Voices of True Crime

Texas Deputy Kent McGowen shot and killed Susan White after she pulled a gun on him. It seemed like an open-and-shut case of an officer acting in self-defense. But before his first court date, the Houston region was inundated with rumor, innuendo and speculation about the case. Many believed those fabrications and half-truths to be fact. And an unsubstantiated-but-persistent story of how McGowen a...

Texas Deputy Kent McGowen shot and killed Susan White after she pulled a gun on him. It seemed like an open-and-shut case of an officer acting in self-defense. But before his first court date, the Houston region was inundated with rumor, innuendo and speculation about the case. Many believed those fabrications and half-truths to be fact. And an unsubstantiated-but-persistent story of how McGowen a...

In the gray hues of Seattle, two men, Steven and Scott, are locked in a perilous journey beyond the law's reach. Entangled in a world of bank heists and fleeting loyalties, they chase redemption in a society relentless in pursuit. Amid adrenaline-fueled escapades and moral dilemmas, their kinship deepens, culminating in an unexpected bond. The tale traces their odyssey against the unforgiving back...

The brutal murder of Elizabeth Short—better known as the Black Dahlia—in 1947 has been in the public consciousness for nearly eighty years, yet no serious study of the crime has ever been published. Short has been mischaracterized as a wayward sex worker or vagabond, and—like the seductive femme fatales of film noir—responsible for and perhaps deserving of her fate. William J. Mann, however, is in...

As shots rang out on March 30, 1981  outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Ronald Reagan and three others lie seriously wounded. Just two months after Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president, John Hinckley Jr. shocked the world because of his movie star obsession. What followed was chaos.  America learned of the deep psychosis that led to Hinckley’s obsession with act...

In  The People vs. the Golden State Killer , Thien Ho, the current District Attorney of Sacramento, recounts his harrowing and exhilarating experience as the lead prosecutor responsible for capturing and prosecuting Joseph DeAngelo. Referred to at various times by law enforcement and the media as the Visalia Ransacker, the East Bay Rapist, the Original Nightstalker, and finally the Golden Sta...

Who killed the Black Dahlia? In this eye-opening shocker, an award-winning producer, true-crime researcher, and Hollywood insider finally solves the greatest - and most gruesome - murder mystery of the twentieth century just before its 80th anniversary. In January 1947, the bisected body of Elizabeth Short, completely drained of blood, was discovered in an undeveloped lot in Los Angeles. Its grues...

Criminal profiling—the delicate art of collecting and deciphering the psychological “fingerprints” of the monsters among us—holds an almost mythological status in pop culture. But what exactly is it, does it work, and why is the American public so entranced by it? What do we gain, and endanger, from studying why people commit murder? In  The Monsters We Make , author Rachel Corbett explores h...

Before the Menendez brothers, O.J. and Ted Bundy, Charles Manson's name loomed large in modern stories of murder and crime. Over 50 years have passed since Manson and his devoted followers committed their horrific acts, yet the public remains in the dark about the Manson family and their journey into the abyss. How has this legendary story -- the stuff of sensational headlines, criminal culture an...

Customers know Brown's Chicken for its crispy buttermilk fried chicken and flaky biscuits. The Illinois-based franchise has a reputation for delicious but simple comfort food. But through no fault of its own, the words "Brown's Chicken" are also synonymous with one fateful night in January of 1993. “A Real Hometown” is the trite but apt motto of Palatine, Illinois, a quaint middle-class suburb wes...

A few years ago, Brian Wedemeyer, an elementary school principal in rural Arizona, is watching a documentary about the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman when a question suddenly pops into his head. He expects to get a quick answer on his cell phone, but it is nowhere to be found. A former journalist, Wedemeyer does not give up. However, as he painstakingly searches through court t...

The Serial Killer Travel Guide Across America  isn’t your typical road trip companion. This darkly fascinating guide is quirky and unconventional and takes readers on a darkly humorous journey through the United States, exploring notorious locations linked to infamous serial killers. From the shadowy forests of the Pacific Northwest to the sun-bleached basements of suburbia, each stop offers...

