At 22, Sophia Maddox discovered the grandfather she'd never known was Charles Manson — one of history's most notorious criminals.

In this episode of Criminally Obsessed, Kristin Thorne — filling in for Anne Emerson this week — sits down with Sophia Maddox, co-director of the new documentary My Grandfather, Charles Manson, to talk about the DNA discovery that upended her family and the years-long investigation that followed. Maddox explains how her father's search for his own biological father led to a match with Michael Brunner — one of Manson's sons — and how three separate DNA tests ultimately confirmed Manson as her grandfather.

Maddox opens up about growing up believing her family was "cursed," and how that feeling took on new meaning once the truth came out. She discusses undergoing the same Rorschach inkblot test Manson once took, comparing her results to his in search of answers about what she may have inherited — and what she's relieved she didn't.

The conversation also digs into Maddox's complicated relationship with her father since the discovery, her frustration with how true crime often flattens victims into footnotes, and why she believes the popular narrative around Manson may not tell the whole story.

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#CharlesManson #SophiaMaddox #MansonFamily #TrueCrime #CriminallyObsessed

The Lindsay Clancy trial jury has been living with the evidence day in and day out while the rest of us watch from a distance. As they head toward deliberations, three issues are likely weighing heaviest: the voice Lindsay Clancy allegedly heard, the takeout Patrick Clancy picked up the night of the crime, and the "mortal sin" comments that angered the judge and prompted the defense to ask for a mistrial. Judge William Sullivan refused the mistrial and ordered the jury to disregard the comments — but is that really the end of it?

TODAY IN COURT: Both sides have officially rested their cases and the jury will return tomorrow for closing arguments. The Commonwealth's last witness was forensic psychiatrist Gregory Saathoff, who told the jury that Clancy did know right from wrong, but who also, on cross examination, contended that the prosecution's opening statement "minimized" what Lindsay Clancy was going through. 

Investigative Reporter Kristin Thorne, filling in for Anne Emerson, sits down with criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Jack Rice — a courtroom veteran who has argued from both sides — to walk through the three pieces of evidence the jury will carry into the deliberation room, and how each lands through the eyes of the Commonwealth versus the perspective of the defense. Which way will the jury lean, and will all twelve agree?

The Lindsay Clancy trial in Duxbury, Massachusetts is nearing its end, and the jury will soon be deliberating. What will the jury decide?

Today in court, forensic psychologist Dr. Kirk Heilbrun wrapped up his testimony after proceedings resumed following Monday’s interruption, when the defense’s mistrial request over religious references in earlier testimony was denied. Heilbrun testified that the 18-to-20-minute period in which the children were killed involved a series of decisions — directly challenging the defense’s argument that Clancy lacked the capacity to make decisions that night.

The prosecution’s final rebuttal witness, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Gregory Saathoff, then took the stand. Much of his testimony focused on the voice Clancy reported hearing the night of the killings. Saathoff testified that Clancy said the voice was a clear male voice coming from outside her head, and he questioned aspects of her account.

The judge said evidence is expected to conclude Wednesday, with closing arguments likely Thursday. The jury would begin deliberations after the arguments and jury instructions.

Outside the courthouse, defense attorney Kevin Reddington said the case's message has "reverberated throughout the whole country" — and the national attention isn't slowing down.

Radio and TV veteran Billy Bush, host of the Hot Mics podcast, has been watching the evidence unfold. After following the trial closely, he has a prediction about the verdict.

In this episode of Criminally Obsessed, Kristin Thorne (filling in for Anne Emerson this week) sits down with Bush to break down the defense strategy, the evidence, and the prosecution's missteps.

Bush also weighs in on the case's central legal question: whether Lindsay Clancy lacked criminal responsibility due to severe postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings — and whether the jury will find her guilty, not guilty by reason of insanity, or be unable to decide.

He has nothing but praise for defense attorney Kevin Reddington, calling the 75-year-old "sharp as a tack" and crediting his authenticity — not performance — for winning over the jury early.

