 25, freelance photographer from Calumet County, Wisconsin
Date: October 31, 2005
Location: Avery's Auto Salvage, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin
Case: Homicide of Teresa Halbach; State of Wisconsin v. Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, the Making a Murderer case
Legal status: Avery serving life without parole; Dassey serving life with parole eligibility in 2048; both convictions upheld through 2025 appeals

- The $36 million wrongful-conviction lawsuit that put Manitowoc County under pressure when Teresa disappeared
- The RAV4 found in thirty minutes on a forty-acre lot, plates removed, battery disconnected
- The spare key with Avery's DNA but none of Teresa's, found only on the sixth entry
- Brendan Dassey's videotaped confession: no lawyer, no parent, no physical evidence
- The Netflix wave, the rebuttal documentary, and the exhausted appeals

The Steven Avery Teresa Halbach case turned one victim into a footnote of her own story, this episode of the Steven Avery Teresa Halbach story puts her back at the center.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1197falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-last-photo-was-of-the-ceiling-the-jodi-arias-trial--74707755
Travis Alexander was ten days from his birthday and six days from a flight to Cancún when he was killed in his own bathroom in Mesa, Arizona. How did a digital camera, deliberately broken and run through a washing machine to destroy it, become the most devastating witness in an American courtroom? Why did months of slashed tires, hacked accounts, and a woman slipping through his doggy door never generate a single police report? And how did the trial meant to deliver justice become a televised circus that ended with the winning prosecutor disbarred?

In this episode, we follow the true story of the Jodi Arias case from the beginning: the self-made Mormon salesman who escaped a childhood of addiction and poverty, the relationship that ran on two tracks, public chastity, private obsession, the stolen pistol and the rental car and the borrowed gas cans of the week before, the timestamped photographs that bracketed a murder almost to the minute, three shifting alibis demolished one by one, and the livestreamed trial that captivated and distorted everything it touched.

Person: Travis Victor Alexander, 30, salesman and motivational speaker
Date: June 4, 2008
Location: Mesa, Arizona, United States
Case: Premeditated first-degree murder of Travis Alexander by Jodi Arias
Legal status: Convicted May 2013; sentenced April 2015 to natural life without parole; conviction upheld on appeal

- The deleted photos recovered from a water-damaged camera found in the washing machine
- A bloody palm print on the bathroom wall that mixed her DNA with his
- A .25-caliber gun reported stolen from her grandparents' home seven days earlier
- Three different stories: never there, masked intruders, and finally self-defense
- Two juries that convicted her but deadlocked, twice, on the death penalty

The Jodi Arias trial remains one of the most-watched courtroom sagas in American history, press play for the full story of the Jodi Arias case and the man at the center of it, Travis Alexander.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707755Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:22 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Last Photo Was of the Ceiling: The Jodi Arias Murder Trial Travis Alexander was ten days from his birthday and six days from a flight to Cancún when he was killed in his own bathroom in Mesa, Arizona. How did a digital camera, deliberately...
Travis Alexander was ten days from his birthday and six days from a flight to Cancún when he was killed in his own bathroom in Mesa, Arizona. How did a digital camera, deliberately broken and run through a washing machine to destroy it, become the most devastating witness in an American courtroom? Why did months of slashed tires, hacked accounts, and a woman slipping through his doggy door never generate a single police report? And how did the trial meant to deliver justice become a televised circus that ended with the winning prosecutor disbarred?

In this episode, we follow the true story of the Jodi Arias case from the beginning: the self-made Mormon salesman who escaped a childhood of addiction and poverty, the relationship that ran on two tracks, public chastity, private obsession, the stolen pistol and the rental car and the borrowed gas cans of the week before, the timestamped photographs that bracketed a murder almost to the minute, three shifting alibis demolished one by one, and the livestreamed trial that captivated and distorted everything it touched.

Person: Travis Victor Alexander, 30, salesman and motivational speaker
Date: June 4, 2008
Location: Mesa, Arizona, United States
Case: Premeditated first-degree murder of Travis Alexander by Jodi Arias
Legal status: Convicted May 2013; sentenced April 2015 to natural life without parole; conviction upheld on appeal

- The deleted photos recovered from a water-damaged camera found in the washing machine
- A bloody palm print on the bathroom wall that mixed her DNA with his
- A .25-caliber gun reported stolen from her grandparents' home seven days earlier
- Three different stories: never there, masked intruders, and finally self-defense
- Two juries that convicted her but deadlocked, twice, on the death penalty

The Jodi Arias trial remains one of the most-watched courtroom sagas in American history, press play for the full story of the Jodi Arias case and the man at the center of it, Travis Alexander.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1195falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-house-that-was-the-law-the-alex-murdaugh-murders--74707753
For a hundred years, one family's name was carved over the courthouse door in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Then, on a June night in 2021, the wife and youngest son of its most powerful heir were shot dead beside the dog kennels of a seventeen-hundred-acre estate. Why did neither victim have a single defensive wound? How did a fifty-second video of a dog, locked inside a dead man's iPhone for weeks, shatter the alibi of the county's most connected lawyer? And how did a court clerk with a book deal manage to erase the verdict that a jury reached in under three hours?

In this episode, we follow the Alex Murdaugh case from the morning confrontation over $792,000 in missing law-firm money to the 8:44 p.m. kennel video, the frantic 911 call, and the six-week trial watched around the world. Along the way we open the doors mainstream coverage rushes past: the nearly nine million dollars allegedly stolen from vulnerable clients, the housekeeper whose sons never saw a dime of their settlement, the unsolved death of teenager Stephen Smith, and the cascade of investigative failures, lost GPS data, untested DNA, a destroyed t-shirt, that now loom over a retrial.

Person: Richard "Alex" Murdaugh; victims Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22
Date: June 7, 2021
Location: Moselle estate, Islandton, Colleton County, South Carolina
Case: Double homicide of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh; parallel financial-crime prosecutions
Legal status: 2023 murder convictions overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court in May 2026; retrial set for April 5, 2027; Murdaugh is presumed innocent of the murders and remains imprisoned on standing 27-year state and 40-year federal financial-crime sentences

- A legal dynasty that held the same prosecutor's office for nearly ninety years
- The kennel video prosecutors called Paul's testimony from beyond the grave
- Gloria Satterfield, Stephen Smith, and the victims history almost forgot
- A staged roadside shooting, a fake settlement account, and 437 suspicious checks
- The clerk whose whispers to jurors unmade a double-murder verdict

The Alex Murdaugh case is far from over, and to understand what a second jury will face, you have to hear how the Alex Murdaugh case was really built.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707753Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:19 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe House That Was the Law: The Alex Murdaugh South Carolina Family Murders For a hundred years, one family's name was carved over the courthouse door in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Then, on a June night in 2021, the wife and youngest son of its...
For a hundred years, one family's name was carved over the courthouse door in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Then, on a June night in 2021, the wife and youngest son of its most powerful heir were shot dead beside the dog kennels of a seventeen-hundred-acre estate. Why did neither victim have a single defensive wound? How did a fifty-second video of a dog, locked inside a dead man's iPhone for weeks, shatter the alibi of the county's most connected lawyer? And how did a court clerk with a book deal manage to erase the verdict that a jury reached in under three hours?

In this episode, we follow the Alex Murdaugh case from the morning confrontation over $792,000 in missing law-firm money to the 8:44 p.m. kennel video, the frantic 911 call, and the six-week trial watched around the world. Along the way we open the doors mainstream coverage rushes past: the nearly nine million dollars allegedly stolen from vulnerable clients, the housekeeper whose sons never saw a dime of their settlement, the unsolved death of teenager Stephen Smith, and the cascade of investigative failures, lost GPS data, untested DNA, a destroyed t-shirt, that now loom over a retrial.

Person: Richard "Alex" Murdaugh; victims Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22
Date: June 7, 2021
Location: Moselle estate, Islandton, Colleton County, South Carolina
Case: Double homicide of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh; parallel financial-crime prosecutions
Legal status: 2023 murder convictions overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court in May 2026; retrial set for April 5, 2027; Murdaugh is presumed innocent of the murders and remains imprisoned on standing 27-year state and 40-year federal financial-crime sentences

- A legal dynasty that held the same prosecutor's office for nearly ninety years
- The kennel video prosecutors called Paul's testimony from beyond the grave
- Gloria Satterfield, Stephen Smith, and the victims history almost forgot
- A staged roadside shooting, a fake settlement account, and 437 suspicious checks
- The clerk whose whispers to jurors unmade a double-murder verdict

The Alex Murdaugh case is far from over, and to understand what a second jury will face, you have to hear how the Alex Murdaugh case was really built.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1342falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-warning-on-the-fax-cover-sheet-adnan-syed-and-the-case-behind-serial--74707751
She was an honor roll student who managed the wrestling team, worked a part-time job, and never missed a pickup, until January 13, 1999, when eighteen-year-old Hae Min Lee vanished on her way to collect a six-year-old from daycare. Twenty-seven days later, her body was found in a shallow grave in Baltimore's Leakin Park. How did a written warning from the phone company, one that undercut the state's key evidence, never reach the jury? Why did a classmate's alibi letters go untested for over a decade? And how, after the most famous podcast in history and twenty-five years of hearings, is no one serving a sentence for her murder?

In this episode, we follow the case from Woodlawn High School to Leakin Park and through every turn of the legal earthquake that followed: the anonymous tip, the star witness whose story kept changing, the cell tower pings, the vacated and reinstated conviction, and the family fighting to keep Hae, not the defendant, at the center of the story.

Person: Hae Min Lee, 18, Korean-American honor student at Woodlawn High School
Date: Disappeared January 13, 1999; found February 9, 1999
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, Leakin Park
Case: Manual strangulation; ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed convicted in 2000; case made famous by the Serial podcast
Legal status: Conviction reinstated by Maryland's Supreme Court in 2024; sentence reduced to time served in 2025 under the Juvenile Restoration Act; Syed is free and maintains his innocence; no one else has ever been charged

- The AT&T fax cover sheet warning that incoming calls were unreliable for location, never heard by the jury
- Asia McClain's alibi letters, written days after the arrest and never investigated by the defense
- Jay Wilds' shifting testimony, his plea deal, and zero days served
- The 2022 release, the DNA that excluded Syed, and the unidentified female profile never matched
- Young Lee's fight: one business day's notice and a court ruling that the victim's family was wronged

The Hae Min Lee case is the story Serial made famous, but the Hae Min Lee case, at its heart, is the story of a girl the world was asked to love and remember forever.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707751Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:14 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Warning on the Fax Cover Sheet: Hae Min Lee, Adnan Syed, and the Case Behind Serial She was an honor roll student who managed the wrestling team, worked a part-time job, and never missed a pickup, until January 13, 1999, when eighteen-year-old...
She was an honor roll student who managed the wrestling team, worked a part-time job, and never missed a pickup, until January 13, 1999, when eighteen-year-old Hae Min Lee vanished on her way to collect a six-year-old from daycare. Twenty-seven days later, her body was found in a shallow grave in Baltimore's Leakin Park. How did a written warning from the phone company, one that undercut the state's key evidence, never reach the jury? Why did a classmate's alibi letters go untested for over a decade? And how, after the most famous podcast in history and twenty-five years of hearings, is no one serving a sentence for her murder?

In this episode, we follow the case from Woodlawn High School to Leakin Park and through every turn of the legal earthquake that followed: the anonymous tip, the star witness whose story kept changing, the cell tower pings, the vacated and reinstated conviction, and the family fighting to keep Hae, not the defendant, at the center of the story.

Person: Hae Min Lee, 18, Korean-American honor student at Woodlawn High School
Date: Disappeared January 13, 1999; found February 9, 1999
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, Leakin Park
Case: Manual strangulation; ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed convicted in 2000; case made famous by the Serial podcast
Legal status: Conviction reinstated by Maryland's Supreme Court in 2024; sentence reduced to time served in 2025 under the Juvenile Restoration Act; Syed is free and maintains his innocence; no one else has ever been charged

- The AT&T fax cover sheet warning that incoming calls were unreliable for location, never heard by the jury
- Asia McClain's alibi letters, written days after the arrest and never investigated by the defense
- Jay Wilds' shifting testimony, his plea deal, and zero days served
- The 2022 release, the DNA that excluded Syed, and the unidentified female profile never matched
- Young Lee's fight: one business day's notice and a court ruling that the victim's family was wronged

The Hae Min Lee case is the story Serial made famous, but the Hae Min Lee case, at its heart, is the story of a girl the world was asked to love and remember forever.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1242falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/fifty-five-minutes-in-the-dark-the-disappearance-of-madeleine-mccann--74707749
A three-year-old girl goes to sleep in a ground-floor holiday apartment on Portugal's Algarve coast. Her parents are at dinner fifty-five metres away, checking on the children in shifts. At ten o'clock, her bed is empty, the window open, the shutter raised. How does a child vanish from a resort full of families without a single confirmed witness? Why was the most important crime scene in Europe left open all night, walked through by staff, friends, and even a journalist? And how did a suspect's name sit in police files for five years before anyone acted on it?

In this episode, we follow the Madeleine McCann case from the first minutes of May 3, 2007 to today: the checking rota that gapped to fifty-five minutes, the sighting that misled investigators for six years, the cadaver-dog alerts that turned the exonerated parents into suspects, the burglary pattern around the Ocean Club, and the German drifter prosecutors now call their prime suspect, a convicted rapist who has never been charged in this case and denies any involvement.

