Forbes True Crime

Karoline Borega spent about half of her life with someone she thought was the perfect man—an esteemed officer serving in the Colorado Springs Police Department, a doting father, and a partner that she described as “one of the good ones.” Before family and friends, they even celebrated their love with a vow renewal around their 20th wedding anniversary. What Karoline could have never imagined was that her husband broke those vows repeatedly—and on top of that, he lied about his actions during an internal affairs investigation conducted by his department. Karoline’s story is the center of season 4 of “Betrayal,” a docuseries based on the podcast hosted by Andrea Gunning. Karoline and Andrea join “Forbes True Crime” to discuss the series.

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Four students at the University of Idaho—Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves—were fatally attacked inside an off-campus home on King Road in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. Bryan Kohberger, who was a PhD student studying criminology at the nearby Washington State University at the time of the murders, was ultimately charged with the crimes. For more than two years after, he and his legal team maintained his innocence. Right before his case was set to go to trial in the summer of 2025, he reversed course and accepted a plea deal. In exchange for pleading guilty to the four counts of first degree murder and a felony burglary charge—the death penalty and the right to make an appeal—were taken off the table. He was instead slapped with four life sentences plus ten years. A year later, Kohberger now says he’s innocent and in a statement to the New York Times, claimed that in the case of “State v. Kohberger, justice was not served.” This week, he filed a petition for post-conviction relief in an attempt to abandon his guilty plea. Criminal defense attorney John W. Day joined “Forbes True Crime” to explain the move.

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Many questions about what happened in the early morning hours of January 29, 2022, at 34 Fairview Road still remain unanswered. John O’Keefe, a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Department, was found dead in the snow in front of a fellow Boston cop’s house after a night out with his then-girlfriend Karen Read, friends, and fellow members of law enforcement and their families. Prosecutors alleged that in a fit of rage, Read rammed into John with her vehicle while she was drunk and left him to die. Read’s team laid out a different story— they claimed that O’Keefe got into an altercation inside the house and was attacked by the family dog. On top of that, they alleged there was a sinister cover-up orchestrated by law enforcement and party-goers to frame Read for O’Keefe’s death. Over four years after his death, there is still no justice for John O’Keefe. Dave Wedge, an investigative reporter from the Boston area, has been covering the case from the beginning. He wrote about the perspectives from all sides of the saga in his new book, “Blizzard of Lies,” and joined “Forbes True Crime” to discuss.

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Before dawn on November 13, 2022, four students at the University of Idaho—Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle—were brutally murdered in an off-campus home. Over a month after the murders, Bryan Kohberger, who was studying for his PhD in criminology at the nearby Washington State University, was charged. After years of maintaining his innocence, in July 2025, one month before his case was set to go to trial, he reversed course and accepted a plea deal. In exchange for pleading guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, the death penalty was taken off the table. Instead, he was given four life sentences plus ten years. Kohberger is now saying he’s innocent and filed a petition for post-conviction relief in an attempt to abandon his guilty plea. In a statement to the New York Times, he said, "My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, must be withdrawn." Howard Blum, author of "When the Night Comes Falling: A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders," joined “Forbes True Crime” to discuss the development.

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On December 24, 2002, 27-year-old Laci Peterson disappeared, seemingly without a trace. The story of the missing woman from Modesto, California, who was eight months pregnant with her first child, captured the attention of the entire nation. Investigators were suspicious of her husband almost immediately. Scrutiny from both the media and public heightened after it was revealed that not only was Scott having an affair in the weeks before his wife went missing, but he continued that relationship in the days immediately following her disappearance. In April 2003, the bodies of Laci and her unborn son, Conner, were found in the San Francisco Bay, and days later, Scott was arrested. A jury ultimately found him guilty of both murders, but for over two decades, he maintained his innocence. The Los Angeles Innocence Project recently took on Scott's case. The group pushed for a new trial, claiming they had new evidence, but in April, a California judge rejected Peterson’s latest bid for freedom. Attorney and legal analyst Chris Pixley investigated the Los Angeles Innocence Project’s claims for the new documentary, “Scott Peterson: The New Evidence,” and joined “Forbes True Crime” to discuss what he found.

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In 1991, a Forbes magazine article described Jordan Belfort as a “twisted Robin Hood who takes from the rich and gives to himself and his merry band of brokers,” and said Stratton Oakmont, the brokerage firm that he founded, specialized in “pushing dicey stocks on gullible investors.” A handful of years after that article was published, he was charged with money laundering and orchestrating a pump-and-dump scheme. He chronicled his wild days at Stratton in a memoir, and his story got the Hollywood treatment. Directed by Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street” grossed hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide, racked up five Oscar nominations, and starred actor Leonardo DiCaprio. But people close to Belfort—both personally and professionally—say the movie and book don't tell the whole story. Howie Gelfand, an ex-Stratton Oakmont employee, and Ross Portenoy, a former close friend of Belfort, join “Forbes True Crime” to discuss their stories that are featured in the docuseries, “The Real Wolf of Wall Street.”

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In the early to mid-1990s, gay men in Indianapolis kept vanishing, and no one had any idea what was happening to them. That was, until police were led to a man named Brian, which they soon learned was an alias for a successful Indiana business owner named Herb Baumeister. When law enforcement was eventually allowed to search his sprawling 18-acre property in Hamilton County, what they found was truly horrifying– around 10,000 bone fragments in the woods surrounding the house. Days after the gruesome discovery, Baumeister ended his own life, so any shot at charging him died too. Despite never being convicted for a crime related to the bodies found on his property, authorities believe that Baumeister is one of the country's most prolific serial killers, with over one dozen victims. “The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer” told the story of the tragedies that transpired at Fox Hollow Farm, its victims, and the investigation into what exactly happened. “Return to Fox Hollow: New Victims, Darker Secrets,” picks up where the 2025 docuseries left off, and director Alex Jablonski joined “Forbes True Crime” to discuss.

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There are new details regarding a second ransom note allegedly sent to some media outlets just days after Nancy Guthrie went missing. The 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie was taken from her Tucson-area home on February 1. The following day, a ransom note sent to some news organizations demanded millions in cryptocurrency in exchange for her return, but just days later, another message sent from the same IP address claimed Nancy had died. On February 7, Savannah, flanked by her two siblings, posted a video that appeared to directly appeal to the kidnappers. The “Today” show host said,“we received your message and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace.” Dr. Raymond Carr, a retired FBI Special Agent, joins “Forbes True Crime” to discuss the new developments in the case.

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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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