Criminal

An illustration of a simple hospital gown with a breast pocket on a hanger, and a prison jumpsuit with a breast pocket on a hanger.

No Place Like Home

Episode #27

2015-09-25 03:59:50

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In the early 90s, a wealthy magazine publisher was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 18 months in a minimum security prison in Louisiana. But white collar criminals weren't the only people living there, and the other people inside had basically been forgotten about by the outside world, some of...
An illustration of the lower body of a soccer player, foot on a soccer ball, wearing soccer shorts and a trench coat, holding a magnifying glass. Newspapers are spread under his cleated feet.

Angie

Episode #26

2015-09-10 21:57:03

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In July of 2002, Philadelphia Homicide Detective Pat Mangold was called to the scene of a gruesome murder on the Schuylkill River. When he wasn't able to determine the victim's identity, he expected the case to remain unsolved. But then, out of the blue, a professional soccer player named Adam...
An illustration of the Lawson family photograph taken two weeks before the murders.

The Portrait

Episode #25

2015-08-27 21:11:34

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More than eighty years ago, a North Carolina family of nine posed for a Christmas portrait. Two weeks later, all but one of them had been shot dead. (See the portrait here.) Today, we bring you the story of the Lawson family of Stokes County. The Lawson Family, December 1929...
An illustration of a tray of various surgical and medical instruments.

Pearl Bryan

Episode #24

2015-08-06 21:56:59

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In February of 1896, a little boy discovered a woman's headless body in a farmer's field in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. No one knew who she was, or what had happened. Newspapers carried headlines like "Hunt for the Head" and "Headless Horror." Quickly, the crime scene became a tourist attraction and...
An illustration of a few pieces of petrified wood, with the text, in cursive: I am sorry I took this —.

Triassic Park

Episode #23

2015-07-16 20:23:20

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The Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona has the largest collection of petrified wood in the world. The beautiful wood is more than 200 million years old, and visitors to the park often take a little piece home with them as a souvenir. But stealing the wood has serious consequences,...
An illustration of a man inside of a triangle, perched atop a pile of oversized, tied-up books, reading a book, legs crossed.

Ex Libris

Episode #22

2015-06-26 01:32:28

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Hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of rare books have been disappearing across America since the late 90s, and haven't resurfaced in the marketplace. They've just vanished, never to be seen again. But unlike most thieves, this thief is motivated by something more abstract and romantic than money, which makes...
An illustration of two crossed rifles, with a pair of handcuffs beneath the guns and a rabbit running above the guns.

Bloodlines

Episode #21

2015-06-05 02:54:17

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Julius Robinson had killed for revenge before, and so when his sister was brutally murdered in her sleep last year, he says he planned to "get" the killer. He felt like his family expected him to get revenge, because that's what he'd always done, both in and out of prison. But when his 17-year-old...
An illustration of a bearded man removing a mask that looks nothing like his actual face.

Gil From London

Episode #20

2015-05-15 02:16:40

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Karen Miller met a man named Gil Harper on Facebook. They started flirting. The flirtation grew more serious. Eventually, they planned to meet in real life. Gil would travel from London to meet Karen for her birthday. With his arrival just a few days away, Karen's son scrambled to learn...
An illustration of a kindly looking old woman in a comfortable armchair, behind bars.

Mother’s Little Helper

Episode #19

2015-04-24 03:46:31

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Sandie Alger is a 71-year-old woman with a very long rap sheet. She was in and out of prison throughout the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, and upped her game each time she got out. Prison, she says, is where you move "up the criminal ladder, just like the corporate ladder."...
An illustration of a Texas license plate with the license plate number 695 BGK.

695BGK

Episode #18

2015-04-03 01:49:21

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Police officer John Edwards was patrolling a quiet neighborhood in Bellaire, Texas when he saw an SUV driven by two young African-American men, including Robbie Tolan. It was just before 2am on December 31, 2008. Edwards followed the SUV and ran the license plate number. When his computer indicated that...
An illustration of a neon EXIT sign, a vertical arrow with a curve to the left that reads: WAY OUT.

Final Exit

Episode #17

2015-03-13 12:44:53

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No one disputes that it's against the law to take another person's life, but is it against the law to sit with someone and watch while they die by suicide. We meet an elderly woman named Fran Schindler who sneaks around the country as an "exit guide." This is a...
An illustration of a man driving a horse and buggy.

Poster Boy

Episode #16

2015-02-20 04:00:35

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On July 17th, 1889, the residents of Clayton County, Iowa woke up to news of the worst crime in their history. A Civil War veteran John Elkins and his young wife Hattie had been murdered in their bed in a grisly attack. Their two children escaped to raise the alarm....
An illustration of a peaceful Buddha statue, meditating.

He’s Neutral

Episode #15

2015-01-30 02:16:59

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Dan Stevenson has lived in Oakland's Eastlake neighborhood for 40 years. He says crime has been an issue for as long as he can remember, but he isn't one to call the police on drug dealers or sex workers. He's a pretty "live and let live" kind of guy. Or he was....
An illustration of an old TV with a pointillistic depiction of a man on it.

The Fifth Suspect

Episode #14

2015-01-09 13:03:33

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In June 2014, authorities released information about a massive child pornography ring being conducted in North Carolina. Four suspects had already been arrested, and the police were asking the public for help finding a fifth suspect. But they didn't need to look very hard — the suspect, a man named...
An illustration of an older man smoking a pipe and an older woman with curly hair.

The Big Sleep

Episode #13

2014-12-19 04:23:26

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Raymond Chandler is often called the greatest American crime novelist, famous for murder mysteries like The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely. He's the subject of several biographies, and his correspondence and manuscripts are archived at Oxford. But something very, very important to Chandler had gotten lost. No one noticed...
An illustration of the AOL Instant Messenger figure with a ball and chain attached to its foot.

Break The Internet

Episode #12

2014-11-26 02:42:34

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In 1999, most of America's tech hysteria centered around Y2K. But at that same time, a teenager in Canada named Mike Calce was messing around in chat rooms, meeting hackers, and learning tricks. At 15, he decided to put his knowledge to the test. To push up against the Internet's...