The vast majority of Hondurans would have never dared to set foot in Nueva Suyapa, a mountainside barrio that was under the thumb of a gang whose bravado and cruelty were the stuff of legend. But that is precisely where Kurt Ver Beek, an American sociologist, and Carlos Hernández, a Honduran schoolteacher, chose to raise their families. Kurt and Carlos were best friends who had committed their liv...

When Wayne Adam Ford walked into the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office in November 1998 with a woman's body part in his jacket pocket, the 36-year-old truck driver wasn’t a suspect in any crime. After a lengthy investigation spanning four California counties and a sensational trial, he was convicted of the torture and murder of four women. His first victim, whom he dismembered, would remain unident...

STORM OF SUSPICION:  The Karen Read Murder Trials is an electrifying, real-time courtroom thriller and the gripping personal account of author Kevin Lenihan’s detailed examination of the evidence—both known and what he’s discovered—as well as the dark rumors, courtroom bombshells, and conspiracy theories that are at the heart of two of the most explosive and controversial murder trials of the...

Dave is like nobody you’ve ever met. Or maybe you have, but didn’t know it. Thrown out of his home at 14, he used his wits, charm and determination to become one of the most successful drug dealers in Canada. But, after the birth of his son, he knew he had to make one last big score before getting out of the game. So, he became an undercover police agent, the first one whose life wasn’t in danger....

Over a span of 39 years, 25 aliases, 28 arrests in 20 cities, and nearly a dozen imprisonments, Robert Spears lived a con artist's life of unparalleled adventure and intrigue. But that is far from the end of his story. Shortly before Thanksgiving Day in 1959, a plane exploded in mid-air, killing all forty-two passengers and crew and leaving scattered debris and bodies across the otherwise tranquil...

A twisting, deeply engrossing investigation into the many lingering questions surrounding the sudden disappearance of the McStays, a family of four who vanished from their suburban San Diego home without a trace—until their skeletal remains were found in the Mojave Desert nearly four years later—from  New York Times  bestselling author Caitlin Rother. On February 15, 2010, Joseph McStay,...

What drove the inconspicuous sociopath to become a ruthless killer? During his nearly fifteen-year reign of terror, Ronald Lloyd Bailey’s depraved obsession with sexual sadism held communities across southeast Michigan in a shroud of fear. From the early 1970’s to the mid-1980’s, the former patient at one of Michigan’s foremost psychiatric hospitals, abducted as many as fifteen teens and over time...

For the first time in forty years, former New York Times editor Michael Cannell unearths the full story behind two ruthless New York cops who acted as double agents for the Mafia. No episode in NYPD history surpasses the depravities of Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, two decorated detectives who covertly acted as mafia informants and paid assassins in the Scorsese world of 1980s Br...

This bookunfolds the gripping history of weaponized mail, offering the first ever comprehensive exploration of this sinister phenomenon. Spanning two centuries, the book unveils the history of postal bombs, describing the evolution of both explosives and the postal services that facilitated their deadly use. From an eighteenth-century incident involving Jonathan Swift to modern acts of terror by g...

5.15 - Alan R Warren & Joe Goldberg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The true account of the twisted affair between murder suspect Peter Gill and Canada's most famous juror Gillian Guess Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Age 14: Orphan Age 15: Inmate Age 16: Outlaw Age 17: Killer In 1870s New Mexico, the territory is at a crossroads. The indigenous population is being driven out—and driven down—by the white settlers migrating west after the Civil War. The center of power isn’t the governor but rather the Santa Fe Ring, a group of wealthy politicians, businessman, and landowners who exercise power through organized...

Life as a  New York City police officer  is nothing like what you see on television. Of course, it can be fast-paced and action-packed. But unlike the soy boys you see running around with fake guns on the silver screen, NYPD cops are responsible for their actions. Crash a car, lose a prisoner, or get mouthy with the wrong supervisor, and there will be consequences. The penalties are seve...