Crime Writers On...

Journalist M. Gessen’s cousin Allen rubbed everyone in their family the wrong way, an annoying windbag who moved from one hustle to another. To win his custody dispute with his ex-wife, he tried to get her deported. He kidnapped their son and fled the country — twice . And finally, he was arrested by the FBI for hiring a hitman to kill her. With relatives holding different opinions on Allen’s acti...

In high school, Isolde Raftery and her friend wrote in the school paper about rumors that a popular science teacher had been inappropriate around students. Backlash followed, as the community rallied behind Tom Hudson and a misconduct investigation went nowhere. For years she lived with the accusations she ruined a man’s life. Now a seasoned journalist, Raftery revisits the case to answer whether...

Temp worker Anthony Norman has been hired to assist on a small company’s staff retreat. CEO Doug Womack is about to turn over Rockin’ Grandma’s Hot Sauce to his son. But when Dougie Jr. makes a huge mistake, his father considers selling the family business to some shady investors. While smiling his way through bizarre seminars and twisted team building exercises, Anthony’s suspicion of the investo...

Documentarians are granted unfettered access to a civil trial and the deliberations of its jury. The panel includes Ronald Gladden, who takes his role earnestly. What he doesn’t know is that the judge, the lawyers, and his eleven fellow jurors are all actors.  On this CWO Classic Rewind, we go back to our May 15, 2023 review of the format-breaking, heart-warming hidden camera series “Jury Duty.” F...

In Montana, a man puts up a gate blocking access to a private road. Two Florida women feud over a strip of grass each claims is on their own property. And an Indiana man is aggrieved when his suburban neighbor raises livestock in the backyard. While their grievances are both odd and petty, so are the people at the center of the conflicts. Their oversized personalities are only matched by those of...

Marty, Wendy and Ruth are back, trapped between the mob, the Mexicans, the FBI, and the Snells. Jason Bateman and Laura Linney in its follow up season to the Netflix hit drama that combines white collar crime and redneck gothic. On this CWO Classic Rewind, go go back to our Sept 13, 2018 review of season 2 of “Ozark.” For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon . Sign up for our newsletter...

When Gabe Ortiz’s brother was killed in 2023, the prominent Texas lawman had to deal with more than a murder investigation. He had to confront their different life choices. Faced with few prospects, young Gabe left town for the Air Force and the police academy. Meanwhile, his brother Larry stayed at home, where his best opportunity was selling drugs. While Gabe climbed the ranks in the Department...

In 1977’s Moscow, Americans Bea Grant and Twila Hasbeck learn their husbands have died during a secret mission in Soviet Russia. Determined to learn why, they convince the CIA station chief to let them return to the US embassy to complete their husbands’ covert operation and uncover why it went wrong. Bea and Twila find themselves helping a young Russian leak secret Soviet technology. But they’re...

When San Diego police discovered fellow officer Ciara Estrada dead in her bathroom, they determined she shot herself with her own gun. At a New Year’s party the night before, Estrada got drunk, fought with her boyfriend, and made many references to self-harm. But Estrada’s family say police didn’t go deep enough, claiming investigators were too quick to lay the blame on her. They say Estrada’s tum...

Thabo Bester, South Africa’s so-called “Facebook Rapist,” was serving a murder conviction when he died by suicide in his prison cell, setting his bed on fire. But authorities later revealed the victim had been killed before the fire began. The story took another turn when celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana attempted to claim Bester’s body. Investigators looked deeper into the connection between...

While doing defense work, Ariel crosses paths with inmate Michael Thompson. Incarcerated for decades on murder charges, she finds him to be soft-spoken, educated, and spiritual. Ariel’s intrigued by Thompson’s life growing up on an Indian reservation, his claims of being wrongfully convicted, his time leading the brutal Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, and his quest for enlightenment. He dispenses w...

In 1998, Deputy Jon Aujay went for a run in the California desert and never returned. After a weeklong search, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department determined he went to the Devil’s Punchbowl to commit suicide - a conclusion that did not sit right with some of his fellow deputies. Given the area’s reputation for meth labs, colleagues suspected Aujay stumbled across something he wasn’t suppo...

