Unheard: True Crime in Their Own Words

In this episode of Unheard, Justin sits down with legendary journalist Ashleigh Banfield for an honest conversation about truth, trauma, and the media machine that shapes how the world sees tragedy.
Ashleigh reflects on her journey from small-town newsrooms to the center of history, including being in New York on 9/11, running for her life when the towers collapsed, and continuing to report in the aftermath. She opens up about the emotional toll of covering national tragedies like Sandy Hook, high-profile cases like Casey Anthony, and war zones around the world, and how those experiences permanently changed the way she approaches journalism.
The conversation explores the responsibility of reporters in moments of crisis, the harm caused by conspiracy culture, and why empathy is not optional when telling stories involving victims and survivors. Ashleigh also talks about her evolution beyond traditional news and her work today as the host of the podcast Drop Dead Serious, where she continues to examine complex cases with depth, integrity, and compassion.
This episode is a rare look behind the headlines and into the mind of someone who has spent a lifetime bearing witness to history.
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He used to be a police officer who believed in the system. He wore a badge, took an oath, and built a career around enforcing the law. Years later, he was on the other side of it, charged in a bank heist that cost him his freedom and permanently altered the trajectory of his life.
In this episode of Unheard, I sit down with Gary Sahlin to talk about how that transformation happened. Not in a motivational way. Not in a neatly packaged redemption arc. But in an honest, uncomfortable way that walks through the choices, pressures, and internal shifts that led a trained law enforcement officer to cross into criminal behavior.
We talk about what was happening in his life before the robbery, how he justified what he was doing at the time, and the moment everything finally collapsed. He speaks openly about the crime, the arrest, federal prison, and what it’s like to live with a decision you can’t undo. There’s no attempt to minimize the damage or rewrite history. He owns what he did and talks about the consequences that followed.
This is one of the most interesting stories you’ve probably never heard, not because it’s flashy, but because it exposes how thin the line can be between stability and self-destruction, between identity and illusion, and between who we believe we are and who we actually become.
The conversation isn’t about glamorizing crime. It’s about reality. It’s about accountability. And it’s about hearing directly from someone who has lived on both sides of the justice system.

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In this deeply moving episode of Unheard, survivor and advocate Elizabeth Smart shares her experience of surviving kidnapping and navigating the long, complex journey of healing after trauma. Elizabeth opens up about how the legal system can retraumatize survivors, why forgiveness is deeply personal, and what recovery really looks like beyond the headlines.
This conversation explores trauma recovery, victim advocacy, consent education, body autonomy, and the critical role of family and support systems. Elizabeth also discusses grief, faith, public scrutiny, and how sharing survivor stories can create awareness, understanding, and change.
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses trauma, abuse, and recovery.
Topics include:
trauma recovery, sexual assault survivors, victim advocacy, forgiveness and healing, consent education, legal system challenges, post-traumatic growth, survivor stories, mental health

03:02 – Trauma and the Legal System
05:53 – Faith, Trauma, and Complexity
09:04 – What Forgiveness Really Means
11:56 – Turning Trauma Into Advocacy
15:02 – Why Justice Often Fails Survivors
18:08 – Understanding Victimhood
20:47 – Language, Consent, and Body Autonomy
23:54 – Living Beyond Survival
26:58 – Why Healing Is Not Linear
29:53 – The Power of Support Systems
33:14 – Strength and Resilience After Trauma
36:03 – Setbacks in Recovery
38:48 – Unfairness After Rescue
42:23 – Centering Victims, Not Headlines
43:56 – Family’s Role in Healing
45:00 – Life After Trauma
46:10 – Being a Public Figure After Trauma
47:15 – Returning to “Normal”
51:41 – What the Public Doesn’t See
01:01:45 – The Reality of Long-Term Healing
01:03:30 – Advice for Parents and Educators
01:05:05 – Finding Hope and Joy
01:06:03 – Elizabeth Smart’s Work and Writing

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Unheard: True Crime in Their Own Words is a groundbreaking true-crime podcast that hands the microphone back to those who were silenced. Hosted by investigative storyteller Justin Shepherd, Unheard goes beyond headlines and court transcripts to reveal raw, firsthand accounts from victims, survivors, and voices long overlooked by the justice system.
This trailer offers a powerful introduction to the heart of the series—stories told without filters, agendas, or sensationalism. These are not retellings. These are lived experiences, shared by the people who carry them.

🔎 What to Expect from Unheard:
🗣️ Stories Told Firsthand
Every episode centers the voices of those directly impacted—speaking in their own words, on their own terms.
🖤 Beyond the Headlines
Unheard explores the emotional aftermath, unanswered questions, and human cost that rarely make the news.
⚖️ Truth Without Sensationalism
This series prioritizes authenticity and respect over shock value, creating space for honesty and nuance.
🔦 Cases That Deserve Attention
From overlooked victims to stories buried by time, Unheard shines a light where silence once lived.
🎧 A New Kind of True Crime
Less narration. More truth. This is true crime stripped down to its most human form.
🔥 A Call to Listen Differently
Unheard challenges listeners to move beyond curiosity and toward understanding, empathy, and awareness.
If you think you know true crime—listen again.
Because some stories were never meant to stay silent.
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In this chilling debut, we return to post-war Los Angeles—a city shimmering with dreams and rotting underneath with corruption and violence. The year is 1947. A young woman’s body, cut in half and drained of blood, is discovered in a vacant lot. Her name is Elizabeth Short, but the world will remember her as The Black Dahlia.

This episode reconstructs every layer of the case: the gruesome forensic details, the manipulative media frenzy, the compromised investigation, and the tangled web of suspects that turned a human tragedy into myth. As we re-examine the autopsy, theories, and rumors—from George Hodel’s dark confessions to the lingering echoes of other unsolved murders—we confront a deeper question: Why does this story still hold us in its grip?

🕵️ A Crime Staged for the Ages – Elizabeth Short’s murder wasn’t just brutal; it was deliberate theater. The body’s positioning and surgical precision suggested a killer who wanted to send a message.

📰 Media Mayhem & Manipulation – Reporters faked compassion, deceived Elizabeth’s mother, and created a frenzy that both immortalized and destroyed the investigation. The press turned fact into spectacle—and truth into chaos.

🩸 The Anatomy of Mystery – From hemicorporectomy techniques to wiped evidence, the killer’s medical knowledge and methodical staging pointed to a disturbing level of control.

🧠 Theories That Won’t Die – From Dr. George Hodel’s recorded confession to the Leslie Dillon and “Daddy Was the Killer” controversies, the case spawned generations of conflicting narratives—each more twisted than the last.

📚 Fact vs. Fiction – The Black Dahlia’s life was sensationalized beyond recognition. Contrary to myth, there’s no credible evidence she was a prostitute, tortured for hours, or lived a glamorous Hollywood life.

💀 Legacy in the Shadows – Beyond Hollywood myth, her death reshaped law enforcement and birthed California’s first sex-offender registry. It also became a cultural mirror—reflecting the darkness beneath America’s golden age.

Nearly eight decades later, the Black Dahlia murder remains one of the most enduring unsolved crimes in American history—not just for its horror, but for what it reveals about obsession, mythmaking, and our uneasy relationship with the truth.

“In a world drowning in data, the unsolved is the last mystery left to dream about.”

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