The Silver Linings Handbook

We made it through another year. We step back and take a look at what we learned from the more than 50 guests we had on the podcast this year. In this episode, we get to hear some of the best thoughts, observations and advice from Gilbert King, John Mitchell, Jerry Colonna, Julie Murray, Bruce Maitland, Bill Gilmour, Julia Cowley, Allison Dickson, Brett Talley, Alice LaCour, Kevin Greenlee, Áine C...

In this bonus episode from the Minneapolis True Crime Podcast Meetup in early December, I sat down with Jim Schmidt, the father of Gabby Petito, to discuss domestic violence. Right before our discussion, I received a message from a friend who let me know that she was experiencing domestic violence. Jim's response is an example of the powerful and deeply personal work that the Gabby Petito Foundati...

My listeners are why I am here. You mean the world to me. This episode is one where I give you the chance to share your thoughts. This year, I had an intimate conversation with two listeners to share their perspectives on podcasts, community, growth, grief, love and what struck them most this year. Contact me at silverliningshandbookpod@gmail.com Check out the Silver Linings Handbook website at: h...

For the holidays, we wanted to release some bonus episodes that were originally released on Patreon as a holiday treat. In this episode, I talk with Kristina Byington, the cousin of murder victim Anita Byington, about how people can engage victims' family members with empathy in the face of exoneration efforts for convicted murderers and others who have been found guilty of crimes against their lo...

For the holidays, we wanted to release some bonus episodes that were originally released on Patreon as a holiday treat. In this episode, I discuss empathy, vulnerability and the Bright Side of True Crime with Jason Usry, a podcaster and host of Santa Maybe, a Criminal, a true crime satire podcast, and Missing in a Moment , a podcast on missing persons. To join our Patreon for ad-free and early epi...

The brutal attack in 1998 on Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, shocked the American conscience, bringing attention to crime against gender and sexual minorities. A lot has changed since 1998, but the battle continues to bring awareness to cases involving LGBTQ+ people. We are joined by C.J. Johnson, the host of the Beyond the Rainbow  podcast, to discuss her efforts to bui...

Have you ever wondered whether someone is lying to you? Have you ever wondered whether you may be being too skeptical when someone may be telling the truth? Jack Fox, the host of Never a Truer Word,  believes you can find the answers in what you know about the person and their words. Jack often explores true crime cases and celebrities. But he also believes that his approach can be applied to...

On June 30, 2010, Phil DiMartino, a beloved colleague and friend, left his office in San Fransisco to go out for the night in the Castro District. He never returned. Days later he was found dead by a worried colleague. When he was found, San Francisco police thought they might have a serial killer on his hands. FBI Profiler Julia Cowley was brought in to profile the unknown subject responsible for...

Former FBI Profiler Julia Cowley, the host of The Consult podcast, joins Allison Dickson of Vintage Villains and I in the final installment our series on the 1979 disappearance of Christina White and the Lewis-Clark Valley serial killings centered on Idaho and Washington State and that potentially span from California to Chicago to North Carolina. We analyze the profile of the unknown killer and t...

Anton Treuer, the son of a Holocaust survivor and an Ojibwe mother, has a great many hopes and dreams - ones of healing, thriving and even an America that can learn things to make it stronger from the success of Native Americans and other minorities. Anton, a professor and expert on the Ojibwe culture and language, joins Jayson to discuss the story of the Ojibwe people and what we can all learn. F...

In this bonus episode from the Minneapolis, Minnesota True Crime Meetup, Jayson and listeners talk with retired FBI Profiler Julia Cowley, the host of The Consult podcast, about clues about the United Health shooter, warning signs in relationships for domestic violence and a wide variety of other topics. We also discuss the real-life experience of working in the FBI’s famed Behavioral Analysis Uni...

In the third part of our series on the Lewis-Clark Valley Serial Killer, the search for a killer has expanded beyond the 1979 disappearance of Christina White and to murders that started in 1963 in Chicago and include mysterious drownings in North Carolina and California and three murders and one additional disappearance in the Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington area. Allison Dickson and I...