Person: Madeleine Beth McCann, age 3, of Rothley, Leicestershire, England
Date: May 3, 2007, between 9:05 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
Location: Apartment 5A, Ocean Club resort, Praia da Luz, Algarve, Portugal
Case: Suspected abduction of a child; still classified by UK police as a missing persons case
Legal status: Unsolved, no one has ever been charged; Christian Brückner named as suspect by German prosecutors, uncharged, denies involvement

- The 55-minute gap in the parents' half-hour checking rota
- The crime scene police admitted was never sealed
- The Jane Tanner sighting ruled out six years too late
- The name handed to Scotland Yard in 2012 and ignored until 2017
- A suspect freed in 2025, tagged, surveilled, and still uncharged

The Madeleine McCann disappearance remains the most famous missing-child case in the world, and the Madeleine McCann investigation remains a masterclass in how institutions lose a child twice.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707749Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:10 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTFifty-Five Minutes in the Dark: The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann A three-year-old girl goes to sleep in a ground-floor holiday apartment on Portugal's Algarve coast. Her parents are at dinner fifty-five metres away, checking on the children in...
A three-year-old girl goes to sleep in a ground-floor holiday apartment on Portugal's Algarve coast. Her parents are at dinner fifty-five metres away, checking on the children in shifts. At ten o'clock, her bed is empty, the window open, the shutter raised. How does a child vanish from a resort full of families without a single confirmed witness? Why was the most important crime scene in Europe left open all night, walked through by staff, friends, and even a journalist? And how did a suspect's name sit in police files for five years before anyone acted on it?

In this episode, we follow the Madeleine McCann case from the first minutes of May 3, 2007 to today: the checking rota that gapped to fifty-five minutes, the sighting that misled investigators for six years, the cadaver-dog alerts that turned the exonerated parents into suspects, the burglary pattern around the Ocean Club, and the German drifter prosecutors now call their prime suspect, a convicted rapist who has never been charged in this case and denies any involvement.

Person: Madeleine Beth McCann, age 3, of Rothley, Leicestershire, England
Date: May 3, 2007, between 9:05 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
Location: Apartment 5A, Ocean Club resort, Praia da Luz, Algarve, Portugal
Case: Suspected abduction of a child; still classified by UK police as a missing persons case
Legal status: Unsolved, no one has ever been charged; Christian Brückner named as suspect by German prosecutors, uncharged, denies involvement

- The 55-minute gap in the parents' half-hour checking rota
- The crime scene police admitted was never sealed
- The Jane Tanner sighting ruled out six years too late
- The name handed to Scotland Yard in 2012 and ignored until 2017
- A suspect freed in 2025, tagged, surveilled, and still uncharged

The Madeleine McCann disappearance remains the most famous missing-child case in the world, and the Madeleine McCann investigation remains a masterclass in how institutions lose a child twice.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1204falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-church-president-s-secret-the-btk-killer-dennis-rader--74707748
How does a serial killer murder ten people in one city and stay free for thirty-one years, while leading a Boy Scout troop and running his church council? Why did police have his name in a suspect pool in 1974, only to let it evaporate for three decades? And how did a single purple floppy disk accomplish in nine days what one hundred thousand investigative hours never could?

In this episode, we follow the BTK case from the January 1974 morning that destroyed the Otero family through the taunting letters, the false silences, and the institutional failures that let Dennis Rader hide in plain sight in Wichita, Kansas. We walk through the Ghostbusters task force that sampled two hundred men and missed him, the eighteen years an innocent husband spent under suspicion for a BTK murder, and the astonishing endgame: a killer who asked police if a floppy disk could be traced, believed their lie, and mailed them the evidence that carried his own name in its metadata.

Person: Dennis Rader, the self-named BTK killer, bind, torture, kill
Date: January 15, 1974, January 19, 1991; arrested February 25, 2005
Location: Wichita and Park City, Kansas
Case: Ten murders, three decades of taunting letters, and a digital slip that ended one of America's longest manhunts
Legal status: Pleaded guilty to ten counts of first-degree murder; serving ten consecutive life sentences at El Dorado Correctional Facility

- The Otero family murders and the fifteen-year-old son who came home from school to find them
- A killer who named his victims "projects" and wrote letters demanding an audience
- Marine Hedge, the neighbor murdered down the street, and never linked to BTK
- Bill Wegerle, wrongly suspected of his wife Vicki's murder for eighteen years
- The deleted Word file, the church metadata, and the DNA match that closed the case

If you want to understand how the BTK killer evaded justice for so long, and why the BTK case remains the definitive study of a predator hiding inside the institutions that trusted him, this episode is for you.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707748Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:07 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Church President's Secret: the true story of BTK killer Dennis Rader How does a serial killer murder ten people in one city and stay free for thirty-one years, while leading a Boy Scout troop and running his church council? Why did police have...
How does a serial killer murder ten people in one city and stay free for thirty-one years, while leading a Boy Scout troop and running his church council? Why did police have his name in a suspect pool in 1974, only to let it evaporate for three decades? And how did a single purple floppy disk accomplish in nine days what one hundred thousand investigative hours never could?

In this episode, we follow the BTK case from the January 1974 morning that destroyed the Otero family through the taunting letters, the false silences, and the institutional failures that let Dennis Rader hide in plain sight in Wichita, Kansas. We walk through the Ghostbusters task force that sampled two hundred men and missed him, the eighteen years an innocent husband spent under suspicion for a BTK murder, and the astonishing endgame: a killer who asked police if a floppy disk could be traced, believed their lie, and mailed them the evidence that carried his own name in its metadata.

Person: Dennis Rader, the self-named BTK killer, bind, torture, kill
Date: January 15, 1974, January 19, 1991; arrested February 25, 2005
Location: Wichita and Park City, Kansas
Case: Ten murders, three decades of taunting letters, and a digital slip that ended one of America's longest manhunts
Legal status: Pleaded guilty to ten counts of first-degree murder; serving ten consecutive life sentences at El Dorado Correctional Facility

- The Otero family murders and the fifteen-year-old son who came home from school to find them
- A killer who named his victims "projects" and wrote letters demanding an audience
- Marine Hedge, the neighbor murdered down the street, and never linked to BTK
- Bill Wegerle, wrongly suspected of his wife Vicki's murder for eighteen years
- The deleted Word file, the church metadata, and the DNA match that closed the case

If you want to understand how the BTK killer evaded justice for so long, and why the BTK case remains the definitive study of a predator hiding inside the institutions that trusted him, this episode is for you.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1328falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-meter-reader-called-three-times-the-casey-anthony-trial--74707747
A two-year-old girl vanishes on a June afternoon in Orlando, and for thirty-one days, nobody reports her missing. How does a mother spend a month partying while her daughter is gone? Why did sheriff's deputies ignore three phone calls pointing at the exact spot where the child lay? And how did a death-penalty case built on more than four hundred pieces of evidence end with a not-guilty verdict that stunned the entire country?

In this episode, we follow the Casey Anthony case from Caylee Anthony's last confirmed sighting on June 16, 2008, through the three 911 calls her grandmother made, the cascade of lies that unraveled in a single day, the contested forensics inside a white Pontiac Sunfire, and the institutional failures that shaped everything: a meter reader turned away three days in a row while Caylee's remains lay nineteen feet from the road, a "chloroform" search count inflated by a software bug from one to eighty-four, and an entire web browser investigators never opened. Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder, manslaughter, and child abuse, this is the story of how that verdict was built, brick by broken brick.

Person: Caylee Marie Anthony, 2, and her mother Casey Anthony, 22
Date: June 16, 2008, last day Caylee was seen alive; verdict July 5, 2011
Location: Orlando, Florida, Hopespring Drive, Chickasaw Oaks
Case: Death of Caylee Anthony; State of Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony
Legal status: Casey Anthony acquitted of all major charges; convicted only of lying to police (two counts vacated on appeal); no retrial possible

- The 31-day gap: nightclub photos, a borrowed shovel, and a car abandoned with a terrible odor in the trunk
- Three 911 calls in one night, and a grandmother's words about a smell in the car
- Roy Kronk's three ignored tips in August 2008, and the deputy fired for lying about them
- The "84 chloroform searches" that were really one, a coding error presented to a capital jury
- The "fool-proof suffocation" Google search found only after the trial, in the browser police never checked

The Casey Anthony trial remains the most disputed acquittal in modern American true crime, listen now and decide for yourself what the Casey Anthony jury saw that the cameras missed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707747Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:01:03 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Meter Reader Called Three Times: The Casey Anthony Trial and the Death of Caylee Anthony A two-year-old girl vanishes on a June afternoon in Orlando, and for thirty-one days, nobody reports her missing. How does a mother spend a month partying...
A two-year-old girl vanishes on a June afternoon in Orlando, and for thirty-one days, nobody reports her missing. How does a mother spend a month partying while her daughter is gone? Why did sheriff's deputies ignore three phone calls pointing at the exact spot where the child lay? And how did a death-penalty case built on more than four hundred pieces of evidence end with a not-guilty verdict that stunned the entire country?

In this episode, we follow the Casey Anthony case from Caylee Anthony's last confirmed sighting on June 16, 2008, through the three 911 calls her grandmother made, the cascade of lies that unraveled in a single day, the contested forensics inside a white Pontiac Sunfire, and the institutional failures that shaped everything: a meter reader turned away three days in a row while Caylee's remains lay nineteen feet from the road, a "chloroform" search count inflated by a software bug from one to eighty-four, and an entire web browser investigators never opened. Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder, manslaughter, and child abuse, this is the story of how that verdict was built, brick by broken brick.

Person: Caylee Marie Anthony, 2, and her mother Casey Anthony, 22
Date: June 16, 2008, last day Caylee was seen alive; verdict July 5, 2011
Location: Orlando, Florida, Hopespring Drive, Chickasaw Oaks
Case: Death of Caylee Anthony; State of Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony
Legal status: Casey Anthony acquitted of all major charges; convicted only of lying to police (two counts vacated on appeal); no retrial possible

- The 31-day gap: nightclub photos, a borrowed shovel, and a car abandoned with a terrible odor in the trunk
- Three 911 calls in one night, and a grandmother's words about a smell in the car
- Roy Kronk's three ignored tips in August 2008, and the deputy fired for lying about them
- The "84 chloroform searches" that were really one, a coding error presented to a capital jury
- The "fool-proof suffocation" Google search found only after the trial, in the browser police never checked

The Casey Anthony trial remains the most disputed acquittal in modern American true crime, listen now and decide for yourself what the Casey Anthony jury saw that the cameras missed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1200falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-went-fishing-on-christmas-eve-the-laci-peterson-case--74707746
On December 24, 2002, Laci Peterson, 27 years old and eight months pregnant, vanished from her Modesto home while her husband said he was fishing 90 miles away. Why did Scott Peterson tell neighbors he was golfing? Why did his own family not know he owned the boat he took to San Francisco Bay? And how did a case with no crime scene, no weapon, and no cause of death still end in a death sentence?

In this episode, we follow the Laci Peterson case from the quiet street on Covena Avenue to the shoreline where her body and her unborn son Conner's washed up in April 2003, just miles from Scott's claimed fishing spot. We unpack the circumstantial architecture that convicted him, the secret affair with Amber Frey, the wiretapped calls, the detective's 41-point list, and the disputed threads still alive today: the burglary across the street, destroyed interview tapes alleged in court filings, and the one piece of duct tape a judge cleared for new DNA testing.

Person: Laci Denise Peterson (Rocha), 27, and unborn son Conner
Date: December 24, 2002
Location: Modesto, California
Case: Disappearance and murder; bodies recovered from San Francisco Bay
Legal status: Scott Peterson convicted in 2004; death sentence overturned in 2020, resentenced to life without parole; his 2025 habeas petition, backed by the Los Angeles Innocence Project, was denied in 2026 and an appeal to a higher court is planned

- The boat, the two-day fishing license, and the alibi that changed
- Amber Frey's recorded calls and the "widower" lie told before Laci died
- What the autopsies could and could not prove
- The Medina burglary, the burned van, and the evidence destruction allegations
- Laci and Conner's Law: how a mother's loss reshaped federal law

The Laci Peterson murder case remains America's defining circumstantial trial, and the fight over the Laci Peterson verdict is not over.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707746Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:59 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Went Fishing on Christmas Eve: The Laci Peterson Murder Case On December 24, 2002, Laci Peterson, 27 years old and eight months pregnant, vanished from her Modesto home while her husband said he was fishing 90 miles away. Why did Scott Peterson...
On December 24, 2002, Laci Peterson, 27 years old and eight months pregnant, vanished from her Modesto home while her husband said he was fishing 90 miles away. Why did Scott Peterson tell neighbors he was golfing? Why did his own family not know he owned the boat he took to San Francisco Bay? And how did a case with no crime scene, no weapon, and no cause of death still end in a death sentence?

In this episode, we follow the Laci Peterson case from the quiet street on Covena Avenue to the shoreline where her body and her unborn son Conner's washed up in April 2003, just miles from Scott's claimed fishing spot. We unpack the circumstantial architecture that convicted him, the secret affair with Amber Frey, the wiretapped calls, the detective's 41-point list, and the disputed threads still alive today: the burglary across the street, destroyed interview tapes alleged in court filings, and the one piece of duct tape a judge cleared for new DNA testing.

