On the morning of May 25th, 1979, 6-year-old Etan Patz was allowed to walk to the bus stop alone for the first time. It was only about a two-block jaunt from his family’s apartment in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. But he never made it to school that Friday — Etan vanished without a trace before ever stepping foot on the bus. He was one of the first missing children to be featured on a milk carton, and on the fourth anniversary of Etan’s disappearance, President Ronald Reagan declared May 25th as ‘National Missing Children’s Day.’ More than 30 years after his disappearance, a tip led to the arrest of Pedro Hernandez, who was an 18-year-old working at a bodega near the Patz’s apartment the day Etan went missing. Hernandez ultimately admitted to police that he killed Patz in a confession that was viewed as controversial. Hernandez had a history of mental illness, and confessed once before being read his rights, and then multiple times after. It was only after his first confession did police officers start recording his interview. Hernandez’s 2015 trial ended in a hung jury, but two years later, he was convicted of first-degree kidnapping and second-degree murder. In July 2025, a federal appeals court overturned the conviction due to the way the judge answered a question from the jury regarding Hernandez’s first confession. But this week, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court reinstated Hernandez’s murder conviction. Joining “Forbes True Crime” to discuss is documentarian and host of the podcast “Sinister,” Josh Zeman.

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What happened at 34 Fairview Road in the early morning hours of January 29th, 2022, is a question that starkly divided a community. John O’Keefe, a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Department, was found dead in the snow in front of a fellow Boston police officer’s house. Soon, two competing stories emerged. Prosecutors alleged that O’Keefe’s then-girlfriend, Karen Read, hit John with her vehicle while she was drunk and left him to die. Read’s team laid out a different story— they alleged that not only was there no evidence John was hit by a car, but the investigation was corrupt from the start.  After a first trial ended in a hung jury, Read was acquitted on all charges related to the death of O’Keefe in June 2025, and was only found guilty of operating a vehicle under the influence. In June 2026, she sued the Massachusetts State Police and the Canton Police Department. In the lawsuit, she claimed she was “wrongfully prosecuted” and accused the agencies of “negligent hiring, training, and supervision of biased and corrupt police officers.” Criminal defense attorney Skye Lazaro joins “Forbes True Crime” to break down the lawsuit.

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On the evening of April 4, Lynette and Brian Hooker were aboard a dinghy in the Bahamas making their way to the sailboat they lived on, “Soulmate.” According to authorities, Brian said that just before sundown, rough conditions caused Lynette to fall overboard, and a strong current separated her from the boat. Before he lost sight of her, Brian claimed he saw his wife swimming to shore. According to Brian, Lynette had the key to the boat, so once she was overboard, it lost power. Around nine hours later, Brian ultimately drifted to shore. Days later, he was arrested and detained in the Bahamas over his wife’s disappearance, but he was released from custody without being charged— and still staunchly denies any wrongdoing. Two months after she vanished, Lynette’s disappearance is reportedly being investigated as a “possible murder.” This comes as the U.S. Coast Guard is searching in new areas after a U.S. official reportedly said that GPS data conflicts with Brian’s story. On Thursday, CBS reported the Coast Guard seized the 8-foot dinghy Lynette was on the night she went missing. Tad DiBiase, a former federal prosecutor and an expert in no-body homicide cases, joins “Forbes True Crime” to discuss the latest developments.

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A video of a Queens woman’s 2024 arrest sparked national outrage after going viral— she was attempting to protect her home, a place that was in her family for years, from a squatter who had changed the locks and was illegally leasing out the rooms to make a profit. Stories like this one, where squatters found ways to game the system, exploit the law, and live in someone else’s home for free, are featured in the new series, “Squatters: Get the F*** Out of My House.” John Henshaw, an executive producer of the docuseries, joined “Forbes True Crime’ to discuss.

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On a chilly Saturday morning in February 2008, a gunman who police said was masquerading as a delivery man entered a Lane Bryant in Tinley Park, Illinois. About 40 minutes later, six women, a mix of customers and store employees, were shot execution style. Five died and one survived. By the time law enforcement arrived on the scene, the gunman slipped out of the store. Despite police releasing a sketch of the suspect just days after the tragedy, over 18 years later, his identity still eludes authorities— and a community is still looking for answers. Journalist Delia D’Ambra launched an investigation into the unsolved murders in Season 8 of CounterClock, and joins “Forbes True Crime” to discuss.

