My End of the Year True Crime Podcast Binge 2021

I’m so happy it is the end of the year. It has been so hectic with Cornona virus, loadshedding, price increases and then the riots in July. I’m looking forward to saying goodbye to 2021. Sometimes I think listening to True Crime podcasts is all that is keeping me going.

OK, that’s a bit dramatic – there is plenty that keeps me going, but I’ve worked up a serious craving for my daily true crime podcast fix.

I thought I’d share a few of them with you; the series ones with episodes and also the ones that have one- off stories. At the moment I’m listening for a few of the series types. Let’s start with the Best True Crime Podcasts that I’ve enjoyed over the past month or two.

Morally Indefensible

I was familiar with the story of Dr Jeffrey Mac Donald – saw it on one of the crime channels. This podcast series is about a journalist who wrote a book about him and got too close. It really interested me. In 1979, Ex-Green Beret Doctor Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted of the murders of his pregnant wife and two young daughters. When he meets a famous young journalist named Joe McGinniss, the two become fast friends. Joe agrees to write a book about Jeff’s case to finally reveal the truth. The book, Fatal Vision, became a smash bestseller and a TV limited series watched by millions of people. But the story it told wasn’t the story Jeff expected…And that sets off a series of events that ruins both their lives.

 

Bonaparte

It’s been 25 years since Anne Champion’s friend was killed, but the case was never solved. When Anne, now a prominent Manhattan attorney, gets an unexpected phone call from an old friend, it compels her to return to Iowa, her childhood home, to try and piece together the events around Laura Van Wyhe’s mysterious death.

 

Mommy Doomsday

This was another story familiar to me. I’m always amazed at people who get hooked into cults, how it can remake them totally in the mot horrible way. And Keith Morrison, who tells the story, has a wonderful voice, so I really enjoyed this one. The disappearance of two of Lori Vallow’s children in Rexburg, Idaho in September 2019 exposes a bizarre trail of death, devotion and Doomsday beliefs that captivated the nation.

 

Suspect

This one kept me hooked and hungry for more. Hosted by Matthew Shaer and Eric Benson, the series revolves around the 2008 murder of 24-year-old computer programmer Arpana Jinaga, who was found dead after a Halloween party at a quiet Seattle apartment complex, and the complex investigation that followed.

Described as a series “about cutting-edge science and mislaid justice, race and policing, and the kinds of weighty choices that cops and prosecutors make every day,” this isn’t one to miss.

 

No Strings Attached

No Strings Attached is a deep dive into the case of Emile Cilliers and his plot to murder his wife by sabotaging her parachute. Thankfully, miraculously, Vicky Cilliers survived. Investigating a crime when the victim doesn’t beleive it, is not easy. This true crime podcast is investigated by ITV news correspondent Robert Murphy. The dogged determination of the Wiltshire Police eventually uncovered the true horrific nature of Cilliers’ multiple crimes and sordid history. Please note – Emile Cilliers is of South African origin.

 

Catching Melanie’s Killer

The persistence and dedication of the police – the sadness and rage from the family and a great narrator makes this a top quality British police procedural podcast. When Melanie Road’s body was found on a June morning in 1984, it prompted one of the largest manhunts in Britain. But the schoolgirl’s killer wasn’t found. Then Julie Mackay takes control of the cold case team and over 30 years later, through a bizarre mix of luck and science, they actually catch Melanie’s killer.

 

Believe Her

The blurb says “Believe Her is true crime, upside down. In September 2017, young mom Nikki Addimando shot and killed her partner, Chris Grover. She was sentenced to nineteen years to life in prison for murder. Through rare access to police audio, a month-long trial, conversations with Nikki, and original reporting, journalist Justine van der Leun lays out the killing, the evidence, and the aftermath. As this six-part series unfolds, listeners will put together different pieces of a disturbing puzzle. One thing is clear: perception ≠ reality. I listened attentively, got really irritated with Nikki Addimado and then started thinking about criminalized survivors.

 

Son of a Hitman

This is a bit of a strange one, but if you enjoy legal wrangling and conspiracy theories and a lot of twisting and turning mystery, you’ll enjoy this one. It is about Actor Woody Harrelson’s father Charles, a hitman suspected of a dozen murders or more. Charles Harrelson was formally accused of three murders, including the 1978 murder of John H. Wood Jr., the first federal judge to be assassinated in the 20th century.

However, the podcast — hosted by journalist Jason Cavanagh — asks, “Yeah, but did he?”  Also, Harrelson, the hitman that is, claims he was involved in the assassination of JFK and you’ll be amazed at how believable his story turns out to be.

 

My Only Story

I caught up with this just before the Second season began and immediately binged Series 1 where Deon Wigget and listeners hunted down a serial paedophile. Spoiler alert! They got him!

