In 1988, a man in Hickory, NC was sentenced to life in prison based on evidence that experts would later call "junk science." It took him 24 years to convince someone to look at the evidence again. Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. If you haven't already, please review us on iTunes! It's an important way to help new listeners disco…

Helen Duncan was a famous medium who travelled around Britain in the 1940s performing séances. She claimed to speak to the dead, and even produce physical manifestations of their spirits. But when she seemed to know wartime secrets about the whereabouts of military ships, she caught the attention of MI5. And in 1944, a few months before D-day, she …

In 1993, a man in Steamboat Springs, Colorado was found dead in his home. He'd been burned with a stun gun, hit with a shovel, and shot several times. The victim's wife was the primary suspect, but she had an alibi for the estimated time of death. Investigators were at a loss, and turned to two very unlikely people for help. Criminal is a proud mem…

In 1962, two men managed to escape the one prison in America that was supposed to be inescapable. They were never found. More than 50 years later, their 82-year-old sister is still waiting for them to come home...and one U.S. Marshal is still on the case. Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.If you haven't already, please review us on …

The Tennessee Walking Horse has a natural gait that's famously smooth. And, if trained in a certain way, it can perform a walk that's even more spectacular. But, there's a secret behind how, exactly, these horses are trained to do the crowd-pleasing step they're celebrated for. Mary Helen Montgomery brings us the story. Criminal is a proud member o…

"I keep saying 'where's the body? Kill someone,'" Marilyn Stasio told us. She reads at least 200 crime novels a year to determine which are worthy of her prestigious "Crime Column" in the New York Times Book Review. We talk with her about crime as entertainment - and why people are so addicted to the genre that she can't stay away from: "My fingers…

In 1993, more than 1,000 levees broke along the Mississippi River, flooding thousands of acres. In most cases the floods were seen as an "Act of God." In one case, however, the flood was a crime: "knowingly causing a catastrophe." This story comes to us from Noam Osband. For more information, check out Adam Pitluk's book, Damned to Eternity. Crimin…

At the turn of the century, Carry Nation was “America’s foremost lady hellraiser” and "the apostle of reform violence.” In her own words, she was "a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn't like." We liked her hatchet pins so much, we thought we'd try to make some of our own. They say "CRIMINAL" on the handle. Get your…

Amber Dawn was 20 when she moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Enumclaw, Washington. On her very first night, she began to notice strange sounds. And they didn't stop. Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.If you haven't already, please review us on iTunes! It's an important way to help new listeners discover the show: iTunes.com/Crim…

In 1967, a very unlikely group of individuals gathered to help women quietly break the law and obtain an abortion. The first step was to call a phone number. A recording of a woman's voice would tell you what do to next. Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. If you haven't already, please review us on iTunes! It's an important way to h…

Shortly after David Brown was sworn in as the Dallas Chief of Police, his son shot and killed a police officer. Just before he retired as chief, 5 Dallas officers were shot and killed in what was said to be the deadliest attack for law enforcement since September 11th, 2001. Today on the show, we ask David Brown how he's changed after 33 years of p…

The “body farm" at Texas State University is a place almost no one except researchers and law enforcement are able to see, because it's one of very few places in the world that deliberately puts out human bodies to decompose in nature. Forensic Anthropologists observe decomposition in order to help law enforcement discern when and how someone may h…

On a Sunday morning in 1982, in Des Moines, Iowa, Johnny Gosch left his house to begin his usual paper route. A short time later, his parents were awakened by a phone call–it was a neighbor—their paper hadn't come. His would be the first face of a missing child ever printed on a milk carton. This story comes to us from reporter Annie Brown and our …

Skidmore, Missouri is a very small town. In the '70s, there was only one bar, one grocery store, and one bully. Ken McElroy was so ruthless and intimidating that even law enforcement looked the other way. He terrorized the town for decades, until they finally fought back. We spoke with Harry MacLean, author of In Broad Daylight.Criminal is a proud …

In 1928, Huey P. Long became the youngest Governor in Louisiana’s history. He bragged that he bought lawmakers like “sacks of potatoes, shuffled ‘em like a deck of cards.” By the time he was 39 years old, he’d made his way to the U.S. Senate. And just a couple of weeks after his 42nd birthday, he was dead. Buried 16 feet deep on the front lawn of t…

The Colorado Department of Transportation says the 420 mile markers on the state's highways were stolen so often, they had to replace them with 419.99 mile markers. Many people know that "420" represents marijuana - hence the popularity of the mile markers - but very few know why. It's not a police code, it's not the number of chemical compounds in…

