Ten years ago, most people hadn’t even heard of a podcast. Now, they’re an integral part of the media landscape, and none more so than those about true crime. To determine the best shows, true-crime fans were surveyed about their favorites and we then went through our list to find the top. These picks have shaped the genre, whether they present a single story or cover new cases each episode. Some of these picks are the result of deep investigative journalism, while others are amateur sleuths who are trying to help families find the answers. Some of them focus on publicity and bringing attention to underrepresented communities. Other cases have altered the way we see crime storytelling. Perhaps equally important, they’re all great listening, promising the kind of captivating intrigue that continues to draw generation after generation to true crime: tragedy, mystery, a search for answers, and always the hunger for justice.
25. CounterClock
Fans of procedurals will bond with former broadcast journalist Delia D’Ambra’s approach to investigating murders. Dogged and savvy, she interviews law-enforcement officers but doesn’t take them at their word for anything. She reconstructs witness timelines, reads case files and uncovers clues that detectives missed. Season Three was about the 1989 brutal murder of four Pelley family members in Indiana. Over the course of 20 bingeable 20-minute episodes, D’Ambra raised doubt about the conviction of the slain couple’s teenage son for the shootings. Season Four, out now, investigates the unsolved 2003 murder of 17-year-old John Welles, who’d been working on his family’s farm in Florida before being found dead in a creek. —Andrea Marks
24. Somebody
In Somebody, a Black mother leverages the popularity of true crime podcasts to search for answers about her son’s killing. In 2016, Shapearl Wells’ 22-year-old son, Courtney Copeland, was shot through the window of his beloved BMW while he was driving. Chicago police stated that he jumped out of his car at a precinct to flag down an officer for assistance before collapsing. Wells took his hospital records to the EMTs, but a note from them described Copeland as “violent” “combative” and said he’d been in handcuffs when he arrived at the hospital. Wells knew then that there was more to the story of her son’s death than police were telling her. Partnering with InterceptShe began to document her journey to find answers and her attempts to grieve as a mother. Wells re-interviews witnesses, gathers security-camera footage from the scene of Copeland’s death, and collects any documentation she can from the day’s events. This seven-part series was a finalist in the 2021 Pulitzer Prize. “a dogged and searing investigation of the murder of a young Black man in Chicago and the institutional indifference surrounding it.”In one sense, the podcast is a compelling investigation into a unsolved crime. However, the podcast also shows the power of the format, and the privilege of many true crime creators. One memorable scene shows Wells returning to the police station to seek answers. She is accompanied by Invisible Institute reporters during this visit. “Maybe this time, if I came in with two white journalists, they’d actually listen to me,”She says. —A.M.
23. Atlanta Monster
Following the success of Tenderfoot TV’s flagship series The Up and the Vanished host Payne Lindsey brought renewed attention to the underreported case of Atlanta’s child murders with Atlanta Monster.In the 1970s and 1980s, a real-life boogeyman was brutally killing young Black boys in poor neighborhoods. This was the era when television PSAs were popular: “It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?”Some parents did, while others did not. Interviews with Black residents of the city during that time reveal the terror they felt. Lindsey also examines the assumption Wayne Williams, who was convicted of two murders, is responsible for all the deaths. Lindsey compares interviews with FBI and police officers who believe they caught the right man with voices from activists and public figures who also believe they did not.Williams is interviewed by the Tenderfoot team, who arranges an interview in jail. However, Williams lives up to his reputation as a talent scout who talks a lot but doesn’t say much. The later seasons of MonsterCover the Zodiac Killer, and the D.C. Sniper using different hosts. —A.M.
22. Accused
In the world of true crime, the unfortunate reality is that there are only a handful of cases and stories that tend to get the most attention, which is why it’s so refreshing to see reporters use the podcast boom to shine a light on older, less notorious cases. Accused,Hosted by Cincinnati EnquirerAmber Hunt, a reporter and host of the history pod) Crimes of the Centuries)The book, which focuses on older Midwestern cases, like the 1978 murder of Elizabeth Andes, a student at Miami University, and the 1984 mysterious disappearance of David Bocks, a pipe fitter, focuses exclusively on these older cases. While these cases don’t have as much notoriety as many of the other subjects on our list, Hunt’s thorough reporting and gripping narration will keep you hooked regardless. —EJ Dickson
21. Anatomy of Murder
Most true-crime podcasts are hosted by, for lack of a better term, armchair detectives — people who have a morbid curiosity, but little hands-on experience in the world of criminal investigation. So when a podcast comes along that’s hosted by two people with real-world law-enforcement bona fides, you can tell the difference. Hosted by a former homicide prosecutor and a former deputy-sheriff-turned-investigative-journalist, Anatomy of MurderAudiochuck lacks some of the more enthralling narrative details, but it makes up for this by giving you more insider perspectives. —E.D.