The two also get into some lighter territory, including who Bush thinks should play Reddington if this case becomes a movie.

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As the Lindsay Clancy trial gets closer to a verdict, the prosecutor who convicted Susan Smith breaks down how you prosecute a mother accused of taking the lives of her own children.

Former Prosecutor Tommy Pope prosecuted Susan Smith back in 1995, and he said the biggest issue he had to overcome was the defense painting the defendant as a victim. Smith was convicted and sentenced to life for the murders of her two sons, Michael and Alex — she let her car drift into a lake and the boys drowned.

Lindsay Clancy, too, has attracted widespread sympathy, and her attorney, 75-year-old Kevin Reddington, has become a sort of savior to the online female community following the case. Her mental state at the time of the incident has become a hot topic throughout the three-week trial, and the defense rested on Friday, August 21st, after 18 days.

As we wait for the jury's verdict, Pope lays out what he believes has been done right and wrong, along with the struggles for both sides and the 12 lay people about to decide Clancy's fate. He also lays out the similarities and differences between Clancy's trial and Smith's trial more than 30 years ago.

Mica Miller devoted her life to her church and her God — no surprise, since her husband was the pastor at Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. On the surface, it looked like a perfect marriage. The director of the new Netflix docuseries Death of a Pastor's Wife, Mike Gasparro, sits down with Valerie Bauerlein to talk about his investigation into the events leading up to the tragedy of April 27, 2024. Why did J.P. Miller focus so much on submission and a husband's expectations in his sermons? Why was Mica hospitalized for her mental health? And what was really happening in the relationship behind closed doors? Gasparro shares what he learned about the patterns of manipulation and control, and how they factor into the questions at the center of the case. Hear from her family and close friends as her husband faces federal cyberstalking charges in this exclusive interview. Death of a Pastor's Wife drops August 26 on Netflix — get the story behind the story so you're the friend who knows the scoop when everyone is binging this three-parter.

For more of our coverage of this story: https://youtu.be/NCwkJaAIawc?si=nepevt37lNPeeIEK

IF YOU'VE BEEN FOLLOWING THE MURDAUGH CASE, YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS.

At the August 14 motions hearing, Alex Murdaugh's defense attorney, Jim Griffin, dropped a bombshell tied to reporting from FITSNews: a possible connection between the shell casings found next to Maggie Murdaugh's body in 2021 and an execution-style murder just a few miles away in April 2026. 

Valerie Bauerlein sits down with FITSNews reporter Jenn Wood to pull back the curtain on that reporting, including the original tip about Frank Alexander Brown III's murder in Allendale County, her verification process, and what she learned directly from South Carolina's State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) just last week — information Wood had no idea would become one of the first things out of the defense's mouth in court. Bauerlein also details never-before-presented texts from Alex Murdaugh's phone that didn't surface during the first trial, digs into the mystery of where Maggie's Mercedes actually is right now (hint: not where it should be), and explains why Eddie Smith has never gone to trial. It's an episode Murdaugh junkies will not want to miss.

Lindsay Clancy was under the care of several mental health professionals — so why couldn't they connect the dots? She went from "a loving mother" to a defendant on trial,  and the psychiatric care leading up to this case is under a microscope.

Today, Kevin Reddington, Clancy's defense attorney, called Dr. Donald Condie, a clinical and forensic psychiatrist, to the stand. He showed jurors some of what he believes Clancy's mental health care team did wrong, including "sparse" notes and potentially overlooking medication side effects.

That courtroom critique is the through-line for this episode: best-selling author and national journalist Valerie Bauerlein sat down with litigation consultant and criminal behavior analyst Sunny Slaughter to go deeper on the alleged gaps in how Clancy’s providers worked — and didn’t work — together, and what that may mean beyond one trial day.

