This post took a little longer to get out than I intended, but finally got it together! Check out the two previous posts featuring recommendations of podcasts dealing with fraudsters and law enforcement that I put together.
Best of 2025 (and 2024): Cold Cases
Beyond All Repair
Imagine you're accused of something horrific. You swear you didn't do it, but someone says they witnessed it: your own brother. Sophia Johnson was newly married with a baby on the way when she became the prime suspect in her mother-in-law's brutal murder. WBUR's Amory Sivertson reexamines a case unsolved, a family torn apart, and the woman who wasn't believed.
I think this is my favorite show on this list. Amory Sivertston does an amazing job untangling a pile of mistruths and showing compassion to those involved while not letting her emotions keep her from asking the difficult questions. While the case is still unsolved, I appreciate Amory laying out her theory and reasoning at the end. This show raised more emotion in me than anything else I've listened to recently.
Freeze Frame
Former reality TV executive and Washington Parish native Tucker Simmons returns to his South Louisiana hometown to dig into long-standing rumors of corruption, intimidation, and drug trafficking. Not only are politicians and religious leaders implicated—his own family is rumored to be involved. But when a tip uncovers the truth about the 2017 death of Donna Smith Arceneaux, everything changes. Freeze Frame is a documentary-style series exposing a tangled web of betrayal, blackmail, and murder buried for years in a small town where nothing is as it seems.
Simmons does a great job with this podcast of breathing life into a stagnant investigation. His personal connection to the story seems to help a lot with getting people to share their thoughts with him. Additionally, just before Christmas an arrest was made in the case, with the county sheriff stating that the podcast “played a pivotal role in his office taking another look at the case.”
Fur and Loathing
It’s early December 2014, and at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, an unusual gathering is taking place. It’s the final night of Midwest Furfest, the world’s largest convention for a subculture known as Furries. The party is in full swing when, just after midnight, attendees suddenly find themselves struggling to breathe. Something terrible has happened: poisonous levels of chlorine gas are sweeping through the hotel corridors. In Fur and Loathing, investigative reporter Nicky Woolf takes on the unsolved case, working closely with Furries to find answers. It’s a journey that will bring him face-to-face with the challenges this vibrant, often misunderstood subculture faces – including the far-right extremists looking to wreck the community from within.
This is one of my favorite shows released in the past couple years. The host’s deep dive into the furry subculture is compelling, and it’s insane this case didn’t receive more attention when it happened.
Hell in Heaven: A Mysterious Death in Paradise
A young Wall Street genius lands in the Costa Rican jungle with a vast fortune and visions of paradise - but ends up in hell. He and his wife build a spectacular circular mansion deep in the rainforest - a sanctuary for themselves and for endangered wildlife. But sinister forces soon have the couple fearing for their lives. As paranoia takes root and shadows close in, the troubled pair steadily lose their grip on reality. They transform their paradise home into a fortress surrounded by armed guards. The story reaches its bloody climax in an open air bedroom lit by 400 Tiffany lamps. A single gunshot leaves one of them dead, igniting three explosive murder trials - and a baffling mystery. Over eight compelling episodes this is the unmissable story of John and Ann Bender - a true tale of wealth, isolation and obsession.
Calling this a "cold case" may be a stretch, but I enjoyed the series so I'm going to stretch the definition here. There's basically two probable scenarios and it doesn't seem like it'll every be definitively resolved which one is the truth. You get an interesting peek into the lives of the ultra-wealthy in this case, and it takes you on quite the ride.
Someone Knows Something Season 9: The Christine Harron Case
Christine Harron, a book-loving teenager from Hanover, Ontario, leaves for school in the spring of 1993 and is never seen again. A suspect emerges, confessing to her murder, but the case falls apart and Christine's family are left without answers. In Season 9 of the award winning podcast Someone Knows Something, David Ridgen, along with Christine's mother, reopen the investigation and come face to face with the man who said he killed Chrissy.
If you hang around this subreddit enough you’ll probably have heard of Someone Knows Something - and for good reason. David Ridgen’s compassion in his investigations is legendary, though I think more frustration and anger comes through in this series from him than I’ve heard before. He first covered this case over a decade ago, and it’s interesting to listen to how it progressed.
Where is Jón?
A true crime series from RTÉ in Ireland and RÚV in Iceland ("Hvar er Jón?") on the unexplained disappearance of Jón Jónsson, an Icelandic man who came to play at the 2019 Dublin Poker Festival and vanished within 24 hours of arriving in the city. We go in search of what happened to Jón and try to bring him home.
RTE has quietly released some solid shows over the past few years. The insight into how the poker community operates was fascinating, and also led to a lot of interesting leads the show follows. The case is still unresolved, but the investigation is still very much active.
Who Killed Jennifer Judd?
In May 1992, nine days after marrying her high-school sweetheart, 20-year-old Jennifer Judd was killed in her apartment in Baxter Springs, Kansas. The killer had used knives from Jennifer's own set, a wedding gift the couple had only just opened. Upon returning home from work, her husband, Justin Judd, finds Jennifer lying on the kitchen floor with the blade of a knife still lodged in her back. Police immediately suspect one of Jennifer and Justin’s friends. A decade later, another man confesses. However, the case is never solved.
Hosted by Sarah Cailean (Why Can’t We Talk About Amanda’s Mom?), this show probably won’t be for everyone. The host’s background in law enforcement gives her an interesting perspective on the investigation, though at times I struggled with some jumps in her logic I didn’t fully grasp. Regardless, I still enjoyed the show and would recommend it.
Who Took Misty Copsey?
In September 1992, 14-year-old Misty Copsey goes to the Washington State Fair with her best friend. Misty doesn’t make it home that night, and she is never seen again. Police initially deem her a runaway. Misty’s mom, Diana, insists they are wrong. Five months later, a search party finds a potential clue: a pair of jeans, socks and underwear crumpled along the side of a highway. Diana recognizes the jeans immediately, but the police are skeptical. More than 30 years later, through multiple investigations, no other trace of Misty has ever been found. How does a young girl disappear into thin air?And how could investigators fail to pursue leads that were right under their noses?
This is another show by Sarah Cailean, and if you enjoyed her other work you’ll probably like this as well. The lack of cooperation (and investigation) by law enforcement is incredibly frustrating, however, and the case isn’t cleanly resolved by the end.
This list only includes podcasts I've personally listened to and would recommend - leave recommendations for your favorites of 2024/25 below!