Party girl Tiffany Cole had always relied on the kindness of strangers – including her former neighbours, Reggie and Carol Sumner. This frail older couple helped Tiffany out as if she were their own daughter…

And she repaid their kindness by digging their grave. Literally.

Tiffany claimed it was all her boyfriend’s idea, and she never meant for the Sumners to get hurt. But how did a boneheaded robbery plot by a bunch of party rats go so terribly wrong? And crucially: how much did Tiffany really know? We unearth the dark truth in this week’s episode.

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With Scientology’s biggest poster boy back on the big screen, the church is ramping up the recruitment drive. And to make sure you STAY AWAY from this sinister, star-studded sci-fi cult posing as a world religion, we’re rereleasing our two-parter as a bumper bonus episode...

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Hannah and Suruthi peer under the slippery stone of Scientology’s sinister origins. They track the life of founder L. Ron Hubbard, from the birth of Dianetics, to the constantly shifting goalposts of engrams, and of course the conception of the Sea Org.

Then, they unravel the mysteries of Scientology (and get themselves fair-gamed) by discussing Scientology's most important questions like: "what is the current structure of The Church of Scientology?", "where does Tom Cruise fit in?" and most importantly "where on Xenu's green earth is dead-eyed Dave's wife Shelly Miscavige?"

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Melanie McGuire was a beautiful young nurse who wouldn’t hurt a fly. So when her husband’s chopped-up remains were found in three separate suitcases in the Chesapeake Bay, she suddenly had a lot to answer for…

Was this petite New Jersey mum capable of killing her husband and disposing of his body in such a gruesome way? Or was this – as she claimed – a huge Sopranos-style stitch-up?

Sex, drugs and luggage: this week’s case is one you won’t wanna miss.

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Who was The Zodiac? Did he kill Cheri Jo Bates? And how did three hobbyist cryptographers crack his ‘impossible’ code 50 years after it was written? These are just a few of the questions we answer in our final episode on The Zodiac Killer.

Join us as we try to conclude the inconcludable, cold case that has haunted California for half a century.

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Last week we left you with the absolutely massive cliffhanger of a 408-character cipher, which in theory contained valuable information on the Bay Area’s most infamous killer “The Zodiac”. But first it needed to be solved. And amazingly it wasn’t cracked by the police, or the FBI: it was solved by a 41-year-old history teacher and his wife, and we’re going to tell you exactly how they did it. 

In this week’s episode, the Zodiac’s killing spree continues – claiming the lives of young lovers Bryan Hartnell & Cecelia Sheppard, along with San Francisco Taxi driver Paul Stine – while the police work furiously to beat the cyphers, and uncover his identity once and for all.

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Violent attacks, sadistic taunting, and uncrackable puzzles; in some ways “The Zodiac” laid the foundations for every murderous TV psychopath and movie villain of the next half-century. For our 400th episode we decided to dedicate three whole episodes to the potentially the most famous serial killer in history: how he operated, how his puzzles were solved, and who he might have been.

In part one we’re going to tell you everything you need to know about the Zodiac’s first four victims: David Farady, Betty Lou Jensen, Darlene Ferrin, and Michael Mageau. Two pairs of “young lovers”, all killed at night by a lone gunman, seemingly without a motive…

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When her sister-in-law never returned from a trip to India, Sarbjit Kaur Athwal knew exactly what had happened: her mother-in-law had made no secret of her plan to “get rid of” Surjit – the outspoken thorn in the family’s side.

But Sarbjit also knew what she was up against: a strict code of honour; the threat of shame and total rejection by her community – and the certainty that if she stepped out of line, it would be her turn next.

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With the release of a new Netflix documentary on the Wests, we dove into the archive (way way back to episodes 27 and 28) to get you up to date with our in-depth two-parter on one of the UK's most infamous cases.

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Incest, rape, murder and torture dungeons; the girls take on one of Britain's most notorious serial killer couples - Fred and Rose West.

Over a span of 25 years this pair of sexual sadists carried out unspeakable evil in their cellar at the now infamous 25 Cromwell St, and when the truth was finally revealed it shocked the world.

The girls head into the infamous torture cellar to uncover the horrifying truth about the Wests’ years of depravity. As body after body was found, a haunted Fred confessed to it all – but Rose stayed silent. We hear the incredible survivor testimony that broke a nation’s heart and finally labelled Rosemary West as one of the most evil female serial killers in history.

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ShortHand is released weekly for Wondery+ and Amazon Music subscribers. Listen exclusively and ad-free every Tuesday on Wondery+ through Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And depending on where you are in the world, ShortHand is included with your Prime Membership on Amazon Music.

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What happens when humanity’s mouthpiece of God, the holiest man on earth, The Pope, passes away? First and foremost a man bonks him on the head with a centuries-old little hammer to make sure he’s really gone.

From there things only get weirder as all the cardinals are locked inside the Vatican with no access to the outside world, before taking part in an incredibly protracted, ritual-filled voting process, until eventually the world is introduced to the new Holy Father.

This is the Sacred ShortHand.

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In our second part of the Pre-Diddy saga, we take a closer look at the accusations you need to know about – and the 99 problems it could cause for some of his closest associates...

With all the sensational stories swirling around this case, we separate fact from fiction, and find out that the truth is always wilder than the headlines: from ‘MVP bags’ containing ‘power banger sex machines’, to the involvement of some of music’s biggest names. So what do Justin Bieber, Usher, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Gloria Estefan, LeBron James and Nikki Minaj have to do with it? Join us to find out.

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