Person: Laci Denise Peterson (Rocha), 27, and unborn son Conner
Date: December 24, 2002
Location: Modesto, California
Case: Disappearance and murder; bodies recovered from San Francisco Bay
Legal status: Scott Peterson convicted in 2004; death sentence overturned in 2020, resentenced to life without parole; his 2025 habeas petition, backed by the Los Angeles Innocence Project, was denied in 2026 and an appeal to a higher court is planned

- The boat, the two-day fishing license, and the alibi that changed
- Amber Frey's recorded calls and the "widower" lie told before Laci died
- What the autopsies could and could not prove
- The Medina burglary, the burned van, and the evidence destruction allegations
- Laci and Conner's Law: how a mother's loss reshaped federal law

The Laci Peterson murder case remains America's defining circumstantial trial, and the fight over the Laci Peterson verdict is not over.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1310falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-was-a-cop-the-whole-time-the-golden-state-killer--74707745
How does the Golden State Killer terrorize California for over a decade while wearing a police badge, and even sitting on the task force hunting himself? How do nine behavioral profiles, three separate monikers, and a preserved DNA sample still add up to forty years of nothing? And what finally breaks when investigators upload a killer's genetic profile to a hobbyist genealogy website that never knew it was being used?

In this episode, we follow the Golden State Killer case from the 1975 murder of professor Claude Snelling in Visalia through the East Area Rapist attacks in Sacramento's suburbs, the Original Night Stalker murders in Southern California, and the 2018 genetic genealogy breakthrough that identified former police officer Joseph DeAngelo, ending one of the longest manhunts in American history. The victims and survivors stay at the center: the newlyweds, the nurses, the teenagers, and the courtroom where they finally answered him.

Person: Joseph James DeAngelo, convicted of 13 murders and 13 kidnappings; linked to dozens of rapes and more than 120 burglaries
Date: crime spree 1975-1986; arrested April 24, 2018; sentenced August 21, 2020
Location: California, Visalia, Sacramento County, the Bay Area, Goleta, Ventura, Dana Point, Irvine
Case: Golden State Killer / East Area Rapist / Original Night Stalker
Legal status: pleaded guilty 2020; consecutive life sentences without parole; incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison

- A serving police officer placed on the task force assigned to catch the Visalia Ransacker, himself
- The stacked dishes: the psychological signature that defined the East Area Rapist's cruelty
- Fired over a stolen hammer and dog repellent, and no one ever looked deeper
- The GEDmatch family tree, a wrong man cleared, and a discarded tissue from the trash
- Survivors confront the Golden State Killer face to face in a Sacramento ballroom courtroom

The Golden State Killer hid for four decades. His own DNA never forgot.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707745Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:55 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Was a Cop the Whole Time: The Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo How does the Golden State Killer terrorize California for over a decade while wearing a police badge, and even sitting on the task force hunting himself? How do nine behavioral...
How does the Golden State Killer terrorize California for over a decade while wearing a police badge, and even sitting on the task force hunting himself? How do nine behavioral profiles, three separate monikers, and a preserved DNA sample still add up to forty years of nothing? And what finally breaks when investigators upload a killer's genetic profile to a hobbyist genealogy website that never knew it was being used?

In this episode, we follow the Golden State Killer case from the 1975 murder of professor Claude Snelling in Visalia through the East Area Rapist attacks in Sacramento's suburbs, the Original Night Stalker murders in Southern California, and the 2018 genetic genealogy breakthrough that identified former police officer Joseph DeAngelo, ending one of the longest manhunts in American history. The victims and survivors stay at the center: the newlyweds, the nurses, the teenagers, and the courtroom where they finally answered him.

Person: Joseph James DeAngelo, convicted of 13 murders and 13 kidnappings; linked to dozens of rapes and more than 120 burglaries
Date: crime spree 1975-1986; arrested April 24, 2018; sentenced August 21, 2020
Location: California, Visalia, Sacramento County, the Bay Area, Goleta, Ventura, Dana Point, Irvine
Case: Golden State Killer / East Area Rapist / Original Night Stalker
Legal status: pleaded guilty 2020; consecutive life sentences without parole; incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison

- A serving police officer placed on the task force assigned to catch the Visalia Ransacker, himself
- The stacked dishes: the psychological signature that defined the East Area Rapist's cruelty
- Fired over a stolen hammer and dog repellent, and no one ever looked deeper
- The GEDmatch family tree, a wrong man cleared, and a discarded tissue from the trash
- Survivors confront the Golden State Killer face to face in a Sacramento ballroom courtroom

The Golden State Killer hid for four decades. His own DNA never forgot.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1301falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/two-verdicts-one-question-america-never-settled-the-o-j-simpson-trial--74707744
How can one jury acquit a man of two murders and another jury find him legally responsible for the same two deaths, and both be right? Why did Nicole Brown Simpson lock photographs of her own bruises in a safe-deposit box years before she was killed? And why, in 2025, did the O.J. Simpson estate suddenly accept a claim of nearly $58 million that the Goldman family may never actually collect?

In this episode, we put Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman back at the center of the O.J. Simpson trial, the case the world watched and somehow never understood. We trace the documented domestic violence record the system ignored, the crime scene errors and the Fuhrman perjury that unraveled a mountain of DNA evidence, and the legal precision most retellings skip: O.J. Simpson was criminally acquitted in 1995 and found civilly liable in 1997, and this episode explains exactly what each verdict did, and did not, establish.

Person: Nicole Brown Simpson (35) and Ronald Goldman (25); defendant O.J. Simpson
Date: June 12, 1994
Location: 875 South Bundy Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles
Case: People v. O.J. Simpson (1995); Goldman & Brown v. Simpson (1997)
Legal status: Acquitted criminally (1995); found liable civilly (1997), no criminal conviction ever entered

- The 1989 call where Nicole told police "He's going to kill me", and the $700 fine that followed
- The evidence-handling collapse that turned a 1-in-billions DNA case into reasonable doubt
- Why the O.J. Simpson trial verdict and the civil judgment answer two different legal questions
- The $33.5 million judgment that grew past $100 million and went essentially unpaid
- The 2025 estate filing that reopened the ledger, and honors a debt it cannot pay

The O.J. Simpson trial ended in 1995. The question it asked never did.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707744Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:51 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTTwo Verdicts, One Question America Never Settled: The O.J. Simpson Trial How can one jury acquit a man of two murders and another jury find him legally responsible for the same two deaths, and both be right? Why did Nicole Brown Simpson lock...
How can one jury acquit a man of two murders and another jury find him legally responsible for the same two deaths, and both be right? Why did Nicole Brown Simpson lock photographs of her own bruises in a safe-deposit box years before she was killed? And why, in 2025, did the O.J. Simpson estate suddenly accept a claim of nearly $58 million that the Goldman family may never actually collect?

In this episode, we put Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman back at the center of the O.J. Simpson trial, the case the world watched and somehow never understood. We trace the documented domestic violence record the system ignored, the crime scene errors and the Fuhrman perjury that unraveled a mountain of DNA evidence, and the legal precision most retellings skip: O.J. Simpson was criminally acquitted in 1995 and found civilly liable in 1997, and this episode explains exactly what each verdict did, and did not, establish.

Person: Nicole Brown Simpson (35) and Ronald Goldman (25); defendant O.J. Simpson
Date: June 12, 1994
Location: 875 South Bundy Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles
Case: People v. O.J. Simpson (1995); Goldman & Brown v. Simpson (1997)
Legal status: Acquitted criminally (1995); found liable civilly (1997), no criminal conviction ever entered

- The 1989 call where Nicole told police "He's going to kill me", and the $700 fine that followed
- The evidence-handling collapse that turned a 1-in-billions DNA case into reasonable doubt
- Why the O.J. Simpson trial verdict and the civil judgment answer two different legal questions
- The $33.5 million judgment that grew past $100 million and went essentially unpaid
- The 2025 estate filing that reopened the ledger, and honors a debt it cannot pay

The O.J. Simpson trial ended in 1995. The question it asked never did.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1297falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-deal-that-let-him-keep-going-the-jeffrey-epstein-case--74707743
How does a man facing a 60-count federal indictment for crimes against children end up commuting to an office during his jail sentence? Why were the Jeffrey Epstein victims never told that the government had signed away their case in secret? And how did a warning to the FBI in 1996 go unanswered for a decade? The Jeffrey Epstein case is not a mystery about who did it, it is the documented story of a justice system that knew, and chose a deal instead.

In this episode, we follow the record from a stepmother's 2005 police report in Palm Beach to the secret 2008 non-prosecution agreement, the 2019 federal sex trafficking charges, Jeffrey Epstein's death in custody, officially ruled a suicide by hanging, with the Inspector General documenting falsified logs and abandoned rounds, and the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell, the only person serving prison time in connection with the operation. At the center: the survivors, from Courtney Wild's twelve-year lawsuit against the government to Virginia Giuffre, whose voice helped convict Maxwell.

Person: The survivors, dozens of underage girls, per the federal indictment
Date: 1996, 2026 (core criminal conduct 2002, 2005)
Location: Palm Beach, Florida; New York City
Case: Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case
Legal status: Epstein deceased, charges dismissed; Maxwell convicted, serving 20 years

- A 2007 draft federal indictment against Epstein ran to 60 counts; it was never filed.
- The 2008 non-prosecution agreement granted immunity to "any potential co-conspirators" and was concealed from victims, a federal judge ruled this violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act.
- Epstein served about 13 months with work release of up to 16 hours a day.
- Guards falsified records the night Jeffrey Epstein died; charges against them were dismissed after community service.
- Maxwell was convicted on five counts in 2021 and lost her final appeal at the Supreme Court in 2025.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707743Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:46 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Deal That Let Him Keep Going: The Jeffrey Epstein Case How does a man facing a 60-count federal indictment for crimes against children end up commuting to an office during his jail sentence? Why were the Jeffrey Epstein victims never told that...
How does a man facing a 60-count federal indictment for crimes against children end up commuting to an office during his jail sentence? Why were the Jeffrey Epstein victims never told that the government had signed away their case in secret? And how did a warning to the FBI in 1996 go unanswered for a decade? The Jeffrey Epstein case is not a mystery about who did it, it is the documented story of a justice system that knew, and chose a deal instead.

In this episode, we follow the record from a stepmother's 2005 police report in Palm Beach to the secret 2008 non-prosecution agreement, the 2019 federal sex trafficking charges, Jeffrey Epstein's death in custody, officially ruled a suicide by hanging, with the Inspector General documenting falsified logs and abandoned rounds, and the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell, the only person serving prison time in connection with the operation. At the center: the survivors, from Courtney Wild's twelve-year lawsuit against the government to Virginia Giuffre, whose voice helped convict Maxwell.

Person: The survivors, dozens of underage girls, per the federal indictment
Date: 1996, 2026 (core criminal conduct 2002, 2005)
Location: Palm Beach, Florida; New York City
Case: Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case
Legal status: Epstein deceased, charges dismissed; Maxwell convicted, serving 20 years

- A 2007 draft federal indictment against Epstein ran to 60 counts; it was never filed.
- The 2008 non-prosecution agreement granted immunity to "any potential co-conspirators" and was concealed from victims, a federal judge ruled this violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act.
- Epstein served about 13 months with work release of up to 16 hours a day.
- Guards falsified records the night Jeffrey Epstein died; charges against them were dismissed after community service.
- Maxwell was convicted on five counts in 2021 and lost her final appeal at the Supreme Court in 2025.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1235falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-ransom-note-was-written-inside-the-house-the-jonbenet-ramsey-case--74707740
How does a ransom note demanding 118,000 dollars get written on a notepad from inside the victim's own home? Why did the first officer on the scene pause at the basement door hiding JonBenet Ramsey's body, and then walk away without opening it? And how does unknown male DNA sit in the FBI database for decades without ever matching a single person? The JonBenet Ramsey case is not just an unsolved murder. It is the anatomy of an investigation that failed a six-year-old girl.

In this episode, we follow the JonBenet Ramsey case hour by hour: the Christmas night timeline, the 5:52 a.m. 911 call, the ransom window that came and went in silence, the father who found his daughter and carried her upstairs through an unsecured crime scene, and the documented failures that Boulder's own former police chief later admitted. We examine the grand jury that voted to indict the Ramseys, the district attorney who refused to sign, the 2008 DNA exoneration and the lab notes that later complicated it, and where the active investigation stands today.

Person: JonBenet Patricia Ramsey, 6 years old
Date: December 25-26, 1996
Location: 755 15th Street, Boulder, Colorado
Case: Homicide - UNSOLVED, investigation still open, no one ever convicted
Cause of death: Asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma

- The ransom note ran roughly 370 words and demanded 118,000 dollars, strikingly close to John Ramsey's annual bonus that year
- Officer Rick French paused at the latched wine cellar door on the morning of December 26 and never opened it; the body lay behind it for about seven hours
- A garrote made from white cord and a broken paintbrush handle was found around JonBenet's neck; her skull bore an 8.5-inch fracture
- A 1999 grand jury voted to indict both parents, but DA Alex Hunter refused to sign, and the vote stayed sealed for 14 years
- Unknown male DNA from the scene has been in CODIS for over two decades with no match among more than 1.6 million profiles

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707740Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:43 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Ransom Note Was Written Inside the House: The Unsolved JonBenet Ramsey Case How does a ransom note demanding 118,000 dollars get written on a notepad from inside the victim's own home? Why did the first officer on the scene pause at the...
How does a ransom note demanding 118,000 dollars get written on a notepad from inside the victim's own home? Why did the first officer on the scene pause at the basement door hiding JonBenet Ramsey's body, and then walk away without opening it? And how does unknown male DNA sit in the FBI database for decades without ever matching a single person? The JonBenet Ramsey case is not just an unsolved murder. It is the anatomy of an investigation that failed a six-year-old girl.

In this episode, we follow the JonBenet Ramsey case hour by hour: the Christmas night timeline, the 5:52 a.m. 911 call, the ransom window that came and went in silence, the father who found his daughter and carried her upstairs through an unsecured crime scene, and the documented failures that Boulder's own former police chief later admitted. We examine the grand jury that voted to indict the Ramseys, the district attorney who refused to sign, the 2008 DNA exoneration and the lab notes that later complicated it, and where the active investigation stands today.

