Crime Writers On...True Crime Review

Having eluded authorities for 17 years, the criminal known as the Unabomber is ready to make a deal. If newspapers will print his manifesto, he’ll stop killing people. But his anti-technology rants sound familiar to the family of Ted Kaczynski. When the disheveled cabin dweller is arrested, it confirms everyone’s suspicion the culprit was a mad man. But how did he go from mathematics professor to serial bomber? And were there other ways the story could have gone?Produced by Pineapple Street Studios, the Apple Original podcast “Project Unabom” tells the story of a nation and a family coming to grips with what was happening inside a tiny cabin in the Montana woods. Host Eric Benson digs into Kaczynski’s personal papers, and talks to key people from the investigation…including those first suspected of being the Unabomber.  OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "PROJECT UNABOM" BEGIN IN THE LAST 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.In Crime of the Week: Your nose knows. 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.

Homicide detectives respond to the shooting of a woman in a car on a dark North Hollywood street. The killing does not appear to be random and the lead suspect is the victim’s husband, actor Robert Blake. Complicating the investigation are the revelations about the victim’s past. Before her marriage, Bonny Lee Bakley spent decades as a con artist, cavorting with criminals and celebrities alike, leaving a long trail of enemies.From Wondery comes the latest series from the podcast “Hollywood & Crime”... “The Execution of Bonny Lee Bakley” rehashes the 2001 Robert Blake case. Hosts Tracy Pattin and Josh Lucas provide all the narration and dramatic dialogue.  OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE EXECUTION OF BONNY LEE BAKLEY" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.In Crime of the Week: sleeping under the stars.  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.

Pet store owners tell buyers their puppies come from reputable breeders and humane kennels. But verifying that is challenging, because the dogs are often supplied by brokers who act as middlemen between the shops and shady puppy mills. Jolyn Noethe is a broker who allegedly engineered a multi-million dollar scheme to launder puppies and deceive buyers throughout the country about where their new pets actually came from.In the new season of “Smoke Screen” from Neon Hum, “Puppy Kingpin” pulls apart the scheme to circumvent laws against trafficking animals from puppy mills to unsuspecting consumers. Host Alex Schuman introduces us to the advocates, pet owners and prosecutors trying to shut down a racket that rewards cruelty and deception.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "SMOKE SCREEN: PUPPY KINGPIN" BEGIN IN THE LAST TEN 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.

The ubiquity of the Web means people can be whomever they want, wherever they want. That cloak of anonymity makes it easy to steal identities, spread hate speech, and make threats against the unsuspecting. But beyond the criminal acts, the nefarious use of the Internet opens the doors for more pernicious problems - like the erosion of truth or the overreach of a government attempting to strike back.The Netflix documentary series “Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet” shows a series of digitally-based crimes - like swatting, sextortion, hate speech and fraud. It also pivots to the ripple effects of these acts - like misogyny, intrusions of civil liberties, police accountability, and the destabilization of our society.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "WEB OF MAKE BELIEVE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 9 MINUTES OF THE PODCAST.In Crime of the Week: anticipation. 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.

After a 24 hour standoff at a bank robbery, two armed men and their two hostages flee through West Germany. Later, they hold up a city bus and take more hostages. While the police stay back, the criminals instead open a dialogue with the press, calmly taking questions while brandishing weapons. With reporters following the bus through the country, conducting interviews at every stop, the hostage takers are growing more anxious about the situation. With no clear-cut path for a peaceful conclusion, the nation remains glued to the television.Now on Netflix, the German-language documentary “Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis” relies exclusively on footage shot by news crews who captured the 54-hour ordeal. For English-speaking audiences unfamiliar with the 1988 event, its close-up, real-time chronicle of this rolling standoff builds both suspense and dread.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "GLADBECK: THE HOSTAGE CRISIS" BEGIN IN THE LAST 10 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.

An unexplained cancer is moving through New York’s gay community. Throughout the early 1980s, as more men die, its origins remain a mystery. Meanwhile battlelines form among activists, scientists, politicians, and the public at large. “Slow Burn” creator Leon Neyfakh is out with “Fiasco: The AIDS Crisis” on Audible. The podcast looks into the forgotten twists and turns of the epidemic’s early days, when a diagnosis was a death sentence. Neyfakh brings us those who struggled to keep the infected alive - and get society to care.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "FIASCO: THE AIDS CRISIS" BEGIN IN THE LAST 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE. In Crime of the Week: let me roll it to you.  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.

Authorities were stumped by the untimely deaths of people who had been taking a little-known diet drug. Known as DNP, the chemical helped users shed pounds, all while cooking them alive from the inside. But the compound which was developed as a World War One explosive had long been banned for human consumption. How was it turning up on the Internet? Why did those with body dysmorphia want it?  And why were authorities slow to take action despite the pleas from families of the victims?The C13Originals podcast “One Click” is co-hosted by actress Elle Fanning and journalist Jessica Wapner. They dive into the rise of DNP deaths, while also exploring the historical pressures on body image that likely fueled victims’ desperation to take a risky drug in the name of beauty.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "ONE CLICK" BEGIN IN THE LAST 9 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.

As the self-proclaimed Prophet of the FLDS, a fundamentalist offshoot of the Mormon church, Warren Jeffs used the lure of eternal salvation to manipulate his followers. He arranged polygamous marriages and coerced families to offer their girls as child brides within the secretive sect, while authorities did little to stop him.The Netflix series “Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey'' paints a disturbing picture of the modern subjugation of women and the effects of tyrannical control dressed up as religious obedience. It presents many women who fled their underaged marriages and the outsiders who worked to expose the FLDS’s illegal actions.  OUR SPOILER FREE REVIEWS OF "KEEP SWEET: PRAY AND OBEY" BEGIN IN THE LAST 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.In Crime of the Week: car accident.   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.

The gang of friends in Hawkins is slowly growing apart. Mike, Dustin, Max and Lucas are in different high school cliques. Having moved to California with Joyce's family, Eleven is finding it hard navigating a new school without her supernatural powers. Though wanted by the KGB, Joyce and Murray pursue a tip that Hopper is alive and in a Soviet prison camp. Steve, Nancy, and Robin join their friends to defeat a dark wizard who’s targeting troubled teens in Hawkins. Meanwhile a team of scientists push Eleven to confront her past to regain her powers needed for another fight in the Upside Down.In season four, part one of Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” our heroes attempt to rescue Hopper, recharge El, and repel Vecna. The show widens its universe, adds depth to its young characters, and provides its scariest plotlines yet.  OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "STRANGER THINGS" BEGIN APPROXIMATELY IN THE 41:00  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.

Michael Peterson said he found his wife at the bottom of the staircase after a fatal fall. But authorities believed when Kathleen Peterson learned of her husband’s double life, he beat her skull with a blow poke in a fit of rage. With the support of his family, a top-notch defense attorney, and a French film crew documenting his every move, Peterson stood trial in a case filled with twists and revelations. Despite holes in the evidence, the jury convicted him of murder.The MAX Original 8-part drama “The Staircase” starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette takes the story beyond where its namesake documentary left off. We see Peterson’s challenges in prison, his family’s personal struggles, clashes over bias in the film - and yes - evidence that an owl attack accounted for Kathleen’s wounds and disorientation.  OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF HBO'S "THE STAIRCASE" BEGIN APPROXIMATELY IN MINUTE 38:00In crime of the week: all shook up.  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.