Best Main Line Murders Podcasts (2024)

1
Listen Now - Hollywood & Crime: The Cotton Club Murder 4:37

38m ago4:37

4:37

On June 10th, 1983, the decomposing body of a well-dressed man was found in a desolate canyon near Los Angeles. John Doe #94 would soon be identified as missing variety show producer Roy Radin. He'd last been seen after meeting with a mysterious woman in a gold dress. Her name was Lanie Jacobs. Jacobs and Radin were obsessed with becoming Hollywood…

1
Journey Into Darkness: The Stayner Brothers Part 2 52:08

2d ago52:08

52:08

When we left you at the end of Part 1, fourteen year old Steven Stayner had escaped from seven years of captivity and abuse at the hands of child predator Kenneth Parnell—and he’d rescued Parnell’s next intended victim, a little boy named Timmy White. The story made international headlines, and Steven Stayner became his hometown’s living legend. It…

1
I Know My First Name Is Steven: The Abduction of Steven Stayner 52:45

18m ago52:45

52:45

In classic literature—and in soap operas, too—there are a lot of families who become lightning rods for misfortune. Sometimes it really strains your suspension of disbelief—like, come on, one family could never go through this much tragedy. But every now and then, a family just seems to be haunted by something sinister. From February through July o…

1
Payback: The Murder of Ted Ammon, Pt 2 55:27

15d ago55:27

55:27

In Part One, we met high-powered millionaire Ted Ammon and his…let’s say “eccentric” soon-to-be-ex-wife Generosa. When we left off, the Ammons were embroiled in a vicious divorce and a struggle over Ted’s wealth and custody of their twin children. Generosa, staying at the ritzy Stanhope Hotel, was renovating a townhouse and had just met a young ele…

1
Payback: The Murder of Ted Ammon, Pt 1 52:31

36m ago52:31

52:31

As much as most of us might try to live easy, conflict-free lives, sometimes you just can’t avoid an uncomfortable interaction. Maybe an unpleasant neighbor gets in your face about nothing at all, maybe someone behind a counter gives you all kinds of attitude, it’s more or less inevitable that sooner or later, someone will throw some grit into the …

1
Let the Right One In: A Halloween Special 40:07

13d ago40:07

40:07

Monsters in folklore are easy for us to comprehend. You can only kill a werewolf with a silver bullet, to stop a zombie for good, you have to destroy its brain, and vampires can’t enter your home without your permission. They also have pretty straightforward motivations. Werewolves: Animalistic rage. Zombies: Brains. Vampires: Blood. Human monsters…

1
Stranger Than Fiction Vol. 5: Petty Motives Edition 45:13

29d ago45:13

45:13

We tend to cover strange cases on our show. We seek them out, because we find that there are always interesting lessons to be learned there. But when it comes to weird, some cases are in a category all their own. Like a pair of high school students so upset about a grade that they plot the brutal murder of their Spanish teacher…and a mother so obse…

1
Lightning Strikes Twice: The Crimes of Harold Henthorn 49:52

27d ago49:52

49:52

The philosopher and all-round barrel of laughs Albert Camus wrote, “To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others.” Like any good philosophical quote, you can interpret it in a few ways. To not worry overly much about other people’s opinion of you can be a healthy lesson to learn, for example. But the main character in this week’s case woul…

301
Listen Now: Kill List 5:44

1M ago5:44

5:44

In the depths of the dark net, tech journalist Carl Miller makes a disturbing discovery: a secret Kill List targeting hundreds of innocent people on a murder for hire website. When the police decide not to investigate, Carl is thrown into a race against time to warn those in danger and uncover the truth about the people who want them dead. From Won…

1
Ambush: The Murders of Alan and Terra Bates 52:27

1M ago52:27

52:27

There’s an old saying: Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy? The answer, for most of us, is obvious. We want to be happy. And sometimes, that means compromising. Not getting exactly what we want. Not winning. But for some people, the only thing that can make them happy is conquest. They’ll always choose being right—always choose winn…

