True Crimecast

Karen Silkwood was a mother, a union activist, and a whistleblower who sacrificed everything to expose corporate negligence and protect her fellow workers. Whether her fatal crash was a tragic accident or a targeted hit, the disappearance of her binder of evidence and the tens of pounds of unaccounted plutonium remain two of the biggest unanswered mysteries in American industrial history.

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On March 6, 1983, 21-year-old Cheryl Ann Araujo walked into Big Dan’s Tavern in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to buy cigarettes. What followed was a nightmare: a two-hour assault on a pool table while a room of bystanders watched, cheered, and did nothing. When Cheryl chose to report the crime, she became the central figure in the first televised rape trial in American history, where her name and address were broadcast nationwide and defense attorneys subjected her to brutal victim-blaming cross-examinations.

(Hear the rest of the episode by subscribing to our Patreon!)

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Mikita Brottman is an acclaimed nonfiction author, psychoanalyst, and professor whose work explores the darker and more complicated corners of human behavior. Her books include A Double Life, Guilty Creatures, Couple Found Slain, and An Unexplained Death, a Gold Dagger Award finalist.

With professional experience in forensic psychiatric facilities and the Maryland prison system, Brottman brings a unique psychological perspective to true crime. Rather than simply asking who committed a crime and how they did it, she digs deeper into the relationships, obsessions, motivations, and emotional dynamics that can exist beneath the surface.

Her newest book, A Double Life: The Anatomy of a Premeditated Murder, coming September 29, 2026 from Citadel Books, examines the shocking 2015 murder of Florida physician Teresa Sievers. What initially appeared to be a burglary gone wrong ultimately revealed a much more complicated story involving marriage, obsession, friendship, betrayal, and the intense bond between Mark Sievers and his childhood best friend.

In our conversation, Brottman discusses what drew her to the Sievers case, the psychological complexities surrounding the people involved, and why the most compelling true-crime stories often go far beyond the crime itself. We also explore her approach to writing about real people and real violence, and what happens when the neat explanations we want from a murder case don't necessarily exist.

Buy A Double Life: The Anatomy of a Premeditated Murder Now!

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806545569?tag=randohouseinc7986-20

Barnes & Noble - https://barnesandnoble.sjv.io/c/128773/1894547/22009?subId1=PRHEFFDF5A7F1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.barnesandnoble.com%2Fw%2F%3Fean%3D9780806545561

Books A Million - https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-8373827-10747236?SID=PRHEFFDF5A7F1--9780806545561&url=https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9780806545561

Learn More about Dr. Mikita Brottman - https://mikitabrottman.com/

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The entire country mourns as we lost Dolly Parton this week. So we found a few stories about crimes commited against her. You know she never committed a crime. Dolly never did anything wrong. 

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Kentucky has passed a new bill against grooming, and it’s already making a difference. Plus, there’s a story about a ninja burglar. #PowerRangers

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When 21-year-old aspiring model Juliana Redding was found strangled in her Santa Monica apartment, police uncovered a bizarre crime scene: a lit candle left in a gas-filled room intended to trigger a lethal explosion. Investigators recovered an unprecedented amount of foreign DNA...on the stove, the front door, the victim’s phone, and even her throat. Would they be able to find the source of that DNA. And if they did, would it even matter?

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Anna Sonoda, LCSW is a graduate of Emory University, where she double-majored in Anthropology and French Studies, and earned her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Georgia in 2006. She became a licensed clinical social worker in 2009.

With a career spanning counseling convicted sexual offenders, working in residential mental health, leading anger management and domestic violence programs, and supporting individuals with dual diagnoses, Anna brings rare, front-line expertise into the realities of predatory behavior. As both a clinician and a mother, she recognized a profound gap: society reacts to child sexual abuse after the fact but rarely teaches families how to stop it before it begins.

Buy Anna's Books!

Duck Duck Groom: Understanding How a Child Becomes a Target: https://www.amazon.com/Duck-Groom-Understanding-Becomes-Target-ebook/dp/B0BYK6QCF5/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=IdIJ4&content-id=amzn1.sym.d3a58468-e869-422a-942f-0f7fd0b8c11f&pf_rd_p=d3a58468-e869-422a-942f-0f7fd0b8c11f&pf_rd_r=147-0245265-4591866&pd_rd_wg=ndnI9&pd_rd_r=f90b56b5-3426-41c2-8d25-000493646caa

Wait...That's Weird: Spotting Strange Behavior Together: https://www.amazon.com/Wait-Thats-Weird-Spotting-Behavior/dp/B0GPWX6FR6/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=QpckC&content-id=amzn1.sym.d3a58468-e869-422a-942f-0f7fd0b8c11f&pf_rd_p=d3a58468-e869-422a-942f-0f7fd0b8c11f&pf_rd_r=147-0245265-4591866&pd_rd_wg=zfVTu&pd_rd_r=e57639ac-3d0c-45ae-b4ac-0fd469e0582e

Duck Duck Groom A Guided Journal: https://www.amazon.com/Duck-Groom-Guided-Journal/dp/B0DBKXQ53F/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=2Z3Cy&content-id=amzn1.sym.d3a58468-e869-422a-942f-0f7fd0b8c11f&pf_rd_p=d3a58468-e869-422a-942f-0f7fd0b8c11f&pf_rd_r=147-0245265-4591866&pd_rd_wg=7p7XW&pd_rd_r=91c04000-2c42-4e79-8745-47dceb093c22

Follow Anna on IG: @annasonodalcsw

Listen to Anna's podcast, Known and Trusted: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/known-and-trusted/id1848917422

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What if the best way to deter texting and driving was to dress up like a bush? And if you got a murder for hire call on your voicemail, what would you do?

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A fraternity at Penn State gets cause selling cocaine, and a murder for hire plot does not go as planned.

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On April 17, 1994, 20-year-old expectant mother Tina Heins was brutally murdered in her Jacksonville, Florida apartment. Police quickly set their sights on her 19-year-old brother-in-law, Chad Heins, who had been sleeping on the living room couch after a night out. Did police have the right guy in Chad? Or did tunnel vision allow the actual killer to slip through their fingers?

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