In Series 2 the subject matter was teachers, mainly at exclusive private schools in South Africa, especially water polo coaches who were inappropriately over- friendly with students.

Deon Wigget has a wonderful voice and a very engaging style of storytelling that is addictive. I can’t wait for Series 3 of this investigative podcast series.

 

To Live and Die in LA

To Live and Die in L.A. is an investigative and true crime podcast hosted by American journalist Neil Strauss. Everything about this podcast series hooked me.

Season 1 of the podcast follows the disappearance and death of aspiring Albanian Macedonian actress Adea Shabani, who was last seen alive leaving her Hollywood apartment with her boyfriend, Chris Spotz.

Strauss works alongside private investigator Jayden Brant and producer Alex Vespestad to uncover the truth

In Season 2, the focus shifts to the disappearance of Elaine Park, who went missing in 2017. Strauss again teams up with Brant, plus Incubus guitarist Michael Einziger, concert violinist Ann Marie Simpson, and Strauss’s then-wife and author Ingrid De La O, who first introduced Strauss to Park’s case.

The podcast relatively old in podcast years – Shabani disappeared in 2019 – but this is the most in-dept sleuthing story I’ve heard. And Strauss is a great storyteller – he works for Rolling Stone in his other life. Ten episodes in each series for be prepared.

 

Sometimes one can’t get involved in a series because you just don’t have enough time to binge on it, or you just need a quick fix, so short podcasts are the remedy.

Best One-off True Crime (Single Episode) Podcasts

I’m always obsessing about  True Crime Podcasts. Setting reminders and looking for recommendations, so I find them all over. I have notebooks and pens around that remind me that I may be listening to a podcast on a smart phone, but I’m a sixties child – a pen and paper person.

 

True Crime South Africa

I have to start with Nicole Englebrecht’s True Crime South Africa, not only because I do work for her, but because she is very good. She also has a really smooth, soothing voice – even though the subject matter is often horrendous.

Her stories are well researched, which isn’t easy in South Africa because we have very limited access to courts and police material. Often it is a case of finding snippets all over the place, hunting down old reports and media stories and building a compassionate victim centered story.

Like in most countries around the world, the news media report the crimes, headlines screaming about blood, violence and horror. But news media aren’t really interested in the victims. Take a look, there is very little published about the people who are murdered, raped, brutalized.

And this is what Nicole does so well. She gives the victims a voice.

 

Bad Gays

I love these short episodes of history and gossip about evil and complicated queers, hosted by Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller.

LGBTQ history often focuses on the heroes. The creators of the Bad Gays podcast fill in the gaps.

Some of the stories are about well known people; others are really obscure people. But all are interesting.

 

Badlands – Disgraceland and Sportsland

I just love Jake Brennan. Jake is obsessed with music. And history. And for whatever reason, the darker sides of both. Disgraceland combines these obsessions. And he tells a beautiful tale

Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. Thirty-ish minute episodes that trace the most insane criminal stories surrounding our most interesting and infamous pop stars.

Sportsland is all about the shocking rise and fall of sports legends. The tone and pace are similar to Disgraceland in that very typical Jake Brennan Style.

 

Killer Psyche

Well- told stories about well known villains, serial killers and really just scum of the earth.  But retired FBI profiler Candice de Long dives a bit deeper and tries to answer the “Why” question which adds a really interesting layer to known profiles.  We always want to know was it about ego or revenge or money or sex or greed. Candice de Long has an interesting take because she started off her career as a psychiatric nurse.

 

Disappearances

I can’t listen to too many Missing kind of stories, but Sarah Turney has such a soothing voice and empathetic way of telling stories, they are worth a listen. And for many loved ones of missing people, these podcasts are like a garden or remembrance. For many there is also just tiny flicker of hope that maybe somebody tell somebody something and their missing loved one gets found.

Unlike most true crime hosts, Turney knows her subject matter all too well – her sister, Alissa, disappeared in 2001, and the case was only solved after Turney shared its details on social media two decades later (her father has since been charged with Alissa’s murder and is currently on trial). – and this gives her a unique perspective through which to explore both the details of each case and the impact these disappearances have on the people left behind.

 

Mens Rea

There is something very special about the lovely Irish voice of writer and producer Sinaed. Her fortnightly true crime podcast discusses crime in Ireland and the UK in great detail.  Mens Rea refers to the mental element of intent required to prove certain crimes have been committed…. like murder.

 

A Crime Most Queer

A Crime Most Queer is a true-crime podcast that looks at cases involving the South African LGBTQ community. (I also do some work for this one). NJ Hourquebie has just launched his second season, telling stories of crimes involving the LGBTI+ community.