20. Crimetown
In some ways, the first season Crimetown, which focuses on organized crime in Providence, Rhode Island, commits a cardinal sin of true-crime podcasting: It doesn’t focus on one singular crime or culprit, but rather several different ones, weaving in and out of the lives and travails of different law-enforcement officers, terrifying Mafia figures, and corrupt politicians throughout the season. This was a risky decision in the context of investigative podcasting that is narrative-driven. But it pays off. Crimetown,Gimlet Media’s second season, which focuses on Detroit’s history, is an extraordinary tour de force. —E.D.
19.Up and Vanished
Payne Lindsey, co-founder of Tenderfoot TV, brought a post-modern, guileless podcast to his first podcast.SerialAmbition It’s up and gone.In his 2016 debut, he admitted that he was on an adventure to be Sarah Koenig. He then narrates each step of his nascent investigative-reporting process, from discovering sources on websleuths.com to birddogging public-records requests and cold-calling friends of high school teacher Tara Grinstead, who had been missing since 2005. The following are his stories. Serial’sLindsey, for example, released episodes as he was completing them. He didn’t know where the reporting would take him. He struck gold: Six months after the debut, police arrested two suspects in connection with Grinstead’s murder, in part because of the renewed attention Lindsey’s podcast had brought the case. Lindsey kept making episodes throughout Bo Dukes’ trial. He was sentenced to 25-years for his role in covering up the crime. Ryan Duke was incarcerated in May. acquitted of murder charges but convicted of concealing Grinstead’s death. He now faces There are new chargesThe case included concealing facts and tampering of evidence. The podcast’s second season covered the 2016 disappearance of Kristal Reisinger, who moved to Colorado on a quest for enlightenment. Season Three was about Ashley Loring Heavyrunner’s disappearance from the Blackfeet Nation Indian Reservation. She was an indigenous woman who vanished in 2017. —A.M.
18. Someone Knows What
Although it may seem odd to call a crime series soothing, David Ridgen, host of the show, describes the Canadian countryside with a gentle Bob Ross voice. He sings the song of the cicada and crunches leaves. It is easy to forget that you are on a cold case hunt. For seven seasons now, the CBC’s Ridgen has worked with missing and murdered people’s families to help them search for answers, with a focus on neglected cases in rural and working-class neighborhoods. Seasons have included mysteries such as the disappearance 40 years ago of a five year-old boy while on an Ontario fishing trip, to the Ku Klux Klan killings in Mississippi of two young Black men. Season 2 investigates the 1988 murder of an abortion physician and examines a network that has been sustaining anti-abortion violence for decades. Ridgen speaks with the surviving relatives in each case that he investigates. He does so with compassion and sensitivity. Podcasts are based on the assumption that there may be information that could help grieving families. —A.M.
17.Crime Junkie
We are grateful for the success of My Favorite MurderThere are almost as many podcasts based on true crime that don’t have a discussion about it as there are pieces arguing that Kim Kardashian should be considered a feminist. But while it didn’t reinvent the wheel format-wise, Crime Junkie holds a special place in our hearts, for the sole reason that Ashley Flowers and former co-host Brit Prawat, who stepped back from the podcast due to health issues earlier this year, really, really know how to tell a story (unlike many other true-crime podcast hosts, they also seem to harbor genuine compassion for the victims, recently branching out into more original reporting by interviewing many of the victims’ surviving friends and relatives). Sure, the longtime besties haven’t always been great about citing their sources, but every single episode of Crime Junkie is compulsively listenable for the sole reason that it delivers on exactly what all true-crime podcasts offer: It feels very much like you’re sitting at brunch with your friends, swapping details and theories about a case you’d just read about on Wikipedia. —E.D.
