FIVE PODCASTS TO LISTEN TO
FOR TRUE CRIME STORIES
Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Watched Netflix’s The
Staircase about the case of Kathleen Peterson, who was found dead at the bottom of her staircase in North Carolina in 2001? The docuseries – which is part 2004 French miniseries part Netflix show – follows the trial and tribulations of her husband, Michael, below, who is charged with her murder. The documentary is very much from his and his defence team’s perspective. However, this BBC podcast gives weight to many different opinions. One quite extraordinary interview in Beyond Reasonable Doubt is with Candace Zamperini – she is Kathleen’s sister and Michael’s most outspoken critic, and is painted as something of a villain in the documentary. The podcast’s host Chris Warburton has a refreshingly matter-offact and non-judgmental tone (something that can be a bit lacking in the true crime genre).
The Australian
This national newspaper from Down Under has produced a handful of incredibly well-researched true crime podcasts that tell stories about specific crimes, but often end up saying a lot about the state of Australia as a whole. There is the devastating look at the murder of three Aboriginal children in a small New South Wales town in the podcast series called Bowraville; Lost in Larrimah is about a man who goes missing in the expanse of the Outback; and the latest series, The Teacher’s Pet, follows the mystery of a star rugby player’s wife going missing. All of these series are compelling listening, and all are still available on major podcast apps.
In The Dark
Season two of this podcast, which was the recipient of a Peabody Award in 2016, investigates the case of Curtis Flowers, who has been tried six times for the same crime over 21 years. The crime? In 1996, someone walked into a furniture store in Mississippi and murdered four people – it was the most shocking crime the small town had ever seen, and prosecutors are convinced it was Flowers. He maintains his innocence. Season one, meanwhile, investigates the abduction of Jacob Wetterling, 11, in Minnesota in 1989. Child abductions are rare crimes, and they’re usually solved – the fact that this one wasn’t for 27 years changed the course of American history and, in part, created a national anxiety over “stranger danger”. Both seasons are as fascinating as they are meticulous.
ComeBack
We’re not even going to mention the smash hit Serial here, because it’s likely to be the first podcast anyone ever listens to – but a fresh option that has Reddit and Twitter sleuths starting their own mini-investigations is ComeBack. The new series looks into the investigations of missing persons, and the first season follows the disappearance of medical student Brian Shaffer in 2006 when he was just 27. He was last seen when out with friends to celebrate the beginning of spring break – but on that night he vanished, without a trace.
Black Hands: A Family Mass Murder
This podcast delves into what is arguably New Zealand’s most divisive murder case – the Bain murders, in which five members of the same family were killed on a winter morning in 1994. There was only one survivor, David Bain – but there are two suspects: most people in New Zealand hold a strong opinion on whether David, or his father Robin, was the murderer. Listen to the series and delve into the murky and oftenvery-sad history of this family to form your own opinion. Note: David Bain, below, was initially convicted of the murders, but he was acquitted in 2009. He now lives under a different name.