Crime Writers On...True Crime Review

In 1991, four teenage girls were found murdered inside a frozen yogurt store in Austin, Texas. The building had been set on fire, and the crime scene was compromised by the blaze. With no clear motive and little physical evidence, investigators struggled to make sense of what had happened. Years later, after coercive police interviews, a group of men pointed fingers at each other about the crime. Though their stories didn’t completely match, two were convicted and one of them sent to death row. But their convictions were overturned, and new DNA evidence pointed to an unknown suspect. The case remains unresolved, leaving investigators and relatives to wonder what went wrong.From HBO Documentary Films comes “The Yogurt Shop Murders.” The series digs into the twists and turns of the homicide investigation. It also spends considerable time exploring the emotional toll the case has had on the accused, the grieving family members, and the detectives trying to get justice.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE YOGURT SHOP MURDERS" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.In Crime of the Week: well done. 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.

A Chicago accountant flees to the backwoods to launder money and pay his debt to a Mexican drug cartel. We’ll revisit our August 18, 2017 review of season one of the crime-thriller classic “Ozark.”OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "OZARK" BEGIN IN THE FINAL FOUR 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.

Leaving their troubled past in New England behind, Sophie O’Neil’s family moves to Texas, where she’s invited into a friend circle of rich wives. The bougie ladies enjoy couture fashion, boozy brunches, and shooting rifles in the woods. Sophie’s connection to group leader Margo Banks grows intense, stirring something more than friendship. As Margo’s oil magnate husband plans to run for governor, the sheriff is dealing with two violent crimes. Sophie’s secret life becomes entwined in a murder investigation. As the walls close in, Sophie finds she’s not the only one willing to hide their secrets.The buzzy Netflix series “The Hunting Wives” stars Brittany Snow, Malin Åkerman, and Dermot Mulroney. It attempts to mix scandal, suspense, and obsession, all while serving up soapy mystery and plenty of skin.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE HUNTING WIVES" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE. In Crime of the Week: whole lotta faking goin' on. 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.

A journalist investigates an unsolved murder along Canada's infamous Highway of Tears…and sheds light on an overlooked epidemic of violence against Indigenous women. We’re going back to our December 2, 2016 review of the CBC’s groundbreaking podcast “Missing and Murdered” with host Connie Walker.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "MISSING AND MURDERED" BEGIN IN THE FINAL FOUR 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.

Fire investigator Dave Gudsen is assigned a new partner to help capture two arsonists. One has been setting fires with milk jugs filled with gasoline and grease. The other has been taunting officials with a delayed-ignition device that’s burning grocery stores. Dave draws on his experience to write a novel about a heroic arson investigator with unusual insight into his suspect’s mind. To Detective Michelle Calderone, the book reads more like a confession. She begins to wonder whether her partner’s uncanny ability to pinpoint these fires’ origins is because he’s been setting them himself.Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett star in the Apple TV+ series “Smoke,” inspired by the podcast “Firebug.” The show also features Greg Kinnear, John Leguizamo, and Anna Chlumsky. As Dave closes in on the other arsonist he’s hunting, Michelle secretly collects evidence to learn whether the smoke surrounding her partner will lead to actual fire.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "SMOKE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.In Crime of the Week: milkin' it. 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.

She raised millions of dollars to build a machine that could conduct dozens of diagnostic tests from a single drop of blood…but it was all a lie. We’ll return to our Feb 11, 2019 review of the biotech-con podcast “The Dropout.”OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE DROPOUT" BEGIN IN THE FINAL FOUR 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.

In the 1990s, Teen Mania Ministries aimed to compete with pop culture influences and reach Christian youth with rock concert-like worship events and international mission trips. The program became a pipeline for the Honor Academy, a religious education facility built on a curriculum of fundamentalist beliefs and unquestioning obedience. Founder Ron Luce aligned his group with conservative political organizations looking to create the next generation of evangelical Americans.  But his program would soon take on a militaristic tone, putting teens through brutal boot camps, glorifying martyrdom, and building an army of actual cultural warriors.“Shiny Happy People: A Teenage Holy War” is season two of the hit series on Prime Video. Producers pivot away from the drama around reality TV family the Duggars and focus on the rise and fall of Teen Mania. It features alumni recounting how their membership went from joyful engagement to physical and spiritual abuse.  It also shows how the youth program fits into a larger political crusade to reshape the nation according to fundamentalist Christian values.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE: A TEENAGE HOLY WAR" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 14 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.In Crime of the Week: fresh, baked pizza. 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.

He was a colorful showman who ran a sketchy zoo filled with big cats. She was the animal activist dogged by murder rumors who wanted to shut him down. That’s when Joe tried to have Carole killed. We’ll revisit our March 30, 2020 review of the series that changed pandemic television habits: Netflix’s “Tiger King.”OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "TIGER KING" BEGIN IN THE FINAL SIX 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.

In 1995, morning TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit was abducted from the parking lot of her Mason City, Iowa apartment. Among those the police questioned was her friend John Vansice who said she’d been at his home watching a videotape of the surprise party he recently threw for her. After a TV show in 2022 highlighted the mystery, Jodi’s best friend said the sketch of a suspect looked like her ex-husband, who’d also been fixated on Jodi. A cold case detective refocused his investigation on Brad Millerbernd, even searching a plot of land where the victim could have been buried.The three-part series from ABC News Studios “Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit,” now on Hulu, follows an investigator as he examines four potential suspects, including a serial rapist and a serial killer. Instead of re-hashing the past investigation, viewers follow Detective Terrance Prochaska as he picks up the fresh lead, interrogates a new suspect, and sends cadaver dogs to a potential burial site.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "HER LAST BROADCAST" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.In Crime of the Week: caught like a mouse. 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.

A Mississippi man sits on death row for decades after being tried six times for a quadruple murder. But an investigative team uncovers evidence he didn’t do it. We’ll go back to our May 11, 2018 review of probably the best true crime podcast of all time: season two of “In the Dark.”OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "IN THE DARK" BEGIN IN THE FINAL FIVE 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.