16.You Must Remember This: Charles Manson’s Hollywood
There’s perhaps no true-crime story covered more than the Tate-LaBianca murders, orchestrated by Charles Manson — in fact, it was the prosecutor’s own account of the crimes and the trial that helped launch the genre in the 1970s. Perhaps Karina Longworth has done the best job of covering the story in one season of her podcast about history. This is a must-remember.More than 12 episodes have been repackaged and made available as a stand-alone. Manson Must be Remembered, Longworth weaves together the stories of Manson, his followers, their victims, and the people in their greater orbit — including a who’s who of the Laurel Canyon folk-pop scene in the 1960s. After spending an entire episode investigating the myths surrounding the events she then probes the lives Jay Sebring, Terry Melcher and Roman Polanski. But the most heartbreaking episode is the one about Dennis Wilson, the Beach Boys drummer who seems so haunted from his involvement that his whole life falls apart. Between her diligent reporting, quippy writing, and soothing voice, it’s no wonder Longworth’s venture into hard crime became an instant classic. —Elisabeth Garber-Paul
15.Heaven’s Gate
In March 1997, the San Diego Sheriff’s Department found 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult dead inside a rented mansion. Many of them were sleeping on their backs in purple shrouds and only their matching black Nikes could be seen. They had taken phenobarbital, vodka, and died by mass suicide trying to board a UFO that was supposed to be following the Hale Bopp comet. Glynn Washington hosts (Snap Judgment, SpookedListeners are taken back to the 1970s when the group was founded. He also shows how truth-seekers, even the best intentions, can lead them down the wrong road. He interviews relatives of the deceased, those who survived, and experts in the field. Snippets of recorded sermonizing offers a taste of the founders’ personalities and monastic doctrine. Washington shares his experience in the Worldwide Church of God to explain how he was prepared for the coming apocalypse. “If [our leader] had given us a potion to meet Jesus, a lot of us … would’ve guzzled it down without a thought,”He says it all in one episode. “I felt like after a wrong turn or two, it could’ve been me in that San Diego mansion.” —A.M.
14.In the Dark
Madeleine Baran is a veteran journalist and host. She combines skillful storytelling with surprising developments and compassionate, rigorous reporting. In the DarkThis crime-podcast series is almost perfect. The Peabody-award-winning debut season, released in 2016, focused on Jacob Wetterling’s abduction in 1989. His case led federal sex offender registries to be established. One of the most chilling scenes from crime podcasts is when three young boys are riding home with a flashlight and a man suddenly steps out of bushes to cross the road in front. Season Two, which aired in 2018, revealed wrongdoing regarding Curtis Flowers’ case. A Black man was tried six times for the murder of Flowers. The In the Dark team reported the story for a year from Mississippi, and revelations from their work — including that the prosecution in the most recent trial misrepresented evidence and intentionally eliminated Black jurors — contributed to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Flowers’ most recent conviction in 2019. Prosecutors The charges were dropped2020 —A.M.
13.Dr. Death
As if going to the doctor wasn’t scary enough, this Wondery podcast — the first season of which premiered in 2018 — introduced listeners to a pair of medical professionals who were more than a little unprofessional. Season One was about Christopher Duntsch (a North Texas neurosurgeon) who was SentenceIn 2017, 32 spinal operations on patients were performed that resulted in death and paralysis. Season Two, which dropped in 2020, dealt with Farid Fata, a Detroit hematologist-oncologist who was Sentenced to 45 years in prison in 2015 for taking part in a health-care-fraud scheme that saw 533 patients receiving unnecessary cancer treatment — and Fata pulling in millions in fraudulent insurance claims. And Season Three … that was all about the dangerously charming Italian surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, whose risky experimental surgeries were just one thread of his web of lies. Like Dirty JohnIt was before it. Dr. Death set off a new wave of true-crime podcasts — terrifying tales of scammers whose actions could very well lead to fatal results. —Brenna Ehrlich
12.The Dropout
Much ink has been spilled about Elizabeth Holmes, the Stanford-wunderkind-turned-biomedical-CEO/girlboss-turned-disgraced-con-artist whose startup Theranos was revealed to be a sham in an explosive 2015 Wall Street JournalArticle by John Carreyrou. But few narratives have probed quite so deep into Holmes’s inner life — or the impact her actions had on her unwitting marks — as The DropoutAn eight-part podcast produced by ABC News hosted by Rebecca Jarvis. It inspired the Hulu series of the same name. Featuring interviews with former Theranos employees and investors, who describe in stomach-turning detail the chaos Holmes’ lies wrought on their lives, The DropoutHolmes is portrayed as a highly-ambitious, ambitious striver. The book sheds light on her efforts to fool Silicon Valley investors and the weaknesses in startup culture that allowed for such great wealth and success. —E.D.
