In 1908, the idea of law enforcement as an investigatory body hadn’t quite caught on. Police forces were more brute squad than Sherlock Holmes. Corruption among the ranks of law and order was rampant, and criminal confessions were often coerced, leading to the prosecution of innocents. The investigation of Hazel Drew’s murder case was an arduous task for the Rensselaer County district attorney and his skeleton crew of detectives, who lacked technology, experience, and defense against intense pressure from the media to solve the crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

In 1908, the idea of law enforcement as an investigatory body hadn’t quite caught on. Police forces were more brute squad than Sherlock Holmes. Corruption among the ranks of law and order was rampant, and criminal confessions were often coerced, leading to the prosecution of innocents. The investigation of Hazel Drew’s murder case was an arduous task for the Rensselaer County district attorney and his skeleton crew of detectives, who lacked technology, experience, and defense against intense pressure from the media to solve the crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1908, the idea of law enforcement as an investigatory body hadn’t quite caught on. Police forces were more brute squad than Sherlock Holmes.&nbsp;Corruption among the ranks of law and order was rampant, and criminal confessions were often coerced, leading to the prosecution of innocents. The investigation of Hazel Drew’s murder case was an arduous task for the&nbsp;Rensselaer County district attorney and his skeleton crew of detectives, who lacked technology, experience, and defense against intense pressure from the media to solve the crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="noopener noreferrer">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

5. The Third Degree and the Fourth Estate

In the summer of 1908, America was transfixed by the murder of a woman found floating in a country pond in upstate New York. The mystery of a young beauty brutally killed became an instant sensation, splashed across the front page of the country’s newspapers. 

Was she killed by a spurned lover? Was she leading a secret double life outside of her station as a governess to the wealthy residents of Troy, New York? Did she know too many secrets? 

The murder went unsolved, and after about three weeks, the girl in the pond was all but forgotten. More than a century later, the cold case rocketed back into the public eye thanks to a popular television show and true crime-obsessed pop culture.  

In this limited series podcast from the Times Union, we’ll go back in time to an era of wealth and prosperity, rampant political corruption, and secrets and lies in Upstate New York. We’ll unravel the mystery of the life and death of one young woman, and why her story still resonates in pop culture today.

TV & Film

True Crime

History

In the summer of 1908, America was transfixed by the murder of a woman found floating in a country pond in upstate New York. The mystery of a young beauty brutally killed became an instant sensation, splashed across the front page of the country’s newspapers. Was she killed by a spurned lover? Was she leading a secret double life outside of her station as a governess to the wealthy residents of Troy, New York? Did she know too many secrets? The murder went unsolved, and after about three weeks, the girl in the pond was all but forgotten. More than a century later, the cold case rocketed back into the public eye thanks to a popular television show and true crime-obsessed pop culture. In this limited series podcast from the Times Union, we’ll go back in time to an era of wealth and prosperity, rampant political corruption, and secrets and lies in Upstate New York. We’ll unravel the mystery of the life and death of one young woman, and why her story still resonates in pop culture today.

In the summer of 1908, America was transfixed by the murder of a woman found floating in a country pond in upstate New York. The mystery of a young beauty brutally killed became an instant sensation, splashed across the front page of the country’s newspapers. 

Was she killed by a spurned lover? Was she leading a secret double life outside of her station as a governess to the wealthy residents of Troy, New York? Did she know too many secrets?&nbsp;

The murder went unsolved, and after about three weeks, the girl in the pond was all but forgotten.&nbsp;More than a century later, the cold case rocketed back into the public eye thanks to a popular television show and true crime-obsessed pop culture.&nbsp;&nbsp;

In this limited series podcast from the Times Union, we’ll go back in time to an era of wealth and prosperity, rampant political corruption, and secrets and lies in Upstate New York. We’ll unravel the mystery of the life and death of one young woman, and why her story still resonates in pop culture today.

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5. The Third Degree and the Fourth Estate

5. The Third Degree and the Fourth Estate

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