Tony Hathoway pulled off 30 hold-ups in the Seattle area in one year. But how did he go from being a successful aviation engineer to a prolific bank robber? His addiction to oxycontin. The Campside Media podcast “Hooked” is part crime memoir - part case study into the opioid crisis.
FOR OUR SPOILER FREE REVIEWS OF "HOOKED" GO TO MINUTE 35:30
In True Crime Update: a lawsuit in the case of Emanuel Fair from "Suspect."
In Crime of the Week: Barbie Crime House.
In 1981, Fred Roehler’s family was anchored on their luxury yacht when he convinced his wife and stepson to venture on a dory to nearby Bird Rock. Roehler said the family dog lunged and swamped the boat, sending the trio into the water. At first the deaths of Verna and Doug were ruled accidental. Police wanted to know more about the strange incident at sea…and more about what happened to Roehler’s first wife.
In season two of “Lost Hills: Dead in the Water,” host Dana Goodyear tells a story of swingers, money, and the Malibu vibe of the 1970s. It also re-examines the question of whether the deaths were a cold-water accident or a cold-blooded murder.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "LOST HILLS: DEAD IN THE WATER" GO TO MINUTE 48:00
On the first episode of CWO's new release schedule, the panel looks at HBO Max series "Landscapers." A mild-mannered British couple come to the attention of police after a pair of bodies are found buried in a garden. Oscar-winner Olivia Colman and David Thewlis star in this dramatized version of the domestic crime that shocked England.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "LANDSCAPERS" GO TO MINUTE 41:00
In Crime of the Week: shocking developments.
It's an all thumbs-up way-up episode! The crime writers each give their top 10 lists for the best podcasts of 2021.
In Crime of the Week: prattle royale.
Toby’s top 10 list
Fault Line: Dying for a Fight
I’m Not a Monster
Carrie Low VS
9/12
Suspect
Do You Know Mordecai?
Believe her
Stolen: The Search for Jermain
Through the Cracks
The Apology Line
Lara’s top 10 list
I Am Not a Monster
Suspect
9/12
Carrie Low VS
Believe Her
Murdaugh Murders
Do You Know Mordechai?
Welcome to Your Fantasy
Mississippi Goddam
The Line
Kevin’s top 10 list
Believe Her
Suspect
I'm Not a Monster
The Trials of Frank Carson
Do you know Mordechai?
Carrie Low VS
The Line
The Apology Line
9 / 12
Welcome to your Fantasy
Rebecca’s top 10 list
Suspect
Believe Her
Do You Know Mordechai?
Through the Cracks
Carrie Low VS
I’m Not A Monster
The Line
Suave
9/12
Stolen: The Search for Jermain
An aging drug runner passes his most prized possession to his son: a work created by an immortal artist owned by an immortal author. But is it real? In “Hemingway’s Picasso” from Somethin’ Else, host Leah Carroll takes us through Steve Kough’s swashbuckling life and its effects on his family. It also attempts to learn once and for all if the painted ceramic is a masterpiece…or the work of someone else.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "HEMINGWAY'S PISCASSO" GO TO MINUTE 24:00
The HBO Max four-part series “Black and Missing” takes a deep dive into the particular challenges to finding victims of color who’ve vanished - focusing on societal issues, policing, and publicity. It also tells riveting stories of missing persons cases - some with satisfying resolutions and some unsolved.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "BLACK AND MISSING" GO TO MINUTE 1:04:00
In Crime of the Week: in cold blood.
A British DJ spent years in an online romance with a man she never met - but who was he? The podcast "Sweet Bobby" from Tortoise Media explores a complicated catfishing scheme and the motivations behind it.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "SWEET BOBBY" GO TO THE 34th MINUTE.
Collins Street Bakery was the most successful fruitcake baker in the world. So why was the company losing millions of dollars? "Fruitcake Fraud" from Discovery+ digs into a holiday-themed white collar crime.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "FRUITCAKE FRAUD" GO TO THE 61st MINUTE.
In Crime of the Week: psy-cat-pathic.
Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt were two seniors who helped the homeless in Los Angeles, but authorities became suspicious of their philanthropy after one of the men had been run over in an alley. Host Keith Morrison brings his unique style of self-aware cheesiness to “The Thing About Helen & Olga,” mined from the archives of Dateline NBC.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE THING ABOUT HELEN & OLGA" GO TO MINUTE 27:26
A collaboration between street toughs and a pop artist created Von Dutch, a clothing brand of rough denim, tight t-shirts, and trucker hats. As new business-savvy managers worked to force out the streetwise founders, bad feelings emerged. Hulu's three part "The Curse of Von Dutch: A Brand to Die For" shows in the world of high-priced fashion, things can get cutthroat.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE CURSE OF VON DUTCH" GO TO MINUTE 1:03:00
In Crime of the Week: I'll be home for Christmas.
