Stuck in traffic on your daily commute? Heading north for the long weekend? True crime podcasts can offer grown-up (and sometimes grisly) thrills and chills. Here's our pick of the best crime podcasts available now:
If this six-part podcast were a book, it would be a page-turner. A divorcee looks for love online and meets a creepy charmer with a suspicious past. Her adult children (and listeners) are gripped by a sense of dread that eludes the love-blind woman, propelling a noirish plot that surprises to its brutal finish.
Produced by St. Paul-based APM Reports, it examines a 1996 quadruple murder in small-town Mississippi. Listeners accompany reporter Madeleine Baran and her team as they revisit evidence that led to the conviction of Curtis Flowers, an African-American who maintains his innocence.
The deep dive into the Jacob Wetterling case won the prestigious Peabody Award in 2016. Even news junkies who tracked every twist in the long, sad story of the missing Minnesota boy will be startled by the insightful narrative.
Thorough and thoughtful, this twice-monthly podcast uses fresh interviews to shed new light on old cases or examine new crime-fighting and forensic techniques. Host Phoebe Judge's sweetly modulated voice serves as a calm foil to the blood-soaked stories.
In this 12-part series, host Karina Longworth takes listeners through the cult leader's past as a sociopathic showbiz wannabe, spotlighting his connection to his victim, starlet Sharon Tate, plus his brushes with the Beach Boys, Dennis Hopper and Doris Day on his way to the murders carried out by his family of followers.
Follow this podcast down some nasty rock 'n' roll rabbit holes, as each episode pieces together a lurid story about a scandal, violence or unexplained death involving a popular musician, including a few who may have used their fame to get away with their crimes.
Two L.A. gal pals share their true crime fascination. Blessed with big personalities and plenty of snark, citizen sleuths Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark banter about homicides and the anxiety many women feel living in a world where they may be endangered.
