Here is a list of our favorite podcasts and documentaries. We will continue to add new and interesting podcasts and documentaries as we discover them.
Podcasts
Up and Vanished : “Up and Vanished Season 2 focuses on the disappearance of young mother Kristal Reisinger from a remote mountain town in Colorado. Follow along with host Payne Lindsey, a filmmaker turned amateur investigator, as he travels to Colorado to trace Reisinger’s path. In UAV Season 1, Payne tackles his first cold case story, the long unsolved disappearance of Georgia high school teacher and former pageant queen, Tara Grinstead. The 11-year-old case remains the largest case file in Georgia history. Up and Vanished aims to tell compelling, true stories and give these cases the exposure they deserve.”
Serial: “Serial is a podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial tells one story — a true story — over the course of a season. Serial has won every major award for broadcasting, including the duPont-Columbia, Scripps Howard, Edward R. Murrow, and the first-ever Peabody awarded to a podcast. Serial, like This American Life, is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago. It comes from Serial Productions, which released S-Town in 2017, and has more projects in development.”
Happy Face: “For Melissa Moore, 1995 was a nightmare. That’s the year the teenager learned her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was a serial killer. It’s also the year Melissa Moore’s doubt spiral began: When you look like your father, and you share his intelligence and charisma, how do you know you’re not a psychopath, too? Happy Face is the story of Keith Hunter Jesperson, his brutal crimes, and the cat and mouse game he played with detectives and the media. But it’s also the story of the horrific legacy he gifted his children. Join Melissa Moore as she investigates her father’s crimes, reckons with the past, and wades through her darkest fears as she hunts for a better future.”
Mile Marker 181: “Murder, or a freak accident? Cover-up, or just rumors? On November 19th, 2011, after a night out with “friends”, Jaleayah Davis was struck by her own car and found laying in the passing lane of I-77. Her car? Found 3/10 of a mile north of her body. Her clothes? Found laying over the guardrail. Her friends? The granddaughter of a former sheriff, and the son of a former police officer. The rumors? Running wild. Together Kim (Jaleayah’s mother) and I discuss specific details of the case… which was ultimately ruled an accident by the Wood County Sheriff’s Department.”
Teacher’s Pet: “Chris and Lyn appear to have the perfect marriage. But when Lyn goes missing, dark secrets are buried. This is no fairytale, but a sordid story of strangely close twin brothers, teenage student lovers, and probable murder.”
Someone Knows Something: “Director David Ridgen is an award-winning filmmaker and writer who specializes in hard-hitting, character-driven stories, with a passion for investigative work and narrative experimentation. His Emmy-nominated company is expanding further into areas of long-form drama and new media production.”
Court Junkie: “Imagine being wrongfully convicted for a crime you didn’t commit, or imagine your child’s killer is still on the loose even though there’s enough evidence for an arrest. I want to help shine light on the injustices of our judicial system. I delve into court documents, attend trials, and interview those close to the case to help me tell their stories.”
Criminal: “Criminal Is A Podcast About Crimes Stories of people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle.”
Dirty John: “Debra Newell is a successful interior designer. She meets John Meehan, a handsome man who seems to check all the boxes: attentive, available, just back from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders. But her family doesn’t like John, and they get entangled in an increasingly complex web of love, deception, forgiveness, denial, and ultimately, survival. Reported and hosted by Christopher Goffard from the L.A. Times.”
Documentaries
The Staircase (Available on Netflix): “Accident or murder? After the mysterious death of his wife, author Michael Peterson watches his life go under the microscope.”
The Thin Blue Line (Available on Netflix): “Through archival footage, interviews and reenactments, filmmaker Errol Morris makes a case for the innocence of a man erroneously convicted of murder.”
The Keepers (Available on Netflix): “This docuseries examines the decades-old murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik and its suspected link to a priest accused of abuse and murder.”
The Jinx (Available on HBO): “From Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling (the Oscar nominees behind Capturing the Friedmans), comes The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, a six-part examination of the reclusive millionaire at the heart of three killings spanning four decades.Robert Durst, the scion of a New York real estate empire, has long been a suspect in the notorious 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathie. Further suspicion was raised with the unsolved killing of his confidante, Susan Berman, thought to be a key witness in the investigation into Kathie’s disappearance in 2000, as well as the subsequent killing and dismemberment of a neighbor in Galveston, Texas. Durst has consistently maintained his innocence.”
Cold Crimes 