1
Enlightened: The Bizarre World of the Breatharians 55:06

2M ago55:06

55:06

For thousands of years, human beings have sought spiritual connection and enlightenment. A lot of us are seekers by nature, we want to know why we’re here and what—if anything—comes next. Sometimes it can seem like most of humankind is walking around with their heads in the sand, and we don’t wanna be one of those people. We want to chase after the…

1
Prey: The Story of the Beast of Gevaudan 44:29

2M ago44:29

44:29

Like a lot of fairy tales, early versions of “Little Red Riding Hood” were quite a bit different from the story most of us heard growing up. There was no heroic huntsman with an axe, there was no tricking the wolf into a well. At the end of the tale, girl and grandmother were both devoured, and the only happy-ever-after was for the wolf. For most o…

1
Less Dead: Serial Killer Robert Willie Pickton, FINALE 54:25

2M ago54:25

54:25

Psychologist Rolio May said, “Hate is not the opposite of love. Apathy is.” Over the course of the last three episodes, we’ve discussed how apathy paved the way for a horrific criminal to wreak havoc on the women of Vancouver. Willie Pickton was only allowed to continue his crimes, to rack up the number of bodies he did, because the government and …

1
Less Dead: Serial Killer Robert Willie Pickton, Pt 3 49:05

2M ago49:05

49:05

Once an avalanche starts, there’s nothing that can be done to stop it. You can prevent them, you can prepare for them, but by the time you start to hear the ice cracking, it’s almost always too late. The case of Willie Pickton feels a little bit like an avalanche. For the past two episodes, the people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside have been hear…

1
Less Dead: Serial Killer Robert Willie Pickton Pt 2 43:06

3M ago43:06

43:06

When we last left off, Willie Pickton was just starting his reign of terror over the women of the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Nancy Clark was missing, along with several other women, whose disappearances would never be solved. The Pickton farm was quickly becoming a criminal headquarters, thanks to Dave Pickton’s infatuation with the Hell’s Ang…

1
Less Dead: Serial Killer Robert Willie Pickton, Pt 1 53:19

3M ago53:19

53:19

In his book, Encyclopedia of Murder and Violent Crime, Eric Hickey wrote about a type of victim that he called, “the Less Dead”. These are people that are seen by the media or law enforcement as having less value than others. Usually sex workers, drug addicts, houseless people, and sexual or racial minorities. The case we’re discussing today is abo…

1
Cradle to Grave, Volume II: Two More Killer Kids 49:14

3M ago49:14

49:14

Adults like to think of kids as the embodiment of innocence—and in a lot of ways, they are. But…remember what it was like to actually be a kid? Did other kids seem innocent to us then? Not so much. The playground could be a battle zone. Gym class could be Lord of the Flies. Kids have strong, complicated emotions just like we do, but without the imp…

1
The People's Monster: Serial Killer in the City of Light Pt 2 38:43

3M ago38:43

38:43

In Part One last week, we introduced you to the strange world of Marcel Petiot, doctor, failed politician, and serial killer in wartime Paris. The horrific discovery of dismembered bodies at Dr. Petiot’s mansion had triggered a massive manhunt, and we’re going to pick up the police investigation now in Part Two of “The People’s Monster.” Note: Kati…

1
The People's Monster: Serial Killer in the City of Light Pt 1 41:09

4M ago41:09

41:09

There aren’t many darker places to be than in a city occupied by an enemy during a brutal war, living without freedom, in constant fear, and with little or no recourse to justice. For a crime to be able to shock even people living under those conditions, it has to be something truly terrifying, and that is what the people in Paris during World War …

1
Ensnared: The Murder of Katy Briscoe 35:59

4M ago35:59

35:59

Sometimes, danger comes in hot, with blazing red flags and alarm bells so loud they drown out everything else. Plenty of warning signs to activate the fight or flight instinct, put us on guard. But that’s not always the way it happens. Sometimes, danger slinks in silently, coiling itself around us without us even noticing, until it’s already around…