Person: JonBenet Patricia Ramsey, 6 years old
Date: December 25-26, 1996
Location: 755 15th Street, Boulder, Colorado
Case: Homicide - UNSOLVED, investigation still open, no one ever convicted
Cause of death: Asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma

- The ransom note ran roughly 370 words and demanded 118,000 dollars, strikingly close to John Ramsey's annual bonus that year
- Officer Rick French paused at the latched wine cellar door on the morning of December 26 and never opened it; the body lay behind it for about seven hours
- A garrote made from white cord and a broken paintbrush handle was found around JonBenet's neck; her skull bore an 8.5-inch fracture
- A 1999 grand jury voted to indict both parents, but DA Alex Hunter refused to sign, and the vote stayed sealed for 14 years
- Unknown male DNA from the scene has been in CODIS for over two decades with no match among more than 1.6 million profiles

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1393falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-bodycam-filmed-the-warning-nobody-heard-the-gabby-petito-case--74707739
At 4:37 p.m. on August 12, 2021, Gabby Petito photographed her own bloodied face in a van outside Moab, Utah. Minutes later, a police officer stood at her window. A 911 caller had already reported a man slapping her. Utah law mandated an arrest or citation. None came. In a little over two weeks, she was dead in a Wyoming forest. How did fifty-two minutes of bodycam footage end with a bleeding woman labeled the aggressor? And what happened during the ten silent days after Brian Laundrie drove her van home to Florida without her?

In this episode, we follow the Gabby Petito case from Blue Point, New York, to Spread Creek, Wyoming: the van-life dream she was building, the Moab stop that an independent review found riddled with mistakes, the texts sent from her phone after investigators believe she died, and the internet swarm that helped find her, building to the question still before the Utah Supreme Court: can police ever be answerable for a domestic violence call gone wrong?

Person: Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito, 22
Date: Last confirmed alive August 25, 2021; believed killed around August 27; remains found September 19, 2021
Location: Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming
Case: The Gabby Petito case (Brian Laundrie was never charged with or tried for her death; the FBI concluded he was responsible)
Cause of death: Manual strangulation (throttling), ruled homicide by the Teton County coroner

- A witness's 911 call reported "the gentleman was slapping the girl"; Moab's independent review confirmed no arrest despite a state statute mandating one
- The FBI said texts sent from Gabby's phone August 27-30, including one calling her grandfather "Stan," were an attempt to make her appear alive
- At the height of coverage, a Google search of her name returned 340 million results; her single published video has been viewed more than 5 million times
- The only criminal charge ever filed against Laundrie was federal bank-card fraud, over $1,000 in unauthorized charges between August 30 and September 1
- Laundrie's remains were found October 20, 2021, in an area once under roughly three feet of water, beside a notebook containing the line "I ended her life"

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707739Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:39 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Bodycam Filmed the Warning Nobody Heard: The Gabby Petito Case At 4:37 p.m. on August 12, 2021, Gabby Petito photographed her own bloodied face in a van outside Moab, Utah. Minutes later, a police officer stood at her window. A 911 caller had...
At 4:37 p.m. on August 12, 2021, Gabby Petito photographed her own bloodied face in a van outside Moab, Utah. Minutes later, a police officer stood at her window. A 911 caller had already reported a man slapping her. Utah law mandated an arrest or citation. None came. In a little over two weeks, she was dead in a Wyoming forest. How did fifty-two minutes of bodycam footage end with a bleeding woman labeled the aggressor? And what happened during the ten silent days after Brian Laundrie drove her van home to Florida without her?

In this episode, we follow the Gabby Petito case from Blue Point, New York, to Spread Creek, Wyoming: the van-life dream she was building, the Moab stop that an independent review found riddled with mistakes, the texts sent from her phone after investigators believe she died, and the internet swarm that helped find her, building to the question still before the Utah Supreme Court: can police ever be answerable for a domestic violence call gone wrong?

Person: Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito, 22
Date: Last confirmed alive August 25, 2021; believed killed around August 27; remains found September 19, 2021
Location: Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming
Case: The Gabby Petito case (Brian Laundrie was never charged with or tried for her death; the FBI concluded he was responsible)
Cause of death: Manual strangulation (throttling), ruled homicide by the Teton County coroner

- A witness's 911 call reported "the gentleman was slapping the girl"; Moab's independent review confirmed no arrest despite a state statute mandating one
- The FBI said texts sent from Gabby's phone August 27-30, including one calling her grandfather "Stan," were an attempt to make her appear alive
- At the height of coverage, a Google search of her name returned 340 million results; her single published video has been viewed more than 5 million times
- The only criminal charge ever filed against Laundrie was federal bank-card fraud, over $1,000 in unauthorized charges between August 30 and September 1
- Laundrie's remains were found October 20, 2021, in an area once under roughly three feet of water, beside a notebook containing the line "I ended her life"

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1535falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/her-mother-made-her-sick-for-twenty-three-years-the-gypsy-rose-blanchard-case--74707738
The wheelchair was never necessary. The feeding tube was a lie. The pink house built by charity volunteers was a stage set, and the woman found stabbed to death inside it was the playwright. How does a mother convince more than 150 doctors that a healthy child has leukemia, muscular dystrophy, and epilepsy for nearly two decades? What did Gypsy Rose herself actually know? And when it all ended in blood, how did one killing produce a ten-year sentence for one participant and life without parole for the other?

In this episode, we take apart the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case layer by layer: the surgeries on a healthy child, the Hurricane Katrina story that erased every skeptical medical record, the doctor who wrote "Munchausen by proxy" in a letter and never called the abuse hotline, the CPS visit that found "nothing out of the ordinary," and the night Nicholas Godejohn walked into Dee Dee Blanchard's bedroom with a knife, building to the question the Gypsy Rose case leaves with you: does the moral ledger of those two sentences add up?

Person: Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard, 48
Date: June 10, 2015 (killing); body found June 14, 2015
Location: Springfield, Missouri
Case: The Gypsy Rose Blanchard case (Dee Dee Blanchard murder)
Cause of death: Stabbed repeatedly in the back as she lay in her bed

- By a figure attributed to ABC News reporting, upwards of 150 doctors across two states saw Gypsy without the pattern ever being flagged
- Gypsy was confined to a wheelchair from age 8 and had healthy salivary glands surgically removed; Dee Dee used topical anesthetic to make her drool on cue
- A forged birth certificate moved Gypsy's birth year from 1991 to 1995, for 14 years she wasn't sure of her own age
- Dee Dee lay undiscovered for four days; the case broke when Gypsy posted "That Bitch is dead" on their shared Facebook account so the body would be found
- Gypsy served roughly 8.5 years of a 10-year sentence and completed parole June 24, 2025; Godejohn got life without parole plus 25 years after a jury deliberated about two hours

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707738Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:35 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHer Mother Made Her Sick for Twenty-Three Years: The Gypsy Rose Blanchard Case The wheelchair was never necessary. The feeding tube was a lie. The pink house built by charity volunteers was a stage set, and the woman found stabbed to death inside...
The wheelchair was never necessary. The feeding tube was a lie. The pink house built by charity volunteers was a stage set, and the woman found stabbed to death inside it was the playwright. How does a mother convince more than 150 doctors that a healthy child has leukemia, muscular dystrophy, and epilepsy for nearly two decades? What did Gypsy Rose herself actually know? And when it all ended in blood, how did one killing produce a ten-year sentence for one participant and life without parole for the other?

In this episode, we take apart the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case layer by layer: the surgeries on a healthy child, the Hurricane Katrina story that erased every skeptical medical record, the doctor who wrote "Munchausen by proxy" in a letter and never called the abuse hotline, the CPS visit that found "nothing out of the ordinary," and the night Nicholas Godejohn walked into Dee Dee Blanchard's bedroom with a knife, building to the question the Gypsy Rose case leaves with you: does the moral ledger of those two sentences add up?

Person: Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard, 48
Date: June 10, 2015 (killing); body found June 14, 2015
Location: Springfield, Missouri
Case: The Gypsy Rose Blanchard case (Dee Dee Blanchard murder)
Cause of death: Stabbed repeatedly in the back as she lay in her bed

- By a figure attributed to ABC News reporting, upwards of 150 doctors across two states saw Gypsy without the pattern ever being flagged
- Gypsy was confined to a wheelchair from age 8 and had healthy salivary glands surgically removed; Dee Dee used topical anesthetic to make her drool on cue
- A forged birth certificate moved Gypsy's birth year from 1991 to 1995, for 14 years she wasn't sure of her own age
- Dee Dee lay undiscovered for four days; the case broke when Gypsy posted "That Bitch is dead" on their shared Facebook account so the body would be found
- Gypsy served roughly 8.5 years of a 10-year sentence and completed parole June 24, 2025; Godejohn got life without parole plus 25 years after a jury deliberated about two hours

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1383falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-porch-camera-saw-him-load-the-truck-the-chris-watts-case--74707737
At 5:27 a.m., a neighbor's security camera recorded a pickup truck backing into a garage in Frederick, Colorado, and a man loading something into it in the dark. No camera ever recorded his pregnant wife or his two little daughters alive again. Why did Chris Watts call to un-enroll his girls from preschool at 8:26 that same morning, while they were officially just missing? Why did he phone his realtor two minutes later? And how did a polygraph score of negative eighteen crack open one of the most documented family murder cases in American history?

In this episode, we follow the Chris Watts case hour by hour: the picture-perfect Facebook life sitting on top of a bankruptcy with $3.51 in savings, the affair with a coworker, the friend who wouldn't stop knocking, and the three-front collapse, the porch camera, the fleet GPS, and the drone photo of disturbed dirt at an oil site, building to the question no file ever answered: why did Chris Watts decide murder was his only exit?

Person: Shan'ann Watts, 34 (15 weeks pregnant with son Nico); Bella, 4; Celeste (CeCe), 3
Date: August 13, 2018; guilty plea November 6, 2018; sentenced November 19, 2018
Location: Frederick, Colorado; bodies recovered at an oil well site near Roggen, Colorado
Case: The Chris Watts family murders
Cause of death: All three died of asphyxiation, Shan'ann strangled, Bella and Celeste smothered

- Fleet GPS logged his work truck at the Cervi 3-19 well site at 6:53 a.m., staying more than two hours; the girls were alive on that 40-mile drive
- His daughters' bodies were placed into crude oil tanks through a hatch eight inches across; workers drained two 400-barrel tanks over nearly 14 hours to recover them
- His polygraph scored negative 18, where negative 4 is the deception threshold
- Bella's autopsy showed blunt force trauma to her jaw and bite impressions on her own tongue, the district attorney said she fought for her life
- He received five life sentences without parole, plus 48 years for unlawful termination of a pregnancy and 36 years for tampering; a civil court later ruled he owed the Rzuceks $6 million

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707737Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:31 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Porch Camera Saw Him Load the Truck: The Chris Watts Family Murders At 5:27 a.m., a neighbor's security camera recorded a pickup truck backing into a garage in Frederick, Colorado, and a man loading something into it in the dark. No camera ever...
At 5:27 a.m., a neighbor's security camera recorded a pickup truck backing into a garage in Frederick, Colorado, and a man loading something into it in the dark. No camera ever recorded his pregnant wife or his two little daughters alive again. Why did Chris Watts call to un-enroll his girls from preschool at 8:26 that same morning, while they were officially just missing? Why did he phone his realtor two minutes later? And how did a polygraph score of negative eighteen crack open one of the most documented family murder cases in American history?

In this episode, we follow the Chris Watts case hour by hour: the picture-perfect Facebook life sitting on top of a bankruptcy with $3.51 in savings, the affair with a coworker, the friend who wouldn't stop knocking, and the three-front collapse, the porch camera, the fleet GPS, and the drone photo of disturbed dirt at an oil site, building to the question no file ever answered: why did Chris Watts decide murder was his only exit?

Person: Shan'ann Watts, 34 (15 weeks pregnant with son Nico); Bella, 4; Celeste (CeCe), 3
Date: August 13, 2018; guilty plea November 6, 2018; sentenced November 19, 2018
Location: Frederick, Colorado; bodies recovered at an oil well site near Roggen, Colorado
Case: The Chris Watts family murders
Cause of death: All three died of asphyxiation, Shan'ann strangled, Bella and Celeste smothered

- Fleet GPS logged his work truck at the Cervi 3-19 well site at 6:53 a.m., staying more than two hours; the girls were alive on that 40-mile drive
- His daughters' bodies were placed into crude oil tanks through a hatch eight inches across; workers drained two 400-barrel tanks over nearly 14 hours to recover them
- His polygraph scored negative 18, where negative 4 is the deception threshold
- Bella's autopsy showed blunt force trauma to her jaw and bite impressions on her own tongue, the district attorney said she fought for her life
- He received five life sentences without parole, plus 48 years for unlawful termination of a pregnancy and 36 years for tampering; a civil court later ruled he owed the Rzuceks $6 million

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1339falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/they-called-him-charming-after-he-escaped-twice-the-real-ted-bundy--74707735
His own girlfriend reported him to police, four separate tips carried his name, and detectives threw them out because he looked respectable. He escaped custody twice in seven months, once through a courthouse window and once through an unsecured ceiling grate. So why do we still call Ted Bundy a genius? What does the actual Ted Bundy record say about the man, and about the institutions that kept opening doors for him? And why were both of his arrests just routine traffic stops?

