Podcasts · True Crime · Society & Culture
Criminal
Vox Media Podcast Network
300 episodes
Criminal is the first of its kind. A show about people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Hosted by Phoebe Judge. Named a Best Podcast of 2023 by the New York Times. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Episodes page 2 of 6
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Gone
One night in 1989, Karen Palmer got in her car with her husband and two daughters and drove away from their home in California. They didn’t tell anyone where they were going. Karen Palmer’s memoir is She’s Under Here.…
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Like a Bad Dream
One day in 2011, Lindsey Schweigert’s roommate came home to an open garage, a missing dog, and an overflowing bathtub. Lindsey remembers waking up in police custody. Ramya Nagesh is the author of A Practical Guide to…
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Sister Helen
In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean was invited to write a letter to a man on death row named Elmo Patrick Sonnier. She told us, “I thought that all I was going to be doing was writing letters. And lo and behold, two years…
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The Speeding Duck, the Hungry Javelina, and “Leonardo da Pinchy”
Stories of animals really going for it. Say hello on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for our occasional newsletter. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts. Sign up for Criminal Plus to get…
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The Knock
On Christmas morning, Laura Nowlin was in her living room with her infant son. They were getting ready to leave to spend the day with family. Then, Laura heard a knock on the door. She says it sounded frantic. Say…
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Fall River
In 1833, a writer named Catharine Williams began working on a new book. She’d published books of poetry and about the Revolutionary War before, but this book was going to be different. It was going to be about a…
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The Manual
In 1993, a family was found murdered in their home. A Maryland police spokesperson described the homicide investigation as the most “exhaustive and labor intensive” in the department’s history. And then investigators…
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The Post Office
Scott Darlington ran the post office in a village outside Manchester for four years. One day, the computer system told him there was money missing from the branch – and he was accused of theft and fraud. “I started…
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The Boy Scout
When David Hahn was 16, he started working on something that caught the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the FBI. Ken Silverstein’s book is The Radioactive Boy…
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Rogers Park
The story of one day in one neighborhood in Chicago – and the people living there who try to stop ICE agents from arresting their neighbors. Say hello on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for our occasional…
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Ghostwatch
On Halloween night, in 1992, an unusual television special aired on the BBC. Nobody expected what happened next. “The technicians were looking up at the big screen in the lobby, saying to each other, ‘My God, what's…
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The Custom of the Sea
In 1883, a sailing captain named Thomas Dudley accepted a job no one thought was a good idea: to sail a small ship called the Mignonette halfway across the world. Say hello on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up…
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The Tusker
When Audrey Ryan’s father told her he once found 20 pounds of hash while he was fishing for scallops, she didn’t believe him. But he said that he wasn’t the only one who had found drugs in the ocean. Audrey Ryan wrote…
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Zak and Michelle
In 2006, a group of young men and teenagers were arrested under the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act for planning to set off bombs in Toronto. They were known as the Toronto 18. One of the group’s leaders was a 20-year-old…
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Patience
One Saturday morning in 2018, the police showed up at Patience Rousseau’s door, and started asking her questions about something she'd posted on Facebook after she'd had a miscarriage. Caroline Kitchener’s article for…
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The Phone Call
Bow Suprasert had just returned from a trip abroad when she got a strange phone call, saying a man had been caught traveling with a passport in her name. But Bow’s passport was still in her suitcase. We have a small…
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The Compound
In 2023, a woman named Jella got a new job. On her first day, she got in a car to go to her new office. Then she got a feeling that something wasn’t right. Denise Chan hosts the podcast Scam Factory. Say hello on…
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This is Phoebe Judge from the IRS
Phoebe tries to scam an English grandmother named Daisy over the phone. But Daisy isn’t just any grandmother. Say hello on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for our occasional newsletter. Follow the show and…
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E. Jean
We visited E. Jean Carroll at her house in the woods to talk about her two trials against President Donald Trump. Say hello on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for our occasional newsletter. Follow the show and…
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The Bus Ride
Two days after Hurricane Katrina hit, people who lived in the Fischer Housing Projects were still trapped – and it didn’t seem like anyone was coming to help. So 20-year-old Jabar Gibson came up with a plan. Say hello…
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Kids on the Case
The summer after Jessica Maple finished 6th grade, she found out that her great-grandmother’s house had been burglarized. So, 12-year-old Jessica got out her notebook, looked for fingerprints, and decided she would…
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The Clock Starts Ticking
On October 11, 2008, an 18-year-old was shot by someone firing a gun from the back seat of a car. A couple of hours later, homicide detectives arrived on the scene. And so did the camera crew for a reality television…
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Death in Eden
In the early 1930s, eight people settled on an uninhabited island in the Galapagos. Within five years, two were missing and two were dead. Abbott Kahler’s book is Eden Undone: A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia…
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The Double
In 2023, two men told police the same story: each man said that his name was William Woods, and that his identity had been stolen. Say hello on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for our occasional newsletter.…
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The Man Nobody Killed