A young college student named Anita Byington went out with friends one night in 1991 in Austin, Texas. She was murdered and a year later a man was convicted for her killing. After two decades, that man was released and is not seeking exoneration. Anita's cousin, Kristina joins us, to discuss what it's like to be a victim's family member, what it's like to find the sense of peace only to have it ta...

Christina White was missing for four years before the first big clues emerged into her disappearance that would raise questions about whether there was a serial killer operating in the Lewis-Clark Valley and beyond. In this episode, with Allison Dickson of Vintage Villains, we explore Christina's disappearance, a 1963 murder of an 8-year-old in Chicago, a mysterious attempted break-in at a mortuar...

"To lose thee is to lose myself," John Milton wrote in Paradise Lost . But what happens when you lose both? Alma Thomas lost her teenage son to a sudden heart attack at the age of 18 and then a few years later lost herself to a stroke. Alma, an author, was given a 1 percent chance of survival by doctors. She survived and says she has thrived. Alma says in this interview that part of what drove her...

How does a 12-year-old girl disappear from her best friend's house on the day of the local fair? Who could be responsible her going missing? Why was her homework found miles away on the farm where that same best friend kept her horse? And how did the case of Christina White's disappearance become the lynchpin to discovering that a serial killer was lurking in the Lewis-Clark Valley of Idaho and Wa...

Actor Alec Baldwin was on trial for involuntary manslaughter in July. Then, he wasn't. We are joined by Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, the special prosecutor who resigned from the case out of concerns about the prosecution withholding vital information from the defense. We discuss the case, Erlinda's decision, the special obligation prosecutors have to justice and how her family's immigration from Nicara...

Raul Montero, also known as CatchLisk, joins us again for our second episode on the Long Island Serial Killer and invisible victims. and efforts to help give a voice to marginalized victims and their loved ones. We explore how the investigation fell apart, the cost to the community and attention was re-focused on the case, leading to the July 2023 arrest of Rex Heuermann Contact me at silverlining...

On November 11, 2024, Richard Allen was convicted on all counts in the murders of 14-year-old Libby German and 13-year-old Abby Williams, two best friends who decided to take a walk in the woods in Delphi, Indiana. Kevin Greenlee and Áine Cain, the host of The Murder Sheet podcast, join me to discuss the resolution of the trial and our role as journalists to bear witness. To donate to a cause cher...

The 2023 arrest of Rex Heuermann for the Long Island Serial Killer murders brought many answers. But would the murders have been solved faster if the victims were not marginalized? Raul Montero, a victims' advocate who has expanded his efforts beyond this case to attempt to help solve missing and unidentified persons cases across the United States, joins to discuss the case and marginalized victim...

The trial of Richard Allen in Delphi, Ind., for the murders of 13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German is headed to the jury. In this bonus episode, we are joined by Kevin Greenlee and Áine Cain of The Murder Sheet podcast join us for this bonus to explore the trial itself, the town of Delphi, the grace that has been shown by family members of the victims and what true crime consume...

Kendra Closter is the director for government relations at the Alaska Federation of Natives and the former co-director for Law and Policy at the Alaska Native Women's Resource Center, an organization dedicated to strengthening local, state, and tribal government responses to the needs of Native women and children in their communities and their homes. In this episode, we talk about Native communiti...

In this Silver Linings Handbook bonus that was originally released on Patreon, Kevin Greenlee and Áine Cain of The Murder Sheet podcast join to discuss the human costs of the way we consume and the way people cover true crime. The lessons that are shared by Kevin and Áine, who are covering the trial of now of Richard Allen, the man accused of the 2017 killings of 13-year-old Abby William...

What do love and grief have in common? They are both eternal. Chris Soucy joins us to discuss the connection between grief, love and ghosts. We explore literature, movies, European, Black and Native cultures and paranormal experiences to examine the common threads between these things in society and culture. We discuss hope we can find in being touched by those who are gone. Chris is the co-host o...

In 2021, The Prosecutors Podcast did a five-part series on Dyatlov Pass. Brett Talley, the co-host of that podcast, joins to revisit the series, talk updates and discuss our theories on what happened to the nine hikers who disappeared in the Ural Mountains. Was it an avalanche? A Soviet military experiment? Aliens? To listen to The Prosecutors Podcast series on Dyatlov Pass, The Dyatlov Pass Incid...