In True Crime Update: the latest on the murder of the rape defendant from "Carrie Low VS."
In 2017 Nikki Addimando shot her partner after a violent confrontation. Officials viewed her years of abuse not as a self-defense justification, but as her plan to commit murder. In Lemonada's podcast “Believe Her” host Justine van der Leun sheds light on a part of our justice system in which survival is criminalized.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "BELIEVE HER" GO TO MINUTE 34:30
A man seeks out a psychiatrist to help him with his life...so the doctor takes over every aspect of it. Will Farrell and Paul Rudd star in the dramedy “The Shrink Next Door,” adapted by Apple TV+ from the hit podcast.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE SHRINK NEXT DOOR" GO TO MINUTE 1:06:00
In Crime of the Week: all you can't eat.
The panel starts with a True Crime Update about those bones found in the NH mountains that are not associated with a famous cold case.
In 2003, police in Seoul were stumped by a serial killer who targeted elderly wealthy victims in their homes, then pivoted to dismembering sex workers. In the Netflix documentary “The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea,” detectives, profilers, and crime techs recall the case that shocked a nation which believed serial killers were limited to the West.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "THE RAINCOAT KILLER" GO TO MINUTE 29:30
After being drugged and raped, Carrie Low sought help from police in Halifax, but officers failed to retrieve evidence, examine the crime scene, or follow many of their own procedures. She believed police had not just bungled her case; she suspected they were willfully ignoring it. The CBC podcast “Carrie Low VS” follows her search for justice against her assailants and the police department.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "CARRIE LOW VS" GO TO MINUTE 1:09:30
In Crime of the Week: tracks of my tears.
In the podcast "American Vigilante" a British journalist interviews a mercenary who travels the world to rescue children, capture fugitives, and avenge the innocent. But are his testosterone-fueled tales true?
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "AMERICAN VIGILANTE" GO TO MINUTE 27:55
Using DNA tests, three girls adopted from China learn they're cousins. In "Found" from Netflix, they enlist the help of a Beijing researcher to find the birth parents who abandoned them because of the country's one-child Policy.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "FOUND" GO TO MINUTE 1:02:00
In Crime of the Week: the fish are biting.
In 2008, high school football star Billey Joe Johnson was pulled over for speeding in Lucedale, Mississippi. Moments later, the officer radioed that the Black teen had killed himself with a shotgun. “Mississippi Goddam: The Ballad of Billey Joe” is an eight-part series of PRX's "Reveal" podcast. Host Al Letson pokes at the conclusion the teen’s death was an accident.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "MISSISSIPPI GODDAM" GO TO MINUTE 27.
The sudden death in 2009 of a rising star shocked Hollywood. The HBO Max two-part series “What Happened, Brittney Murphy?” recalls the actor’s Hollywood climb and subsequent fatal backslide during her marriage to a gold-digging Svengali.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "WHAT HAPPENED, BRITTNEY MURPHY?" GO TO MINUTE 61.
In Crime of the Week: Don't be cruel.
In season 3 of "Dr. Death," a news producer falls in love with a surgeon on the cutting edge of regenerative medicine. But dogged by questions about his research and his promises of a romantic life together, his con soon unravels.
FOR OUR SPOILER FREE REVIEWS OF "DR. DEATH: MEDICINE MAN," GO TO 30:00
In "Wild Crime," National Park Service investigators look at the death of a woman who plunged from a mountain side. Did Toni Henthorn fall...or was she pushed by her husband, Harold?
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "WILD CRIME," GO TO 1:01:52
In Crime of the Week: seeing Red (number 3).
Gwen Shamblin earned fame and fortune with a diet program heavy on religious devotion. The HBO Max series "The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin" shows when her religious dogma veered away from mainstream Christianity, her church took on the trappings of a cult.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE WAY DOWN" GO TO 34:30
They were a powerful name in South Carolina’s legal community. But after the double slaying of two family members, new scrutiny was paid to the Murdaughs’ past involvement in a series of deaths. "Murdaugh Murders" explores in real time the fast breaking story of homicide, obstruction, fraud, and influence in the Lowcountry.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "MURDAUGH MURDERS" GO TO 1:11:40
In Crime of the Week: tough day at The Office.
