Wicked Words - A True Crime Talk Show with Kate Winkler Dawson

Rene Denfeld is not only a novelist; she’s also an investigator who works on wrongful conviction cases. In her thriller, The Talking Bone, Denfeld uses her background and some of her cases to tell the story of a female investigator looking into the case of a man on death row in Georgia. And boy, did I learn a lot about what investigators can and can’t do. 

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In the 1930s, a Indigenous man was targeted by prosecutors in the murder of his wife. He claimed he was innocent. And a high-profile author who created an iconic detective series believed him. Jack El-Hai tells me the story at the center of his book: The Case of the Autographed Corpse. 

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In 2010, Joseph and Summer McStay were living in California with their two young sons when they vanished from their California home. They were missing for three years before their skeletal remains were found in an unmarked grave in the Mojave Desert. But who killed them? My guest is ABC News correspondent Ashan Singh. He’s talking about his podcast, What Happened to the McStays?

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James T. Bartlett has been with us before. He wrote a book called The Alaskan Blonde, about a woman who was accused of murdering her husband in 1953. Now James and I are traveling from Alaska down to Burbank, California with his new book, True Crime Burbank. He covers some of the city’s most infamous murders—and some I’ve never heard of. 

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When crime journalist Maria DiLorenzo began writing to Gary Ridgway, she had no idea where it would go. He began calling her—hundreds of times. Their conversations were supposed to lead to big revelations and to clues about women who might have been victims of the Green River Killer. But Ridgway played games and DiLorenzo soon felt very uncomfortable. She tells me about her book Confessions of the Green River Killer. 

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In the 1990s, a bank robber known as “Hollywood” robbed at least 19 banks in the northwest. He was pursued for years until one final robbery ended in violence. My guests are an interesting duo: one is the FBI agent who chased him and his crew. The other was Hollywood’s accomplice. Shawn Johnson and Steve Meyers tell me their story from the Netflix documentary How to Rob a Bank. 

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My next guest is an author who began writing a biography and then turned it into a novel. And I don’t blame her. The story of Earnest Pletch may be largely unknown now, but in 1939, he became famous. He took a flying lesson, he brought a gun, and soon, he was flying solo. Kim Sheeter tells me about the killer at the center of her story: Air-Minded. 

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2026 All Rights Reserved 

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This is the third time I’ve had Dawson Fearnow on the show—he writes about Arizona and some of the bad things that happened there. He’s talking to me about a piece he wrote for Phoenix Magazine called "Incognito, Inc.: Arizona’s Secret, Starring Role in the Federal Witness Protection Program.” Dawson tells me about several cases about mob informants in the state who couldn’t stay out of trouble. 

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2026 All Rights Reserved 

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Alright, I have a great podcast for you. It’s called Criminal Broads and it’s hosted by Tori Telfer. The stories focus on women as criminals. She tells me about a bank robber and a dirty doctor, as well as some others. 

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Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 

See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com 

Follow me on social: @tenfoldmore (Twitter) / @wickedwordspod (Facebook) / @tenfoldmorewicked (Instagram) 

2026 All Rights Reserved

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I’ve had my buddy, Maurice Chammah, on the show before. He’s a journalist with the Marshall Project, and a leading authority on the death penalty. He has a podcast out called: The Last Twelve Weeks. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how the attorneys for a man on death row in Texas are racing to stop his execution. It’s a complicated story about a very bad man…who might have been wrongly convicted for murders he didn’t commit.

Join my Patreon! patreon.com/kateandpaul

Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/4gF2K18 

See more information on my books: katewinklerdawson.com 

Follow me on social: @tenfoldmore (Twitter) / @wickedwordspod (Facebook) / @tenfoldmorewicked (Instagram) 

2026 All Rights Reserved 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.