11.The Window is Man
This 2019 series opened with a jaw-dropper: Bonnie Colwell in her first interview since being identified as the ex-fiancée of the since-convicted Golden State Killer Joseph James DeAngelo. She recounts breaking off the engagement and then waking up in the middle the night to find DeAngelo taping a gun against her window. Pulitzer winner and L.A. Times criminal-justice reporter Paige St. John takes listeners through the chilling chronology of DeAngelo’s rape and murder spree that terrorized California in the Seventies and Eighties. But in this account of the Golden State Killer’s crimes, survivors drive the narrative. From enduring brusquely administered rape kits, to feeling alienated by parents who refused to speak about the attack, to escaping the aftermath of the trauma with drugs, women share how their lives were shaped not just by DeAngelo’s violence, but by societal attitudes towards his victims at the time. —A.M.
10.Shrink Next Door
The story behind the Shrink Next Door — namely, the convoluted friendship between Martin Markowitz and his therapist, Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf — lasted more than 20 years. So it’s fitting that it took over a decade for the story to be fully told. Joe Nocera, a journalist then working for The New York Times first stumbled upon the story in 2010 — when he was invited over to his Hampton neighbor’s house for cocktails — but spun the thread for years, finally releasing the podcast in 2019. In the initial eight-episode run, Nocera unpacks Markowitz’s allegations: that Herschkopf ingratiated himself into Martin’s life to the point where he took it over entirely, making him sever relationships with friends and family, even giving up the master bedroom in his country home. In the years since the podcast was released, it’s taken on a life of its own, too: Last fall, Will Farrell and Paul Rudd starred in an adaptation for Apple TV+; around the same time, Herschkopf had his medical license revoked for his conduct with Markowitz. —E.G.P.
9.You are the boss of your backyard
Chris Lambert, a musician-podcaster, grew up haunted at the 1996 disappearance Cal Poly student Kristin Smart. The decades-old mystery eventually drove him to create a podcast about Smart. Your Backyard. The show — which is a one-man effort — launched in September 2019, and honed in on Paul Flores, a Cal Poly student and the sole person of interest in Smart’s disappearance. Merging extensive reporting with a sensitive point of view that strives to keep Smart’s humanity central, the show quickly became a top true-crime show across platforms. Partially due to new information uncovered during Lambert’s sleuthing, Flores and his father, Ruben, were arrested in April 2021 — Paul for first-degree murder, and Ruben with accessory after the fact to the crime of murder for allegedly helping Paul conceal Smart’s body. Both have pleaded not guilty. New episodes are in the works as Lambert’s following eagerly await updates, and the Flores family heads to trial Stay tuned for more information in this month. —B.E.
8.Last Podcast from the Left
The conversations on this chat show go far beyond crime and religion to include conspiracy theories, demonology and other forms of evil. LPOTLAs a pioneer in the genre, it deserves a spot on this list. Comedian Ben Kissel, actor Henry Zebrowski, and researcher Marcus Parks have put out nearly 500 episodes since 2011, including a standout five-part series on Jonestown that is as thorough a primer as any on Jim Jones, his followers, and — after they drank cyanide-laced Flavor Aid — the largest loss of American civilian lives before 9/11. Raunchy bro jokes take up about as much time as debates over the mechanics of UFO landings, but deep research by Parks, Zebrowski, and a team of research assistants guarantees you’ll get an in-depth education on the macabre topic of the week. The trio has also worked hard to debunk the glorifying of serial killers. They have criticized infamous murderers Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer as losers who should not have acted on their worst impulses. —A.M.
7.S Town
Brian Reed, journalist and producer of SerialThis American Life, 2017’s S Town started off like your usual true-crime podcast: Clock enthusiast John B. McLemore wrote a letter to Reed asking him to help solve a crime in his hometown of Woodstock, Alabama — a.k.a. “Shit Town.” It took a decided turn, though, when Reed discovered that no murder actually occurred, turning his microphone, instead, on McLemore — his life, his troubled friends, the gold he reportedly hid somewhere on his property, and, ultimately, his suicide. McLemore took potassium cyanide and committed suicide while the podcast was in production. After McLemore’s death, the show continued, exploring the reasons and hows. S Town presented an incisive — and profoundly sad and human — look at an eccentric, haunted genius, a 180-degree spin on its original purpose. —B.E.