In this episode, we strip the myth off the Ted Bundy case and follow the documented record: the disappearances that struck the Washington college corridor at roughly one per month in 1974, the Lake Sammamish abductions in front of forty thousand people, Carol DaRonch's escape with a handcuff still on her wrist, two escapes in Colorado, and the Florida attacks that killed three more, building to the real question: who actually stopped Ted Bundy, and why was it never the system?

Person: 20 confirmed victims, including Lynda Ann Healy, Janice Ott, Denise Naslund, Margaret Bowman, Lisa Levy, and Kimberly Leach, 12
Date: January 4, 1974 - February 9, 1978; executed January 24, 1989
Location: Washington, Utah, Colorado, and Florida
Case: The Ted Bundy murders
Cause of death: Victims beaten and strangled; Chi Omega victims bludgeoned, one strangled with a nylon stocking

- Bundy's name appeared on as many as four separate tip reports in 1974, from his girlfriend, a co-worker, a colleague, and a professor, and was ruled out
- On June 7, 1977, unshackled by court order against a sheriff's explicit fears, he jumped from a courthouse window at 10:25 a.m.; recaptured after 6 days
- His second escape, December 30, 1977, used $500 in smuggled cash and a hacksaw blade; the jail didn't notice until morning, and he was free 46 days
- At Chi Omega he attacked five young women in roughly fifteen minutes, killing two; his dental impressions matched the bite wound on Lisa Levy
- He confessed to 30 murders in 7 states; only 20 victims were ever identified, and in April 2026 new DNA matched him to Laura Ann Aime's 52-year-old cold case

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707735Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:27 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Escaped Twice and They Still Called Him Charming: The Real Ted Bundy Record His own girlfriend reported him to police, four separate tips carried his name, and detectives threw them out because he looked respectable. He escaped custody twice in...
His own girlfriend reported him to police, four separate tips carried his name, and detectives threw them out because he looked respectable. He escaped custody twice in seven months, once through a courthouse window and once through an unsecured ceiling grate. So why do we still call Ted Bundy a genius? What does the actual Ted Bundy record say about the man, and about the institutions that kept opening doors for him? And why were both of his arrests just routine traffic stops?

In this episode, we strip the myth off the Ted Bundy case and follow the documented record: the disappearances that struck the Washington college corridor at roughly one per month in 1974, the Lake Sammamish abductions in front of forty thousand people, Carol DaRonch's escape with a handcuff still on her wrist, two escapes in Colorado, and the Florida attacks that killed three more, building to the real question: who actually stopped Ted Bundy, and why was it never the system?

Person: 20 confirmed victims, including Lynda Ann Healy, Janice Ott, Denise Naslund, Margaret Bowman, Lisa Levy, and Kimberly Leach, 12
Date: January 4, 1974 - February 9, 1978; executed January 24, 1989
Location: Washington, Utah, Colorado, and Florida
Case: The Ted Bundy murders
Cause of death: Victims beaten and strangled; Chi Omega victims bludgeoned, one strangled with a nylon stocking

- Bundy's name appeared on as many as four separate tip reports in 1974, from his girlfriend, a co-worker, a colleague, and a professor, and was ruled out
- On June 7, 1977, unshackled by court order against a sheriff's explicit fears, he jumped from a courthouse window at 10:25 a.m.; recaptured after 6 days
- His second escape, December 30, 1977, used $500 in smuggled cash and a hacksaw blade; the jail didn't notice until morning, and he was free 46 days
- At Chi Omega he attacked five young women in roughly fifteen minutes, killing two; his dental impressions matched the bite wound on Lisa Levy
- He confessed to 30 murders in 7 states; only 20 victims were ever identified, and in April 2026 new DNA matched him to Laura Ann Aime's 52-year-old cold case

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1522falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-signed-his-letters-with-a-crosshair-and-was-never-caught-the-zodiac-killer--74707733
Minutes after shooting two people, he called the police himself to claim the crime. He mailed ciphers to newspapers promising his identity, and one of them defeated the world for fifty-one years. And on the night of his last confirmed murder, a police spotlight may have passed right over him. Who was the Zodiac Killer? Why did a case with survivors, fingerprints, and letters never produce a single arrest? And what did that unbreakable cipher actually say when three private citizens finally cracked it in 2020?

In this episode, we walk the full Zodiac Killer record: the December 1968 shooting of two teenagers on Lake Herman Road, the Fourth of July attack at Blue Rock Springs, the hooded knife attack at Lake Berryessa, the murder of cab driver Paul Stine in San Francisco, and the fragmented four-jurisdiction investigation that let the Zodiac case fracture, building to the question that still stands: can a partial DNA profile of only four markers ever close a case this old?

Person: David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen, Darlene Ferrin, Cecelia Shepard, Paul Stine (killed); Michael Mageau and Bryan Hartnell (survived)
Date: December 20, 1968 - October 11, 1969 (confirmed attacks); letters until 1974
Location: Benicia, Vallejo, Napa County, and San Francisco, California
Case: The Zodiac Killer - UNSOLVED; no arrest ever made, no charge ever filed, case still open
Cause of death: Gunshot wounds (.22 pistol, 9mm Luger, point-blank shot to the head) and stab wounds

- Betty Lou Jensen, 16, was shot five times in the back and found 30 feet from the car; it was the first date of her life
- Darlene Ferrin was hit nine times; at 12:40 a.m., two minutes after she was pronounced dead, the killer called Vallejo police from a payphone
- The 340-character cipher used 63 symbols threaded through a 17-column grid; it was solved December 5, 2020, and contained no name
- The Zodiac claimed 37 murders in his letters; investigators confirm seven victims across four attacks
- By 2009 the SFPD alone had investigated an estimated 2,500 suspects; the 2002 DNA profile recovered only 4 of 13 genetic markers

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707733Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:23 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Signed His Letters With a Crosshair and Was Never Caught: The Zodiac Killer Mystery Minutes after shooting two people, he called the police himself to claim the crime. He mailed ciphers to newspapers promising his identity, and one of them...
Minutes after shooting two people, he called the police himself to claim the crime. He mailed ciphers to newspapers promising his identity, and one of them defeated the world for fifty-one years. And on the night of his last confirmed murder, a police spotlight may have passed right over him. Who was the Zodiac Killer? Why did a case with survivors, fingerprints, and letters never produce a single arrest? And what did that unbreakable cipher actually say when three private citizens finally cracked it in 2020?

In this episode, we walk the full Zodiac Killer record: the December 1968 shooting of two teenagers on Lake Herman Road, the Fourth of July attack at Blue Rock Springs, the hooded knife attack at Lake Berryessa, the murder of cab driver Paul Stine in San Francisco, and the fragmented four-jurisdiction investigation that let the Zodiac case fracture, building to the question that still stands: can a partial DNA profile of only four markers ever close a case this old?

Person: David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen, Darlene Ferrin, Cecelia Shepard, Paul Stine (killed); Michael Mageau and Bryan Hartnell (survived)
Date: December 20, 1968 - October 11, 1969 (confirmed attacks); letters until 1974
Location: Benicia, Vallejo, Napa County, and San Francisco, California
Case: The Zodiac Killer - UNSOLVED; no arrest ever made, no charge ever filed, case still open
Cause of death: Gunshot wounds (.22 pistol, 9mm Luger, point-blank shot to the head) and stab wounds

- Betty Lou Jensen, 16, was shot five times in the back and found 30 feet from the car; it was the first date of her life
- Darlene Ferrin was hit nine times; at 12:40 a.m., two minutes after she was pronounced dead, the killer called Vallejo police from a payphone
- The 340-character cipher used 63 symbols threaded through a 17-column grid; it was solved December 5, 2020, and contained no name
- The Zodiac claimed 37 murders in his letters; investigators confirm seven victims across four attacks
- By 2009 the SFPD alone had investigated an estimated 2,500 suspects; the 2002 DNA profile recovered only 4 of 13 genetic markers

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1566falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-police-handed-him-his-victim-back-the-jeffrey-dahmer-case--74707732
A fourteen-year-old boy escaped Apartment 213, drugged, bleeding, naked on a Milwaukee sidewalk. Two women called the police. The police came. And then they handed the child back to the man he had just fled. How do three officers stand in a killer's apartment, never run his name, and walk away? How does a convicted sex offender serve probation without a single home visit while his apartment fills with evidence of murder? The Jeffrey Dahmer case is not the story of a genius who couldn't be caught. It is the story of a man who was caught over and over, and let go every time.

In this episode, we follow the full record of the Jeffrey Dahmer case: seventeen victims between 1978 and 1991, the 1978 traffic stop with human remains in his back seat, the 1989 sentencing where a judge believed the killer's letter over his own father's warning, the probation officer with 121 cases who never visited his home, and the sixteen minutes that cost Konerak Sinthasomphone his life, building to the question the Dahmer case forces: was he ever really undetected, or simply un-stopped?

Person: Konerak Sinthasomphone and 16 other victims of Jeffrey Dahmer
Date: 1978-1991; May 27, 1991 (Sinthasomphone); arrest July 22, 1991
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin (first murder: Bath Township, Ohio)
Case: The Jeffrey Dahmer murders
Cause of death: Strangulation and homicide of 17 men and boys; Dahmer himself beaten to death in prison in 1994

- Officers violated police rules 15 times in an investigation lasting just 16 minutes; roughly 30 minutes after they left, Konerak was dead
- Probation officer Donna Chester carried 121 active cases and had four home-visit waivers approved, she never entered Dahmer's residence
- Apartment 213 at 924 North 25th Street rented for about $300 a month; 12 of the 17 murders happened inside it in 14 months
- The fired officers were reinstated with $55,000 in back pay each; one later led the police union from roughly 2006 to 2009
- Dahmer pleaded guilty to 15 counts, was found sane after 5 hours of deliberation, and received 15 consecutive life terms on February 17, 1992

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707732Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:19 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Police Handed Him His Victim Back: The Jeffrey Dahmer Case and the System That Failed A fourteen-year-old boy escaped Apartment 213, drugged, bleeding, naked on a Milwaukee sidewalk. Two women called the police. The police came. And then they...
A fourteen-year-old boy escaped Apartment 213, drugged, bleeding, naked on a Milwaukee sidewalk. Two women called the police. The police came. And then they handed the child back to the man he had just fled. How do three officers stand in a killer's apartment, never run his name, and walk away? How does a convicted sex offender serve probation without a single home visit while his apartment fills with evidence of murder? The Jeffrey Dahmer case is not the story of a genius who couldn't be caught. It is the story of a man who was caught over and over, and let go every time.

In this episode, we follow the full record of the Jeffrey Dahmer case: seventeen victims between 1978 and 1991, the 1978 traffic stop with human remains in his back seat, the 1989 sentencing where a judge believed the killer's letter over his own father's warning, the probation officer with 121 cases who never visited his home, and the sixteen minutes that cost Konerak Sinthasomphone his life, building to the question the Dahmer case forces: was he ever really undetected, or simply un-stopped?

Person: Konerak Sinthasomphone and 16 other victims of Jeffrey Dahmer
Date: 1978-1991; May 27, 1991 (Sinthasomphone); arrest July 22, 1991
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin (first murder: Bath Township, Ohio)
Case: The Jeffrey Dahmer murders
Cause of death: Strangulation and homicide of 17 men and boys; Dahmer himself beaten to death in prison in 1994

- Officers violated police rules 15 times in an investigation lasting just 16 minutes; roughly 30 minutes after they left, Konerak was dead
- Probation officer Donna Chester carried 121 active cases and had four home-visit waivers approved, she never entered Dahmer's residence
- Apartment 213 at 924 North 25th Street rented for about $300 a month; 12 of the 17 murders happened inside it in 14 months
- The fired officers were reinstated with $55,000 in back pay each; one later led the police union from roughly 2006 to 2009
- Dahmer pleaded guilty to 15 counts, was found sane after 5 hours of deliberation, and received 15 consecutive life terms on February 17, 1992

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1494falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-wrote-a-children-s-book-about-the-grief-she-caused-the-kouri-richins-case--74707730
A Utah stone mason drinks a cocktail his wife hands him in bed and is cold to the touch by 3 a.m., and a year later, she is on local television promoting a children's book about grief, dedicated to "my amazing husband." Why did Eric Richins accept a drink from the woman he told friends was trying to poison him? And how does a jury convict in the Kouri Richins case when not one of forty witnesses could say how the fentanyl got into his body?

In this episode, we follow the Kouri Richins murder case from the marriage's hidden collapse: the secret withdrawals and unauthorized home equity line, the trust Eric built to wall his wife off from his estate, the housekeeper who bought "the Michael Jackson stuff," the Valentine's Day sandwich, the stalled investigation revived by a private investigator, and the three-week trial, building to the question of how a mountain of circumstance outweighed a case with no proven mechanism.

Person: Eric Richins, 39
Date: Night of March 3, 4, 2022
Location: Kamas, Utah
Case: The Kouri Richins murder case
Cause of death: Fentanyl intoxication, approximately five times a lethal dose of illicit fentanyl, ingested orally; manner of death initially left undetermined

- Eric had no drug history; his stomach also held quetiapine, an antipsychotic prescribed not to him but to his wife.
- Prosecutors flagged phone activity at 3:06 a.m., roughly fifteen minutes before Kouri dialed 911 at 3:21.
- Her recovered searches included "lethal dose of fentanyl," "luxury prisons," and whether deleted iPhone texts can be retrieved.
- She was arrested May 8, 2023, 27 days after promoting her grief book on a Salt Lake City morning show.
- On March 16, 2026, after about three hours of deliberation, the jury convicted on all five counts; she was sentenced to life without parole on May 13, 2026, Eric's birthday.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707730Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:15 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Wrote a Children's Book About the Grief She Caused: The Kouri Richins Murder Case A Utah stone mason drinks a cocktail his wife hands him in bed and is cold to the touch by 3 a.m., and a year later, she is on local television promoting a...
A Utah stone mason drinks a cocktail his wife hands him in bed and is cold to the touch by 3 a.m., and a year later, she is on local television promoting a children's book about grief, dedicated to "my amazing husband." Why did Eric Richins accept a drink from the woman he told friends was trying to poison him? And how does a jury convict in the Kouri Richins case when not one of forty witnesses could say how the fentanyl got into his body?

