Admissible: Shreds of Evidence

Wrongful conviction lawyers looking for pre-DNA era evidence to test found a trove of samples where they shouldn’t have been: taped to a lab technician’s paperwork. That material would exonerate 13 men in Virginia. Advocates praised forensic scientist Mary Jane Burton for keeping the samples and foreseeing the arrival of DNA testing.

But few were asking why Burton broke chain of custody rules or why so many of her cases resulted in wrongful convictions. Whistleblowers said Burton would skip scientific steps and record her blood test results in pencil, so she could change her findings to benefit the police.

Virginia Public Radio and Story Mechanics present “Admissible: Shreds of Evidence.” Host Tessa Kramer examines Burton’s work to answer whether those smuggled samples revealed more than just the wrong guy did it. Were the scientist’s unconventional methods responsible for getting innocent men out of prison…or for putting them there in the first place?

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "ADMISSIBLE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: rock of the church.

Navalny

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny emerged as Vladimir Putin’s strongest rival for the presidency. But while on a flight to Moscow, Navalny became gravely ill. After getting treatment in Germany, it was determined he’d been poisoned with a nerve agent - likely by Russian special forces.

Using telecom data, investigative journalists working with Navalny identified the scientists and operatives who executed the attack. The politician then used the press and social media to expose his would-be assassins in an act of defiance against Putin’s regime.

The Academy Award winning documentary feature film “Navalny” from HBO Max and CNN Films brings us inside the activist’s effort to solve his own assassination attempt and score political points against an autocrat. We also see in real time the fallout as Navalny returns to Russian to continue his campaign to change the nation.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "NAVALNY" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 9 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

The No Good, Terribly Kind, Wonderful Lives and Tragic Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman

The 2017 murders of Canadian pharmaceutical executive Barry Sherman and his wife Honey shook the nation. The Sherman’s were seen as pillars of Toronto’s Jewish community. But the billionaire CEO also had a reputation for being a savage businessman, even among those in the cutthroat world of generic drug manufacturing. Meanwhile, Sherman’s cousins claimed they’d been swindled out of their share of the company. Kerry Winters claimed Barry once asked him to murder Honey, then drew suspicion when he told the press he wanted to kill his uncle himself.

From Lionsgate Sound and CBC Podcasts comes “The No Good, Terribly Kind, Wonderful Lives and Tragic Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman.” Five years after the unsolved crime, host Kathleen Goldhar explores the business rivals, disgruntled relatives and far-out conspiracy theories around the brutal society murders. While the culprit is unknown, Goldhar says the motive is surely money.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE NO GOOD, TERRIBLY KIND, WONDERFUL LIVES AND TRAGIC DEATHS OF BARRY AND HONEY SHERMAN" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THIS EPISODE. 

In Crime of the Week: Shawshank-style.

Love, Janessa

Thousands of love-struck men around the world were fooled by untold scammers whose cons all had the same thing in common. They all used stolen images of the same woman: a one-time camgirl and adult entertainer known as Janessa Brazil.

Heartbroken men and serious journalists all searched for the real Janessa, only to be fooled by more imposters. But where is the woman whose face drew the victims in? Was she just the unwitting bait used by others for their crimes, or was she part of the swindle?

From CBC Podcasts and the BBC World Service comes “Love, Janessa.” Host Hannah Ajala tracks down con artists in West Africa, victims in Europe, and a woman in the US believed to be the face that launched a thousand scams.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "LOVE, JANESSA" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 9 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

Boston Strangler

Loretta McLaughlin struggles for respect in the 1960s male-dominated newsroom at the Record-American. But she finds a pattern in different Boston-area murders: women choked in their homes, their stockings tied around their necks in a bow.  Teamed with reporter Jean Cole, the women lead the hunt for the killer they dub the Boston Strangler. The pair find their safety threatened as suspects move in and out of the frame, and the cops unable to make an arrest.

Oscar nominee Keira Knightley stars in “Boston Strangler” from 20th Century Studios and streaming on Hulu. McLaughlin fights the sexism of the police and fellow reporters, all while seeking the culprit. Was the man arrested for the crimes responsible for all 13 deaths? Or do the changing methods and victims indicate more than one man was the Boston Strangler?

