Criminal

Before he was 10 years old, Willie Bosket had skipped school, started fires, picked pockets, and stolen a car. A psychiatrist at Bellevue called him the "saddest little boy she’d ever seen.” By the time he was 16 years old, he was known all over New York City as the “Baby-Faced Butcher." His crimes led to the passing of the Juvenile Offender Act of 1978 and changed how juvenile offenders are punis...

In 1993, Mildred and Trevor Horn, along with their live-in nurse Janice, were found murdered in their Montgomery County home. A Maryland police spokesperson described the homicide investigation as the most "exhaustive and labor intensive" in the department's history. And then homicide investigators found a strange manual titled Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors published by P...

In 1971, David Alexander went for a run in Central Park and started talking to a stranger. For our first episode of This Is Love, a story about what's possible when we bet everything on each other. We speak with David, Jody, and Julienne Alexander. Listen to other episodes of This is Love at https://thisislovepodcast.com/. If you haven't already, please follow the show and review us on iTunes! htt...

In the 1950s poodles were all the rage — one tabloid even reported that when a girl “makes the big time she traditionally acquires 3 things — minks, gems, and a poodle.” But one poodle in particular put the breed on the map. His name was Masterpiece...and police in 13 states knew exactly what he looked like. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The A...

Some spiders eat their young, and some eat their parents … love is never simple. From the makers of the award-winning podcast Criminal, This is Love investigates life’s most persistent mystery. Stories of sacrifice, obsession, and the ways in which we bet everything on one another. Listen to other episodes of This is Love at https://thisislovepodcast.com/. If you haven't already, please follow the...

There is a group in Durham, NC called "Parents of Murdered Children." This week, we meet three of its members. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop.  E...

In 1892, a gruesome murder took place in a small fishing village in Argentina. The police had a suspect who would not confess. What happened next would change the way murders were investigated around the world. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make T...

As a child, Lawrence Lessig was a gifted singer. His church choir director encouraged him to attend a choir camp at a prestigious boarding school in New Jersey. He was so talented that the school invited him to stay and join their official choir. He sang at Carnegie Hall and toured the world. But it was what happened behind the scenes that would change his life forever. Say hello on Twitter, Faceb...

Three mysteries we can’t stop thinking about. The first is about an impossible photo taken at a bed & breakfast in Etna, California.  Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Ch...

In 1988, a man in Hickory, North Carolina named Willie Grimes was sentenced to life in prison for raping and kidnapping a 69-year-old woman named Carrie Lee Elliot. He was convicted with evidence experts would later call “junk science.” It took him 24 years to convince someone to look at the evidence again. Special thanks to Chris Mumma of the North Carolina Actual Innocence Center. Say hello on T...

Helen Duncan was a famous medium who travelled around Britain in the 1940s performing séances. She claimed to speak to the dead, and even produce physical manifestations of their spirits. But when Helen Duncan seemed to know wartime secrets about the whereabouts of military ships, like the sunken HMS Barham, she caught the attention of MI5 and notable psychic investigator Harry Price. Say hello on...

In 1993, Gerald Boggs of Steamboat Springs, Colorado was found dead in his home. He'd been burned with a stun gun, hit with a shovel, and shot several times. The victim's wife, Jill Coit, was the primary suspect, but she had an alibi for the estimated time of death: she was camping with her boyfriend Michael Backus. Investigators were at a loss, and turned to two very unlikely people for help. Tod...

In 1962, brothers John and Clarence Anglin, along with fellow incarcerated person Frank Morris, managed to escape the one prison in America that was supposed to be inescapable: Alcatraz. Alcatraz is surrounded by icy waters, so the men would’ve needed a raft in order to escape the island. When no evidence of the raft or the three men was found, the FBI concluded that the men had drowned and closed...

The Tennessee Walking Horse has a natural gait that's famously smooth. And, if trained in a certain way, it can perform a walk that's even more spectacular, called the Big Lick. But, there's a secret behind how, exactly, these horses are trained to do the crowd-pleasing step they're celebrated for; it’s called “soring” and it’s been outlawed since the 1970’s. Still, some horse trainers still use t...

"I keep saying 'where's the body? Kill someone,'" Marilyn Stasio told us. She reads at least 200 crime novels a year to determine which are worthy of her prestigious "Crime Column" in the New York Times Book Review. We talk with her about crime as entertainment - and why people are so addicted to the genre that she can't stay away from: "My fingers just itch when I see something that's says 'murde...

In 1993, more than 1,000 levees broke along the Mississippi River, flooding thousands of acres. Most of these cases were accidents due to the river rising well above its usual levels. But in West Quincy, Missouri, there was another culprit, James Scott. His crime? Knowingly causing a catastrophe by breaking the levee. But his motive was not what prosecutors expected.  Thanks to Noam Osmand for the...

At the turn of the century, Carry Nation was “America’s foremost lady hellraiser” and "the apostle of reform violence.” A radical member of the temperance movement, Carrie Nation was known for attacking saloons, bars, and pubs with a hatchet engraved with name. In her own words, she was "a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn't like."  We liked her hatchet pins so m...

As long as 2,500 years ago, Native Americans placed the bones of their dead in giant mounds of earth in the shape of animals. The Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa was created to protect one set of these - and the bones inside. But in 2011, a new superintendent, Jim Nepstad, discovered that the remains of 41 Native Americans had disappeared.  In this episode, we use the term "Native American...

Amber Dawn was 20 when she moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Enumclaw, Washington. On her very first night, she began to notice strange sounds. And they didn't stop. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. A...

In 1967, a very unlikely group of individuals gathered to help women quietly break the law and obtain an abortion. The first step was to call a phone number. A recording of a woman's voice would tell you what to do next.  Who was behind this number? The Clergy Consultation Service, an underground network of ministers and rabbis who wanted to help women access safe abortions. Today, they call thems...

Shortly after David Brown was sworn in as the Dallas Chief of Police, his son shot and killed a police officer. Just before he retired as chief, 5 Dallas officers were shot and killed in what was said to be the deadliest attack for police officers since September 11th, 2001. Today on the show, we ask David Brown how he’s changed after 33 years of policing. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instag...

The “body farm” at Texas State University is a place almost no one is allowed to see, because it’s one of very few places in the world that deliberately puts out human bodies to decompose in nature. Forensic Anthropologists observe decomposition in order to help police officers discern when and how someone may have died. We asked if we could visit, and they agreed. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook a...

On a Sunday morning in 1982, in Des Moines, Iowa, Johnny Gosch left his house to begin his usual paper route. A short time later, his parents were awakened by a phone call – it was a neighbor — their paper hadn't come. His would be the first face of a missing child ever printed on a milk carton. This story comes to us from reporter Annie Brown and our friends at 99% Invisible. We're on the road re...

Skidmore, Missouri is a very small town. In the '70s, there was only one bar, one grocery store, and one bully. Ken McElroy was so ruthless and intimidating that even police officers looked the other way. He terrorized the town for decades, until they finally fought back. We spoke with Harry MacLean, author of In Broad Daylight. Special thanks to Chelsea Korynta. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and...

In 1928, Huey P. Long became the youngest Governor in Louisiana’s history. He bragged that he bought lawmakers like “sacks of potatoes, shuffled ‘em like a deck of cards.” By the time he was 39 years old, he’d made his way to the U.S. Senate. And just a couple of weeks after his 42nd birthday, he was assassinated in the Capitol Building in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Allegedly, a doctor named Carl Wei...