In this episode, we follow the Kouri Richins murder case from the marriage's hidden collapse: the secret withdrawals and unauthorized home equity line, the trust Eric built to wall his wife off from his estate, the housekeeper who bought "the Michael Jackson stuff," the Valentine's Day sandwich, the stalled investigation revived by a private investigator, and the three-week trial, building to the question of how a mountain of circumstance outweighed a case with no proven mechanism.

Person: Eric Richins, 39
Date: Night of March 3, 4, 2022
Location: Kamas, Utah
Case: The Kouri Richins murder case
Cause of death: Fentanyl intoxication, approximately five times a lethal dose of illicit fentanyl, ingested orally; manner of death initially left undetermined

- Eric had no drug history; his stomach also held quetiapine, an antipsychotic prescribed not to him but to his wife.
- Prosecutors flagged phone activity at 3:06 a.m., roughly fifteen minutes before Kouri dialed 911 at 3:21.
- Her recovered searches included "lethal dose of fentanyl," "luxury prisons," and whether deleted iPhone texts can be retrieved.
- She was arrested May 8, 2023, 27 days after promoting her grief book on a Salt Lake City morning show.
- On March 16, 2026, after about three hours of deliberation, the jury convicted on all five counts; she was sentenced to life without parole on May 13, 2026, Eric's birthday.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1532falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-jury-said-not-guilty-and-the-fight-got-bigger-the-karen-read-case--74707728
A Boston police officer is found dying in the snow on a fellow officer's front lawn during a blizzard, and no court has ever answered who killed him. Karen Read was acquitted of every homicide charge, so why does the Karen Read case keep growing instead of ending? What happened in the seven-minute gap in John O'Keefe's phone data? And how did the lead investigator's own text messages do more damage than any defense attorney could?

In this episode, we separate what was proven, what was alleged, and what remains contested in the Karen Read trial: the night at the bars, the disputed data at 34 Fairview Road, the 53 unanswered calls, the Google search with two irreconcilable timestamps, the leaf blower and the red plastic cups at the crime scene, and the trooper who was dishonorably discharged, building to the uncomfortable truth that John O'Keefe's death remains, in the precise legal sense, unadjudicated.

Person: John O'Keefe, 46, Boston police officer
Date: January 29, 2022
Location: Canton, Massachusetts
Case: The Karen Read and John O'Keefe case
Cause of death: Ruled blunt impact injuries to the head combined with hypothermia, but the manner of death was left undetermined, and how it happened was contested through two trials
Legal status: Karen Read was ACQUITTED of all homicide charges on June 18, 2025, convicted only of operating under the influence

- O'Keefe's phone recorded no movement between roughly 12:25 and 12:32 a.m.; by 12:45 its battery temperature had dropped to 66 degrees.
- Read called O'Keefe 53 times after her phone hit home Wi-Fi at 12:36 a.m.
- State police investigators did not arrive until around 11 a.m., the scene sat uncontrolled for roughly six to seven hours in a blizzard.
- Trooper Michael Proctor, who wrote "hopefully she kills herself" about Read, was dishonorably discharged in March 2025.
- The first trial ended in a hung jury; the second took four days of deliberation to acquit.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707728Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:11 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Jury Said Not Guilty and the Fight Got Bigger: The Karen Read and John O'Keefe Case A Boston police officer is found dying in the snow on a fellow officer's front lawn during a blizzard, and no court has ever answered who killed him. Karen Read...
A Boston police officer is found dying in the snow on a fellow officer's front lawn during a blizzard, and no court has ever answered who killed him. Karen Read was acquitted of every homicide charge, so why does the Karen Read case keep growing instead of ending? What happened in the seven-minute gap in John O'Keefe's phone data? And how did the lead investigator's own text messages do more damage than any defense attorney could?

In this episode, we separate what was proven, what was alleged, and what remains contested in the Karen Read trial: the night at the bars, the disputed data at 34 Fairview Road, the 53 unanswered calls, the Google search with two irreconcilable timestamps, the leaf blower and the red plastic cups at the crime scene, and the trooper who was dishonorably discharged, building to the uncomfortable truth that John O'Keefe's death remains, in the precise legal sense, unadjudicated.

Person: John O'Keefe, 46, Boston police officer
Date: January 29, 2022
Location: Canton, Massachusetts
Case: The Karen Read and John O'Keefe case
Cause of death: Ruled blunt impact injuries to the head combined with hypothermia, but the manner of death was left undetermined, and how it happened was contested through two trials
Legal status: Karen Read was ACQUITTED of all homicide charges on June 18, 2025, convicted only of operating under the influence

- O'Keefe's phone recorded no movement between roughly 12:25 and 12:32 a.m.; by 12:45 its battery temperature had dropped to 66 degrees.
- Read called O'Keefe 53 times after her phone hit home Wi-Fi at 12:36 a.m.
- State police investigators did not arrive until around 11 a.m., the scene sat uncontrolled for roughly six to seven hours in a blizzard.
- Trooper Michael Proctor, who wrote "hopefully she kills herself" about Read, was dishonorably discharged in March 2025.
- The first trial ended in a hung jury; the second took four days of deliberation to acquit.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1460falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/an-entire-city-locked-its-windows-in-a-heat-wave-the-night-stalker-richard-ramirez--74707727
Why did a fingerprint from the very first murder scene sit useless in a file for more than a year while people died? What did the Night Stalker do the moment a big-city mayor read out the secret evidence on live television? And how does the biggest manhunt in California end not with a SWAT team, but with ordinary neighbors chasing down the most wanted man in America on a Saturday morning?

In this episode, we follow the Night Stalker case through the summer of 1985: the murder of Jennie Vincow in 1984, the December arrest that photographed and fingerprinted Richard Ramirez and then let him go, the victims of every age and neighborhood that convinced police they were hunting several different men, the detective who saw the pattern nobody else would, and the fingerprint system that caught him by a one-month margin, building to the citizen's arrest in East Los Angeles that finally ended it.

Person: 13 murder victims, including Jennie Vincow, Dayle Okazaki, Vincent and Maxine Zazzara, and Maxon and Lela Kneiding
Date: June 1984 to August 1985
Location: Los Angeles County and San Francisco, California
Case: Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker
Cause of death: Varied by victim, shootings, stabbings, and beatings with weapons ranging from handguns to a machete and a tire iron

- A size 11.5 Avia sneaker print recurred at scene after scene; Ramirez threw the shoes off the Golden Gate Bridge after a mayor's press conference revealed the evidence.
- The fingerprint database that identified him only held offenders born after January 1, 1960, Ramirez was born February 29, 1960.
- On July 20, 1985, he attacked five victims in two cities in a single night.
- A 13-year-old, James Romero, noted the stolen orange Toyota and a partial plate that broke the case.
- On September 20, 1989, a jury convicted him on all 43 counts; the judge pronounced the word "death" 19 times at sentencing.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707727Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:07 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTAn Entire City Locked Its Windows in a Heat Wave: Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker Why did a fingerprint from the very first murder scene sit useless in a file for more than a year while people died? What did the Night Stalker do the moment a...
Why did a fingerprint from the very first murder scene sit useless in a file for more than a year while people died? What did the Night Stalker do the moment a big-city mayor read out the secret evidence on live television? And how does the biggest manhunt in California end not with a SWAT team, but with ordinary neighbors chasing down the most wanted man in America on a Saturday morning?

In this episode, we follow the Night Stalker case through the summer of 1985: the murder of Jennie Vincow in 1984, the December arrest that photographed and fingerprinted Richard Ramirez and then let him go, the victims of every age and neighborhood that convinced police they were hunting several different men, the detective who saw the pattern nobody else would, and the fingerprint system that caught him by a one-month margin, building to the citizen's arrest in East Los Angeles that finally ended it.

Person: 13 murder victims, including Jennie Vincow, Dayle Okazaki, Vincent and Maxine Zazzara, and Maxon and Lela Kneiding
Date: June 1984 to August 1985
Location: Los Angeles County and San Francisco, California
Case: Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker
Cause of death: Varied by victim, shootings, stabbings, and beatings with weapons ranging from handguns to a machete and a tire iron

- A size 11.5 Avia sneaker print recurred at scene after scene; Ramirez threw the shoes off the Golden Gate Bridge after a mayor's press conference revealed the evidence.
- The fingerprint database that identified him only held offenders born after January 1, 1960, Ramirez was born February 29, 1960.
- On July 20, 1985, he attacked five victims in two cities in a single night.
- A 13-year-old, James Romero, noted the stolen orange Toyota and a partial plate that broke the case.
- On September 20, 1989, a jury convicted him on all 43 counts; the judge pronounced the word "death" 19 times at sentencing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1467falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/thirty-three-boys-were-buried-under-the-house-next-door-john-wayne-gacy--74707726
How does a man murder thirty-three boys and young men over six years while performing as a clown at children's events and shaking hands with politicians? How many separate times did police have John Wayne Gacy in their grasp, and let him go? And why did officers stand inside his house, smell something putrid rising from the floor, and walk out without digging?

In this episode, we tell the John Wayne Gacy case as the story of the victims and the system that failed them: the Iowa conviction that should have been ten years and became eighteen months, the erased record, the fathers who begged police to look, the survivor who tracked down the killer's address himself and was dismissed, and the crawl space at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, building to the question that still matters most today: who are the five victims of the John Wayne Gacy murders who remain without a name?

Person: 33 victims, aged 14 to 21, including Robert Piest, 15
Date: 1972 to December 1978
Location: Norwood Park Township, near Chicago, Illinois
Case: The John Wayne Gacy murders
Cause of death: Strangulation or asphyxiation for all but the first victim, who was stabbed

- Gacy served just 18 months of a 10-year Iowa sodomy sentence before parole freed him in June 1970.
- 26 bodies were found in the crawl space, 3 elsewhere on the property, and 4 in the Des Plaines River.
- Survivor Jeffrey Rignall handed police Gacy's name and address nine months before Robert Piest disappeared; the case was dismissed.
- The jury deliberated one hour and fifty minutes before convicting on all 33 murders, then the most in U.S. legal history.
- Gacy was executed May 10, 1994; five victims still have no name, and the Cook County Sheriff holds usable DNA profiles for all five.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707726Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:03 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThirty-Three Boys Were Buried Under the House Next Door: The John Wayne Gacy Murders How does a man murder thirty-three boys and young men over six years while performing as a clown at children's events and shaking hands with politicians? How many...
How does a man murder thirty-three boys and young men over six years while performing as a clown at children's events and shaking hands with politicians? How many separate times did police have John Wayne Gacy in their grasp, and let him go? And why did officers stand inside his house, smell something putrid rising from the floor, and walk out without digging?

In this episode, we tell the John Wayne Gacy case as the story of the victims and the system that failed them: the Iowa conviction that should have been ten years and became eighteen months, the erased record, the fathers who begged police to look, the survivor who tracked down the killer's address himself and was dismissed, and the crawl space at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, building to the question that still matters most today: who are the five victims of the John Wayne Gacy murders who remain without a name?

Person: 33 victims, aged 14 to 21, including Robert Piest, 15
Date: 1972 to December 1978
Location: Norwood Park Township, near Chicago, Illinois
Case: The John Wayne Gacy murders
Cause of death: Strangulation or asphyxiation for all but the first victim, who was stabbed

- Gacy served just 18 months of a 10-year Iowa sodomy sentence before parole freed him in June 1970.
- 26 bodies were found in the crawl space, 3 elsewhere on the property, and 4 in the Des Plaines River.
- Survivor Jeffrey Rignall handed police Gacy's name and address nine months before Robert Piest disappeared; the case was dismissed.
- The jury deliberated one hour and fifty minutes before convicting on all 33 murders, then the most in U.S. legal history.
- Gacy was executed May 10, 1994; five victims still have no name, and the Cook County Sheriff holds usable DNA profiles for all five.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1543falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-thirteen-year-old-filmed-her-own-killer-the-delphi-murders--74707725
How does a fourteen-year-old girl have the presence of mind to record the man about to kill her, and how does the tip sheet naming her killer then sit misfiled in a desk drawer for more than five years? Why did the Delphi murders investigation burn through 70,000 tips while the man who had put himself at the scene stood behind a pharmacy counter blocks from the courthouse? And is this case really over?

In this episode, we follow the Delphi murders through three braided stories: Libby German's video on the Monon High Bridge, the five-year manhunt with two contradictory sketches, the clerical error that turned Richard Allen into a phantom named "Rick Allen Whiteman," the trial built on a single unspent bullet and more than sixty jailhouse confessions, and the appeal now heading to oral arguments, building to the question of whether the conviction in Indiana's most painful modern case will hold.

