True Crime Campfire

In last week’s episode, we learned about the troubled early life of Earle Nelson, and witnessed his first steps towards becoming one of the most prolific serial killers in North American history. This week, his journey of mayhem across America really kicks into high gear. Join us for part 2 of this terrifying true story. Join Katie and Whitney, plus the hosts of Last Podcast on the Left, Sinisterh...

If you think about the 1920s in the United States, a few things might come to mind—jazz, prohibition, Babe Ruth, and, right at the end, the Wall Street Crash. And if you think of crime, you probably think of Al Capone, bootlegging, and fast-talking wise guys with Tommy guns. But the 1920s were also in some ways the nation’s introduction to crimes that could shock and horrify the entire country. Le...

I saw a meme one time that said, “It’s funny how sometimes the people you’d take a bullet for are the ones behind the trigger.” Most of the time that’s just a metaphor, a way to describe the way it feels when a loved one betrays you. But not always. Sometimes betrayals come written in blood—and more often than not, from somebody you loved and trusted. You couldn’t find a clearer example of that th...

Motivational speakers started really gaining popularity in the 70s and 80s, the golden age of “self-help.” And in recent years, they’ve been even more in-demand, especially in the business world. You can’t swing a dead cat these days without hitting some self-proclaimed entrepreneurial guru who claims to have the formula for success and would be happy to share it with you, if you sign up for their...

Nobody likes to be embarrassed. More often than not, people are kind of weird in one way or another, have some secret history or fascination they’d hate to have dragged out into the light of day. It’s normal. What’s less normal is just how far some people will go to avoid their embarrassing secrets coming out…even to the point of murder. Join Katie and Whitney, plus the hosts of Last Podcast on th...

The heart has been the subject of mythology for humanity for centuries. Egyptians believed that in the afterlife, your heart was weighed against a feather and if all your life’s sins didn’t outweigh the feather, you could join Osiris in the afterlife. If it was heavier, your heart was consumed by Amuut, a demon, and your soul disappeared forever. Ancient Greeks believed that the heart was the anch...

If there’s one thing that gets people’s blood pumpin’, it’s sports. All over the world on any given day, you can find people getting into passionate arguments about whose team has a better chance of making the playoffs, or the finals, or the World Cup or whatever. Sometimes there are fisticuffs involved! There are pubs in Scotland where you’re not allowed to wear your football team colors, for fea...

A young woman found naked and dead in the water. A diary that held clues to a secret life. Dark truths hidden behind suburban walls, and a mind at war with itself. This week we have a tale of mystery and madness where the borders of reality itself start to crumble. Join Katie and Whitney, plus the hosts of Last Podcast on the Left, Sinisterhood, and Scared to Death, on the very first CRIMEWAVE tru...

There’s a meme I’ve seen a few times. It says “You never know how toxic something is until you breathe fresher air.” I think it’s about how easy it is to get so completely wrapped up in a relationship, or a group dynamic, or a way of thinking that you stop seeing it for what it is. You become less and less tuned in to what’s normal. This happens a lot when you get two close friends together—two pe...

You’re supposed to be safe at home. Why wouldn’t you be? And that sense of comfort must be even greater if “home” is a beautiful house you built yourself, where you live happily with your family in a town where you’re successful and respected. You’d have no reason at all to think that someone was watching you with binoculars through the trees, their heart burning ever hotter with rage, ever closer...

Obsession is one of humanity’s greatest boons… and curses. Obsession can fuel a scientist’s entire career in trying to solve a singular problem. An athlete’s obsession can pull them to physics bending heights, a politician’s obsession with a cause can push a world changing bill forward. People can be obsessed over all sorts of great and mundane things: books, trading cards, cars, art without any k...

There are some people who, if they find themselves stuck in a hole, will just keep digging deeper. Maybe they think they’ll find some highly improbable way out of their troubles, more likely it’s all they know to do. This week’s story is about a man who kept doubling down on his lies and bad decisions until the lives of those closest to him were torn to pieces. Join us for a twisty tale of decepti...

