Our top 10 favorite true crime podcasts

Podcasts are one of the best ways to pass the time if you’re on a road trip or doing mindless work. My list of favorites keeps growing beyond my time allowance to catch them all, but in the area of podcasts, true crime would be the top-tier genre. I would have to say that it all started with My Favorite Murder, and all roads do lead back to Karen and Georgia — ever and always — but there is truly zero competition among shows. Most podcasters are extremely generous and do often feature other podcasters on their shows, leading to cross-pollination (inevitably) and they all know: There’s plenty of bandwidth to go around.

So, chances are, if you’ve immersed yourself into a show and thought you were completely satisfied and getting everything you need from that one podcast, one day you were listening and accidentally were introduced to another show. I’m probably only speaking for myself here, but that’s what happened with me, and here are my 10 best.

My Favorite Murder

What? I can start here. This isn’t a ranking, I told you – it’s not a competitive field. I started listening to Karen and Georgia in 2016, so it would be fair to say I’ve been with them nearly since the start, their inaugural episode released in January 2016. I’ve seen them live twice (would have been more if not for the pandemic), got my sister into them, and I even have items lying around my house and tacked to the interior of my car with catchy phrases on them like “Stay sexy and don’t get murdered.” That’s a mantra you can get behind, right?

To say they are hilarious would be an understatement. Karen Kilgariff has been a comedy writer for television for 2 decades, and Georgia Hardstark got her start doing cooking shows on the Food Network — as well as podcasting — with best friend Alie Ward.

Now 381 episodes in, the girls have etched a permanent niche in the world of true crime podcasting and inspired dozens more. One of the highlights of the podcast would be episode 118, when Karen and Georgia discuss the capture of Joseph James DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer, a particularly poignant one considering that they were close personal friends with Michelle McNamara, who literally wrote the book on the Golden State Killer. Actually, McNamara even gave him his moniker, and her tireless work was a large part of what led to his capture. When I say tireless – she literally died trying to solve the case. So it was quite moving and a lovely tribute to the late true crime journalist for K&G to be able to break the news on their already-popular show.

Back then, I know I heard them mention another podcast multiple times, and how funny the guys on it were — so my interest was already piqued — and I finally reluctantly got hooked on…

Last Podcast on the Left

So, the good cop/bad cop/worse cop formula may not be for everyone, but I promise you — just listen to one episode, when your kids aren’t around, and there’s also no one around to judge you, and no one is trying to sleep… or eat — and you will be hooked too.

Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks, and Henry Zebrowski have been relaying tales of true crime, ghost stories, and general mayhem and oddity since 2011. Marcus chooses a case, writes the script, and reads it on air to Ben and Henry while they react to the absurdity and ghoulish nature of the content. Not gonna lie, there’s yelling, talking over each other, and a lot of laughter. When my sis asked whether I had ever listened to it, I said, “you won’t like it. It’s too chaotic.” Flash-forward 10 months and we’re standing outside of a venue in Chicago freezing our booties off in November (we’re Texans), bonding with fellow fans waiting to get in to see them live.

It’s very hard to find a favorite episode but I’m going to go with the 2nd episode in a series about Charles Manson. Henry’s impressions of Manson will make you fall on the floor laughing. Again, maybe that’s just me.

Morbid: A True Crime Podcast

Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley offer up a no-holds-barred style of storytelling, where the vitriol for the perpetrators of the crime is strong and the girls are coming in hot. Not above name-calling for murderers and rapists, Ash and Alaina curse like sailors to get their point across, which is: “Fresh air is for dead people,” “Keep it weird, but not so weird that…,” and “Don’t sleep on the couch” (if you know, you know).

My absolute favorite episode of Morbid is Episode 151: “The Mysterious Death of Tamla Horsford.” Such a head-scratcher is this case, it remains unsolved. And they paint a picture of Tamla as a loving mother of 5 who was clearly the victim of foul play, even though the authorities treated it as an open and shut case, barely interviewing the adults who were present when the “accidental death” took place. Indeed, the interviews took place weeks after the incident, and the witnesses had multiple conflicting statements. Luckily for us, they did interview one Jeanne Meyers. Alaina reads the transcript of the actual interview, doing a ridiculously comical impression of the subject, comical because this lady is so nervous, she’s doing the not-shutting-up thing. Of course they’re not saying she’s implicating herself, but it doesn’t matter because it plays to hilarious comedic effect and raises more questions than answers.

Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia

The story of the Hodel family and the Black Dahlia will absolutely blow your mind: From the way Yvette Gentile and Rasha Pecoraro made the discovery in their mother’s belongings and the subsequent research, to the bizarre connection their grandfather had to a decades-old unsolved murder case. As a Murderino (sorry, that’s what we fans of My Favorite Murder and gluttonous consumers of true crime content call ourselves), I have long been fascinated by this case and the sheer brutality of it. When I found this podcast I knew that I would be completely incapable of talking about or thinking about anything else for the next 8 days (the story of the Hodel family is 8 episodes long). What I wasn’t prepared for was how long it would stick with me. Of particular interest is episode 4, wherein former LAPD homicide detective Steve Hodel — son of Dr. George Hodel — describes all of the evidence he’s discovered against his deceased father. I’m telling you, this episode, “The Minotaur,” goes deep. Steve Hodel describes the possible connections between his father, the artist Man Ray, and Elizabeth Short. Hearing the story from a man so intimately connected to a story so dark — and his unflappable conviction — will make your blood run cold.

The Ballad of Billy Balls

The first thing to grab you is the theme song to this podcast. The second thing is the engaging voice of writer I.O. Tillett Wright. He introduces us to Rebecca and her boyfriend, musician Billy Balls – living a mean little rockabilly life in 1970s New York. He gets right to the point: This a story about a murder, a lazy coverup, a woman who never recovered from the loss, and the fact of his own existence. Wright aims to find answers for Rebecca, and untie the Byzantine knots of Billy’s world.

S-Town

I hesitate to add this here — in an article about true crime podcasts — because the truth is no crime took place. But the story started off with a supposed crime, that turned out to not be true. And shucks, it’s my article, so..

An incredibly strange email is sent to the producers of NPR’s This American Life from listener John B. Macklemore of Woodstock, Alabama. He claims to have knowledge of an ongoing case of sexual abuse by a member of the police force, and of a murder, and urges the show to “come down to this pathetic little Baptist [expletive] town and blow it off the map.”

Journalist Brian Reed is tasked with investigating the claims, and discovers a fascinating character – a virtuoso of unmatched skill with a stunning intellect and dark secrets. 

Dirty John

Debra Newell meets an intriguing man through a dating site and is swept off her feet by the handsome, attentive doctor, who turns out to be an oxygen thief with a sordid past. Debra had already had tragedy in her life before she ever met John – she had a violent stalker who got away with assaulting her, then her sister was murdered by her estranged husband. This one has a shocking twist of an ending with a frenetic conclusion to an ill-fated marriage.

Criminal

Phoebe Judge’s dulcet voice brings us stories “about people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle” every week on NPR. Sometimes touching, at times harrowing, but always entertaining – my favorite episode is #15, “He’s neutral.” A man decides to take matters into his own hands when the crime in his neighborhood goes beyond what is manageable. You would not think his solution would work, but it turns out to be a highly effective tool in what seemed otherwise like an area filled with the disenfranchised and apathetic.

True Crime Brewery

Jill and Dick have been opening a craft beer from the region the crime took place (complete with sound effects), and settling into the quiet end to share a story with us since 2016. What I enjoy most is the interaction between the two. They are a pleasant couple and there is often a bit of comedy mixed in. When either one of them uses profanity, it feels like you just heard one of your parents curse.

My favorite episode is “Dark Water,” where they cover the bizarre case of Elisa Lam, a young Canadian tourist and blogger found in a tank on the roof of the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. A mysterious unsolved case, the hotel’s security cameras caught Elisa in the hours before her death engaging in some rather unusual behavior – albeit alone. The footage has sparked multiple theories and conspiracies, but nothing has been proven. The Cecil has since changed its name, presumably in an effort to shed its dark image.

Missing Alissa

An extremely frustrating case, a 17-year-old girl goes missing and leaves a confusing, nonsensical note that is completely out of character – says her little sister, Sarah Turney. An inmate in Florida confesses to murdering Alissa, which starts a chain of events resulting in the reopening of the 5-year missing persons case. Ottavia Zapala, working closely with Sarah, presents the baffling and frustrating case in episodic form.

Sarah never gave up trying to find out what happened to Alissa, and took to social media — even starting a podcast of her own — to gain some traction and never let the spotlight on her case dim. Her effort was rewarded when, in 2020, her father, Michael Turney, was arrested for Alissa’s murder. A satisfying end to a mystery Sarah has lived with her entire adult life – solved with the help of a powerful online community of people just like you and me.