Kim Dadou says she wishes she had a nickel for every person who has asked why she didn't leave her abusive boyfriend. They stayed together for four years. And then, in the middle of the night on December 17th, 1991, Kim's entire life changed. This episode contains descriptions of physical violence against women. It may not be suitable for everyone.…

In 2014, 16-year-old Wildin Acosta left Olancho, Honduras and traveled toward the U.S. border. When he arrived, he turned himself in to border patrol agents. He was one of 68,541 unaccompanied minors who crossed the border into the U.S. that year. Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. If you haven't already, please review us on iTunes!…

People have faked death to escape criminal convictions, debts, and their spouses. In 2007, a man named Amir Vehabovic faked his death just to see who showed up at the funeral (answer: only his mom). It's an appealing soap-opera fantasy, but actually disappearing requires an incredible amount of planning. How do you obtain a death certificate, a bel…

In 2005, Teri Knight drove 650 miles on midwestern roads through Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Illinois, pleading with the public to help her do what law enforcement and the FBI had not been able to: find the remains of her children Sarah and Philip Gehring. An Ohio woman read about Teri Knight's search in her local paper, and decided she would try to he…

In 1849, abolitionist and attorney Wendell Phillips wrote: "We should look in vain through the most trying times of our revolutionary history for an incident of courage and noble daring to equal that of the escape of William and Ellen Craft; and future historians and poets would tell this story as one of the most thrilling in the nation's annals, a…

In 2010, Michael McIntosh's son was incarcerated at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in the small town of Walnut Grove, Mississippi. One Sunday, McIntosh went to visit his son and was turned away because, he was told, prison officials "did not know" where his son was. He spent the next six weeks searching for his son, only to find him i…

To close out 2016, we're bringing you two lighter stories of people exhibiting everyday genius under. . . unusual circumstances. Comedian Dave Holmes' story begins with an upsetting phone call from the IRS. Then we meet a Baton Rouge attorney with a story of wild resourcefulness at Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola.A word of cautio…

Since 1938, a weekly African-American owned newspaper called The Evening Whirl has covered crime in St. Louis with a style all its own, using alliteration and rhyme, and often omitting the usual crime-reporting words like "accused" or "alleged." The paper has been widely criticized for its casual approach to fact-checking and sensational writing st…

The Magic Castle in Hollywood has been a private club for magicians since 1963, and its walls are lined with portraits of magicians past and present. Among them is a portrait of one of the earliest American organized crime bosses and conmen, Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. And though it may seem strange that this "mecca of magic" honors a crimina…

SPOILER WARNING: Please listen to Episode 53: Melinda and Judy before you listen to this one.Melinda Dawson found out on the same day in 1998 that her adoptive mother had been killed and that her husband Clarence was being charged with the murder. Clarence was convicted in 1999 and given two life sentences. Left alone with her two sons, no money, a…

When Melinda Dawson was seven years old, she learned that she was adopted under mysterious circumstances. As she got older and had children of her own, she tried to learn something about her biological parents. And when she went to the county courthouse and asked to see a copy of her birth certificate, she discovered that she was an unwitting parti…

SPOILER WARNING: Please listen to Episode 51: Money Tree before youlisten to this one. While working on our last episode, we becamecurious about the nature of psychopathy -- how it is defined, and whatto do if someone close to you meets the criteria. We spoke with Dr.Ronald Schouten, author of Almost a Psychopath, and Jon Ronson, author of The Psyc…

When Axton Betz-Hamiton was 11 years old her parents' identities were stolen, but at that time consumer protection services for identity theft victims were basically non-existent. So the family dealt with the consequences as best they could. But then when Axton got to college she realized that her identity had been stolen as well. Her credit score …

To celebrate Criminal's 50th episode, we check in with some of our most memorable guests including Fran Schindler from Episode 17: "Final Exit," Dan Stevenson from Episode 15: "He's Neutral," Corporal Scott Foster from Episode 29: "Officer Talon," and Marian Tolan from Episode 18: "695-BGK."We're very excited to announce that we're taking the show …

In November of 1988, Robin Woods was sentenced to sixteen years in the notoriously harsh Maryland Correctional Institution. In prison, Robin found himself using a dictionary to work his way through a book for the first time in his life. It was a Mario Puzo novel. While many inmates become highly educated during their incarceration, Robin became suc…

2008 was an exciting time to be a Harry Potter fan. The final book,Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, had been released. Movies wereon the way. And author Melissa Anelli was at the center of it all,running a popular fan site called The Leaky Caldron and working on abook, Harry, a History. Just as things couldn’t get better, Melissareceived her f…

Shortly after Meridy Volz moved from Milwaukee to San Francisco, she received a phone call from a friend asking her to take over a small bakery business. Meridy agreed to run the bakery, but she only wanted to sell one thing: pot brownies. Her brownies were a massive success, and soon she was making enough money to support three families. Meridy te…

