Debate The News: True Crime

How does a 26‑year‑old, Ivy League‑educated son of a wealthy Maryland family become the prime suspect in the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson—and a polarizing folk "hero" online at the same time? In this episode, hosts  Adrienne Barker  and  Joseph Lobosco  break down the case against  Luigi Mangione , the man accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson o...

What happens when a young woman is found stabbed more than twenty times inside her locked apartment—and authorities still call it a suicide? How does a 2011 Philadelphia “locked-room” death keep sparking controversy, lawsuits, and new reviews more than a decade later? In this episode, hosts Adrienne Barker and Joseph Lobosco, joined by guest host Debbie Dowling‑Wahba, unpack the haunting case of E...

What happens when a rising pop artist’s secret relationship with a 14‑year‑old collides with a missing‑person case—and a body found in a Tesla’s front trunk in Los Angeles? In this episode of Debate The News: True Crime , hosts Adrienne Barker and Joseph Lobosco examine the unfolding D4vd (David Anthony Burke) & Celeste Hernandez case—an LAPD death investigation with no charges filed as of Nov...

The Hollywood Hills Bling Ring was an audacious series of celebrity burglaries in 2008–2009, where a group of fame-obsessed California teens led by Rachel Lee and Nick Prugo raided the homes of Hollywood’s rich and famous.  The crew stalked stars like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, and others – slipping into luxury mansions to steal designer clothes, jewelry, and cash (totaling a...

How does a hip‑hop mogul who built Bad Boy Records end up fighting for his freedom in a Manhattan federal courtroom? And why did a jury acquit Sean “Diddy” Combs on RICO and sex‑trafficking counts yet convict him on two Mann Act (interstate prostitution) charges—sending him to federal prison while he appeals? In  “Bad Boy: The United States vs Sean Combs,”  hosts Adrienne Barker and Jose...

What happens when a Wall Street icon and former NASDAQ chairman engineers “steady” returns that never existed? How did the split‑strike conversion myth, fake DTC trade records, and a locked‑down back office (“House 17”) conceal the largest Ponzi scheme in history—until a 2008 liquidity panic forced a confession? In this episode, hosts Adrienne Barker and Joseph Lobosco—joined by guest host Mekey G...

What happens when Halloween’s most infamous mask crosses from the screen into real life? How do murders involving a Michael Myers mask — from a random stabbing to a double homicide , a drifter’s home invasion , and an unsolved suburban shooting — expose the dark psychology of disguise, opportunity, and fear on October 31? In this episode, hosts Adrienne Barker and Joseph Lobosco dissect The "Hallo...

What happens when a global worship brand is built over a fault line of secrecy, abuse, and money? How did  Hillsong Church’s  meteoric rise—from chart‑topping music to celebrity pews—collide with allegations of child sexual abuse concealment, volunteer exploitation, LGBTQ exclusion, and a leadership implosion that shook the megachurch world?  In this episode, hosts  Adrienne Ba...

In this episode, we discuss cases related to the popular "Scream" horror movie franchise and its fictional "Ghostface" character. What you'll hear: → Case timeline : From late‑90s California to Belgium, the U.K., Idaho, and New York City. → Discussion & debate : Copycats, costumes & culpability - why offenders reach for a mask and what it says about our society & culture. The ethics of...

What happens when a father sworn to protect his children becomes their killer? How could PTSD, mental illness, and a failed system turn a loving dad into a monster in a 2025 child murder-suicide that shocked Washington State? In this episode, hosts Adrienne Barker and Joseph Lobosco delve into the Travis Decker triple homicide case – a shocking true crime tragedy in Washington – and debate its mos...

Ed Gein – infamously dubbed the “Butcher of Plainfield” – was a seemingly unremarkable farmhand turned ghoul whose 1950s crimes shocked the world. In the sleepy town of Plainfield, Wisconsin, police discovered that Ed Gein’s ramshackle farmhouse was a real-life house of horrors: a collection of human remains stolen from graveyards and the bodies of his victims, grotesquely fashioned into furniture...

George Stinney Jr was just 14 years old when he was executed by electric chair in 1944, making him the youngest person executed in the U.S. This episode explores the notorious 1944 South Carolina murder case in which Stinney, a Black teenager, was wrongfully convicted of killing two young white girls, 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker and 7-year-old Mary Emma Thames, after a rushed two-hour trial w...

George Stinney Jr was just 14 years old when he was executed by electric chair in 1944, making him the youngest person executed in the U.S. This episode explores the notorious 1944 South Carolina murder case in which Stinney, a Black teenager, was wrongfully convicted of killing two young white girls, 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker and 7-year-old Mary Emma Thames, after a rushed two-hour trial w...

