True Crime Podcasts: Best Episodes & Shows of 2020
When Serial (a podcast from the creators of This American Life) came out in 2014, audiences across all the nation were immediately hooked by the audio investigation of Hae Min Lee's 1999 murder. While criminal storytelling is not necessarily new, Serial was groundbreaking in that listeners could join the criminal investigation via a podcast format. Since Serial, True Crime podcasts have become our ultimate obsession. From the clues to the conspiracies, these podcasts draw us into the real life stories of scandal, corruption, evil and innocence.
There are two typical types of True Crime podcasts: those that are ‘episodic’ and those that are ‘serialized’ (no pun intended). In an episodic format, each episode will tell a different crime-related story. So, you can start at any episode and get in your true crime fix. Serialized formats tell a story over multiple episodes. These are great for a plane or car ride when you can binge on multiple episodes at one time or, when you wish to hear a longer more complex story. So, without further delay, we've broken this article down into two sections: the best True Crime episodes of the month & the top True Crime shows to follow for ongoing listening.
The Best True Crime Episodes for August 2020
For those that love a good Dateline murder mystery, or heck, just want to hear a gripping tale, you can access some of the most captivating true crime and wrongful conviction stories via these fantastic episodes. Take a look at the most mysterious, murderous, and crime-filled tales as voted upon by the listeners.
The list of the top 10 True Crime episodes for August 2020 is compliled from Repod’s podcast app chart data. The list below is updated monthly, daily True Crime charts can be found inside the app.
- 1
1
Missing in Alaska
The SearchBattling snow and waves, searchers hunt for the missing plane.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers...
- 2
2
Missing in Alaska
The DisappearanceTwo congressmen vanish in Alaska in 1972.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers...
"This is good. A mysterious plane crash that left no trace of the plane, or the congressmen on board. The host of this show dives deep into debunking the conspiracy theories and trying to find out what really really happened back on this night in 1972."
"This is good. A mysterious plane crash that left no trace of the plane, or the congressmen on board. The host of this show dives deep into debunking the conspiracy theories and trying to find out what really really happened back on this night in 1972."
- 3
3
Crime Junkie
MISSING: Rico HarrisIn 2014 Rico Harris left Los Angeles to drive north for a new life in Seattle, only to vanish somewhere along the way.
Sources for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources please visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/?p=33735&preview=true
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
"New format! Seems like Brit is taking the reigns as host and Ashley is transitioning on to different projects. We’ll see!!"
"New format! Seems like Brit is taking the reigns as host and Ashley is transitioning on to different projects. We’ll see!!"
- 4
4
I Survived
A Two-Foot-Long MacheteWhen a deranged attacker arrives at her elementary school, principal Norina is the only thing standing between her kindergarten students and the man’s machete. She risks life and limb to protect her kids, and bring down the violent assailant.
Got hair color needs? Use MADISON REED! Get 10% off plus FREE...
- 5
5
The Orange Tree
Episode 1: The Orange DoorSharon Cave knows something is wrong the second she gets a call from her daughter Jennifer’s boss saying Jennifer didn’t show up for her first day at work. When no one can give her an answer as to where Jennifer was the night before, Sharon and her family set out...
"A recommendation for true crime fans! The co-hosts are two journalism majors from the University of Texas who investigate the 2005 murder of a 21 year old student named Jennifer Cave."
"A recommendation for true crime fans! The co-hosts are two journalism majors from the University of Texas who investigate the 2005 murder of a 21 year old student named Jennifer Cave."
- 6
6
Wrongful Conviction Podcasts
Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom - Julius Jones - with Kim Kardashian WestS11E1: Julius Jones
In the fall of 1998, Julius Jones had the whole world ahead of him. He was a freshman who planned to study engineering and was attending the University of Oklahoma on an academic scholarship. The following summer, just three days after his 19th birthday, Julius was awakened and...
"Love or hate the Kardashians, you have to give credit to Kim for her commitment to prison reform. Julius Jones’ story is one we need to pay attention to. In addition to this podcast episode featuring Kim Kardashian, check out the website: justiceforjuliusjones.com."
"Love or hate the Kardashians, you have to give credit to Kim for her commitment to prison reform. Julius Jones’ story is one we need to pay attention to. In addition to this podcast episode featuring Kim Kardashian, check out the website: justiceforjuliusjones.com."
