S2 Ep 9: Trade...Ahem...Secrets - Serial Season 2

In 2009, after her release from the LA County Sheriff’s Department on a minor arrest, Mitrice Richardson walked into the night and vanished. Her naked, mummified body was discovered months later in a remote Malibu Canyon creek bed. Authorities said the cause and manner of her death were undetermined. Mitrice’s family accused the department of botching the investigation, mishandling her remains, and ignoring signs of foul play. They also failed to get answers from the last person who saw her alive: a man with a violent past living in a wilderness fort near the creek.“Lost Hills: Dark Canyon” is the fourth season of the true crime podcast from Pushkin Industries and Western Sound.  Host Dana Goodyear traces Mitrice’s last steps in an effort to learn how she died. She also identifies a new person of interest and tries to do what detectives couldn’t: get evidence against this prime suspect.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "LOST HILLS: DARK CANYON" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

29 Juli 202443min

A therapist discovers the mysterious clinic where she works is treating war vets by erasing their memories. We’ll go back to our Dec 30, 2016 review of Gimlet’s “Homecoming” starring Catherine Keener and Oscar Isaac. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

25 Juli 202427min

In 2011, more than a dozen high school girls in Le Roy, New York began displaying Tourette-like twitches and tics. Health officials could not find a physical or environmental cause for the symptoms, and believed the teens were suffering from conversion disorder. But some rejected the implication their illness was all in their heads, insisting a medical cause was to blame. Was Le Roy High School the site of the latest chapter in the history of mass hysteria? From Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios comes the seven part podcast “Hysterical.” Host Dan Taberski looks to answer whether the teens were victims of a mysterious illness or a psychosomatic contagion. He also examines Havana Syndrome and fentanyl-exposure overdoses, other instances where victims may be affected more by suggestion than by science.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "HYSTERICAL" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.In Crime of the Week: send our regrets. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

22 Juli 202449min

It was a water park focused on crazy rides and little concern for safety...and Rebecca has the scars to prove it. We’ll return to our Sept 21, 2020 review of “Class Action Park.” For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

18 Juli 202424min

While conducting a routine firearms background check, a federal agent hears a rumor about Thomas Gibison that dated back to high school. He’d bragged that he and a friend shot a Black man to earn a skinhead spider web tattoo. Investigators get accomplice Craig Peterson to confirm 15 years earlier they killed a random pedestrian in Philadelphia. But with no name, date, or open case to work from, the agents are at a loss as to how to solve this crime. They’re able to match the details to the unsolved death of Aaron Wood, the victim of a random shooting in 1989. But can prosecutors win a conviction for a real life hate crime working off of loose talk and old memories?“Deep Cover: The Nameless Man” is the fourth season of the investigative podcast from Pushkin Industries. Pulitzer Prize winner Jake Halpert talks to investigators, jurors and family members about the crime and its implications. How were the authorities’ questions answered about who was their victim and the family’s questions about who was the shooter?OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "DEEP COVER: THE NAMELESS MAN" IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE PODCAST. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

15 Juli 202445min

A pair of FBI agents teams with a researcher to interview the most dangerous serial killers to create a new investigative tool: criminal profiling. We’ll revisit our Oct 27, 2017 review of Netflix’s “Mindhunter” For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

11 Juli 202445min

In 1989, 23-year-old Kevin Hughes was killed when he was ambushed by a gunman along Nashville’s famous Music Row. Hughes had been troubled that the country music record chart he worked for was accepting money under the table to manipulate the rankings of up-and-coming artists.Hughes’s opposition to the dirty practice put him in the crosshairs of powerful independent music promoters who paid for chart positions to milk money from their unsuspecting clients. Detectives wondered if Hughes was executed because he didn’t want to play ball…and whether someone lured him into a deadly trap to get back on the chart with a bullet.In the podcast “Music on Murder Row” from The Tennessean, host Keith Sharon explores who benefitted from Hughes’s killing, challenges the claims of the passenger in the car, and looks at the unscrupulous actions of promoters who prey on those dreaming of stardom. Sharon also tells the tale of the hit country music song “Music on Murder Row” and how it does and doesn’t fit in with the case.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "MURDER ON MUSIC ROW" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 14 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.In Crime of the Week: bust a gut! For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

8 Juli 202449min

After seeing a report about facilitated communication, a student of professor Anna Stubblefield asked if she could help his disabled brother. With support for his arm and hand, Derrick Johnson could type on a small keyboard. With Stubblefield’s assistance, the nonverbal man could express a wide range of thought, feelings, and academic promise. Over time, the pair fell in love and started a sexual relationship. But the Johnsons speculated Stubblefield was manipulating his communication, guiding his finger to type out what she wanted. They also believed Derrick was incapable of consenting to a relationship and the professor was raping the man she promised to help. Who was actually typing his messages? In the Netflix documentary “Tell Them You Love Me,” we hear from both Stubblefield and the Johnsons and their differing takes on what happened to Derrick. It also explores the controversy around facilitated communication and the likelihood of bias by those assisting nonverbal users.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "TELL THEM YOU LOVE ME" BEGIN IN THE FINAL NINE MINUTES OF THE EPISODE. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

4 Juli 202444min