6.Root of Evil
It’s classic Hollywood’s goriest story, which inspired a Ryan Murphy show, a Scarlet Johansson movie, even a video game. What if your family was involved in the Black Dahlia crime? This 2019 podcast — a companion piece to the TNT show I am the Night — delves into the life of the Hodel clan, whose patriarch, George, was a mysterious physician to the stars, as well as suspect in the gruesome 1947 murder. After the 2017 death of George’s daughter Fauna (author of the memoir on which the TNT show is based), her daughters, Yvette and Rasha, picked up the torch. They discover more surprising surprises as they dig deeper into their family’s history than an L.A. Noir. Yvette said it very early: “It turns out murder was just one of the Hodel secrets.” —E.G.P.
5. Missing and Murdered
Connie Walker, a journalist who has covered the plights of missing and murdered indigenous women for more than a decade, culminated in a series of podcasts by Gimlet and CBC. Season One, 2016’s Who Killed Alberta Williams? centered on the 1989 unsolved murder of an indigenous woman in British Columbia, while Season Two, 2018’s Cleo, began a search to find a young girl who had become lost in the Seventies welfare system. The show — in its latest incarnation, Stolen: The Hunt for Jermain — moved to Gimlet in 2021, and focused on a young mother who went missing in 2018. Walker, an indigenous woman, doesn’t treat these stories as true crime but instead highlights the real problems that women in these communities face. —B.E.
4.Criminal
In 2014, it was launched. Serial,This podcast, produced by the University of North Carolina, is now available on the Vox network. It takes a different approach to its predecessor: Instead of following just one case to find the bottom of it all, each episode of 40 minutes covers a different case and focuses more on the emotional resonance of the case for the people involved rather than the forensic facts. Host Phoebe Judge keeps a wide definition of crime, taking a thoughtful and measured approach to each event — keeping front of mind that crime is a thing that happens to people, not an isolated incident at which to gawk. —E.G.P.
3.My Favorite Murder
If SerialPodcasts about crime have been in high demand. My Favorite MurderThe trend was a huge success in 2016, when it debuted. It was a catalyst for crime. fanaticismIt was easy to become obsessed with serial killers, and the macabre crimes they committed, by being mainstream. With dishy retellings of history’s most notorious killings and plenty of candid chitchat about addiction, therapy, and pets, the series quickly rose to the upper ranks of Apple’s comedy-podcasts chart and pretty much stayed there. It was even embraced by a whole new generation of “murderinos”. A generation of spinoffs followed, repeating the hosts’ surprise-hit pairing of comedic banter with recaps of brutal slayings, but none as successfully as the original. —A.M.
2.Dirty John
The success of Serial, media outlets and podcast producers spent years scrambling to find the next big true-crime thriller — preferably, one that could be adapted into various creative formats, translating into big bucks for everyone involved. Wondery discovered that with Dirty JohnAn eight-part adaptation by Christopher Goffard, who later hosted the show, of a riveting investigation that was reported to him. L.A. Times2018 This deep dive takes us to the dark side of John Meehan. A con artist who posed as a Navy physician and met Debra Neuell on a dating site. She gaslit her friends and family for many years. Dirty Johnwhich was later adapted into a Bravo TV series, marked the apex of the true-crime genre, offering the perfect combination of stellar pacing, psychological insight, and a story you just couldn’t manage to look away from with every new sickening turn. —E.D.
1.Serial
It premiered in 2014 Serial didn’t just introduce a new format of audio storytelling — one chapter of a story each week — it ushered podcasts themselves into the mainstream. When This American LifeThe first version was previewed Serial Ira Glass explained to radio listeners that the rest of WBEZ podcast episodes could be found on an iPad or computer. Sarah Koenig, the host, challenged Adnan’s conviction in 1999 for the murder of Hae Min Lee, his high-school ex-girlfriend. Koenig listened to trial testimony and police interviews, read thousands of documents and interviewed witnesses. She discovered the case had been flawed in several ways — another development that feels commonplace today only because so many podcasters have followed in Koenig’s footsteps. This is also a unique opportunity Serial at the time was that Koenig hadn’t finished her reporting when the show debuted. She even took her listeners along as she worked. Even the direction of her investigation was influenced by audience feedback. Perhaps most memorable were Koenig’s jailhouse phone calls with Syed, a charismatic inmate who maintained his innocence and whom Koenig struggled to dismiss — and to fully trust. The podcast was a hit with listeners, and it became a cultural landmark that exploded download records and sparked water-cooler conversations. SerialIt spawned a new generation of true-crime readers. It challenged the way we think about convictions, and shone an early light on how true-crime storytelling can impact victims’ families, as word got out that Lee’s family had been unhappy with the hit series. The new genre of crime storytelling was born. It featured enthralling stories and vigorous reporting. The formula has been copied by many others, but not all of them succeed. —A.M.