1
Lost Highway: The Murders at Moclips Beach 45:18

4M ago45:18

45:18

It’s kind of hard to pin down what the first slasher movie was. Do you start with “Psycho” in 1960? Go even further back? But there’s no real doubt when the genre blossomed—the 1970s. And that makes sense, because the 1970s was also when the shocking crimes of serial killers really permeated the national consciousness. You ask someone to name a ser…

1
Gaslight, Gatekeep, GirlBoss: A Girl Gang Grab-Bag 29:54

4M ago29:54

29:54

Like most American Millennials, I was subjected to Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE. It was the typical kind of “Drugs Are Bad, mmmkay?” sort of thing. Police officers would come to school and show 2nd graders pictures of smoker lungs and suggest that everyone and their mom would be peer pressuring you to smoke weed and/or crack, which was …

1
One Step Behind: A Stalkers Grab Bag 39:00

5M ago39:00

39:00

Obsession can be a good thing. An obsessed athlete can spend hours practicing to be the best they can be, an obsessed collector can find joy and community in the thrill of the hunt, or obsession can drive an artist to explore the human condition in a way that moves everyone that sees their art. But obsession can veer into something darker if the ob…

1
Tin Soldiers: The Murder of Carole Garton 57:24

5M ago57:24

57:24

When it comes to stuff, I really feel like counterfeit can be just as good as the real thing. Give me a lab-created diamond any day; I can show off some sparkle without robbing a bank. Same goes for shoes and bags and perfume dupes—I’m happy to sport a convincing knockoff. Fake isn’t always bad. But when it comes to people, it’s a whole different s…

1
Phantom: The Murder of Heidi Bernadzikowski 43:13

5M ago43:13

43:13

I'm not going to try and do his voice because it'd tear my throat up, but Hollywood legend Jack Palance once said, "The only two things you can truly depend upon are gravity and greed." Greed has been a motivation in more true crime cases than I can count, and it's astonishing how a grasping desire for dollars and cents can twist the human heart. I…

1
Burning Down the House: A Casino Bandit Grab Bag 42:20

6M ago42:20

42:20

Almost everyone who walks into a casino feeling confident that they’re gonna walk out richer is what is technically known as “a sucker.” Every game you play at a casino gives the house an edge. Not much of one—otherwise, why would people play? Players have to win a decent portion of the time, that’s why they keep putting their money down on the tab…

1
Because They Were Home: The Dartmouth Murders, Pt 2 43:22

6M ago43:22

43:22

Our homes are meant to be where we feel the safest, so it makes sense that there’s an entire horror movie subgenre dedicated to home invasions. The Strangers, Panic Room, Funny Games, When a Stranger Calls, even Jordan Peele’s Us. All those movies play on the innate fear we have that our most peaceful area would be disturbed by those that would do …

1
Because They Were Home: The Dartmouth Murders Pt 1 38:51

6M ago38:51

38:51

Schopenhauer wrote, “Fate shuffles the cards, and we play.” Every day, every decision we make sparks a chain reaction of others, leading us down a particular path. And with every choice, a universe of other un-choices spins away behind us, forgotten. We all like to think we’re the master of our own destiny, but sometimes…we fall to the whims of cha…

1
Stranger in the Mirror: The Crimes of Theresa Ramirez 39:06

6M ago39:06

39:06

We tend to think of doctors as leading pretty cushy, privileged lives—lots of money, social status, and respect. But a dark trend has been developing in recent years, and it’s only getting worse. Increasingly, doctors are experiencing violence at the hands of their patients. Sometimes it’s a verbal threat, a push or a shove. Sometimes it’s stalking…

1
Never Enough: The Crimes of Susan Grund 49:01

6M ago49:01

49:01

It’s not unusual or unhealthy to go a little wild when you’re young—to just go looking for a good time with little thought for the consequences. It’s just how human beings are made. But if you’re like that your whole life, relentlessly looking out for your own pleasures and barely aware of the damage you cause along the way, you’re likely to land y…