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In 2004, a man who appeared to be in his mid-50s was found laying near a Burger King’s dumpster in Richmond Hill, Georgia. He said he suffered from amnesia— he could not remember who he was or how he got there, and claimed to only possess a handful of memories total from his life. He called himself Benjaman Kyle, and in the following years, this story of a man with seemingly no identity was featured on the news, a student documentary, and even on Dr. Phil. A decade later, the founders of Hot Snakes Media heard Benjaman Kyle’s story, and set off to film a documentary that would attempt to find out who he actually was and piece together his forgotten life. Pretty soon after they started shooting the documentary, his true identity was revealed. But the production team realized that things with Benjaman, and his past, weren’t adding up. ‘The Many Lives Of Benjaman Kyle’ co-executive producers Shannon and Eric Evangelista and former FBI special agent and EP Ken Maxwell joined "Forbes True Crime" to discuss.

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In a big win for Alex Murdaugh, South Carolina’s Supreme Court overturned his convictions for the murders of his wife and son, and granted him a retrial. The ruling found that Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill’s conduct denied “Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury.” The opinion also argued that during the original double murder trial, the state went “far too long and far too deep into aspects of Murdaugh's financial crimes,” and that during the retrial, the focus on those crimes has to be much shorter and limited. In 2023, months after he was found guilty of killing Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, the disgraced attorney pleaded guilty to dozens of financial crimes over stealing millions from his most vulnerable clients when he practiced law as a personal injury attorney. He is currently serving state and federal sentences concurrently, which are 27 years and 40 years, respectively. In response to the news of a retrial, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said that the state is going “back to square one on this case,” and didn’t rule out the death penalty. Mandy Matney is a South Carolina-based journalist whose reporting broke multiple stories central to the Murdaugh saga. Matney, who served as executive producer of the series "Murdaugh: Death in the Family," joins "Forbes True Crime" to discuss this latest development.

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In 2023, years into an extremely contentious custody battle, two Utah siblings barricaded themselves in a bedroom— and livestreamed the experience on TikTok. Ty and Brynlee Larson were protesting a court order that would mandate they attend a “reunification camp” with their father— a man they both claim had abused them, which are allegations he strongly denied. A new docuseries, “The Nightmare Upstairs: What Happened to Ty and Bryn?” follows the bitter custody dispute, allegations of abuse and parental alienation, and the teenagers’ 54-day standoff. Caitlin Keating, the executive producer and director of the series, joins “Forbes True Crime” to discuss.

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Two Miami police officers are suing Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production company, Artists Equity, over the 2026 movie ‘The Rip,’ an action thriller the actors also starred in. The lawsuit argues that the movie, which bills itself as being “inspired by true events,” uses “distinctive elements of a real law enforcement investigation” involving the two officers and ultimately portrays “those associated with that investigation as engaging in criminal misconduct.” Ryan Baker, partner at Waymaker, joined “Forbes True Crime” to discuss.

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South Carolina’s Supreme Court unanimously overturned Alex Murdaugh’s double murder convictions and consecutive life sentences, meaning the disgraced attorney will stand for a new trial in the 2021 killings of his wife Maggie and son Paul. The ruling said that the court clerk “placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury.” In December 2025, Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill pleaded guilty to perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct over showing sealed evidence to the media and then lying about it in court, as well as using her position in court to promote the book she wrote about the trial. The Murdaughs were a well-known legal dynasty in South Carolina’s low country — three generations served as the area’s chief prosecutor. Alex Murdaugh was an attorney at his family’s law firm before his shocking fall from grace. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that his office "will aggressively seek to retry Alex Murdaugh for the murders of Maggie and Paul as soon as possible." Separately, Murdaugh pleaded guilty in 2023 to a slew of financial crimes over stealing millions from his most vulnerable clients when he practiced law as a personal injury attorney and is serving state and federal sentences concurrently, which are 27 years and 40 years, respectively. Criminal defense attorney Danny Rubin joins “Forbes True Crime” to break down this most recent development.

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