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
10
Criminal
Episode 140: Cowboy BobIn May 1991, a bank robber walked into a bank in Irving, Texas, and without speaking handed the teller a note that read, “This is a bank robbery. Give me your money. No marked bills or dye packs.” Witnesses reported that the robber was wearing a cowboy hat and a brown...
"Well that was a surprising twist 🤠🤠"
"Well that was a surprising twist 🤠🤠"
Editors Choice: Top True Crime Shows In 2020
A list of the best True Crime podcasts (shows) is surely an impossible task with so many amazing podcasts to follow. So, this is definitely not an all-encompassing True Crime list, instead we're showcasing some of the favorites that we've listened to over the years.
The list of the top 10 best True Crime podcasts of 2020 is a compilation of the editor’s choice + collaboration with the Repod community.
Bear BrookTwo barrels, four bodies, and an enigmatic killer. The cold case that changed the way murders will be investigated forever....
ConvictionWhen John Quinney was ten years old, he took the stand to testify against his own father. He had come to believe that his dad Melvin was the murderous leader of a satanic cult. It would be decades before John would learn that his family was just one of many swept up in a panic that gripped America in the 1980s—one in which hundreds of people were accused of taking part in underground satanic cults...
Dirty JohnDebra Newell is a successful interior designer. She meets John Meehan, a handsome man who seems to check all the boxes: attentive, available, just back from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders. But her family doesn’t like John, and they get entangled in an increasingly complex web of love, deception, forgiveness, denial, and ultimately, survival. Reported and hosted by Christopher Goffard from the L.A. Times....
Dr. DeathWe’re at our most vulnerable when we go to our doctors. We trust the person at the other end of that scalpel. We trust the hospital. We trust the system.Christopher Duntsch was a neurosurgeon who radiated confidence. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. If you had back pain, and had tried everything else, Dr. Duntsch could give you the spine surgery that would take your pain away.But soon his patients started to experience...
Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.Football star Aaron Hernandez went from the bright lights of the Super Bowl to a convicted murderer in a few years. The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team, best known for its investigation of the sexual abuse scandal inside the Catholic Church, takes a hard look at the crisis facing football through the lens of Aaron Hernandez’s life and terrible crimes.From Wondery, the podcast team that brought you Dr. Death, Spotlight asks: Did a brain badly damaged...
Happy FaceFor Melissa Moore, 1995 was a nightmare. That’s the year the teenager learned her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was a serial killer. It’s also the year Melissa Moore’s doubt spiral began: When you look like your father, and you share his intelligence and charisma, how do you know you’re not a psychopath, too? Happy Face is the story of Keith Hunter Jesperson, his brutal crimes, and the cat and mouse game he played with detectives...
Joe Exotic: Tiger KingJoe Exotic devoted his life to raising and breeding lions, tigers, and other exotic animals at his Oklahoma zoo. He croons ballads, shoots guns, and puts it all on YouTube. But he’s also made a lot of enemies. And the biggest of all is the owner of a big cat sanctuary in Florida named Carole Baskin. The feud between Joe Exotic and Carole gets messy, vicious, and outrageous -- until both of them are pushed...
Man In The Window: The Golden State KillerIn Man in the Window, Paige St. John, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter has uncovered never before revealed details about the man who would eventually become one of California's most deadly serial killers. From Wondery and the L.A. Times comes a new series that traces his path of devastation through his victims' eyes....
Monster: DC SniperFrom iHeartRadio and TenderfootTV, ‘Monster: DC Sniper’ reinvestigates the beltway sniper attacks. This true crime podcast places the listener in Montgomery County, Maryland on October 2nd, 2002 when an unidentified sniper began randomly killing people going about their daily lives. Host Tony Harris traces what investigators, journalists and the public learned from the first shot until the last and ultimately asks the question: Does the person convicted of these crimes ever deserve a second chance?...
Murder in Pilot Mountain: A 40 Year MysteryOn August 26, 1980, 14-year-old Ronda Blaylock disappeared shortly after leaving her high school. In the days to follow, her family and friends searched for her in the area of her hometown in Rural Hall, North Carolina, hoping to bring her home alive. Shockingly, Ronda’s partially clothed body was found three days later in a town called Pilot Mountain, with deputies saying she’d been raped and brutally stabbed to death. As an appalled community wrapped...