1
Bat Man: The Murder of Fred Oesterreich 37:16

7M ago37:16

37:16

There’s an old saying: A gilded cage is still a cage. Meaning, you can be in what looks like an enviable situation—all your needs met, plenty of pretty toys to entertain you—and still feel like you’re in prison. The human soul doesn’t take well to being kept in a box, no matter how nice the box may be. There’s a pull toward freedom, even if you hav…

1
You Belong with Me: The Murders of Viktor Gunnarsson and Catherine Miller 1:06:54

7M ago1:06:54

1:06:54

Romantic jealousy is, for the most part, fundamental to the human experience, one of the uglier strands in the tangled mess that makes up a heart. Some people manage to overcome it completely, most of us will be familiar with the occasional hot stab of possessiveness. And some people will let jealousy consume them like a wildfire. If that person is…

1
Is It Fiction? The Crimes of Krystian Bala 43:33

7M ago43:33

43:33

In Dostoevsky’s book Crime and Punishment, the character Raskolnikov says, “All people seem to be divided into 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary'. The ordinary people must lead a life of strict obedience and have no right to transgress the law because they are ordinary. Whereas the extraordinary people have the right to commit any crime they like…just …

1
Black Flag: The Story of the Pirate Blackbeard 51:18

8M ago51:18

51:18

We've talked about a lot of notorious criminals here on True Crime Campfire, but do you think any of today's villains will still be widely known in three-hundred years? Will their names be known to almost everyone, and conjure up vivid if not exactly accurate images of a time long past? The subject of this week's story is a man whose brief but spec…

1
The Talented Mr. Field: Murder in an English Village 49:01

8M ago49:01

49:01

Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley follows a young man named Tom, whose deep-seated jealousy and ambition leads him down a very dark path. He wants the jet-set lifestyle his trust-fund friends are living, and he sets out to get it using his intelligence and skill at deception. Tom Ripley is a pretty realistic depiction of a psychopa…

1
The Magician and the Fool: The Story of the DC Snipers, Pt 2 49:21

8M ago49:21

49:21

When we left you at the end of part 1, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo had begun a killing spree that took them from Tacoma, Washington, through Arizona, Louisiana, and Maryland. By October 2002, they had killed or wounded 10 people, with Muhammad pointing his finger and Malvo pointing his gun. Malvo believed himself to be a soldier in the f…

1
The Magician and the Fool: The Story of the DC Snipers 31:16

9M ago31:16

31:16

Do you remember Snow White, campers? You know, the princess whose step mother was so jealous of her beauty that she cursed her with a poison apple? Today’s case is like that. Someone whose wrath and anger was so terrible that it harmed everyone it touched. To him, not getting his way was a fate worse than death and in order to right the wrongs, he’…

1
Love Will Tear Us Apart: The Murder of Larry McNabney, Pt 2 54:59

9M ago54:59

54:59

When we left you last week, attorney Larry McNabney’s attempt to become the biggest personal-injury attorney in Nevada had just crashed and burned like the Hindenberg, thanks in no small part to his new wife, Elisa. Elisa was a small-time thief and fraudster from Florida who had thrown the state and her whole life in the rear-view mirror to avoid t…

1
Love Will Tear Us Apart: The Murder of Larry McNabney, Pt 1 47:49

9M ago47:49

47:49

There aren’t many stories older or more widespread than “bad decisions made for a pretty face or a hot body.” Those throbbing biological urges can kick reason and good sense right to the curb. For most of us, this is more likely to happen when we’re young and, y’know, dumb. But there are some people who will always be willing to put their hands in …

1
Unfaithful: The Murder of Samira Frasch 38:04

9M ago38:04

38:04

There is freedom in being a narcissist. If you don’t see anyone else in the world as fully real and important, you can do whatever you want, follow your every urge and impulse. And if someone happens to get hurt along the way, well, you probably barely even noticed. A lot of the criminals in our cases fit this mould, grandiose types swinging throug…

