Catching Lightning

In 2007, 18-year-old Justin Gaines left an Atlanta-area nightclub, got into a black car and disappeared. Seven years later, Dylan Glass told police he took part in Justin’s murder at an after-hours party and his mother helped clean it up. He was never charged and later recanted his statement.Over the years, tips about Justin’s fate and his whereabouts have led investigators to nothing but dead ends. Theories include a robbery, a jealous boyfriend, and a drug debt to the Mexican cartel. But podcast host Sean Kipe uncovered a promising lead: that Justin’s body was placed in a toolbox and submerged in Lake Lanier.  In the podcast “Drowning Creek” from Wavland, Kipe chases down witnesses, suspects, and possible motives for the disappearance of Justin Gaines. Along the way, he uncovers new clues that might be helpful to the investigation. Kipe also lands an exclusive interview with the man believed to have information that can break open the case.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "DROWNING CREEK" BEGIN IN THE FINAL EIGHT MINUTES OF THE EPISODE. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

5 Sep 202440min

California, September 1975. Within a span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women, working separately, tried to assassinate the president of the United States, Gerald R. Ford. These are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate an American president. The first, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, was already infamous as a prominent follower of cult leader Charles Manson.The second, Sara Jane Moore, was a 45 year-old housewife who infiltrated San Francisco's violent radical underground  working undercover for the FBI.The story of one strange and violent Summer, this season on RIP CURRENT. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

4 Sep 20244min

A pair of Stanford students turned their senior project on making a new kind of clean e-cigarette into the multi-billion dollar company known as JUUL. But a product envisioned as a way to give adults an alternative to smoking soon contributed to a new epidemic of teens getting hooked on nicotine.Though public outrage, bad press, and legislative action has largely gutted JUUL’s market share, new vape products have taken its place - many with dubious quality and questionable ingredients. And while advocates and regulators continue their fight against sales to minors, one controversial question remains unanswered: is vaping actually safer than smoking cigarettes?From Prologue Projects and exclusively on Audible, “Backfired: The Vaping Wars” chronicles the rise and fall - and rebirth - of a multi-billion dollar industry laser focused on satisfying customers’ nicotine cravings. Hosts Leon Neyfakh and Arielle Pardes go beyond JUUL’s cautionary tale and explore the current marketplace. It features an extended interview with JUUL founder James Monsees. It also follows Neyfakh’s own struggle with vaping and his quest to learn what the early science actually says about the hazards of the product.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "BACKFIRED: THE VAPING WARS" BEGIN IN THE FINAL NINE MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.In Crime of the Week: sticks nix chick flicks.  For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2 Sep 202448min

For the first time, network TV’s biggest true crime personality brings his signature style to podcasting. We’ll rewind to our September 30, 2019 review of the quirky classic from Dateline NBC, “The Thing About Pam,” with a "Date with Dateline" cameo appearance.  For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

29 Aug 202430min

An Iraqi lawyer reaches out to an American investigative journalist about a massacre that killed family members and others in his hometown. In 2005, after an IED attack on their convoy, US Marines stormed a village and executed 24 men, women, and children. The servicemen claimed they were returning fire from insurgents, but the evidence collected - including secret photographs - suggested a war crime was committed. Despite international condemnation of the Haditha massacre, none of the Marines served time for the killings. Two decades later, Madeleine Baran asks the question “why not?”Season three of the two-time Peabody Award winning podcast “In The Dark” from The New Yorker digs into the arcane world of the military justice system. The nine-part series is the result of four years of investigation, hundreds of interviews, and thousands of unreleased documents. Along the way, they uncover new details about that day in Haditha, the Marine Corps’s efforts to minimize it, and why no one involved in the biggest American war crime since Vietnam was ever punished.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF EPISODES 1-5 OF "IN THE DARK" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THIS EPISODE.In Crime of the Week: who can it be now? For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

26 Aug 202454min

A man awakes to find his one-night stand has been murdered. Can a down-on-his-luck lawyer win his freedom? We’ll go back to our July 22, 2016 review of HBO’s Emmy award winning “The Night Of." For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

22 Aug 202443min

A group of young girls prepare for a special Daddy-Daughter dance with their incarcerated fathers at a Washington, D.C. jail. For most, it’s the only time they’ll be able to touch or hug their dads until they’ve completed their sentences. The inmates must first complete a course on the meaning of fatherhood and contemplate their relationships with their children. But after the tearful last dance, the men grapple with how to be part of their daughters’ lives either in or out of jail.The Netflix documentary “Daughters” looks at the collateral damage of the criminal legal system through the eyes of four girls growing up with a father behind bars. It shows the men coming to terms with the effects of their incarceration on their children. It also follows the daughters long after the dance to see whether the event had a lasting impact on their relationships.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "DAUGHTERS" BEGIN IN THE FINAL ELEVEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODEIn Crime of the Week: golden opportunity. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

19 Aug 202450min

An intelligence analyst and a cunning assassin play a sexy game of cat and mouse. We’ll do a classic rewind to our June 8, 2018 review of BBC America’s “Killing Eve” starring Emmy winners Sandra Oh and Jody Comer. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

15 Aug 202428min