Justine van der Leun: Unreasonable Women

My next guest has done something extraordinary: she traveled across America collecting stories of criminalized survival. Shocked to find how many women were convicted for protecting themselves against abuse. Author Justine van der Leun tells me the stories in her book Unreasonable Women: Three Stor…

Eva Benefield: Ghost Girl

If you followed the so-called Black Swan murder case, you probably saw a teenage girl, trying to get justice for her father. In 2020, Ashley Benefield shot and killed her estranged husband, Doug, in Florida. Eva Benefield had already gone through so much trauma in her life and then she had to watch…

Emily Winslow: Jane Doe January

Author Emily Winslow is a fabulous crime novelist and she’s also a sexual assault survivor. In 1992, she was a young drama student at an elite conservatory in Pittsburgh.  One January night, she was brutally raped by a stranger. More than 20 years later, Emily found out that the attacker had finall…

Pamela Colloff: Catch the Devil

Journalist Pam Colloff is one of my favorite people. She’s an outstanding criminal justice reporter who is now publishing her first book. And it’s a doozy.  It’s about a serial criminal, a so-called informant who conned the courts and the DAs. He sent dozens of people to prison who were wrongly con…

Michelle Pitcher: Riding Shotgun

A man was convicted of capital murder in Texas in 1999 and much of the case depends on eyewitness testimony. But there’s a twist: one of the witnesses was hypnotized. Should Charles Flores still be on death row? Michelle Pitcher from the Texas Observer tells me the story from season five of The Unf…

Axton Betz-Hamilton: The Less People Know About Us

Millions of us have had our identities stolen—the thief can be a stranger, or someone very close to you. Author Axton Betz-Hamilton grew up in fear in rural Indiana because her family was being targeted. Her father even had to sell his family’s farm. As an adult, Axton became an expert in identity …

Robert Hilland: Chasing Evil

In 1998, FBI agent Robert Hilland was at a dead end with a cold case, until he got a huge break… from a famous psychic, John Edward. Hilland was a skeptic, but not anymore. He spent twenty-five years solving crimes with Edward. Robert Hilland tells me the story at the center of his book, Chasing Ev…

Jessica McDiarmid: Highway of Tears

For decades, scores of Indigenous women and girls have vanished from an isolated stretch of highway in northwestern British Columbia called The Highway of Tears. Journalist Jessica McDiarmid is from that area, and she decided to investigate why so many cases were either ignored or dismissed.  She i…

Liam Le Guillou: An Unknown Compelling Force PT 2

We’re back talking to filmmaker Liam Le Guillou about his documentary An Unknown Compelling Force: The Dyatlov Pass Incident. We learn more about the victims, and we hear about many conspiracy theories.  Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https:/…

Liam Le Guillou: An Unknown Compelling Force PT 1

Filmmaker Liam Le Guillou was fascinated with the mystery surrounding the deaths of nine experienced Russian hikers in the Ural Mountains in 1959. Paul Holes and I talked about this case on Buried Bones, but Liam really, really dug into the mystery. He has his own opinion and he shares it in his do…