For years one of the world’s biggest pop stars was held captive to a conservatorship which controlled her money and her life. The Netflix documentary “Britney Vs Spears” reveals the undisclosed legal documents which trace how the singer’s father and a gaggle of lawyers leveraged the system to restrict her agency and make themselves rich.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "BRITNEY VS SPEARS" GO TO 29:00
In October 2019, two men in a car ran over antifa protestor Sean Kealiher in Portland before fleeing. The podcast “Fault Line: Dying for a Fight” asks whether police won't solve the case because of the victim's left-wing, anti-law enforcement views.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "FAULT LINE" GO TO 1:07:00
In crime of the week: captivating review.
In the new podcast series “Witnessed: Borderlands” from Campside Media, host Rob D’Amico recalls the story of a drug runner and a crooked lawman who moved pot and cocaine through West Texas and how their alliance culminated in a botched billion dollar coke deal.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "WITNESSED: BORDERLANDS" GO TO 20:50
The Netflix French import “The Women and the Murderer” recalls the manhunt for a serial killer who terrorized Paris. It's told from the point of view of the female detectives, reporters, and lawyers involved in the case.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "THE WOMEN AND THE MURDERER" GO TO 54:30
In crime of the week: take the money and run.
For years, the Brazilian faithful sought out psychic healer John of God, but the religious leader told young women their miracles were to be performed through other techniques. The Netflix import “John of God: The Crimes of a Spiritual Healer,” explores the case of a man who used his position to assault hundreds of women.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "JOHN OF GOD" GO TO 22:30
A murder in an apartment building left cops with two viable suspects, but not enough evidence for an arrest. Did they put too much faith in a questionable interpretation of the DNA? “Suspect” from Campside Media and Wondery slowly pulls back the layers of a case with dubious assumptions, racial bias, and junk science which likely put the wrong man behind bars.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "SUSPECT" GO TO 1:00:00
In crime of the week: naked grapes.
Southern California officials were dealing with a string of seemingly unrelated arsons. Then a manuscript turned up with a fictional account of the fire setter. Is the book a veiled confession by the author whose identity stuns investigators? The podcast "Firebug" explores that question.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "FIREBUG" GO TO 26:00
When a teenager's scooter is found abandoned in the road, police begin a desperate search. The six-part French language series “Laëtitia,” now on HBO, focuses on her troubled past, the effect on her twin sister, the hunt for evidence, and the leaders who used the crime for their own political ends.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "LAËTITIA" GO TO 56:00
In crime of the week: take a bite out of crime.
The memories of what happened on September 11th are burned clearly into our minds, but what happened afterward is often fuzzy. In "9/12," from Pineapple Street Studios, Wondery, and Amazon Music, host Dan Taberski goes beyond the usual retrospectives, and looks at how 9/11 stopped being a day and became an idea.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "9/12" GO TO35:00
While leggings company LuLaRoe earned billions, the money came not from consumers - but from the tens of thousands of sales women purchasing substandard inventory too flimsy to sell. The Amazon Prime documentary “LuLaRich” dives into what officials have called a huge pyramid scheme.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "LULARICH" GO TO [+4].1:08:00
In crime of the week: no mate, proper whack.
In 1989, daycare provider Effie Entezari was shot in the parking lot of her Vancouver, Washington apartment complex. KGW and VAULT Studio's "The Yellow Car" follows Pooneh Gray's quest to clear her father’s name, questioning the ballistics, and struggling to test DNA from an alternative suspect.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "THE YELLOW CAR" GO TO 26:20
When a resident in their expensive New York apartment dies under suspicious circumstances, a former TV cop, a washed-up Broadway producer, and a mysterious young woman start their own true crime podcast. Hulu's "Only Murders in the Building," starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, is a comic send-up of true crime troupes, an old-fashioned whodunnit, and a character study about regret.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING" GO TO 59:40
In Crime of the Week: we all scream...
With Toby away on vacation, the crime writers welcome actress and podcaster Janet Varney to the panel.
The Netflix documentary “Pray Away” looks back at the early-adopters of conversion therapy and the advocates who believed in its efficacy...until they didn’t. The film also follows an evangelical who renounced his trans identity and is organizing a political movement for those who identify as “ex-gay.”
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "PRAY AWAY" GO TO 35:00
Who was killed during their stay at this luxurious Hawaiian resort? Beneath the comedy in the HBO series “The White Lotus” there is a simmering tension and a commentary on the tedium of wealth, the indifference of privilege, and the specter of death.
FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE WHITE LOTUS" GO TO 1:13:00
In Crime of the Week: deal of a lifetime.
TO PRE-ORDER AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF LARA'S NEW BOOK, DEAD ON DEADLINE, CLICK HERE.
