The Burden

By Orbit MediaTrue Crime

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Typical duration
30 min
per episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

The Burden episodes

December 26, 2025 Death & Deceit in Alliance | 10. The Shakedown
In order to understand a murder like this, you have to understand the victim. Maggie, John and Danny talk to some of the people closest to Yvonne to try to find out what was going on in her life in the months leading up to her murder.

New episodes of Death & Deceit in Alliance are available every Tuesday and Friday wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple podcasts.

Death & Deceit in Alliance is a production of Orbit Media Inc. in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
27 min
December 23, 2025 Death & Deceit in Alliance | 9. The Others
Maggie, John and Danny set out in Ohio to speak with some top people of interest who have been named in the case. Jim, the allegedly creepy neighbor who was spying on Yvonne and Jeremy, someone close to the family and who the Psychic described as the perpetrator.

New episodes of Death & Deceit in Alliance are available every Tuesday and Friday wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple podcasts.

Death & Deceit in Alliance is a production of Orbit Media Inc. in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
28 min
December 19, 2025 Death & Deceit in Alliance | 8. The PIs
Jason Baldwin from the West Memphis 3 and his team of private investigators from Proclaim Justice team up with Maggie to look into David's case. They hit the ground in Ohio to find out: who really did kill Yvonne Layne?

New episodes of Death & Deceit in Alliance are available every Tuesday and Friday wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple podcasts.

Death & Deceit in Alliance is a production of Orbit Media Inc. in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
38 min
December 16, 2025 Death & Deceit in Alliance | 7. The Psychic
Months into the investigation of Yvonne Layne's murder, police felt stuck, so they did something controversial: they went to a psychic. And the audio recordings we obtained from the visit give an incredible amount of insight into who may have killed Yvonne. However, it wasn't what the psychic said to detectives, but what they told her that is truly shocking.

New episodes of Death & Deceit in Alliance are available every Tuesday and Friday wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple podcasts.

Death & Deceit in Alliance is a production of Orbit Media Inc. in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
28 min
December 12, 2025 Death & Deceit in Alliance | 6. The Witness
On April 1, 1999, the day Yvonne was found murdered in her home, a neighbor stopped by and told police he saw someone leaving her home, unbeknownst to him, after Yvonne was already dead. But this witness's statement was never turned over to the defense. Why? And who was the man he saw leaving Yvonne's home after her murder?

New episodes of Death & Deceit in Alliance are available every Tuesday and Friday wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple podcasts.

Death & Deceit in Alliance is a production of Orbit Media Inc. in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
20 min
December 09, 2025 Death & Deceit in Alliance | 5. The Wife
David Thorne has spent over 20 years in prison for a murder he says he did not commit. Although he says his case is "Dead in the Water", he hasn't been alone. Sue Thorne, a retired postal worker turned amateur investigator, has kept his case alive all these years and uncovered new evidence that could point to David's innocence.

New episodes of Death & Deceit in Alliance are available every Tuesday and Friday wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple podcasts.

Death & Deceit in Alliance is a production of Orbit Media Inc. in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
22 min
December 02, 2025 Death & Deceit in Alliance | 4. The Trial
After David Thorne and Joe Wilkes were arrested for the murder of Yvonne Layne in April 1999, they went to trial in January 2000. What evidence was used to convict them? What kind of defense did David have in the face of Joe's confession?

New episodes of Death & Deceit in Alliance are available every Tuesday and Friday wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple podcasts.

Death & Deceit in Alliance is a production of Orbit Media Inc. in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
34 min
December 02, 2025 Death & Deceit in Alliance | 3. The Murder
On the morning of April Fools Day 1999, Tawnia Layne went to pick up her grandkids at Yvonne's home. But instead, she stumbled upon a brutal crime scene, her daughter nearly decapitated in a pool of her own blood. Who could have done this to Yvonne? In this episode we look at the first hours and days of the investigation.

New episodes of Death & Deceit in Alliance are available every Tuesday and Friday wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple podcasts.

Death & Deceit in Alliance is a production of Orbit Media Inc. in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
27 min
December 02, 2025 Death & Deceit in Alliance | 2. The Lovers
In this episode we learn about Yvonne, David and how the two came together and had their son, Brandon. But we also learn about the problems the couple had and issues in Yvonne's life ultimately causing the two to break up before her murder. Who was Yvonne Layne? What brought the young lovers together and ultimately caused their split?

New episodes of Death & Deceit in Alliance are available every Tuesday and Friday wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple podcasts.

Death & Deceit in Alliance is a production of Orbit Media Inc. in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
27 min
December 02, 2025 Death & Deceit in Alliance | 1. Dead in the Water
In 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Ohio home while her children slept. Her ex-boyfriend, David Thorne, was instantly a suspect as the father of one of her children, but he had a solid alibi. So the police found Joe Wilkes, a friend of David’s, who said David hired him to kill Yvonne. In 2000 with Joe’s testimony, David was sentenced to life without parole. But, our investigation has shown that almost everyone in Yvonne's life had a motive to kill her – like her own family, a creepy neighbor and even police officers.

New episodes of Death & Deceit in Alliance are available every Tuesday and Friday wherever you get your podcasts. To binge the entire season, ad-free, subscribe to True Crime Clubhouse on Apple podcasts.

Death & Deceit in Alliance is a production of Orbit Media Inc. in association with Signal Co. No1.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
34 min

About The Burden

From the publisher's feed

The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them.

Season 7 - The Burden: Bad Cops

Baltimore, Maryland likes to call itself Charm City. But you have to wonder: Is the nickname ironic? Consider one of the city's star cops, a sergeant so accomplished that he earned his own nickname, the Golden Boy. But Golden Boy led a double life. Said one of those who encountered him in the street. "I was robbed by the Baltimore City Police….with a gun … armed robbery." No one believed the allegation. Then a GPS tracker was discovered where it shouldn't have been; next, a wiretap went up on a cop's phone. An FBI agent couldn't believe what she was hearing. Are these guys gangsters? And then … an insider turned witness. "Like Rambo said, burn it down. And that's what I did." Welcome to Charm City, where it was sometimes difficult to tell the protectors from the predators.

Season 6 - The Burden: Lives of Crime

Ever wondered what it’s like to live on the edge?
To not follow the rules?
To live outside of the law?
On Lives of Crime you'll hear true stories from criminals themselves, narrating moments from their lives and expounding upon the crimes they’ve committed. This first person narrative podcast series creates an intimate connection between criminal and listener. It’s true crime without intermediaries. Presented without judgment, each episode features a single voice - a person with a criminal past - telling us the deeply personal details of their lives. We hear about their crimes, sure, but Lives of Crime goes beyond that. We hear the stories that shaped them, the moments that made them, the details that changed the direction of their lives for good or for ill.
True Crime Told by true criminals.

Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance

On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish?

Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run

“Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father.

Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger

Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice.

Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country.

Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood

Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question.

This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago.

Season 1 - The Burden

In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname.

Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance.

For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast.

Welcome to The Burden.