Together, they walk through testimony and analysis around psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Tufts, nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollata, and counselor Latiesha Dukes. You’ll hear why Sunny Slaughter calls Dr. Tufts “far from what Lindsay Clancy needed,” why Jollata’s thorough notes stood out, and why Dukes may have missed what Clancy could have been saying about hallucinations.

We’re streaming every day of the Lindsay Clancy trial live on Criminally Obsessed. Turn on your notifications and subscribe for continuing trial coverage, expert insight, courtroom analysis, and exclusive interviews that go beyond the headlines.

#LindsayClancy #LindsayClancyTrial #PostpartumPsychosis #AndreaYates #TrueCrime

If you’ve fallen behind on the Murdaugh case, this is the catch-up before the retrial. Valerie Bauerlein was in court Friday as Alex Murdaugh walked in to his motions hearing without shackles or an orange jumpsuit — dark sport coat, baby-blue tie. What unfolded played like a preview of the defense's case for next year's retrial. Former South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon helps break down what armchair detectives need to know with host Valerie Bauerlein, best-selling author of The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty, and the reporter who covered the Murdaugh murder trial alongside Anne Emerson in 2023.

The stunner: defense attorney Jim Griffin said a recent Allendale County murder has been linked in press leaks to the Murdaugh murder weapon — and asked how that can be. Judge Debra McCaslin set the trial for April 5 and said she intends to stick by it. From Cousin Eddie to DNA to a change of venue to an attempt to toss Alex Murdaugh’s testimony from the first trial, this conversation is your roadmap of the Murdaugh retrial stakes — not a docket read, a defense-case preview. Charlie Condon unpacks it all and suggests the defense's theme ahead of Alex Murdaugh's April trial.

Could Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s time of death create reasonable doubt for Alex Murdaugh? As his defense prepares for a second murder trial, attorney Dick Harpootlian is signaling that the timeline of the June 2021 murders at Moselle could become a major issue. 

We had to speak with an expert who could tell us how time of death is actually determined… and is there room for error? 

In this episode of Criminally Obsessed, investigative reporter Anne Emerson speaks with Joseph Scott Morgan, Death Investigator and host of the podcast Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan, who helped create the national standards for determining time of death. He helps us understand the physical process coroners and medical examiners use to narrow down that timeframe, and examines the coroner’s actions in the Murdaugh murders with his expert perspective - what he did, and more importantly, what he didn’t do during that examination.

Alex Murdaugh’s case returns to court on Friday August 14th for a retrial hearing, when Judge Debra McCaslin could rule on where the new South Carolina murder trial will be held, along with other pending motions. Join Anne and former South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon to watch and analyze the hearing live tomorrow here on Criminally Obsessed. 

Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss our courtroom livestreams, the latest developments in the Alex Murdaugh retrial, and expert perspective with those closest to the case.

Is Elizabeth Siders competent to stand trial in the Ohio “House of Horrors” Case? As the Lindsay Clancy trial puts maternal mental health and criminal responsibility under a national microscope, another mother at the center of a major criminal case is facing psychological evaluation. 

Elizabeth Siders, who faces 16 child endangerment charges in the Vinton County, Ohio case, has been ordered to undergo a competency evaluation. But what does a competency test actually involve? 

Today, we hear from an expert who takes us inside the evaluation process, and shares parts of it that took us by surprise. 

In this episode of Criminally Obsessed, investigative reporter Anne Emerson speaks with forensic psychologist Dr. Leslie Dobson, who has administered many competency evaluations herself. She describes components of the test we’d never heard before, like taking part in a mock trial, and explains what happens after a defendant is found incompetent. With Dr. Dobson’s expert perspective, we learn what professionals will be looking for in Elizabeth Siders.

The Siders case continues to move forward, with Gary Siders Jr. due back in court Thursday, August 13th on public indecency charges. We’ll keep you updated on the latest developments - Turn on your notifications and subscribe to Criminally Obsessed so you never miss our coverage of the Ohio “House of Horrors” investigation, the Lindsay Clancy trial, and the biggest true crime cases.