Top True Crime Podcasts

Julie Ann Garciacelay was not quite 20 when she vanished from her inner-city apartment in Melbourne 50 years ago.

Three men who were with her that night in July 1975 told police the young American left to make a phone call and didn’t return. One would be linked to the infamous Easey Street murders 18 months later.

Julie has never been seen since, nor has her body been found. Her disappearance is one of Australia’s oldest, most haunting ‘cold cases’. But investigative journalist Helen Thomas has unearthed new information about her vanishing - so far from home, almost lost in time…

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When a small French coastal town is plunged into chaos, the world discovers what happens when political power and supernatural forces collide.

The local mayor Gilles d’Ettore wants to spiritually connect with his late father, so he seeks the help of professional mystic Sophia Martinez. However, the psychic sessions soon spiral out of control, with anonymous phone calls from heaven leading to an abuse of power that shatters the facade of small town serenity. Has Gilles been bewitched by Sophia?

With their entanglement the talk of the town, locals start questioning if Gilles is using his position to favour the mystic, or is he simply a generous leader? Is Sophia preying on a vulnerable man, or are her actions helping Gilles fulfil his need to believe?

Presenter Anna Richardson and journalist Leo Schick unravel this story from the very beginning, investigating how our past can shape our actions, and vulnerability can be both a strength and a weakness. They explore how the actions of Gilles and Sophia propelled a sleepy tourist trap onto the front pages of newspapers all over the world.

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He left home as the chubby kid with a dream, a decade later, he's a touring comic with a killer set. Literally. In Wisecrack, stand-up comedian Edd Hedges returns to his hometown for a charity gig, only to find himself headlining the most terrifying night of his life. The warm welcome quickly unravels into a chilling true crime tale of a downward spiral and a town shaken by murder. When TV crime producer Jodi Tovay stumbled across Edd’s comedy set, it did more than get a few laughs, it opened the door to a years-long investigation she never saw coming. Part comedy special, part true crime thriller, Wisecrack blends punchlines with plot twists in a genre-defying ride where the laughs are real and the danger is no joke. 

Lizz Melgar Rose went from being interested in true crime to living true crime. Back in 2012, relatives found her mother Sandy Melgar shut in a closet, her hands bound behind her back. Her dad Jim Melgar had been murdered. There was no time to finish the university course Lizz had signed up for, inspired by her teenage fascination with violence and serial killers. She needed to figure out what happened. If it weren't for her strange interest, she believes she’d have been lost. It enabled her to protect her family and herself and helped her try to fit the pieces of a seemingly unsolvable puzzle together. Award-winning journalist and host Maggie Robinson Katz will take you inside the police investigation that followed, inside the courtroom drama as a jury wrestles with who’s responsible for a truly shocking crime, and inside Lizz’s ongoing battle for answers and for justice. Because there is one thing Lizz is convinced of, the wrong person is in prison for her dad’s murder.Hands Tied is a new eight part true crime podcast from iHeartPodcasts and BBC Studios.

Hitchhiking was a rite of passage for teens in the 70s in the beautiful Pacific Northwest – until a charming predator turned their freedom into fear. Some managed to escape him, but police believe this good-looking stranger was responsible for the kidnapping, torture and murders of many more young women. The grieving families of his victims refuse to let their daughters and sisters be forgotten, and those who survived their run-ins with this killer lived to tell their own tales. Together, their stories paint a chilling portrait of a killer who hid in plain sight. This is the chronicle of lost girls, found strength, and the fight to shine new light on all-but-forgotten cases. Stolen Voices of Dole Valley is the story of a serial killer you’ve never heard of -- and the victims and survivors you’ll never forget.

No AI was used at any point in the making of this podcast.

Created and Produced by Pie in the Sky Media and KSL Podcasts. 
Sales and Distribution by Lemonada Media https://lemonadamedia.com/  

A gripping true crime story of survival, justice, and the power of a mother’s love.

A mother’s love is fierce. A mother’s fight for justice is unstoppable. When Lydia Lerma discovers the unthinkable has happened to her son, she refuses to wait for justice - she hunts for it. 

The Hunter is a thrilling true crime documentary following one woman’s relentless pursuit of a criminal which turns into a high-stakes international manhunt. From the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the streets of Mexico, Lydia stops at nothing - risking her own safety to bring him to justice.

