Top True Crime Podcasts

The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. 

Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance

On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder,  and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.”  David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish?

Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run

“Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. 

Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger

Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. 

Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country.

Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood 

Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. 

This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago.

Season 1 - The Burden 

In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname.

Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance.

For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. 

Welcome to The Burden.

Imagine you were a fly on the wall at a dinner between the mafia, the CIA, and the KGB. That’s where this unprecedented story begins. A journey through the dark world of Russian intelligence where, for the first time, a professed “sex spy” tells her story. All of it. 

Host Neil Strauss (Rolling Stone, The New York Times) brings listeners into the dangerous world of sexpionage, where enemies of the State are not the only victims. So too are the spies themselves, brainwashed to believe that their bodies belong to Russia and meticulously trained to become “the perfect weapons.” Who is Aliia Roza? From the creators of the hit podcast series To Live and Die in LA, this is To Die For.

The Deep Dive Podcast Network is a collection of serious (and sometimes not-so-serious) stories created by journalist and entrepreneur Andy Tarnoff. The first season, "Deep Dive: MH370," was a critically acclaimed 31-episode true-crime podcast with Andy's co-host, Jeff Wise, about the mystery of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370. The network has now expanded into new topics, like "Wine Acoustics" with The Dandy Warhols' lead singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor, "The Feed," a look into the absurdity and the humanity of Facebook Marketplace, and "Celebrity Adjacent with Carole Caine." Watch this channel for more deep dives!

Dive into a case of domestic terrorism from the past that’s really a warning about the future. 

Creating a Con is a true crime podcast that goes inside the minds of the most prolific modern-day con artist. Their schemes may be new, but their tactics are tried and true.  

In Season One, you’ll meet Ray Trapani – a 26-year-old whose schemes targeted pharmacies, exotic cars and payment apps, all stepping stones to his biggest con yet.  In 2017, Trapani and his co-founders created a tech startup that found immediate success. It was endorsed by DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather and raised tens of millions of dollars overnight. It was set to disrupt the financial industry and Ray was about to change the world, until he didn't... because Trapani and his business were 100% fraudulent. When the dust settled, it would leave Trapani and his partners fighting for their freedom. 

Creating a Con takes you inside the mind of Trapani as he shares first hand of how he put together one of the largest financial frauds in modern history. Inspired by films and shows like Goodfellas, The Sopranos and The Wolf on Wall Street, Trapani lived in the fast lane on Miami's South Beach. He drank, partied and used his way straight to success, leaving a wake of destruction in his path. And that success culminated in the founding of Centra Tech, a start-up that was built on empty promises, fake executives, and millions of dollars from unsuspecting investors. Ray was on the top of the world until it all came crashing down. This podcast reveals the rise and fall of one of the greatest con artists in our lifetime.

Dead River is the story of Brazil's worst environmental disaster — the Mariana dam collapse — that claimed the lives of 19 people. This isn't just a tale about the tragedy itself; it's a narrative that resonates with the pursuit of happiness, the impact of greed, and the overnight disappearance of centuries-old traditions. Hosted by biologist and wildlife broadcaster Liz Bonnin, this six-part series explores the profound connection people share with the land along the River Doce — a connection shattered by the tragic events of the Mariana dam collapse. As we hear about the aftermath, we encounter heroes and villains, witnessing the resilience of communities torn apart. Liz Bonnin uncovers the intricate threads of belonging, the devastating consequences of deception, and the ongoing pursuit of justice eight years after the catastrophe.

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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. From Exactly Right Media and iHeartPodcasts, and produced by Blanchard House, Hell in Heaven is hosted by award-winning journalist Becky Milligan.

Also in this feed is host Becky Milligan's true crime limited series, The Butterfly King: A WWII Murder Mystery. When King Boris III of Bulgaria dies amid mysterious circumstances during World War II, there's no shortage of suspects. But eighty years later, his death remains unsolved. Award-winning journalist Becky Milligan follows a trail of dissidents, poisoners, soldiers and spies to unravel eighty years of lies and cover-ups. This tragic family saga of a doomed royal dynasty is a story of treachery, deceit and a quest for the truth. Who killed the Butterfly King? The Butterfly King is a podcast from Exactly Right, produced by Blanchard House.

One night in January, 1977 Susan Bartlett and Suzanne Armstrong were fatally stabbed in their home in Easey Street, Collingwood. Suzanne’s 16 month-old son was asleep in his cot at the time.

Now, 47 years later, police have arrested a 65 year old man in Rome in connection to this cold case. It’s a confronting saga.

At age 45, Steve Patterson made a shocking online discovery: his own missing person’s page.

Desperate to uncover why he had been included on the list, Steve called Todd Matthews, a missing-persons investigator, in search of answers. Together, Todd and Steve discover a sordid family past that includes long-lost relatives, kidnappings, and murders. It turns out that Steve was presumed dead because around the time he was born, his biological mother had married a serial killer who tore their family apart. Along the way, Steve would have to make sense of a personal story with more twists and turns than he’d ever imagined.

In this ten-episode narrative series, Todd Matthews, an amateur sleuth from Tennessee, tells the story of a family torn apart by tragedy and his quest to bring them back together. From Revelations Entertainment, First and Last Productions, and Neon Hum Media, "Hello John Doe" is a winding, poignant tale that explores what it means to be lost and found