There are more tigers in captivity in America than wild tigers in the entire world. The exact number of captive tigers in this country isn't known, because many of them live in people's backyards or unaccredited zoos, and the legality of their ownership varies widely by state and even by circumstance. We travelled to Louisiana to see a 550-pound Si…

As a law student, Bryan Stevenson was sent to a maximum security prison to meet a man on death row. The man told Stevenson he'd never met an African-American lawyer, and the two of them talked for hours. It was a day that changed Stevenson's life. He's spent the last 30 years working to get people off of death row, but has also spent the final hour…

Not only was John Frankford a famous horse thief, he was also a notoriously good escape artist. People thought no jail was strong enough to keep him, but then in 1895 he was sentenced to Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary. At Eastern State, Frankford became the victim of a strange practice that carried implications for both the state of Penn…

In 1979, a group of labor organizers protested outside a Ku Klux Klan screening of the 1915 white supremacist film, The Birth of a Nation. Nelson Johnson and Signe Waller-Foxworth remember shouting at armed Klansmen and burning a confederate flag, until eventually police forced the KKK inside and the standoff ended without violence. The labor organ…

People have been giving each other "the finger" since Ancient Greece. The first documented use is said to be a photograph from 1886 in which the pitcher for the Boston Beaneaters extends his middle finger to the camera (ostensibly to the rival New York Giants). Even though it's been around for so long, many still find the gesture offensive enough t…

Since 1965, there's been an unsolved murder in Houston, Texas. The main suspect managed to disappear and police were never able to find him. The case is still considered open. In 1997, a couple of accountants decided to look into the murders, and were able to uncover evidence that the police missed. They think they've solved the mystery. To learn m…

When it comes to the bourbon Pappy Van Winkle, it doesn't matter who you are or how much money you have -- you can't get it unless you're exceptionally lucky or willing to break the law. The Pappy frenzy has law enforcement, bartenders, and even the Van Winkle family themselves wringing their hands. Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX…

In 1983, three men were prepared to plead guilty to a violent sexual assault in Anderson, South Carolina. Defense attorneys did not want their clients to go before a jury, and arranged a plea deal. This left the sentencing in the hands of the judge, who gave the assailants a very controversial choice.Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PR…

Jane Toppan was born in Massachusetts in 1857. She attended the Cambridge Nursing School, and established a successful private nursing career in Boston. Said to be cheerful, funny and excellent with her patients, nothing about "Jolly Jane" suggested she could be "the most notorious woman poisoner of modern times." Criminal is a proud member of Radi…

In 2010, an eighth-grader brought a loaded gun to a middle school in Hastings, Minnesota. We speak with two students and the principal about the minutes and hours in lockdown.Read Jake Bullington's essay, "Yeah, I'm Afraid of Guns."Di CriminalShow

The 500-year-old Treaty Oak in Austin, Texas was once called "the most perfect specimen of a North American tree." But in 1989, Austin's city forester realized that the Treaty Oak didn't look so good, and began to wonder whether someone had intentionally tried to kill it.Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.…

As a young woman in the 60s, Andy Austin talked her way into a job as a courtroom sketch artist in Chicago. She spent 43 years sketching everyone from disgraced governors to John Wayne Gacy, and says she only made someone look bad on purpose once.Di CriminalShow

Michael Ross was the first person in Connecticut to be sentenced to death since 1960. He claimed that he wanted to die in order to atone for what he had done. One journalist spent twenty years trying to figure out whether his remorse was real.Learn more about Martha Elliot's relationship with Michael Ross in her book The Man in the Monster. Crimina…

Sgt. David Mascarenas is the Dive Supervisor for the Los Angeles Police Department. He's been diving his whole life, and prides himself on never refusing a dive, no matter how treacherous. At least until the summer of 2013, when a murder investigation led him into unusually murky waters.Criminal is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.…

Ed Crawford had never been to a protest until he heard about theshooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Robert Cohen, a staff photographer with the St. Louis Post Dispatch, ended up taking a photograph of Ed that would be seen around the world, and change both of their lives.Di CriminalShow

When we're kids, we have ideas of what we want to be when we grow up -- movie star, doctor, astronaut. But what if we dream of being like Butch Cassidy, Jesse James, or John Dillinger? And what happens when you're not a kid anymore but you're still obsessed with becoming an outlaw?Many, many thanks to everyone who donated to the Radiotopia Fall Fun…

In 2005, Danny Egipciaco had the opportunity to participate in a robbery of a drug supplier's stash house. He was told he'd take home between $100K-200K. In the end, the robbery never happened, so why has Danny spent the last ten years in the Fort Dix Correctional Institution?Di CriminalShow