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "BOSTON STRANGLER" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: late for school.

Stolen Hearts

Welsh police sergeant Jill Evans thinks she’s found the man of her dreams. Dean Jenkins is attentive and a bit mysterious. What she doesn’t know is that Dean has been supplementing his income as an armed robber. After his arrest, Jill's colleagues are suspicious of her claims she didn’t know Dean was a bandit. Now it’s more than just her career on the line.

From Wondery and Novel, comes “Stolen Hearts.” Host Kerry Godliman mixes true crime and rom-com for a breezy look at a very British scandal.  

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "STOLEN HEARTS" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 9 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

You Didn't See Nothin

In 1997, 13-year-old Lenard Clark rode his bike into a white Chicago neighborhood, only to be jumped and beaten into a coma by a group of teens. One of them was the son of Frank Caruso, a union boss with reputed mob ties. The crime shook the Black community and shocked the city.

As a young man, Yohance Lacour was puzzled why some Black community leaders rallied around Frank junior, who was trying to mend his public image before trial. Now an investigative reporter, Lacour revisits the crime and its aftermath…and reflects on how the incident affected his own life.

From USG Audio and Invisible Institute comes the podcast “You Didn’t See Nothin.” Through the lens of his lived experience, Lacour probes the actions of those in power who stood behind a white assailant instead of his young Black victim. And he asks why calls for racial reconciliation are not a two-way street.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "YOU DIDN'T SEE NOTHIN" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: no bones about it.

Smoke Screen: Deadly Cure

Believing they’ve found the cure to aches and pains and serious diseases, Jim Humble and Mark Grenon create a church espousing the use of the Miracle Mineral Solution. But what people are consuming isn’t medicine - it’s diluted bleach. MMS is sold around the world, promoted by the church as a panacea for malaria, autism, cancer and all common ailments. Activists urge the FDA to take action to prevent further injuries and deaths associated with MMS. Just as the media begins to expose the scam, the bleach regimen gets an unexpected endorsement as a treatment for COVID-19.

From Neon Hum Media, Bloomberg & Sony Music Entertainment, “Smoke Screen: Deadly Cure” follows the rise and fall of a family who pushed a dangerous product on people looking for alternative medicine. Host Kristen V. Brown also spotlights the armchair detectives who tracked the Grenons and their allies. Did they believe MMS was a religious sacrament or was it just a cover to sell poison?

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "SMOKE SCREEN: DEADLY CURE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 15 MINUTES OF THE SHOW.

In Crime of the Week: auto drive.

City of Tents: Veterans Row

In one of LA’s fanciest neighborhoods, homeless military veterans erect a tent city. While some volunteer to help the vets, others want to see the encampment demolished and its occupants moved along. The camp sits along a fence to the local VA hospital, the place where services for them are offered. But some don’t qualify or can’t get into their programs. Others choose to remain on the street. But if the vets don’t find another place to live, the sheriff will ensure the tents come down.

From KCRW comes “City of Tents: Veterans Row.” Reporter Anna Scott brings us into a world where the desires of activists, officials, neighbors, and vets themselves are often at cross purposes. It examines the larger issue of homelessness and the half-measures employed to solve the problem.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "CITY OF TENTS: VETERANS ROW" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: mummy issues.

Netflix's Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal

A fatal drunken boating accident turned the spotlight on a powerful South Carolina family. Survivors claimed Alex Murdaugh used his considerable influence to steer the investigation away from his son who caused the crash. Then Murdaugh returned home to find his wife and son murdered in the family dog kennel.

The high profile case renewed interest in other suspicious deaths connected to the Murdaughs - including the roadside beating of a high school student and the fatal fall of the housekeeper in their home. But the story has a final plot twist. Alex Murdaugh was shot while changing a flat tire - in what police say was a set-up.

Netflix’s “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal” is a timely look at the nation’s biggest crime case. With new interviews from the accident survivors, the three-part series focuses on everything leading up to the current murder trial. 

