All you need to con your way into a NASCAR race is a car, money and the guts of a snake wrangler. In 1982, a man named L.W. Wright showed up in Nashville trying to talk his way into Talladega. 

Read the series

• Part 1: How L.W. Wright talked his way onto NASCAR's fastest track
• Part 2: Could L.W. Wright drive as fast as he could talk?
• Part 3: After getting a black flag, would LW Wright outrun the law?

Could L.W. Wright drive a race car faster than 180 miles per hour? That's what he set out to do. If he could qualify, he would earn a spot on the starting line at Talladega, arguably the fastest, most dangerous NASCAR race in America. 

Read the series

• Part 1: How L.W. Wright talked his way onto NASCAR's fastest track
• Part 2: Could L.W. Wright drive as fast as he could talk?
• Part 3: After getting a black flag, would LW Wright outrun the law?

With Talladega in his rearview mirror, L.W. Wright was on the run. He had several people in Nashville, those he conned out of money, and several NASCAR officials trying to find him. Could he go fast enough to drop out of sight forever?

Read the series

• Part 1: How L.W. Wright talked his way onto NASCAR's fastest track
• Part 2: Could L.W. Wright drive as fast as he could talk?
• Part 3: After getting a black flag, would LW Wright outrun the law?

A detective’s dogged pursuit of justice links two rape accusations 800 miles apart, and puts her on the path to catch a sexual predator. She’ll bring listeners along on her quest in the new exclusive true crime podcast series from WITNESS and USA TODAY, Untested. Here’s the first episode.

Subscribe for $4.99 to binge the entire season ad-free now. 

He terrorized women. He slipped through the cracks. But one detective refused to give up. Untested, an exclusive true crime podcast series from WITNESS and USA TODAY, brings listeners along on this detective’s quest to bring a serial sex offender to justice. Coming in April..

When a jail officer discovered two keys missing from the control room, the new, about-to-open Nashville jail had a big problem. Who would break into a jail? What could that person do with stolen keys? The race was on to catch a man who inmates had given the nickname Einstein.

Read the series

• Part 1: Two keys to an under-construction jail in Nashville went missing. Would it lead to havoc?
• Part 2: A razor in his shoe. A makeshift ice pick. Nashville criminal 'learned his trade in jail'
• Part 3: Could Einstein be captured inside the jail without knowing it was a trap? What happened next
• Part 4: Einstein gives shocking explanation for breaking into new downtown Nashville jail

The man with the nickname Einstein had served almost a decade in prison, where he learned tricks to help him get out of sticky situations. He hid razors in his wall and handcuff keys in his belt. Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall became obsessed with catching this man, who had unleashed a plan to infiltrate Hall's baby — the new Downtown Detention Center.

Read the series

• Part 1: Two keys to an under-construction jail in Nashville went missing. Would it lead to havoc?
• Part 2: A razor in his shoe. A makeshift ice pick. Nashville criminal 'learned his trade in jail'
• Part 3: Could Einstein be captured inside the jail without knowing it was a trap? What happened next
• Part 4: Einstein gives shocking explanation for breaking into new downtown Nashville jail

When they finally found him, the plan was to keep Einstein OUT of the new jail facility. But that's not what happened. In January 2020, Einstein walked into the building carrying bolt cutters, and the jail officer who saw him had a quick decision to make.

Read the series

• Part 1: Two keys to an under-construction jail in Nashville went missing. Would it lead to havoc?
• Part 2: A razor in his shoe. A makeshift ice pick. Nashville criminal 'learned his trade in jail'
• Part 3: Could Einstein be captured inside the jail without knowing it was a trap? What happened next
• Part 4: Einstein gives shocking explanation for breaking into new downtown Nashville jail

What could possibly be the explanation for breaking into a jail? Once Einstein was caught, he faced a potential 40-year prison sentence. Instead of taking the sentencing lightly, Alex Friedmann told the court why he breached the jail security system. His explanation shocked everyone who heard it.

Read the series

• Part 1: Two keys to an under-construction jail in Nashville went missing. Would it lead to havoc?
• Part 2: A razor in his shoe. A makeshift ice pick. Nashville criminal 'learned his trade in jail'
• Part 3: Could Einstein be captured inside the jail without knowing it was a trap? What happened next
• Part 4: Einstein gives shocking explanation for breaking into new downtown Nashville jail

Coming soon: The sheriff called him an evil genius. Fellow inmates called him Einstein. In January 2020, just 10 days before a shiny new Nashville jail was set to house its first inmate, a jail officer noticed two keys missing. What they didn't know is that Einstein had snuck into the jail at least 20 times while it was being built. He had stolen the two keys. If that's all he had accomplished in his stealth jail breaches, then we might never have heard of Einstein. But his plan was so much larger than that. His plan involved deadly weapons. This is Chasing Einstein, a four-part series from The Tennessean.