This series contains very strong language and deals with sexual abuse.  

Email the team thehunter@bbc.com

Host: Anaya Echo Hawk

Producer and writer: Emma Weatherill

Sound designer: Melvin Rickarby

Production management: Juliette Harvey

Executive Producer: Joe Kent

The Hunter is a BBC Studios Audio production

Candace Rivera had it all: perfect hair, perfect house, perfect life. After a messy divorce, she launched multimillion-dollar businesses and a global nonprofit, all while maintaining a flawless image. To her many “besties,” Candace was a real-life unicorn. But one manic summer, the illusion shattered. Was she a visionary—or just a master of deception?

In this podcast from the creator of Scamanda, award-winning journalist Charlie Webster investigates Candace’s rise and fall, uncovering a mind-bending story where nothing is quite what it seems. 

Unicorn Girl is an Apple Original podcast produced by Seven Hills with additional services provided by FunMeter. Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.

http://apple.co/UnicornGirl

On July 7th 2005, four bombs ripped through the maze of train tunnels underneath central London, killing 52 people and injuring over 700 others.

20 years on, this event marks the start of two decades where terrorism, and the perceived threat of it, would change the way in which the UK thinks about its own security, societal integration, and the way in which it conducts itself around the globe.

Hosted by Thomas Small, co-host of the award winning podcast Conflicted, this series will form a larger part of the Conflicted universe. One of Small’s key sources for this series is Aimen Dean, his Conflicted co-host and the aforementioned spy within Al-Qaeda who had a significant part in the UK intelligence response to 7/7.

You can binge all episodes of 7/7: The Inside Story exclusively and ad-free, right now on Wondery+. Start your free trial in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or by visiting https://wondery.com/links/7-7-the-inside-story/.

In Evangelical homes across the United States, sex outside of marriage is a sin against God. So, when Abbi becomes pregnant at 16, her devout parents hide her away at the Liberty Godparent Home, a little-known facility for pregnant teens on the campus of Liberty University. The Home says it helps girls decide what comes next – whether that’s parenting their babies or placing them for adoption. But inside the facility, the girls hear a different message: God wants their babies to go to more “deserving” Christian couples. Some girls will find the strength to fight back. Others will have no choice but to give in. And some, like Abbi, will turn their grief into resistance – and take a stand against the system before more mothers lose their children to adoptions they never wanted.

From Wondery, host and reporter T. J. Raphael tells a startling true story of young love, coercion, and defiance – and the dangerous resurgence of maternity homes in post-Roe America.

Follow Liberty Lost on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Start your free trial in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or by visiting wondery.com/links/liberty-lost/ now.

Camp Shane—one of America’s longest running weight loss camps for kids—promised extraordinary results. Campers who began the summer in heavy bodies were often unrecognizable when they left. In a society obsessed with being thin, it seemed like a miracle solution.

But there were some dark truths behind  Camp Shane’s facade of happy, transformed children. Kids were being pushed to their physical and emotional limits as the family that owned Shane turned a blind eye. More than 50 years after its founding, host Kelsey Snelling is bringing the real story of Camp Shane to light.

In this eight-episode series, she unpacks and investigates stories of mistreatment and reexamines the culture of fatphobia that enabled a flawed system to continue for so long. Along the way, she reveals and weighs the heavy price of shame.

Subscribe to Camp Shame so you don't miss an episode and follow us on Instagram @CampShame

Amy Robach and TJ Holmes Present, an iHeartRadio podcast.

Psychiatrists are held to a high standard for a reason: they see patients at their most vulnerable and are entrusted with their deepest secrets. So, what happens if a psychiatrist is accused of violating that trust?

The Oath examines the case of Dr. Melvyn Iscove, whose medical license was revoked in 2018 for allegedly sexually abusing two patients. When journalist Krysia Collyer first came across Dr. Iscove’s case, it seemed straightforward—until she and her co-producer, Brennan Leffler, began digging.

What happened to those two patients was only part of a long, unusual story involving Iscove’s dedication to a largely forgotten 1950s psychoanalyst who believed homosexuality could be cured. The case raises serious questions about Ontario’s medical regulator: Can it be trusted to protect patients, and how does it handle potential cases of so-called “conversion therapy”?

From TVO Podcasts, The Oath is a six-part investigative series about the power we give our doctors—and what can happen if they cross a line. Follow The Oath on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.