OUR SPOILER FREE REVIEWS OF "MURDAUGH MURDERS: A SOUTHERN SCANDAL" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 9 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

The Coldest Case in Laramie

In 1985, when Kim Barker was a teen in Laramie, Wyoming, Shelli Wiley was murdered in her apartment. Now a New York Times reporter, Barker discovered there’d been a break in the long-unsolved case. Investigators arrested a former cop with what seemed like overwhelming evidence.

So how did a case that seemed open-and-shut go cold again? The Pulitzer Prize winner returned to Wyoming to find out why it took 30 years to identify Fred Lamb and why the charges against him were dropped.  

“The Coldest Case in Laramie” is the new 8-part series from Serial Productions. Barker digs into the investigation of Lamb and other suspects in the homicide. Was he let go as part of a cover-up or did the cops just get it wrong?

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE COLDEST CASE IN LARAMIE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: broken arrow.

The PEZ Outlaw

Steve Glew was a part-time flea market vendor when he was introduced to the world of PEZ dispensers. Learning collectors would pay big money for rare versions of the popular candy holders, Glew hatched a plan to visit Eastern Europe and get dispensers not available in the US.

Connoisseurs marveled at Glew’s collection of rare dispensers and paid top dollar for them. But the president of the company’s US subsidiary flipped his lid…and vowed to shut down the bootleg operation any way he could.

The documentary “The PEZ Outlaw” profiles Steve Glew and his attempt to outsmart the candy maker and corner the collectibles market. Glew plays himself in light-hearted recreations of his smuggling operation and features diehard collectors and corporate antagonists to recount how the operation flourished and eventually collapsed. 

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE PEZ OUTLAW" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 7 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

I'm Not a Monster season 2

In 2015, a 15-year-old East London girl left for Syria with two of her friends to live in the so-called Caliphate. After Shamima Begum was captured in a refugee camp in 2019, the British public was enraged by her attitude that she’d done nothing wrong and for downplaying the violence committed by ISIS.

Journalist Josh Baker traveled to Syria to interview the evasive prisoner, then retraced her steps to fact check her story - that she went to the Caliphate to practice fundamentalism, not to become an ISIS soldier.  

BBC Sounds and Radio 5 Live present season two of “I’m Not a Monster: The Shamima Begum Story.” Josh Baker explores war ravaged Syria to discover the network which smuggled her into ISIS territory, examine her life as a soldier's bride in the Caliphate, and confirm whether or not the British teen was an active combatant against Coalition forces. The host repeatedly risks his safety to answer the simple question: should Shamima be believed?

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "I'M NOT A MONSTER" BEGIN IN THE FINAL  TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: shitty review.

Ghost Herd

The Easterdays drew a lot of water in southeast Washington. Cody Easterday was a titan of agriculture who provided Tyson food with two percent of its beef. But a series of bad investments and commodities speculation put the rancher in a desperate financial position.  

Easterday engineered a quarter-billion dollar hoax: tricking Tyson into paying for the upkeep of cattle that only existed on paper. When the hoax was discovered it disrupted the food supply and threatened the farming empire the community depended on.

KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio and Northwest Public Broadcasting present “Ghost Herd.” Host Anna King plows into the livestock swindle, as well as shines a light on the precarious nature of farming and the food supply in modern America.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "GHOST HERD" BEGIN IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

Killing County

A wave of gunfire in a parking lot. A man hogtied and beaten to death. A grandfather with dementia shot in his driveway while holding a crucifix. The many families of victims in Bakersfield and Kern County, California search for justice in the county with the highest death rate by police violence in America.

In a system where police brutality is investigated by the police, few cops here are held accountable for even the most egregious uses of deadly force. And its police chief is more interested in giving taxpayer money to settle lawsuits than improving public safety.

From producer Colin Kaepernick, the ABC News Studio Hulu’s “Killing County” explores one community’s cops known to shoot first and ask questions later. It provides video and witness accounts of police brutality, and introduces us to several families affected by law enforcement violence. In an era where police murders are prevalent, “Killing County” asks why is it so bad here?  

