The First Degree

It’s a variety show kinda week, and we’re covering all ends of the oddity spectrum for you. From Will Smith’s AI concert promo fail, to forensic otters, to getting knives stuck in your chest for 10 years, to the Burning Man Orgy Dome, to super powered humans who feel no pain, you’e bound to learn a new random useless fact or two to take with you this week! 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join Steve Sparks, a behavior analysis expert with a chilling personal connection to the Kalamazoo murders, as he unpacks the bizarre events of that fateful night. The discussion reveals how an ordinary Uber driver became a source of chaos and fear, challenging the notion of everyday safety. Sparks explores the motivations behind such violence, the psychological profile of the attacker, and the courtroom revelations that left survivors and families searching for answers. It’s a haunting dive into the unpredictability of human behavior and the dark side of technology.

It’s a week full of replacing eyeballs with teeth, con men “suicides”, and thousands of hotdogs flying through the air. Plus, Jenna Miscavige is officially on TikTok and answering all of our most burning questions about Scientology (like where the HELL is Shelly???). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Homicide detectives are trained to speak for the dead. They build cases from silence, piecing together fragments of lives they never truly knew. Rarely do they ever get to meet the people they fight for. But for one Los Angeles investigator, that changed in the fall of 1987, when a woman lived through the impossible. After being abducted, held captive for 48 hours, and shot in the head twice, she somehow survived. Her story not only defied medical odds, it reshaped a detective’s career and life, forging a bond between victim and investigator that would endure long after the case was closed. In episode 365, Jac and Lex delve into the survival story of Carol LePak, with the help of retired LA homicide investigator, Don Tabek. 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you ever wondered what the inside of Jeffrey Epstein’s New York brownstone looked like? Well have no fear! The photos have been leaked and we are going through and analyzing each and every detail. Plus, cursed labubus and banned baby names! 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She did everything right.  She kept the records. Filed the reports. Changed her routines. But none of it mattered. Because the man tormenting her stayed just outside the rules.  A case where psychological terror was real, constant, and intentional-  and yet, legally invisible. In episode 364, Jac and Lex unravel how stalking can become a form of slow-motion violence. How the system waits for blood before it acts. And how, sometimes, the most dangerous threats are the ones hiding in plain sight, waiting, watching, and never quite crossing the line. 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we’re deep diving into Matt Rife buying Ed & Lorraine Warren’s haunted house (AND the Annabelle doll WTF?!), Dave Franco x Luigi Mangioni, Radioactive Wasps, and the woman who is crashing out on tiktok from falling in love with her psychiatrist, and WOO BOY is it a ride. 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Even with a young mother and her toddler missing, investigators don’t seem to push for answers. Instead, they accept her boyfriend’s version of events and ignore glaring red flags. For years, Jennifer Wix’s family is left to fight for the truth on their own, chasing leads and conducting their own investigation. Then, nearly two decades later, the boyfriend’s story changes and their worst fears are confirmed. In episode 363, Jac and Alexis break down the investigation, the devastating admission that Jennifer and Adrianna are dead, and the painful reality that despite everything, they’re still missing, and no one has been charged. 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon: patreon.com/thefirstdegree 📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree 🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee 👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You asked, we delivered! Killing Time is back (for a limited time only) and our very own Jared is back to guest host with us. Things got weird pretty fast. We’re talking Katy Perry & Justin Trudeau going on a first date, Orlando Bloom punching Justin Bieber, Cheesecake Factory vs P.F. Chang’s, an alien invasion coming in October, and how exactly does an eel get stuck in one’s intestine?? 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon:patreon.com/thefirstdegree📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On March 25, 2004, a 21-year-old mother and her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter vanish without a trace from rural Robertson County, Tennessee. Their family is devastated…and immediately suspicious. In the months leading up to their disappearance, Jennifer Wix had become increasingly isolated, with no car, no job, and no way out. Her relationship with her boyfriend and his parents was volatile, and her final phone calls made one thing clear: she was scared, and she was trying to leave with her daughter Adrianna. In episode 362, Jac and Alexis trace the emotional and increasingly dangerous path that led to Jennifer and Adrianna’s disappearance and the moment her family knew something was terribly wrong. 🎟 Catch up to FOUR bonus episodes per month plus full video episodes over on Patreon:patreon.com/thefirstdegree📸 Instagram: instagram.com/thefirstdegree🕺 TikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirstdegreee👤 Facebook: facebook.com/thefirstdegree  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices