Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien
Playlist by Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’BrienOne of America’s greatest unsolved mysteries, and the two women at its core; One black, one white. One poor, one rich. They never actually met. But their lives came to intersect through one tragic day…Follow the podcast:
11 clip(s) in playlist
From Here We Go Again with Kal Penn: Is the Dynasty Dead? with Alexis Coe
Hey Murder on the Towpath listeners! We wanted to share an episode from a show that we think you'll enjoy: Here We Go Again with Kal Penn. Each week, Kal Penn takes today’s trends and headlines and asks: Why does history keep repeating itself? From the new space race and plane delays to fad drugs…
43:27
From SNAFU with Ed Helms: Sophia Bush and the Mona Lisa Heist
Hi, Murder on the Towpath listeners! We wanted to share an episode from a show we think you'll enjoy: SNAFU with Ed Helms. SNAFU with Ed Helms, America’s favorite podcast about history’s greatest screwups, is currently back for its 4th season with even more SNAFUs - one per episode, to be precis…
47:04
Two Women
A murder in Georgetown brought together many people. Some were famous. Others deserved to be. Now, Mary's paintings hang in the Smithsonian. Dovey was a civil rights pioneer who became a minister too. Their paths never crossed in the District, but now, their legacies are forever intertwined.
36:02
White Noise
A lost diary and a mysterious phone call cause conspiracy theorists to wonder if Mary knew too much. If so, did the CIA take her out? The theories might seem far-fetched. But unsolved murders beg for explanation - it's embedded in our psychology to want answers.
49:21
Exhibit A
A witness for the prosecution said he saw Ray after Mary's murder. But did he? Dovey's final defense hinges on one important piece of evidence: Ray Crump himself. By then, he'd spent 18 months behind bars, some of it in solitary confinement. Would he go free? And if he did, would he ever recover?
30:57
Just Say Yes
In the year before her death, Mary was coming into her own as a painter. She was experimenting with her art and drugs. But what Dovey didn't know at the time of Ray's trial was that Mary was having an affair with a very powerful man: President John F. Kennedy. We've got the love letter to prove it.
42:57
The Mapmaker's Testimony
For a whole year, Dovey retraced Mary’s last steps on the towpath in order to build her defense. Meanwhile, the aggressive, gum-smacking prosecutor portrayed Ray as a ruthless killer without morals. Dovey had to convince the jury that Ray was innocent—otherwise he would face the death penalty.
30:40
The CIA Wife
Mary Pinchot came from a rich, eccentric family. The kind of folks who rode horses naked on their estate and hobnobbed with Kennedys. She was fiercely committed to world peace, but ended up marrying a CIA man named Cord Meyer. It was only after a tragic accident that she became known for her distin…
36:13
Married to the Law
Dovey Johnson Roundtree became a lawyer at a time when no one wanted Black women to amount to anything. She’d grown up with the KKK terrorizing her neighborhood. A lucky break landed her at Spelman. Her intellect got her into Howard Law. But it was her courage that made her take on the daunting cas…
40:08
Bad Luck, Mary
It was a baffling mystery in 1964. Mary Pinchot Meyer - a socialite and painter connected to politicians and artists alike - was shot in broad daylight on a Georgetown towpath. Nobody knew what to make of it. A Black man soon became the suspect. But was he her killer or a scapegoat?
33:50