Person: Abigail "Abby" Williams, 13, and Liberty "Libby" German, 14
Date: February 13, 2017
Location: Delphi, Indiana
Case: The Delphi murders
Cause of death: Wounds from a sharp object, both girls' throats were cut, per the pathologist's trial testimony
Legal status: Richard Allen convicted November 11, 2024, sentenced to 130 years; his appeal is active, with oral arguments set for September 21, 2026

- The girls were dropped off at the trail at 1:49 p.m.; Libby began recording at about 2:13, capturing the words "Guys, down the hill."
- Jurors watched 43 seconds of the video; for years the public heard only about a second and a half.
- A single unspent .40-caliber round found less than two feet from one of the bodies was matched to Allen's Sig Sauer P226.
- Allen self-reported being on the bridge days after the murders; the tip was misfiled for over five years.
- The reward climbed to $325,000, and tips ultimately exceeded 70,000.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707725Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:59:59 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA Thirteen-Year-Old Filmed Her Own Killer: The Delphi Murders of Abby and Libby How does a fourteen-year-old girl have the presence of mind to record the man about to kill her, and how does the tip sheet naming her killer then sit misfiled in a...
How does a fourteen-year-old girl have the presence of mind to record the man about to kill her, and how does the tip sheet naming her killer then sit misfiled in a desk drawer for more than five years? Why did the Delphi murders investigation burn through 70,000 tips while the man who had put himself at the scene stood behind a pharmacy counter blocks from the courthouse? And is this case really over?

In this episode, we follow the Delphi murders through three braided stories: Libby German's video on the Monon High Bridge, the five-year manhunt with two contradictory sketches, the clerical error that turned Richard Allen into a phantom named "Rick Allen Whiteman," the trial built on a single unspent bullet and more than sixty jailhouse confessions, and the appeal now heading to oral arguments, building to the question of whether the conviction in Indiana's most painful modern case will hold.

Person: Abigail "Abby" Williams, 13, and Liberty "Libby" German, 14
Date: February 13, 2017
Location: Delphi, Indiana
Case: The Delphi murders
Cause of death: Wounds from a sharp object, both girls' throats were cut, per the pathologist's trial testimony
Legal status: Richard Allen convicted November 11, 2024, sentenced to 130 years; his appeal is active, with oral arguments set for September 21, 2026

- The girls were dropped off at the trail at 1:49 p.m.; Libby began recording at about 2:13, capturing the words "Guys, down the hill."
- Jurors watched 43 seconds of the video; for years the public heard only about a second and a half.
- A single unspent .40-caliber round found less than two feet from one of the bodies was matched to Allen's Sig Sauer P226.
- Allen self-reported being on the bridge days after the murders; the tip was misfiled for over five years.
- The reward climbed to $325,000, and tips ultimately exceeded 70,000.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1491falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/they-killed-their-parents-and-america-still-can-t-decide-why-the-menendez-brothers--74707724
How do two sons shotgun their parents in the family den, call 911 screaming, and walk free for seven months while shotgun shells sit in a car parked inside the search perimeter? Why did the Menendez brothers case finally break not through police work, but through a therapist's affair gone wrong? And after thirty-six years, two trials, and a resentencing, what is the one thing still keeping Lyle and Erik Menendez behind bars?

In this episode, we walk through the Menendez brothers case from the beginning: Jose Menendez's rise from Cuban immigrant to entertainment executive, Kitty's warning to her therapist one month before her death that she feared her sons were sociopaths, the shotguns bought in San Diego with a stolen license, the murders on Elm Drive, the spending spree, the taped confession, and the two trials that reached opposite outcomes on the same facts, building to the question no court ever resolved: was this greed, or the aftermath of abuse?

Person: Jose and Kitty Menendez
Date: August 20, 1989
Location: Beverly Hills, California
Case: The Menendez brothers murders
Cause of death: Multiple shotgun wounds, Jose struck four times, Kitty hit with nine shotgun blasts

- The brothers bought two Mossberg 12-gauge shotguns at a Big 5 in San Diego on August 18, 1989, two days before the murders, using a stolen driver's license.
- Lyle called 911 at 11:47 p.m.; the brothers had first bought Batman tickets as an alibi after Licence to Kill sold out.
- The early spending was funded largely by a $650,000 life insurance policy; the brothers ultimately inherited nothing.
- Both were sentenced to life without parole on July 2, 1996; in May 2025 a judge resentenced them to fifty years to life.
- In August 2025 the parole board denied both brothers for three years, citing contraband cell phones, not the murders.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707724Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:59:55 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThey Killed Their Parents and America Still Can't Decide Why: The Menendez Brothers Case How do two sons shotgun their parents in the family den, call 911 screaming, and walk free for seven months while shotgun shells sit in a car parked inside the...
How do two sons shotgun their parents in the family den, call 911 screaming, and walk free for seven months while shotgun shells sit in a car parked inside the search perimeter? Why did the Menendez brothers case finally break not through police work, but through a therapist's affair gone wrong? And after thirty-six years, two trials, and a resentencing, what is the one thing still keeping Lyle and Erik Menendez behind bars?

In this episode, we walk through the Menendez brothers case from the beginning: Jose Menendez's rise from Cuban immigrant to entertainment executive, Kitty's warning to her therapist one month before her death that she feared her sons were sociopaths, the shotguns bought in San Diego with a stolen license, the murders on Elm Drive, the spending spree, the taped confession, and the two trials that reached opposite outcomes on the same facts, building to the question no court ever resolved: was this greed, or the aftermath of abuse?

Person: Jose and Kitty Menendez
Date: August 20, 1989
Location: Beverly Hills, California
Case: The Menendez brothers murders
Cause of death: Multiple shotgun wounds, Jose struck four times, Kitty hit with nine shotgun blasts

- The brothers bought two Mossberg 12-gauge shotguns at a Big 5 in San Diego on August 18, 1989, two days before the murders, using a stolen driver's license.
- Lyle called 911 at 11:47 p.m.; the brothers had first bought Batman tickets as an alibi after Licence to Kill sold out.
- The early spending was funded largely by a $650,000 life insurance policy; the brothers ultimately inherited nothing.
- Both were sentenced to life without parole on July 2, 1996; in May 2025 a judge resentenced them to fifty years to life.
- In August 2025 the parole board denied both brothers for three years, citing contraband cell phones, not the murders.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1553falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-begged-for-her-baby-s-life-sharon-tate-and-the-manson-murders--74707723
How does an eighteen-year-old kid selling a clock radio become the first to die at Cielo Drive? Why did the murder weapon sit unused in a police station for months after a ten-year-old boy found it under a bush? And who kept refusing to let the jail inmate who heard a full confession talk to detectives?

In this episode, we tell the Manson Family murders the way they should be told, through the seven people taken, not the man who sent the killers. We follow Sharon Tate, eight and a half months pregnant, and her friends Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Steven Parent through the night of August 8, 1969, then the LaBiancas the next night, and then the institutional failures, contaminated crime scenes, ignored leads, separate detective squads that never spoke, that let the case drift for months until a boasting inmate broke it open. It builds to the machinery that never stops: parole hearings the families must still attend, fifty-seven years on.

Person: Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Steven Parent, Leno LaBianca, Rosemary LaBianca
Date: August 8-10, 1969
Location: Benedict Canyon and Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
Case: The Tate-LaBianca murders (Manson Family)
Cause of death: Gunshot and stab wounds; Sharon Tate died of massive hemorrhage from wounds penetrating the heart and lungs

- Tex Watson climbed a telephone pole and cut the phone lines to 10050 Cielo Drive before anyone entered.
- Wojciech Frykowski fought through two gunshots, more than fifty stab wounds, and thirteen blows to the head; Sharon Tate was stabbed sixteen times, two weeks from her due date.
- Manson's name did not appear on a suspect list until mid-October, eleventh of eleven names.
- The trial ran June 1970 to March 1971, then the longest and most expensive in American history at an estimated three million dollars.
- Tex Watson has been denied parole eighteen times; his nineteenth hearing is scheduled for October 2026.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707723Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:59:51 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Begged for Her Baby's Life: Sharon Tate and the Manson Family Murders How does an eighteen-year-old kid selling a clock radio become the first to die at Cielo Drive? Why did the murder weapon sit unused in a police station for months after a...
How does an eighteen-year-old kid selling a clock radio become the first to die at Cielo Drive? Why did the murder weapon sit unused in a police station for months after a ten-year-old boy found it under a bush? And who kept refusing to let the jail inmate who heard a full confession talk to detectives?

In this episode, we tell the Manson Family murders the way they should be told, through the seven people taken, not the man who sent the killers. We follow Sharon Tate, eight and a half months pregnant, and her friends Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Steven Parent through the night of August 8, 1969, then the LaBiancas the next night, and then the institutional failures, contaminated crime scenes, ignored leads, separate detective squads that never spoke, that let the case drift for months until a boasting inmate broke it open. It builds to the machinery that never stops: parole hearings the families must still attend, fifty-seven years on.

Person: Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Steven Parent, Leno LaBianca, Rosemary LaBianca
Date: August 8-10, 1969
Location: Benedict Canyon and Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
Case: The Tate-LaBianca murders (Manson Family)
Cause of death: Gunshot and stab wounds; Sharon Tate died of massive hemorrhage from wounds penetrating the heart and lungs

- Tex Watson climbed a telephone pole and cut the phone lines to 10050 Cielo Drive before anyone entered.
- Wojciech Frykowski fought through two gunshots, more than fifty stab wounds, and thirteen blows to the head; Sharon Tate was stabbed sixteen times, two weeks from her due date.
- Manson's name did not appear on a suspect list until mid-October, eleventh of eleven names.
- The trial ran June 1970 to March 1971, then the longest and most expensive in American history at an estimated three million dollars.
- Tex Watson has been denied parole eighteen times; his nineteenth hearing is scheduled for October 2026.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1338falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-quiet-farmer-whose-house-inspired-every-horror-movie-ed-gein--74707720
How does the man behind Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill end up with a confirmed body count of exactly two? Why could the confession of Ed Gein never be used against him in court? And how did a killer this infamous stand trial for one murder and never spend a single day in prison?

In this episode, we separate the documented record from seventy years of myth. We walk through Plainfield, Wisconsin, a village of about six hundred and sixty people, where Ed Gein shot hardware store owner Bernice Worden on the opening day of deer season, and where her deputy-sheriff son cracked the case with the last sales slip his mother ever wrote: a gallon of antifreeze sold to Gein. Then the flashlights enter the farmhouse, and the story stops being about one murder, and becomes a question about every institution that had a decade of chances to notice.

Person: Bernice Worden, 58, and Mary Hogan, early 50s
Date: December 8, 1954 (Hogan); November 16, 1957 (Worden)
Location: Plainfield, Wisconsin
Case: The Ed Gein murders and grave robberies
Cause of death: Gunshot; both confirmed victims were shot

- Gein brought a single .22 shell in his own pocket, loaded a rifle handed to him from the store's display, and shot Bernice Worden in the back of the head.
- He confessed to robbing nine graves between 1947 and 1952, all within about five miles of his farm, and police, skeptical, opened three graves and found them exactly as he described.
- Mary Hogan's preserved face was found in the farmhouse three years after she vanished from her tavern; her murder was never tried.
- Sheriff Art Schley, six weeks into the job, slammed Gein's head against a brick wall, rendering the confession inadmissible.
- Found guilty of first-degree murder in 1968, then not guilty by reason of insanity, Ed Gein died in a state institution in 1984 at seventy-seven.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707720Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:59:47 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Quiet Farmer Whose House Inspired Every Horror Movie: Ed Gein, the Butcher of Plainfield How does the man behind Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill end up with a confirmed body count of exactly two? Why could the confession of Ed Gein...
How does the man behind Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill end up with a confirmed body count of exactly two? Why could the confession of Ed Gein never be used against him in court? And how did a killer this infamous stand trial for one murder and never spend a single day in prison?

In this episode, we separate the documented record from seventy years of myth. We walk through Plainfield, Wisconsin, a village of about six hundred and sixty people, where Ed Gein shot hardware store owner Bernice Worden on the opening day of deer season, and where her deputy-sheriff son cracked the case with the last sales slip his mother ever wrote: a gallon of antifreeze sold to Gein. Then the flashlights enter the farmhouse, and the story stops being about one murder, and becomes a question about every institution that had a decade of chances to notice.

Person: Bernice Worden, 58, and Mary Hogan, early 50s
Date: December 8, 1954 (Hogan); November 16, 1957 (Worden)
Location: Plainfield, Wisconsin
Case: The Ed Gein murders and grave robberies
Cause of death: Gunshot; both confirmed victims were shot

- Gein brought a single .22 shell in his own pocket, loaded a rifle handed to him from the store's display, and shot Bernice Worden in the back of the head.
- He confessed to robbing nine graves between 1947 and 1952, all within about five miles of his farm, and police, skeptical, opened three graves and found them exactly as he described.
- Mary Hogan's preserved face was found in the farmhouse three years after she vanished from her tavern; her murder was never tried.
- Sheriff Art Schley, six weeks into the job, slammed Gein's head against a brick wall, rendering the confession inadmissible.
- Found guilty of first-degree murder in 1968, then not guilty by reason of insanity, Ed Gein died in a state institution in 1984 at seventy-seven.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1415falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/forty-whacks-never-happened-the-real-lizzie-borden-story--74707719
How did an entire culture memorize a double murder incorrectly? The rhyme says Lizzie Borden gave her mother forty whacks, but the victim wasn't her mother, the weapon likely wasn't an axe, and the real count was twenty-nine blows, not eighty-one. So why does the smaller, truer number make the case darker? And what were the two pieces of evidence the jury that acquitted Lizzie Borden never got to hear?

In this episode, we go inside 92 Second Street in Fall River on August 4, 1892: Abby Borden struck about nineteen times while making a guest bed, Andrew Borden killed on the sofa ninety minutes later, and a household where nobody even noticed Abby was missing. We follow the botched investigation, the burned dress, the prussic acid witnesses, and the judicial rulings that gutted the prosecution, all the way to the question of what really happened while Lizzie Borden stood at the top of those stairs.

