I think I missed my calling in the world of criminal justice. I don’t even remember where my interest in true crime began, but my iPhone is now full of episodes of various true crime podcasts and I find myself forever talking to co-workers and friends about the latest episodes they need to hear. I decided to write a blog post with reviews of some of my favorites.
Up and Vanished
This is probably my favorite podcast of all time. It covers the 12 year old case of missing Georgia beauty queen and high school teacher Tara Grinstead. All of these years have passed without any new leads, and yet she has the largest case file in Georgia’s history. Host Payne Lindsay takes on the case looking for answers and builds up a community of web sleuths, legal experts, and law experts to help him along the way. What started off with quick progress quickly blew up and became so much more than anyone expected. I literally could not wait for each new episode to come out and I feel as though I understand so much more about our legal system now as a result. This podcast is paving the way for a new means of gathering relevant leads in cold cases because it gets the information out to a large audience and “shakes the trees” as Payne Lindsay likes to say.
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Sword and Scale
With almost 100 episodes now, this is a great podcast to start on if you have a lot of long commutes. Each episodes are a different case, with some exceptions of larger cases coming in the form of 2 back-to-back episodes. What I love about this one is that there is so much audio from actual perpetrators, investigators, and families and friends of victims. Host Mike Boudet creates a very immersive experience, and I have often found myself pulling into my driveway and not being able to leave the car until an episode is finished. Favorite cases: The Craigslist Killer, Philip Chism, and Mitchelle Blair.
If you like this one, there is also Sword and Scale Rewind which goes back and reviews original Sword and Scale cases and gives updates on some of the people involved.
The Vanished
This podcast is all about missing people. Some of the cases have gone cold or have since been resolved, but many are current. They bring to light many of the problems within law enforcement agencies especially when dealing with adult missing persons who are assumed to have left of their free will or teens who are too frequently labeled as runaways. Some of what families have had to endure for years trying to find help in locating their loved ones is practically criminal. The case of Ebby Steppach is especially unsettling as so much crucial evidence has been lost as a result of local law enforcement not doing their jobs.
Unconcluded
I remember hearing about the missing Jennifer Kesse on Investigation Discovery channel’s show Disappeared some time ago. All they have to go on is a few very grainy time lapse photos of a person of interest seen dropping her car off at a nearby condo complex only miles from where she lived. He has never been identified. There have been several other people investigators have suspected, but many have since been cleared, or there wasn’t enough to info to locate them to be questioned. Several witnesses who think they have crucial information are coming forward now saying their leads given to the tip line years ago were never followed up on. Hopefully enough people will come forward to begin putting the pieces together to find answers.
Vanished: The Tara Calico Investigation
A co-worker recommended this podcast when it was released. She was familiar with the case and knew it would be a good listen. Tara Calico went missing from New Mexico in 1988. Almost a year later, a polaroid photo was found in a parking lot in Florida of a young woman and younger boy bound and gagged in a van. The girl in the photo was thought by many (her family included) to be Tara and has been the source of constant debate up until very recently. Theories about sex trafficking have been thrown around quite a bit. This podcast, like Up and Vanished, took a sudden exciting and unexpected turn. It looks like there might very well be some closure to Tara’s story soon.
In the Dark
The kidnapping case of Jacob Wetterling is exactly why I would never let my own daughter walk to school or ride bikes around our neighborhood alone even with a small group of friends. Recently solved in September of 2016 when Danny Heinrich confessed and lead authorities to Jacob’s remains, 29 years of waiting for answers finally comes to an end for everyone who was touched by this case. The really sick part is that in exchange for confessing, revealing the remains, and telling the court the details of what happened, he was not charged with Jacob’s murder and will only spend 20 years behind bars for a child pornography charge.