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "KILLING COUNTY" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: Naked justice.

Stolen Youth

In 2010, a group of students at Sarah Lawrence College were surprised when a co-ed’s father began sleeping on the couch in their dorm. One by one, Larry Ray became a confidant and mentor to the young men and women, eager for his worldly knowledge. 

After Ray and the students moved into a Manhattan apartment, his paternal guidance morphed into coercive control - complete with corporal punishment, sex trafficking, and group paranoia that evil forces were targeting them. For ten years, Ray exerted his influence over them, until authorities broke up what they labeled “a cult.”

The three-part Hulu documentary “Stolen Youth” brings us inside the so-called Sarah Lawrence College cult, with exclusive interviews from the former students and homemade video from inside their psychological prison. It then jumps to the present day to chronicle the remaining cult members’ struggle with the consequences of their pasts.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "STOLEN YOUTH" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 8 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

Truth and Lies: The Informant

Kansas resident Dan Day discovers his new friends belong to a militia group fixated on the Somali refugees in their community. That’s when he’s approached by the FBI, asking him to join the right-wing group and report on whether they’re planning violence. When the informant learns the extremists are drawing up an attack on Muslims, the investigation takes on a new urgency. Dan finds himself in the middle of a plot in which the lives of many hang in the balance…including his own.

ABC Audio’s five-part podcast, “Truth and Lies: The Informant,” takes us inside the probe of extremists in the heartland and the ordinary guy thrust into the middle of the investigation. Host Dick Lehr supplements interviews with residents, agents, and prosecutors with undercover audio tapes documenting the plans of a domestic terror attack.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "TRUTH AND LIES: THE INFORMANT" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 10 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: wingin' it.

Gunther's Millions

When a German countess died in 1992, she left her fortune to the only family she had: her dog Gunther. The world’s richest pooch enjoyed private jets, personal chefs, and a dedicated staff led by Gunther’s caretaker, Maurizio Mian.

The will also decreed that Gunther would form a pop band. The dog bought Madonna’s mansion where the group’s attractive members were directed to have sex with one another, while researchers studied their levels of happiness. But few questions were asked about the origins of the fortune or how Maurizio came to control Gunther’s financial empire.

The Netflix documentary series “Gunther’s Millions” turns the feel-good story of a rich dog into an investigation of media manipulation, tax fraud, sex cults and the man at the center of it all. Is this a story about one lucky dog or is it the ultimate test to see if money can buy happiness?

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "GUNTHER'S MILLIONS" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 8 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

Chameleon: Dr. Dante

In the 1960s, Ronald Pellar performed as nightclub hypnotist “Dr. Dante.” He thrilled crowds, mixed with celebrities, and even married a movie star. But Dante was a prolific con man, accused of stealing and attempting to have a rival hypnotist murdered.  

After prison, Dante expanded his stage act to include seminars, self-help tapes, tattooed makeup, and a collegiate diploma-mill. He made millions of dollars on false claims and was comfortable telling reporters all about them. When it seemed an elderly Dante was ready to retire from his life of deception, he planned a comeback.

Campside Media is out with season five of “Chameleon: Dr. Dante.” “Wild Boys” host Sam Mullens recounts the many lives of the hypnotist who used his powers of persuasion to be one of the greatest con men in history.  

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "DR. DANTE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: stuffing sausages.

The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker

A racially-motivated attack on pedestrians was thwarted by the driver’s passenger: a man he picked up hitchhiking. He went simply by “Kai,” and the colorful way he described the incident became a viral sensation. Kai’s quirky personality and unlikely story made him Internet-famous. He declined TV offers in favor of going back off the grid. But months later, the carefree drifter the world thought was so charming when he struck a criminal with a hatchet would be implicated in a murder. 

The Netflix film “The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker” recounts Kai’s rocky journey from meme to murderer, propelled by Hollywood and social media. Was the world so taken by the dude in the “smash smash smash” video they overlooked his violent tendencies which were in plain sight?  

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE HATCHET WIELDING HITCHHIKER" BEGIN IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.