Crime Writers On...

A journalist decided to give editorial control of her story to the people she’s profiling. Is she protecting her subjects at the expense of the audience?
Buckle up for this CWO Classic Rewind! We’re going to our March 14, 2024 review of the divisive, format‑breaking podcast “Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative” from PRX’s Radiotopia Presents and host Jess Shane.

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This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling

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In 2008, Dateline producer Dan Slepian got a tip about a fatal break-in in Las Vegas. Thomas Randolph said he killed an intruder who murdered his wife, but police said aspects of his story weren’t adding up. Investigators learned that four of Randolph’s six wives were now dead. And decades earlier Randolph stood trial for murdering one of them. Slepian spent years interviewing the charismatic suspect hoping to learn whether he masterminded the deaths of his spouses — or whether he was just an unlucky widower.

In Netflix’s documentary “The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part,” Slepian provides real-time video inside the police investigation into Randolph, and extensive interviews over two decades with the defendant about his daring life and departed loves. What emerges is as much a story about reporting as it is about murder.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE WIDOWER: 'TIL DEATH DO US PART" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 14 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE
In Crime of the Week: A-maize-ing.


For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In 2007, 20-year-old Vienna Luke was staying with her sister and brother-in-law in British Columbia. One evening, while her sister was away, Vienna had drinks at home with Justin Sewell, but memories of the evening were hazy. She kept her suspicions a secret, but years later when photos Justin took of her that night surfaced, it confirmed her fears she had been sexually assaulted. Royal Canadian Mounted Police set in motion an unusual sting operation: Vienna would wear a wire, sit down with Justin, and get him to confess to what he did to her.
In the CBC Podcast “Personally: Agent Layla,” host Jodie Martinson helps Vienna tell her story of survival and empowerment confronting her abuser to secure his arrest. It goes deep into her ordeal, and its effects on her and her family divided by her accusations.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "PERSONALLY: AGENT LAYLA" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 12 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.


For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In an effort to find the elusive criminal, the FBI encourages publication of the UNABOMBER’s Manifesto. Agent Joanne Miller thinks the essay contains linguistic clues to his identity, and its denouncement of the Industrial Revolution sounds familiar to the brother of Ted Kaczynski. As a teen math prodigy, Kaczynski attended Harvard and took part in a psychology study where he was made to defend his views on free will during confrontational interviews. The provocative experiment nurtures something within the student that will someday be expressed through violence.
Netflix’s “UNABOMBER” stars Jacob Tremblay, Russell Crowe and Shailene Woodley. The film runs on parallel timelines — one showing a young Ted Kaczynski slowly becoming radicalized against modern society at Harvard in 1958, and the other showing the FBI following clues in his manifesto that lead to his 1996 capture.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "UNABOMBER" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.
In Crime of the Week: wedding party.


For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In 2012, fledgling war correspondent Austin Tice was abducted in Syria. No group claimed responsibility, but the U.S. believed he was being held by the Assad government. When rebels toppled the dictator and opened the borders in 2024, Western journalists seized the chance to search the regime’s files for clues to Tice’s fate. Guided by secret documents and new contacts, the reporting team crisscrossed the fractured nation for new information on who held Tice, where he was kept, and why he was targeted for abduction. Their investigation took them through abandoned prisons, interrogation facilities, and active conflict zones in search of answers.

From BBC Radio 4 and NPR’s Embedded comes “Where is Austin Tice?” season three of “I’m Not a Monster Presents.” Josh Baker and Sara Obeidat take listeners on a breathtaking race against time to uncover evidence about the missing freelancer. The immersive podcast attempts to bring clarity — and hope — to a story long shrouded in uncertainty.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "WHERE IS AUSTIN TICE?" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.


For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.
This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.
About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.
From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.
Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.