You might have heard about this case: A woman, Lauren Smith-Fields, TikTok influencer, model and college student studying physical therapy, invites a Bumble date over to her apartment in December 2021 and winds up dead … police say accidental, family says suspicious … and yet the manner of death is only half the story. What happened inside Lauren’s apartment on the night she died, and the next day, will have your jaw on the floor, wondering what is going on in the world of law enforcement investigation in some of the country’s largest cities. In the first of this two-part Crossing the Line, Phelps digs in deep and talks to Lauren’s family.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bumble Date Death - Part 1: The Lauren Smith-Fields Case

Crossing the Line is a true crime podcast revealing cases of the missing and murdered, told start-to-finish each week. Using the campfire storytelling style that made Paper Ghosts a #1 hit on the charts, host M. William Phelps connects deeply with families touched by violent crime - he understands them, because he is one of them. Having gone through the murder of his own pregnant sister-in-law, Phelps brings not only his personal experience, but also 20-plus years of investigative journalism into the worlds of these stories. Follow and subscribe to Crossing the Line for a weekly dose of murder, mayhem and madness. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

True crime

In February 1983, the dead of winter in New England, a Kittery, Maine, man heads off to work one morning, finishes his shift, clocks out and leaves--and ... is never seen again. The feeling surrounding the disappearance seems like a plot from one of fellow “Mainiac,” Stephen King’s suspense novels. As the decades pile up with very few answers, in 2021, a local woman, Kristen Seavey, the host of the podcast “Murder, She Told,” digs in and uncovers several new pieces of information. Phelps goes through the case beat by beat with Kristen to get the heads-up on the latest breaking news and where the case currently stands.  Visit www.crossingtheline.biz to contact investigative journalist and host M. William Phelps, get more information about the show, updates to cases, and more.  And don't forget to subscribe to Phelps's #1 hit podcast  PAPER GHOSTS wherever you get your favorite shows. M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 46 nonfiction  books and winner of the Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Phelps has written for numerous publications, including the Providence Journal,  Connecticut Magazine and  Hartford Courant. Diversifying his talents, Phelps consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter and has executive produced and starred in over 350 hours of true crime television. All of which gives him a confluence of expertise and experience to bring to true crime fanatics. Phelps grew up in East Hartford, Connecticut, and now splits his time between Tolland County and N. Stonington, CT. In July 2017, he published his definitive, 10-year project about Happy Face Killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson,  DANGEROUS GROUND: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.  

Reeves Johnson: Missing in Maine

The death of Molly Young in 2012 erupted into a social media firestorm, spreading all sorts of misinformation and rumor, leading to caustic disagreements–but also raised so many questions about what happened, a dozen years later, the investigation remains open and the conversation continues. Thus, what actually took place when 22-year-old Molly Young died—and what are the controversial aspects of the case the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor’s Report seemed only to exacerbate? And where does the case stand today?   If you are having a mental health, substance use, or suicidal crisis, call 988.  Visit www.crossingtheline.biz to contact investigative journalist and host M. William Phelps, get more information about the show, updates to cases, and more.  And don't forget to subscribe to Phelps's #1 hit podcast  PAPER GHOSTS wherever you get your favorite shows. M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 46 nonfiction  books and winner of the Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Phelps has written for numerous publications, including the Providence Journal,  Connecticut Magazine and  Hartford Courant. Diversifying his talents, Phelps consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter and has executive produced and starred in over 350 hours of true crime television. All of which gives him a confluence of expertise and experience to bring to true crime fanatics. Phelps grew up in East Hartford, Connecticut, and now splits his time between Tolland County and N. Stonington, CT. In July 2017, he published his definitive, 10-year project about Happy Face Killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson,  DANGEROUS GROUND: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.    

The Untimely Death of Molly Young: Suicide or Homicide?

Few true-crime cases over the past 20 years can be considered iconic. When Natalee Holloway went missing on a high school class trip to Aruba in 2005, the story became a 24/7 news sensation. Natalee’s murder remained unsolved until late 2023. Phelps goes through the case–including the nauseating bloviation by the likes of Nancy Grace and the rest of the cable TV talking heads–and reveals the conclusion of this high-profile true-crime story that broke the internet and, in many ways, set the standard for what we see and hear today.  Visit www.crossingtheline.biz to contact investigative journalist and host M. William Phelps, get more information about the show, updates to cases, and more.  And don't forget to subscribe to Phelps's #1 hit podcast PAPER GHOSTS wherever you get your favorite shows. M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 46 nonfiction books and winner of the Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Phelps has written for numerous publications, including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant. Diversifying his talents, Phelps consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter and has executive produced and starred in over 350 hours of true crime television. All of which gives him a confluence of expertise and experience to bring to true crime fanatics. Phelps grew up in East Hartford, Connecticut, and now splits his time between Tolland County and N. Stonington, CT. In July 2017, he published his definitive, 10-year project about Happy Face Killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, DANGEROUS GROUND: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.  

Natalee Holloway: The Murder that Catapulted the True Crime Genre into the Stratosphere

After 60-plus years, two unsolved murders in the San Fernando Valley heat back up when a rookie Los Angeles Police Department Cold Case detective is handed the files and realizes the answers were there the entire time. What’s more, those two homicides are only the beginning, as it appears a sadistic serial killer is at work. Phelps speaks with the detective, Rachel Evans, and gets the inside track on a serial murderer who cannot escape time, technology, and the sheer determination of an incredible investigator.    Visit www.crossingtheline.biz to contact investigative journalist and host M. William Phelps, get more information about the show, updates to cases, and more.  And don't forget to subscribe to Phelps's #1 hit podcast PAPER GHOSTS wherever you get your favorite shows. M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 46 nonfiction books and winner of the Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Phelps has written for numerous publications, including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant. Diversifying his talents, Phelps consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter and has executive produced and starred in over 350 hours of true crime television. All of which gives him a confluence of expertise and experience to bring to true crime fanatics. Phelps grew up in East Hartford, Connecticut, and now splits his time between Tolland County and N. Stonington, CT. In July 2017, he published his definitive, 10-year project about Happy Face Killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, DANGEROUS GROUND: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.  

The Valley Bride Killer: The Murders of Barbara Jean Jepson and Marianne Pedrotta

In Rochester, New York, a young housewife and young mother is found brutally murdered in her bed. Her husband, an executive at Kodak Eastman Company, is at work. A local criminal steps up and confesses to the murder. But 40 years later, the case takes a different turn--one you’d never expect--after a renowned pathologist questions the the time of death. Visit www.crossingtheline.biz to contact investigative journalist and host M. William Phelps, get more information about the show, updates to cases, and more.  And don't forget to subscribe to Phelps's #1 hit podcast PAPER GHOSTS wherever you get your favorite shows. M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 46 nonfiction books and winner of the Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Phelps has written for numerous publications, including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant. Diversifying his talents, Phelps consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter and has executive produced and starred in over 350 hours of true crime television. All of which gives him a confluence of expertise and experience to bring to true crime fanatics. Phelps grew up in East Hartford, Connecticut, and now splits his time between Tolland County and N. Stonington, CT. In July 2017, he published his definitive, 10-year project about Happy Face Killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, DANGEROUS GROUND: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.  

Bumble Date Death - Part 1: The Lauren Smith-Fields Case

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