1
Counterfeit Son: The Murders of Bart and Krista Halderson 36:08

9M ago36:08

36:08

It's not that unusual for people to bend the truth a little to show themselves in a good light, especially when they're young. Maybe you want to impress a crush, maybe you just want to add a bit of glamor to an otherwise normal life. It's mostly harmless...unless the lies get out of control. If someone lies with every beat of their heart, builds an…

1
Out of Your Depth: The Grisly Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916 53:19

10M ago53:19

53:19

When you were a kid, were you ever scared to go in the swimming pool in case you might get eaten by a shark? Or just get in the bathtub? Hell, one time I even managed to freak myself out just from laying on a waterbed. This is mainly thanks to Steven Spielberg and a 25-foot mechanical shark called Bruce, but “Jaws” wasn’t made in a vacuum. Shark at…

1
Touched By an Angel: The Murder of Fred Jablin 56:21

10M ago56:21

56:21

Leonard Cohen sang, “All I ever learned from love / Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya,” which should certainly strike a chord with followers of true crime. We’ve seen time and again how, after a bitter break-up, a person can go to extraordinary lengths to get their own back, whether the wrongs they’ve suffered are real or exist entirely in t…

1
Bird Brain: The Story of the Great Feather Heist 44:12

10M ago44:12

44:12

Natural conservation is something that most people can get behind. I mean, you see a baby duckling covered in oil and you can’t help but shake your fist at the oil companies that created the mess while you reach for the dish soap, right? When wildfires break out, firefighters from all over the country pack their bags and get on planes to go help. W…

1
Hey Jealousy: The Murder of Latrese Curtis 36:52

10M ago36:52

36:52

In geometry, the triangle is the strongest shape there is—any weight you put on one gets shared out equally among the three sides. A perfect 3-way harmony. But in romance, for most of us anyway, three’s a crowd. Resentments start to smolder. Secrets start to slip. Things can get dangerous. Especially when everyone involved is living a double life t…

1
Would I Lie To You? The Murder of Leisa Hurst 48:14

10M ago48:14

48:14

To paraphrase the great American hero George Costanza, “You’ve been living a lie? I’m living, like, 20.” If you’re up to no good in one way or another, there are a lot of ways you can get found out. You might get ratted out, you might unknowingly leave behind evidence of your bad deeds, or you might just get flat-out caught in the act. And if you’v…

1
Fury By Proxy: The Murder of Sandee Rozzo 50:22

11M ago50:22

50:22

Some of the scariest people we’ve covered on this show were cursed with a grandiose sense of entitlement—the sense that if they see something they want, they should be allowed to just take it, whether that something is a new watch or a fellow human being. The self-centeredness is bad enough, but when you couple it with rage…especially the kind brou…

1
Restrained: The Crimes of Mr. Handcuffs 39:37

11M ago39:37

39:37

In 2012 and 2013, two women disappeared. They didn’t have a whole lot in common: One was a teenager on the west coast, the other a midwestern mom of seven. But both would fall under the spell of a poisonous man who had become a master at manipulating the vulnerable for his own twisted ends. Sources: CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-wis…

1
Wrapped Around Her Finger: The Murder of Ron Whitehead 38:08

11M ago38:08

38:08

Two of the closest bonds a person can have are with a spouse and with a child. Ideally, in the first you're a loving partner, and in the second, a guide and a caregiver. Of course, real life doesn't always match the ideal, and both of those relationships can get twisted and strange. Sometimes your spouse and your child can even become the deadliest…

1
Foxcatcher: The Unhinging of an American Heir 43:07

12M ago43:07

43:07

Imagine growing up in a spectacular mansion, with access to the kind of wealth and connections most of us can only dream of. But although you’re surrounded by material riches, you’re in a social vacuum—eating alone in your bedroom every night, wandering the grounds of your family estate with only the wildlife as company. This was the life of John D…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Main Line Murders Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide

zproxy.org