Crime Writers On...

In 1992, Rachel Nickell was brutally murdered in broad daylight in a London park. But her killer left behind a witness: her two-year-old son Alex. With the uneasy consent of his protective father, André, police spent months working with the toddler to coax details about the attacker. After André put an end to his son’s distressing questioning, police laid a honeytrap for a nearby suspect with violent sexual fantasies. They arrested Colin Stagg even though there was nothing connecting him to Rachel’s death. And when a similar murder stunned the city, investigators were at odds with one another on whether they had the right man.

The Netflix documentary “The Murder of Rachel Nickell” tells the inside story of the search for a serial killer. It features in-depth interviews with André and Alex about the toll it took on the two-year-old boy repeatedly asked to identify his mother’s murderer. It also explores how missteps by the police — before and after the crime — resulted in years of delayed justice.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE MURDER OF RACHEL NICKELL" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 10 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.

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In March 2021, after Faithe Ely left a cookout, her body was found on the side of a rural Oklahoma highway. Officials from one law enforcement agency said it looked like a hit and run accident; however, members of the Highway Patrol weren’t so sure. Her boyfriend said Faithe stormed off after a drunken altercation, and that a white truck towing a black trailer had been traveling in that direction before she was found. Five years later, her family still wants answers as to who was responsible for Faithe’s death — and whether it was an intentional act.

The podcast “Blunt Force Trauma” from EchoSpace looks into the death of Faithe Ely, asking whether her death was a pedestrian accident or premeditated murder. Host Troy Taylor sifts through the evidence with experts and family members to learn the circumstances of the incident — and asks why murder investigators think it was an accident and accident investigators think it might be murder. 

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 14 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: The long arm of the lawn.

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This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.

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For her school project, Pippa Fitz-Amobi solved the murders of two students, rescued a girl held captive in an attic, and exposed a serial rapist. Now Pip is dating the victim’s brother; recording a podcast; and still needs to testify against Max for the rapes. But just as she thinks she has left the crimes behind her, Pip’s friend Jamie goes missing. She learns Jamie had been catfished before he vanished. Is his disappearance connected to Max’s coercion campaign to beat the charges? Or the missing son of a serial killer? And who has been sending her warnings to back off? Despite the dark places her last investigation took her, Pip is determined to solve the case.

Emma Myers returns as Pip in season two of “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,” Netflix’s adaptation of the YA book series. The student sleuth continues her investigation into the dark secrets of her British village, where every answer uncovers a deeper lie.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF SEASON TWO OF "A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.

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After a 2000 murder case went cold, Kentucky housewife Susan Galbreath did her own snooping. With the help of cooperative cops and a British journalist, she identified Quincy Cross as Jessica Currin’s killer. Quincy got a life sentence and Susan became a local hero. But in a story already filled with inconsistencies and recantations, Susan never disclosed the original prime suspect was her friend’s son. Now, Susan’s own son is stepping forward with new evidence, saying her mother’s tales should not be believed.

From Message Heard and Sony Music Entertainment comes the podcast “My Mother’s Lies.” Host Beth Karas explains how Galbreath and her enablers reshaped the investigation, diverting attention from one suspect to another. It asks whether money, recognition, and self-preservation drove a citizen sleuth to knowingly put the wrong man in prison.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "MY MOTHER'S LIES" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: like shooting fish in a breakroom.

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This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.

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Willy Nast was a passing acquaintance of Jeff Signorelli, an Aurora, IL teen who was killed in 2002 when a bullet went through a wall at a party. As a college student, Nast interviewed Signorelli’s parents for an essay on the crime and the community it happened in. With plans for a sprawling book, Nast continued to interview Al and Mary Ann Signorelli over the years, documenting the ways they turned their grief into action. It included stints in local politics and nonprofits, but time and again city leaders dismissed them as inconvenient gadflies. While Jeff’s murder remains unsolved, his parents have found themselves battling both their grief and a system resistant to their efforts for change.

The independent podcast “City of Lights” looks beyond Jeff’s murder, becoming a profile of the parents affected by the crime, as well as the community institutions it did not. After decades of work on the project, Nast shares his soul searching about his place in the hometown story and why the case continues to animate his work.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "CITY OF LIGHTS" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 10 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.

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