For almost 40 years, Michelle Martinko’s case stood unsolved, her killer’s identity locked away in old evidence files. But in 2018, investigators turned to a powerful new tool — forensic genealogy. 

By building out a family tree from crime scene DNA, they were finally able to narrow in on a suspect: Jerry Burns, an Iowa businessman with no prior record. What followed was a high-profile arrest, a trial that gripped the community, and, at last, long-awaited justice for Michelle. 

In this episode, we explore the groundbreaking use of genealogy to catch a killer, the unraveling of Jerry Burns’ carefully hidden secret, and the emotional courtroom moments that finally closed one of Iowa’s most haunting cold cases.

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On a bitterly cold night in December 1979, eighteen-year-old Michelle Martinko never made it home from the Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. When her body was found in the family car, brutally stabbed, her murder stunned the community and left investigators scrambling for answers. 

Despite intensive efforts — from blood typing and fingerprint comparisons to chasing down countless leads — the case went cold, haunting her family and the city for nearly four decades. 

In this episode, we retrace Michelle’s final hours, the crime scene evidence of the era, and the long, frustrating investigation that kept her story alive but frozen in time until the breakthroughs of modern forensic science began to change everything.

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The trail picks up with a car—a white Hyundai Elantra spotted near the crime scene—that would eventually unravel the mystery behind the Idaho Four murders. In this second part, we dive into the painstaking work of investigators: connecting the Elantra to Washington State University graduate student Bryan Kohberger, analyzing his cell phone pings, and uncovering DNA evidence that would break the case wide open. 

We follow the story from his bizarre behavior with trash disposal in Pennsylvania to the SWAT raid that ended in his arrest. And finally, we cover the courtroom battles, the defense strategies, and the sentencing that brought some answers—but not all—to a shaken community.

 This is the story of how digital forensics, old-fashioned detective work, and a relentless search for justice exposed the man behind the mask.

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In the early hours of November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were brutally murdered inside their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. In this first part of our two-part deep dive, we walk you through the lives of the victims—Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin—before unraveling the haunting timeline of their final night. 

From DoorDash deliveries and phone calls that went unanswered to the chilling 911 call the next morning, every detail paints a picture of confusion, fear, and heartbreak. We also trace the opening steps of the investigation as police searched for clues, interviewed surviving roommates, and began piecing together what happened inside that house.

By the end of this episode, the search narrows to a mysterious white Hyundai Elantra—and the manhunt intensifies.

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In part two of our deep dive into the death of Tamla Horsford, we pick up where the first episode left off — with her family’s private autopsy raising new and troubling questions. From missing autopsy photos to injuries they say don’t match the official story, Tamla’s loved ones began a fight for answers that would span years and ignite a nationwide movement.

We follow the timeline from 2020 to today: the explosion of #JusticeForTamla on social media, the reopening of her case by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the second closure without charges, and the ongoing push from her friends, family, and advocates who refuse to let her story fade. Along the way, we explore the evidence, the contradictions, and the reasons this case still stirs outrage — and why Tamla’s name remains a rallying cry for justice.

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What was meant to be a lighthearted “football moms” sleepover in Cumming, Georgia turned into a morning no one could explain. Forty-year-old Tamla Horsford — wife, mother of five, and the life of any gathering — was found face-down in the backyard, still wearing her paw-print pajamas. Authorities ruled it a drunken accident, claiming she fell from the second-story deck. But Tamla’s family, friends, and thousands of strangers online aren’t convinced.

In this episode, we dive into the details of that night — the guests, the timeline, the injuries — and explore the troubling inconsistencies, racial bias concerns, and online firestorm that followed. From the missing autopsy photos to the independent findings that suggested foul play, we unpack what’s fact, what’s theory, and why this case still refuses to rest quietly.

Join us as we walk through Tamla’s final hours in part 1, and fully discuss the night it happened. 

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You’d think getting caught dismembering your neighbor would slow a guy down. But for Robert Durst, that was just Act One. In Part 2 of this deeply twisted two-parter, we pick up with Bob laying low in a cheap Galveston apartment… dressed as a mute woman. Naturally.

From there, it only gets stranger: an HBO documentary crew, a letter with a suspicious typo, a bathroom monologue accidentally caught on a hot mic, and a murder trial decades in the making. We’re talking courtroom drama, a confession disguised as casual mumbling, and one of the wildest cross-examinations in true crime history. (Yes, Frisbee and Uno come up. No, they didn’t exist when he said they did.)

This episode covers The Jinx, the long-awaited trial for Susan Berman’s murder, and the long-overdue indictment in Kathie Durst’s case—plus the jaw-dropping legacy of a man who lied for a living… until the microphone didn’t.

Spoiler alert: He really did kill them all, of course.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

All Good Things (2010)

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When a torso washes up in Galveston Bay, police brace for a gritty whodunit. But what they unravel instead is one of the strangest stories in true crime history. In Part 1 of our deep dive into the twisted life of Robert Durst, we follow the trail from dismembered body parts and a neighbor in drag to a decades-long saga of wealth, deception, his missing wife, and one shockingly cheap apartment.

We dig into Durst’s bizarre early years, the disturbing disappearance of his wife Kathie, his complicated bond with Susan Berman, and the unraveling of a man who could lie better than he could hide. Spoiler: he wasn’t that great at hiding.

Before The Jinx, before the hot mic confession, before the courtroom gaslighting—there was just a man, a bow saw, and some very bad decisions.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (HBO, 2015)

All Good Things (2010)

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In April 2011, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office changed Ellen Greenberg’s manner of death from homicide to suicide—despite 20 stab wounds, 11 bruises in various stages of healing, and injuries to the back of her neck and skull.

This decision would devastate her grieving parents and effectively close the door on a criminal investigation before it truly began.

In Part Two of our deep dive into Ellen Greenberg’s mysterious and violent death, we pick up where we left off—examining how that shocking suicide ruling was made, what happened behind closed doors, and the critical evidence that was missed, mishandled, or ignored. We’ll explore the early missteps, compromised crime scene, conflicting accounts, and how Ellen’s parents began a relentless 14-year battle to have her case reopened.

From the forensic contradictions to the experts who couldn’t stay silent, this episode exposes how a locked-door mystery became a locked-down system—and why the fight for justice was only just beginning.

🎧 Listen now to Part Two of “Who Killed Ellen Greenberg?”—and follow the case that continues to raise more questions than answers.

Listen now. Share Ellen’s story. Demand answers. #JusticeForEllen

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When 27-year-old schoolteacher Ellen Greenberg was found dead in her Philadelphia apartment—stabbed 20 times, including 10 times in the back of her neck and back—authorities quickly labeled it a suicide. But how does someone stab themselves in the spine? How does a body end up with bruises in various stages of healing, a knife lodged in the chest, and no note… and it’s still ruled self-inflicted?

In this episode, we walk you through the blizzardy afternoon of January 26, 2011, the bizarre crime scene, the chilling 911 call, and the autopsy that first ruled Ellen’s death a homicide—before authorities abruptly changed their story. 

With quotes from official reports, interviews, and forensic experts, this is the story of a locked-door mystery that never added up… and a family that refused to let their daughter be forgotten.

Was Ellen’s death really a suicide—or did someone get away with murder?

Listen now. Share Ellen’s story. Demand answers. #JusticeForEllen

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