What Happened to Joseph Smedley? Episode Eight: Less than 1%
A Heavy Weight1 Joulu 2025

What Happened to Joseph Smedley? Episode Eight: Less than 1%

In this episode we return to the death of Indiana University student Joseph Smedley, whose body was found in Griffy Lake with a backpack weighed down with rocks. Drawing on a twenty year study of suicide by drowning and the insight of forensic pathologist Dr Darin Wolfe and forensic aquatic death investigator Andrea Zaferes, we ask how likely it really is that Joseph died by suicide in the way his case was closed.

We unpack the challenges of determining cause and manner of death in bodies recovered from water, revisit the original autopsy and the attempted second autopsy, and explore the confusing trail of cell phone pings that suggest Joseph was not alone in his final hours. Along the way, we raise larger questions about how death determinations are made, what it means when a case is labeled suicide instead of undetermined, and why some missing students receive wall to wall coverage while others are met with silence.

Content note This episode includes discussion of suicide, death, and possible foul play.


Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(73)

The Gregory Gabler Case

The Gregory Gabler Case

In September 2024, Indiana University student Gregory Gabler was arrested after a reported assault inside an on-campus dorm. He was originally charged with serious felony offenses, but in 2026, the ca...

18 Touko 24min

Wendy Wear and JoAnn Bontjes

Wendy Wear and JoAnn Bontjes

Two young women. Two Minnesota roads. Two cold cases still waiting for answers.In part one, we look at the unsolved homicide of Juanita “Wendy” Wear, a seventeen year old who was last seen at a party ...

12 Touko 23min

Who Murdered Anita Carlson?

Who Murdered Anita Carlson?

In June 1987, twenty-two year old Anita Carlson was working the late shift at Pete’s Place West, a gas station and convenience store just outside Bemidji, Minnesota. Anita had recently graduated from ...

4 Touko 31min

What happened to Todd Hanson and Chad Birkeland?

What happened to Todd Hanson and Chad Birkeland?

Two young men disappeared from South St. Paul on May 2, 1993. Eleven days later, Chad Birkeland’s body was recovered from the Mississippi River near Hastings. Todd Hanson was never found, and the case...

21 Huhti 21min

Who Murdered Toni Monette?

Who Murdered Toni Monette?

A woman works an overnight shift she wasn’t supposed to take.Sometime between 3:10 and 4:30 in the morning, Toni Monette is stabbed to death inside a 7-Eleven in Mounds View, Minnesota. She’s found in...

14 Huhti 18min

Who Murdered Eden Young?

Who Murdered Eden Young?

A woman gets into a van at 3 a.m. and disappears.Days later, Eden Young is found beaten to death in a quiet yard miles away from where she was last seen. Her clothing is discovered along a highway. In...

7 Huhti 20min

Who Murdered Teresa Osbourne?

Who Murdered Teresa Osbourne?

An 18-year-old leaves work to run an errand and never returns.In August 1973, Teresa Osborne disappeared after picking up pastries from a bakery in Seymour, Indiana. Ten days later, her body was found...

31 Maalis 22min

The Hailey Buzbee Case

The Hailey Buzbee Case

Seventeen-year-old Hailey Buzbee left her home in 2026 after months of online communication with a man she thought she knew. What followed exposed the realities of grooming and the gaps in a system st...

23 Maalis 13min

Suosittua kategoriassa True crime

jaljilla
maanantaimysteeri
backmanholmavuo
i-dont-like-mondays
palmujen-varjoissa
murhan-anatomia
kurja-juttu
rss-jaljilla
piinan-kirous-2
viimeinen-havainto
rss-murhan-anatomia
rss-paha-syntyi-pohjolassa
sattuman-vaara
rss-maanantaimysteeri-2
motiivina-mustasukkaisuus
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
paha-syntyi-pohjolassa-bonuskausi
se-voisin-olla-mina
motiivina-raha
rss-en-ehka-halua-tietaa