In late August 1990, Florida serial killer Danny Rolling — infamously known as the Gainesville Ripper — murdered five college students near the University of Florida in Gainesville. Over the course of four days, Rolling stalked and brutally killed his victims (Sonja Larson, Christina Powell, Christa Hoyt, Tracy Paules, and Manuel “Manny” Taboada), unleashing panic across the campus community and d...

The Aaron Hernandez murder case stands as one of the most infamous NFL true crime sagas of the past decade. A rising New England Patriots star with a Super Bowl appearance, Hernandez was soon linked to multiple violent crimes – including the Odin Lloyd killing – and ultimately died by suicide in prison at age 27. In this episode, Adrienne Barker and Joseph Lobosco unpack Aaron Hernandez’s journey...

On November 13, 1974, six members of the DeFeo family were shot dead inside 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, New York. Ronald DeFeo Jr. confessed and was convicted the following year. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz moved in with three children and fled 28 days later, alleging a violent haunting—flies in winter, cold spots, “green slime,” a red‑eyed pig named “Jody,” and a priest told to “get...

From 1980 to 1991, a series of young men were found strangled and dumped along or near Interstate 70 across Indiana and western Ohio. The media dubbed the unknown offender the “I-70 Strangler.” This episode revisits the pattern, the victims, the multi-agency task force, and the long-running question: did Fox Hollow Farm suspect Herb Baumeister commit these highway killings—or is the I-70 case a se...

In January 2018, 17-year-old Jordan Turpin escaped her family’s Perris, California home, leading deputies to rescue 13 siblings who had been starved, shackled, and isolated for years. What you’ll hear: How isolation and control were maintained inside the Turpin home—and missed by systems meant to protect kids. The escape and rescue: Jordan Turpin's bravery and what deputies found. The courtroom ou...

Three seemingly unrelated murders across Westchester County are linked to the same serial killer over a decade later. In this episode, Adrienne Barker and Joseph Lobosco unpack the Westchester Serial Killer case: three attacks between 1987 and 1990—Michelle Walker in Yonkers, Patricia Englund, and Lisa Gibbons in Tuckahoe—initially investigated by different departments with different M.O.s, then u...

What happens when a rising Alaska Native actor vanishes into the tundra, a village goes on lockdown, and a two-week manhunt ends with two hunters shot—and a courtroom defense invoking Inupiaq “little people”?  In this episode, Adrienne Barker and Joseph Lobosco unpack the Teddy Kyle Smith case end-to-end: from his indie-film acclaim to a 2012 cascade of violence around Kiana, Alaska; the Squi...

📍 Recorded Live on Chatter Social | Hosted by Joseph Lobosco & Adrienne Barker 🎧 A Debate the News: True Crime Production What happens when the only person ever convicted in a U.S. courtroom for the September 11 attacks is caught a month before 9/11—and the system still misses the plot? In this episode, Adrienne Barker and Joseph Lobosco dissect the Zacarias Moussaoui case—the so-called “20t...

📍Recorded Live on Chatter Social | Hosted by Joseph Lobosco & Adrienne Barker What happens when a bitter family feud turns deadly? How far would a family go to win a custody battle? In this episode, hosts Adrienne Barker and Joseph Lobosco unpack the chilling case of Dan Markel, a Florida State University law professor whose 2014 murder in Tallahassee revealed an alleged murder-for-hire plot...

📍 Recorded Live on Chatter Social | Hosted by Joseph Lobosco & Adrienne Barker 🎧 A Debate the News: True Crime Production What happens when the world’s biggest sporting event is shattered by a bomb—and the attacker vanishes into the Appalachian wilderness for five years? 🔍 In this episode, Adrienne Barker and Joseph Lobosco unpack the Eric Robert Rudolph case: the 1996 Centennial Olympic Pa...

❗️ TRIGGER WARNING : Due to the sensitive and potentially disturbing nature of the subject matter and topics discussed in this episode, listener discretion is strongly advised . This episode discusses suicide, psychological manipulation, trauma, child abuse, coercive control, sexual abuse, violence, mass death, and other sensitive topics which may be triggering and upsetting. 🔍 EPISODE SUMMARY:...

What happens when a story of a missing child unravels into a suspected murder case—and the parents are the ones accused? In this powerful episode of  Debate the News: True Crime Edition , Joseph Lobosco and Adrienne Barker dive deep into the tragic disappearance and suspected murder of seven-month-old Emmanuel Haro . What began in Yucaipa, California , as a frantic report of a parking lot abd...