Whether you’ve got solo plans, a road trip or household chores this Easter weekend, these true crime podcasts will gladly keep you company. From the disappearance of a Miss Tasmania hopeful, to the disturbing secrets of one of Australia’s most hardline churches – our recommendations will have you hooked through Easter Friday to Monday.
1. Accused
Accused Season 4: When Rhoda Nathan’s lifeless body was discovered in her hotel room, it was assumed she’d had a heart attack. The autopsy proved otherwise: Nathan, 67, had been viciously beaten to death, with two of her teeth knocked out. Days later, a hotel employee went to the hospital to be treated for an infection in his hand, which was teeming with a bacteria most often found in human mouths. For nearly 30 years, Elwood Jones has maintained his innocence — and accused police of straight-up framing him. He now awaits execution on Ohio’s death row. The journalists of Accused are reexamining the case to learn if Jones truly belongs on death row, or if a botched investigation let someone else get away with murder.
2. Crime Insiders: In Focus
Crime Insiders: In Focus tells true crime stories from people closest to some of Australia’s most compelling cases. In one six-part series, The Day Lucille Disappeared, investigative reporter Adam Shand unpacks the disappearance of 20-year-old Miss Tasmania hopeful, Lucille Butterworth, from a bus stop in Hobart in 1969. Police believed she was a runaway who would eventually return, and subsequently failed to search for her for weeks after her disappearance. Eventually, a suspect is identified.
3. Mortal Sin
Mortal Sin, a new Dateline series, will make your trip fly by. Dawn and Nick Hacheney are the perfect couple: spiritual, loving, and devoted to the church where Nick is a pastor. When Dawn is killed in a house fire the day after Christmas, the pastor and his flock are devastated. What few knew at the time was the dark prophecy that foretold it.
4. Secrets We Keep
Secrets We Keep season 4, Pray Harder: The end of the world is coming for members of a Geelong Church. It’s been looming for over 50 years. And only the chosen few will be saved. Investigative journalist Richard Baker returns to his hometown to investigate one of Australia’s most hardline Pentecostal churches. This series goes deep inside the secretive group and the disturbing doctrine of Pastor Noel Hollins. He speaks to ex-members who have managed to escape, many who are sharing their stories for the first time. They speak of a brutal place where men must be obeyed, children must be punished and the solution to every problem is to “pray harder”.
5. Wolves Among Us
Wolves Among Us tells the story of Larry Lavin, who on the surface lived in a quiet neighbourhood with his family, drove a Volvo, and practised dentistry in Philadelphia. But, from 1978 to 1984, Dr. Lavin moonlighted as one of the largest cocaine kingpins on the Eastern Seaboard. This podcast tells the story of Lavin’s double life through the voices and perspectives of law enforcement, drug runners, friends, business associates and Larry Lavin himself.
Catch up on more crime podcasts like this by downloading the free LiSTNR app.
Subscribe to Crime Insiders, taking you beyond true crime. In groundbreaking interviews, explore the world of policing and forensics through stories from the world’s most experienced and decorated experts.