Person: Andrew Borden, 69, and Abby Borden, 64
Date: August 4, 1892
Location: Fall River, Massachusetts
Case: The Borden hatchet murders
Cause of death: Repeated blows to the head with a hatchet-like weapon
Status: Officially unsolved; Lizzie Borden acquitted June 20, 1893

- Abby died at least ninety minutes before Andrew, her body was cold, his still warm, and no one saw anyone enter or leave the house on a busy Thursday morning.
- The day before the murders, a woman identified by witnesses as Lizzie tried to buy ten cents' worth of prussic acid; the jury never heard it.
- The formal autopsy came a full week after death, and both victims were buried without their heads, the skulls appeared later as courtroom evidence.
- With police guarding the house, Lizzie burned a dress in the kitchen stove on August 7; officers did not stop her.
- Andrew's estate was worth roughly $300,000, about ten million today, and no will was ever found.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707719Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:59:43 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTForty Whacks Never Happened: The Real Lizzie Borden Axe Murders How did an entire culture memorize a double murder incorrectly? The rhyme says Lizzie Borden gave her mother forty whacks, but the victim wasn't her mother, the weapon likely wasn't an...
How did an entire culture memorize a double murder incorrectly? The rhyme says Lizzie Borden gave her mother forty whacks, but the victim wasn't her mother, the weapon likely wasn't an axe, and the real count was twenty-nine blows, not eighty-one. So why does the smaller, truer number make the case darker? And what were the two pieces of evidence the jury that acquitted Lizzie Borden never got to hear?

In this episode, we go inside 92 Second Street in Fall River on August 4, 1892: Abby Borden struck about nineteen times while making a guest bed, Andrew Borden killed on the sofa ninety minutes later, and a household where nobody even noticed Abby was missing. We follow the botched investigation, the burned dress, the prussic acid witnesses, and the judicial rulings that gutted the prosecution, all the way to the question of what really happened while Lizzie Borden stood at the top of those stairs.

Person: Andrew Borden, 69, and Abby Borden, 64
Date: August 4, 1892
Location: Fall River, Massachusetts
Case: The Borden hatchet murders
Cause of death: Repeated blows to the head with a hatchet-like weapon
Status: Officially unsolved; Lizzie Borden acquitted June 20, 1893

- Abby died at least ninety minutes before Andrew, her body was cold, his still warm, and no one saw anyone enter or leave the house on a busy Thursday morning.
- The day before the murders, a woman identified by witnesses as Lizzie tried to buy ten cents' worth of prussic acid; the jury never heard it.
- The formal autopsy came a full week after death, and both victims were buried without their heads, the skulls appeared later as courtroom evidence.
- With police guarding the house, Lizzie burned a dress in the kitchen stove on August 7; officers did not stop her.
- Andrew's estate was worth roughly $300,000, about ten million today, and no will was ever found.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1486falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-body-in-the-tesla-sat-on-a-public-street-for-five-weeks-the-celeste-rivas-case--74707717
How does a fourteen-year-old girl end up dead in the front trunk of a pop star's Tesla, a car that sat on a Hollywood Hills street for roughly five weeks until a parking ticket, a tow, and a smell finally broke the case? Who was Celeste Rivas Hernandez, reported missing three times in seven weeks, and why did officers who stood on the right doorstep in 2024 walk away?

In this episode, we follow the case prosecutors have built against musician David Burke, known by a stage name pronounced "David", from the alleged first contact when Celeste Rivas was eleven, through the matching "Shhh" tattoos, the alias purchases of chainsaws and a burn cage, and the text sent to her phone twenty minutes after prosecutors say she was already dead. Burke has pleaded not guilty to every charge, and the trial has not begun; this episode keeps that line sharp while asking the harder question: why did every system fail Celeste while she was alive?

Person: Celeste Rivas Hernandez, 14
Date: April 23, 2025 (alleged killing); September 8, 2025 (remains found)
Location: Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California
Case: The Celeste Rivas Hernandez murder case (unadjudicated; defendant pleaded not guilty, trial pending)
Cause of death: Homicide by multiple penetrating injuries, per the medical examiner

- Celeste's family filed three missing person reports in seven weeks, February 15, March 19, and April 5, 2024, and deputies conducted a welfare check at Burke's home on February 19.
- Her remains weighed seventy-one pounds; two stab wounds, one perforating the liver, the other at least two inches deep between her ribs.
- A Caltrans worker found her passport card in January 2026 near Lake Cachuma, the alleged disposal site off State Route 154.
- Prosecutors say the case file runs to forty terabytes of evidence.
- The murder charge carries three special circumstances: lying in wait, financial gain, and killing a witness.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707717Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:59:39 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Body in the Tesla Sat on a Public Street for Five Weeks: The Celeste Rivas Hernandez Case How does a fourteen-year-old girl end up dead in the front trunk of a pop star's Tesla, a car that sat on a Hollywood Hills street for roughly five weeks...
How does a fourteen-year-old girl end up dead in the front trunk of a pop star's Tesla, a car that sat on a Hollywood Hills street for roughly five weeks until a parking ticket, a tow, and a smell finally broke the case? Who was Celeste Rivas Hernandez, reported missing three times in seven weeks, and why did officers who stood on the right doorstep in 2024 walk away?

In this episode, we follow the case prosecutors have built against musician David Burke, known by a stage name pronounced "David", from the alleged first contact when Celeste Rivas was eleven, through the matching "Shhh" tattoos, the alias purchases of chainsaws and a burn cage, and the text sent to her phone twenty minutes after prosecutors say she was already dead. Burke has pleaded not guilty to every charge, and the trial has not begun; this episode keeps that line sharp while asking the harder question: why did every system fail Celeste while she was alive?

Person: Celeste Rivas Hernandez, 14
Date: April 23, 2025 (alleged killing); September 8, 2025 (remains found)
Location: Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California
Case: The Celeste Rivas Hernandez murder case (unadjudicated; defendant pleaded not guilty, trial pending)
Cause of death: Homicide by multiple penetrating injuries, per the medical examiner

- Celeste's family filed three missing person reports in seven weeks, February 15, March 19, and April 5, 2024, and deputies conducted a welfare check at Burke's home on February 19.
- Her remains weighed seventy-one pounds; two stab wounds, one perforating the liver, the other at least two inches deep between her ribs.
- A Caltrans worker found her passport card in January 2026 near Lake Cachuma, the alleged disposal site off State Route 154.
- Prosecutors say the case file runs to forty terabytes of evidence.
- The murder charge carries three special circumstances: lying in wait, financial gain, and killing a witness.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1461falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/four-students-one-knife-and-a-plea-that-answered-nothing-the-idaho-student-murders--74707716
How does a criminology PhD student allegedly stalk a rental house for months, kill four college students in sixteen minutes, and drive home to grade papers? Why did nearly eight hours pass before anyone called 911? And when Bryan Kohberger finally said "yes" four times in a Boise courtroom, why did his plea deal split the four grieving families instead of uniting them?

In this episode, we walk through the night of November 13, 2022 in Moscow, Idaho, the white Hyundai Elantra circling King Road, the phone that went dark for two hours, and the Ka-Bar knife sheath left beside Madison Mogen that carried a single trace of male DNA. We follow that trace through a genealogy database, a trash pull in Pennsylvania, and a SWAT arrest, all the way to the question no verdict ever answered: why these four?

Person: Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin
Date: November 13, 2022
Location: Moscow, Idaho
Case: The University of Idaho student murders
Cause of death: Multiple stab wounds from a large knife

- Surveillance caught the Elantra passing near 1122 King Road three times in the 3 a.m. hour before it fled at speed at 4:20 a.m., a sixteen-minute window for four murders on two floors.
- Kohberger's phone had connected near the house on roughly a dozen occasions in prior months, all but one late at night, and returned around 9 a.m. after the killings.
- Moscow, a town of about twenty-five thousand, had not recorded a murder since 2015.
- The plea deal came roughly six weeks before trial: four consecutive life terms plus ten years, appeals waived, then, in 2026, Bryan Kohberger filed to withdraw the plea.
- TikToker Ashley Guillard, who falsely accused an innocent professor, was ordered to pay ten million dollars in defamation damages.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707716Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:59:35 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTFour Students, One Knife, and a Plea That Answered Nothing: The Idaho Student Murders and Bryan Kohberger How does a criminology PhD student allegedly stalk a rental house for months, kill four college students in sixteen minutes, and drive home to...
How does a criminology PhD student allegedly stalk a rental house for months, kill four college students in sixteen minutes, and drive home to grade papers? Why did nearly eight hours pass before anyone called 911? And when Bryan Kohberger finally said "yes" four times in a Boise courtroom, why did his plea deal split the four grieving families instead of uniting them?

In this episode, we walk through the night of November 13, 2022 in Moscow, Idaho, the white Hyundai Elantra circling King Road, the phone that went dark for two hours, and the Ka-Bar knife sheath left beside Madison Mogen that carried a single trace of male DNA. We follow that trace through a genealogy database, a trash pull in Pennsylvania, and a SWAT arrest, all the way to the question no verdict ever answered: why these four?

Person: Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin
Date: November 13, 2022
Location: Moscow, Idaho
Case: The University of Idaho student murders
Cause of death: Multiple stab wounds from a large knife

- Surveillance caught the Elantra passing near 1122 King Road three times in the 3 a.m. hour before it fled at speed at 4:20 a.m., a sixteen-minute window for four murders on two floors.
- Kohberger's phone had connected near the house on roughly a dozen occasions in prior months, all but one late at night, and returned around 9 a.m. after the killings.
- Moscow, a town of about twenty-five thousand, had not recorded a murder since 2015.
- The plea deal came roughly six weeks before trial: four consecutive life terms plus ten years, appeals waived, then, in 2026, Bryan Kohberger filed to withdraw the plea.
- TikToker Ashley Guillard, who falsely accused an innocent professor, was ordered to pay ten million dollars in defamation damages.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1411falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-hunted-women-for-a-decade-while-police-looked-away-the-gilgo-beach-serial-killer--74707715
How does a serial killer taunt a victim's teenage sister by phone and then commute to his Fifth Avenue office for thirteen more years? Why did the Gilgo Beach investigation sit frozen for over a decade while ten sets of remains lay along one road? And who inside the Suffolk County Police Department made sure the FBI stayed out?

In this episode, we walk the stretch of Ocean Parkway where a police dog named Blue found the Gilgo Four wrapped in burlap, follow the corruption of police chief James Burke that stalled the case, and trace the paper trail, a pickup truck, a strand of hair, and a discarded pizza crust, that finally put a name to the Gilgo Beach killer: architect Rex Heuermann. It all builds to a courtroom in Riverhead in 2026, and to the question he still refuses to answer: why?

Person: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, Sandra Costilla, Karen Vergata
Date: December 11, 2010 (first remains found); April 8, 2026 (guilty plea)
Location: Gilgo Beach, Long Island, New York
Case: The Gilgo Beach serial killings
Cause of death: Strangulation, admitted in open court

- Shannan Gilbert's 911 call from Oak Beach on May 1, 2010 lasted around twenty-two minutes; the search for her led to the Gilgo Beach discoveries seven months later.
- A new task force formed in early 2022 identified Rex Heuermann in about six weeks by working an eleven-year-old witness account of a dark green first-generation Chevy Avalanche.
- DNA from a pizza crust pulled from a Manhattan trash can matched a hair on the burlap to a 99.96 percent probability.
- Prosecutors described a Word file from his basement as a planning checklist; under "Problems," the first item was DNA.
- On June 17, 2026, Rex Heuermann received seven consecutive maximum sentences, including three terms of life without parole.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74707715Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:59:31 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Hunted Women for a Decade While Police Looked Away: The Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Rex Heuermann How does a serial killer taunt a victim's teenage sister by phone and then commute to his Fifth Avenue office for thirteen more years? Why did the...
How does a serial killer taunt a victim's teenage sister by phone and then commute to his Fifth Avenue office for thirteen more years? Why did the Gilgo Beach investigation sit frozen for over a decade while ten sets of remains lay along one road? And who inside the Suffolk County Police Department made sure the FBI stayed out?

In this episode, we walk the stretch of Ocean Parkway where a police dog named Blue found the Gilgo Four wrapped in burlap, follow the corruption of police chief James Burke that stalled the case, and trace the paper trail, a pickup truck, a strand of hair, and a discarded pizza crust, that finally put a name to the Gilgo Beach killer: architect Rex Heuermann. It all builds to a courtroom in Riverhead in 2026, and to the question he still refuses to answer: why?

Person: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, Sandra Costilla, Karen Vergata
Date: December 11, 2010 (first remains found); April 8, 2026 (guilty plea)
Location: Gilgo Beach, Long Island, New York
Case: The Gilgo Beach serial killings
Cause of death: Strangulation, admitted in open court

- Shannan Gilbert's 911 call from Oak Beach on May 1, 2010 lasted around twenty-two minutes; the search for her led to the Gilgo Beach discoveries seven months later.
- A new task force formed in early 2022 identified Rex Heuermann in about six weeks by working an eleven-year-old witness account of a dark green first-generation Chevy Avalanche.
- DNA from a pizza crust pulled from a Manhattan trash can matched a hair on the burlap to a 99.96 percent probability.
- Prosecutors described a Word file from his basement as a planning checklist; under "Problems," the first item was DNA.
- On June 17, 2026, Rex Heuermann received seven consecutive maximum sentences, including three terms of life without parole.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1301falsefull