The U.S. military teaches recruits to function together as a well-oiled machine—and for young people who dream of joining the most elite forces, it requires discipline, commitment, and loyalty, not to mention the courage to put yourself in harm’s way for the greater good. For the ones with the deepest commitment, there has to be a fire in the belly that drives them to keep their eye on the prize,...

The Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast returns for its second season! Seven years after his release from prison, former juvenile lifer Luis "Suave" Gonzalez seems tobe thriving. His career has taken off, he’s in a committed relationship and he’s received publicrecognition after telling his story on the podcast. Suave always thought once he was out ofprison and found stability in his new life, he would...

How far would you go to get what you want? For most of us, there’s a hard limit on the answer to that question, and that limit is hurting someone. Especially someone close to you. But in this week’s story, we meet a man who didn’t believe in limits like that, who would let nothing and no one stand in the way of his ambition and desires. It’s a mindset you might expect from a Wall Street bigshot, b...

For at least the past 200 years or so, there’s been a lot of debate about women and the role we’re supposed to play in society. Historically, we’ve been expected to be the nurturers, the caregivers—the gentler sex, as we used to be called. We cook the food, we nurse the sick, we mind the children. Some of us are perfectly content in that role. But all throughout history, there have also been women...

For people of faith, a minister is supposed to be a figure of trust, a rock to support you in times of trouble. Not everyone who holds that position meets those ideals, though. This week’s story is about a man whose minister’s robes and carefully practiced smiles hid a heart burning with violence and dark desires, someone who would betray every trust given to him and leave pain—not salvation—in hi...

In this week’s episode, we are going to be looking at “Bullshido,” a catch-all term for martial arts practices that are either fake, delusional, or just plain useless. This is the land of no-touch knockouts, touches of death, and mystical masters who can’t manage their own lives. We’ll be asking the question—should you learn self-defense from summon who struggles with basic reality? Spoiler, the a...

Art is a mysterious thing. It’s hard to pin down why one thing moves us and another does not. Similarly, it can be hard to identify that special spark, that unique creativity that an artist can have that lifts their work into something magical. If you don’t have that, all the technical skill and carefully won knowledge in the world won’t get you to that special place. Unless, of course, you just s...

We’ve covered some real nasty pieces of work on our show over the years. Dive into true crime for any length of time, and you’re bound to come across plenty of people you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. Or a lit one, even. But even among the rogue’s gallery of devil’s rejects out there, there are some in a league of their own. People so devoid of morals and human empathy that they should re...

Last week, we learned the identity of the man hired to kill Rozanne Gailiunas—Andy Hopper, an insurance adjustor turned weed dealer who had apparently added “hitman” to his list of careers. But investigators were still uncertain whether Andy was who they were after, or just a middleman who could lead them to the real killer. So they let him remain free—and then, tipped off by his girlfriend, he va...

In last week’s episode, young nurse Rozanne Gailiunas was brutally murdered while her  young son slept in the room next door. Suspicion initially fell on both her estranged husband, Peter, and her new boyfriend, Larry Aylor. But evidence was thin on the ground, and the case went cold. Three years later, Larry was the target of a botched assassination attempt, but had trouble getting the police to...

The late, great Bo Diddley asked one of life’s big questions in one of the 20th century’s greatest songs—“Who Do You Love?” That’s a simple question, but in some relationships, the answer isn’t simple at all. Love, money, revenge—people kill for all kinds of reasons. And in this week’s case, those motives tangle together in a way that will tear lives to pieces. A woman torn between two men, a crim...

We’ve covered our share of scary ladies on this show. In fact, bad bitches are one of our special interests. There was Tracey Richter, who murdered an innocent neighbor to frame him for a crime he didn’t commit. Marie Hilley, the serial poisoner who eluded police for years and once passed herself off as her own (fictional) twin sister. Marjorie Orbin, the Vegas showgirl who murdered her husband fo...

Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Money has never made a man happy yet, nor will it.” To which I think a lot of people would say, yeah, try being poor, Benny. A couple thousand dollars would make me plenty happy right now. But, once you’re beyond the stage of having enough wealth to be comfortable and free from fear of destitution, I think his point mostly stands. We’ve seen a lot of cases involving very...