On September 15, 1983, Michael Stewart was on his way home from a nightclub when police arrested him. Thirteen days later, he was dead. Elon Green’s book is The Man Nobody Killed: Life, Death, and Art in Michael…
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The Clearwater Monster
Early one morning in 1948, a phone call woke up the police chief in the small town of Clearwater, Florida. The caller said he’d seen something strange at the beach. Residents had found an odd set of footprints in the…
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Uncle Harold
In 1997, Eric Konigsberg received a strange voicemail from someone in prison — a hit man who had confessed to at least ten murders. Eric and the man had never spoken before, but Eric had a hunch about who it was: his…
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By Any Means Necessary
In July 2010, a woman was on vacation with her boyfriend of six years — they were traveling around Italy in a van. One day, she was looking for a pair of sunglasses in the glove box, and she found a passport. It had…
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The Guru
In the late 1960s, a yogi named Swami Rama came to the United States. His followers believed he could read their minds, visit them in their dreams, and manipulate reality. Shruti Swamy was one of them. Shruti Swamy…
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Professor Quaalude
John Buettner-Janusch was one of the first Americans to study lemurs. He held prestigious faculty positions at Yale, Duke and NYU, before surprising everyone with a series of increasingly bizarre crimes. Phoebe and…
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Thin Ice and Unusual Punishments
Two years ago, we started making Criminal Plus episodes — behind-the-scenes conversations featuring Phoebe and Criminal co-creator Lauren Spohrer. Today, we’re sharing some of those conversations with you — about…
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Action Park
“Anyone who went to Action Park understood you could get really messed up going there. It was part of why you wanted to go.” Seth Porges made a documentary about Action Park, along with Chris Charles Scott. It’s…
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No Hint or Help
In the 1950s, a new television quiz show premiered called Twenty One. But the first episode was a disaster — so the producers decided to try something. Say hello on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for our…
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False Positive
The night before she gave birth, Susan Horton had a salad for dinner. The next day, doctors told her she’d tested positive for opiates - and reported her to child welfare authorities. This episode is from our friends…
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Tabatha
When Tabatha Trammell was 50 years old, she started studying to become a doula — a support person for pregnant women. Today, most of her clients are incarcerated. She says she always tells them her own story when she…
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The Job
Not long into his job as prison superintendent, Frank Thompson had to prepare his staff to perform Oregon's first execution in three decades. They simulated each step of the process over and over and over. This…
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The Roofman, Part 2
When Jeffery Manchester escaped from prison, a lot of people weren't surprised. But they didn't expect what happened next. "I kind of figured he'd be on the beach with a margarita, but nope." This is the second part…
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The Roofman, Part 1
Between 1998 and 2000, more than 40 stores and chain restaurants across the country were robbed by a masked man who always entered through the roof. Police couldn’t figure out where he’d turn up next. To listen to…
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The Pride of Pine Hill
In the midst of the 1996 race for North Carolina governor, a new candidate emerged. Her name was Jolene Strickland, and her campaign slogan was “Too Good to be True.” Barry Yeoman wrote about Jolene Strickland for The…
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The Bottom of the Cliff
In May of 2021, the National Park Service received a call that a woman had fallen over the Grandview Overlook at New River Gorge National Park. After days of searching with rappel lines, infrared cameras, and dogs,…
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The Man Without a Will
A Toronto police officer was having an affair with a government worker – and then they found out about an elderly man who died with a large estate, and no will. For more on the story, read Katherine Laidlaw’s piece,…
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High Tide
Right after sunset, three boats sailed towards the rice plantations on the Combahee River. Harriet Tubman knew they had to hurry - they only had six hours before the changing tide would make it very difficult to get…
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Five Stars
“Christopher Kinahan is probably the most successful and entrepreneurial criminal that Ireland has ever produced.” Say hello on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice.…
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The Stay
Last year, a committee of state lawmakers in Texas issued a subpoena for a man on death row to testify four days after he was scheduled to be executed. Today, what happened next in Robert Roberson's case. Say hello on…
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The Butterfly Smuggler
The first time Ed Newcomer went to the L.A. Bug Fair, he met a man who called himself the world’s most wanted butterfly smuggler. It took three years of undercover work for Ed Newcomer to catch him in the act. Say…
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Ava and the Pickpocket
“He stole my watch. He stole my jewelry. I stopped wearing jewelry – just to see what else he would steal.” In 2004, Ava Do met a professional pickpocket at a bachelorette party in Las Vegas. And they fell in love.…
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Robert Smalls
On May 13, 1862, in Charleston, South Carolina, a man named Robert Smalls took command of a Confederate ship called The Planter and liberated himself and his family from slavery. As they passed the Confederate-held…
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The Raid
In 2023, police raided the Kansas newspaper where Eric Meyer worked with his mother, Joan. Seven officers also searched their home. Joan had a heart attack and died the next day. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook,…
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Guns, Grenades, and $100,000
“Anything you can think of is going to be in the water.” Say hello on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts.…
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Dexter Wade
Bettersten Wade searched for her missing 37-year-old son for nearly six months. Then she found out that the police knew where he was the whole time. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for…
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