After a routine domestic disturbance call at a Louisville home, Jeffrey Mundt and Joey Banis shocked police by revealing a dead body was in their basement. The ex-lovers each accused the other of killing a drag performer during a ménage à trois, and being forced to help bury the victim beneath the dirt floor. With one defendant an ex-con and the other into sadistic kinks, attorneys used their past...

In 2006, University of Miami football player Bryan Pata was shot outside his apartment coming home from practice. On the ten-year anniversary of the death, police invited ESPN to look into the cold case. The reporters found cops had many viable suspects, including a teammate with a compelling motive and shaky alibi. But the journalists also came to find their law enforcement sources to be unreliab...

In 2016, officials at England’s The Countess of Chester Hospital began an inquest into what was causing a statistically high number of babies in the neonatal unit to die or require resuscitation. They found the cases all had one thing in common: night nurse Lucy Letby was on duty for all of them. Police accused Letby of killing the infants in a number of ways - including tampering with oxygen, fee...

In 2011, Matt Leili told police his wife Nique left their suburban Atlanta home with nothing but her toothbrush a week before her naked body was discovered in the woods. Investigators learned that for years Matt had been surveilling his family in their home through hidden cameras. Through thousands of hours of tape, police pieced together Matt's coercive and abusive marriage with Nique, but the ca...

Combing passages within the newly-built Providence Place mall, a group of local artists located an unused, overlooked space within the building. They sneaked in furniture and construction supplies, and fashioned a small apartment under the noses of management and security guards. Though the confederates used the space like a club house, they considered the project a political and artistic commenta...

The brazen kidnapping of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her bedroom captivated the nation. And when their main suspect died in custody, police feared they’d never learn her fate. But Elizabeth was still alive, being held in the woods, and facing daily abuse at the hands of her captors. Though investigators thought of it as a cold case, the Smart family continued their search. And a clue from Eli...

Sydney McDowell was preparing for the last steps in her fertility journey. But when she went to Nashville’s Center for Reproductive Health for a final check-up, she learned the clinic was abruptly closing, and what would happen to her frozen embryos was unclear. Hundreds of families who’d paid thousands of dollars were left in the lurch, unable to recover their money or their embryos. As the would...

From no-knock warrants and phony police informants to civil forfeiture and international narcotics interdiction, the US war on drugs has affected more than just traffickers. Its highly provocative methods have caused the deaths of innocent bystanders, often with no consequences for those responsible.  Animated by decades of political cries stoking fear and anger, police departments have gained mor...

A group of armed thieves force their way into a London investment firm which manages pension funds. In order to move billions of pounds into an offshore account, low-level office worker Zara Dunne is forced to complete the transaction with a gun to her head. DCI Rhys Covac thinks the heist isn’t all that it seems, and is paired with forensic accountants and MI5 operatives to unravel the operation....

In 2001, a wealthy American couple moved to Costa Rica to build a multimillion-dollar home and wildlife sanctuary in the rain forest. In their lavish estate patrolled by armed guards, John and Ann Bender found themselves more isolated as the couple dealt with debilitating illness, bipolar disorder, and growing paranoia. When tragedy struck in 2010, authorities were left to wonder whether what happ...

When police discovered an emaciated boy covered in wounds and duct tape, they learned he and his sister were being kept in the basement of Jodi Hildebrandt. She had built an online following by promoting harsh approaches to marriage advice and rigid child‑rearing strategies. The imprisoned children belonged to Ruby Franke, who abandoned her well‑known mommy vlog to collaborate with Hildebrandt on...

In 1999, billionaire Edmond Safra died in his fortified Monaco penthouse after a chaotic sequence of events. His nurse, Ted Maher, was stabbed by intruders, and the fire he set to summon help consumed the penthouse, killing Safra who was hiding in the safe room. The paranoid Safra had made enemies of the Russian mafia, and his widow had already inherited a fortune from the death of another husband...

In the 1980s, America was told Satanism was on the rise. Devil worshipers were responsible for kidnappings and blood sacrifices, and were coming for your children. Soon, police, teachers, and social workers were seeing Satanists everywhere. But why did the “satanic panic" take off in the first place? Were we really afraid of the devil? Or was it a way to explain the rising prevalence of societal i...