Criminal

An illustration of a hand holding a pen, writing out a check addressed to Leon Moore.

I’m About to Save Your Life

Episode #11

2014-10-30 03:26:13

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In 1977, a mild-mannered aeronautical engineer sideswiped a parked car in Compton, CA. When he stopped his car to survey the damage, a man named Leon Moore opened the driver-side door, shoved him over, and started driving. He said, "I'm about to save your life." We talk to lawyer Stephanie...
An illustration of a woman with long hair, smiling, holding up a giant sheet of paper with the text: Dear Sheila.

Dear Sheila

Episode #10

2014-09-26 05:00:31

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Working as a reporter for a TV station in New Hampshire, Kevin Flynn was covering the capture and arrest of a female serial killer named Sheila LaBarre. As he grew more and more obsessed with LaBarre's story, Flynn decided to write her a letter. She wrote back. Their correspondence became...
An illustration of a disgruntled woman surround by arms holding a stethoscope, a pair of handcuffs, and a woman symbol.

That Crime of the Month

Episode #9

2014-08-29 01:26:31

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What does it mean when a woman commits a crime and attributes her actions to PMS? We revisit the first use of the "PMS defense," in this country, back in 1981. What have we learned about the science of PMS since then? Last year, the American Psychiatric Association classified a...
An illustration of a person wearing glasses and a suit, holding up a poster of a man standing over a supine woman, with the text: My Mother and Father.

Can’t Rock This Boat

Episode #8

2014-07-29 13:56:45

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In March 1964, a 35-year-old African American woman named Johnnie Mae Chappell was walking along the side of the road in Jacksonville, Florida. At the same time, four white men were driving around listening to the race riots on the radio. They had a gun on the dashboard. As they...
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J.R.R. Ziemba

Episode #7

2014-06-30 11:26:00

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Crime victims are often put under the same scrutiny as the accused. Not only for their version of events, but sometimes for how they look and talk, too. We meet a man whose trial hurt worse than his assault.
An illustration of a road sign on a hill with three pine trees behind it.

We Lost Them

Episode #6

2014-05-23 14:00:11

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On April 13, 2014, former KKK member Frazier Glenn Cross pulled into a Jewish Community Center and ambushed William Corporon and his grandson Reat Griffin Underwood, killing both.  He then killed another woman named Terri LaManno a short distance away. What does the family left behind do when they are...
An illustration of Venus fly traps, with the text VFT written on it three times.

Dropping Like Flies

Episode #5

2014-04-24 14:28:23

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Every year for the past few years, tens of thousand of flytraps have gone missing — from the wild, from gardens, from nurseries. And, really, nobody knows where they go. What’s cropped up in rural North Carolina is essentially a Venus Flytrap crime ring — with lackeys, middlemen, and a...
An illustration of an articulated skeleton.

Call Your Mom

Episode #4

2014-03-28 02:04:59

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There are plenty of things we don't share with our mothers. Dark, sad things. Unless of course, you both speak the same dark language. Kathleen Vernon is a coroner in Albany County, Wyoming, the youngest ever, in fact. But she didn’t come to this preternatural curiosity just on her own;...
An illustration of a comically counterfeited coin.

The Buck Stops Here

Episode #3

2014-02-28 13:20:01

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With the advent of the Inkjet printer, counterfeiting money became as simple as a trip to Staples. By the year 2000, there were 72 million of these homemade dollars in circulation. The real question is… who was behind them all? Today, we talk to a woman who “made” her own...
An illustration of a person with their hands covering their mouth, seemingly in horror.

Pants on Fire

Episode #2

2014-02-14 04:40:46

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For nearly a century we've been trying to read someone's truthfulness by the way they act. Be it through machines, or our own intuition. The police have tried. The FBI has tried. The CIA has tried. But the fact is… most of their efforts just don't work. Are we doomed...
Black and white illustration of an owl.

Animal Instincts

Episode #1

2014-01-30 05:05:09

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In 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found dead in a pool of her own blood. Her husband Michael Peterson was convicted of her murder. A curious neighbor, a lawyer named Larry Pollard, had a different theory... one that brings new meaning to man vs. beast. Explore a theory you won’t find...