In the Summer of 1993, a leak in a south Minneapolis high-rise led a caretaker to a horrifying discovery: 35-year-old Jeanie Childs, murdered inside her apartment. On the floor beside her, a haunting clue: a trail of bloody bare footprints. Today we start at the beginning of a decades-long search for answers, tracing Jeanie’s story, the evidence left behind, and the first threads investigators followed as they tried to uncover what really happened that night.

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In 1993, Jeanie Childs was murdered in her Minneapolis apartment — a brutal crime that haunted her mother for decades. When genetic genealogy finally named a suspect twenty-five years later, it brought answers her family had spent a lifetime fighting for and new questions about what justice costs in the age of technology.

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I’m going off the record with my co-producer, Olivia, to break down our Menendez Brothers series, from how the story evolved during production to what it reveals about our culture’s fascination with crime and punishment. We talk about the ethics of telling familiar stories, the lasting impact of media coverage, and the newest developments in the brothers’ case more than 30 years later.

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Broadcast into millions of homes, the Menendez trial became something bigger than a murder case. It was television. Tabloid fodder. Even comedy material. But when trauma turns into spectacle, what gets lost? In Part Three, we trace how the case was flattened into a punchline, and why, 35 years later, it demands a different look.

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At just 18 and 21, Erik and Lyle Menendez stood trial for killing their parents. To many, it seemed unfathomable: how could two privileged kids from Beverly Hills do something like this? When they finally spoke, the picture that emerged was darker and more complicated than anyone expected. In Part Two, we follow the trial that gripped the country, and the stories the brothers had kept hidden for years.

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In the summer of 1989, wealthy media executive José Menendez and his wife, Kitty, were found dead inside their Beverly Hills home. The brutality of the crime was shocking enough, until the truth came out. Their killers weren’t intruders. They were their sons, Lyle and Erik. In Part One, we begin unraveling the story of a family that looked perfect on the outside, but was breaking apart from within.

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In 1989, Beverly Hills police found Hollywood executive José Menendez and his wife Kitty brutally murdered in their home. Their sons, Erik and Lyle, were charged with pulling the trigger. What followed was one of the most sensational trials of the 1990s, complete with abuse allegations, media mockery, and a nation convinced the brothers were nothing more than greedy rich kids.
But decades later, new evidence and shifting cultural conversations are forcing a second look. Were the Menendez Brothers ruthless killers? Or survivors fighting for their lives?
While you wait, make sure to keep up with us through our Truer Crime Substack Newsletter⁠.
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Keith LaMar has spent more than 30 years on death row for crimes he says he did not commit. With his execution date set for January 13, 2027, and his final legal options dwindling, Keith speaks candidly about betrayal by his own attorneys, the indifference of the courts, and why he believes the public may be his last chance at justice. But this is also a conversation about life—about what it means to hold onto your humanity, to love, and to create, even in a place designed to strip all of that away.

Referenced:

The Cross of Redemption by James BaldwinY

ou can find photos of Keith on our Instagram ⁠@truercrimepod⁠

Find the complete list of action items, sources, and resources for our Keith LaMar coverage in the show notes at ⁠truercrimepodcast.com⁠.

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In many true crime stories, the ending comes with the verdict: guilty, condemned, case closed. But for Keith LaMar, that moment marked the beginning of another story. For three decades, he has fought to keep living inside a system determined to end his life. This episode explores what survival looks like on death row, and what it means to keep resisting in the shadow of an execution date.

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Keith LaMar once admitted to murder. But when prosecutors accused him of ordering deaths in the Lucasville prison riot, he drew a line: this time, he said, he was innocent. In this episode, we return to the crime that put Keith behind bars, and follow the trial that would decide his fate.

Want early access to every episode, all at once? Tenderfoot+ subscribers get the full case at the start of each month—plus ad-free listening and exclusive content from over 30 shows. Sign up at tenderfootplus.com.

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