Episodes

  • The Knife in the Ice: How One Print Framed an Innocent Woman

    The Knife in the Ice: How One Print Framed an Innocent Woman
    3 Nov 2026
    The Knife in the Ice: How One Print Framed an Innocent Woman

    A single partial fingerprint on a knife handle sent an otherwise unremarkable bookkeeper to jail and exposed a forensic cover-up; the knife was found standing perfectly vertical in a frozen culvert on December 9, 2014 - blade down, handle up - and one photo sequence captured it untouched. How did a lead evidence technician’s own left thumbprint end up three centimeters from the butt if the weapon sat upright in ice under clear daylight?

    In this episode, we present the sequence of events, the physical evidence and the procedural choices that shaped the investigation and prosecution, and follow the question that unspools when a photographed scene contradicts the lab report: who altered the record, and why?

    Person: Dennis Falk
    Date: December 8-9, 2014
    Person: Sharon Bennett
    Person: Roy Hamilton
    Location: Ashford Marsh

    - The knife was found before 7:00 AM on December 9, 2014, standing blade-down in a frozen culvert.
    - The finder, Ruth Burke, took 14 photographs of the knife before calling 9-1-1 and did not touch it.
    - A partial fingerprint with 12 ridge points was located 3 centimeters from the butt end of the handle.
    - Roy Hamilton, a nine-year evidence technician with the Galen County forensic unit, recorded the left-thumb print as contamination in a supplemental report.
    - Sharon Bennett was arrested on December 11, 2014, and a receipt for a ten-inch chef’s knife purchased ~14 months earlier was found in her apartment.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 min
  • The Tape That Lied: How Rain Revealed a Murderer

    The Tape That Lied: How Rain Revealed a Murderer
    1 Nov 2026
    The Tape That Lied: How Rain Revealed a Murderer

    Rain pooled on the asphalt and a six-minute-forty-second video played backward for a packed courtroom - the single clip the trial hinged on. Which part of that footage was wrong, and how did a question about rain direction six years later upend the case?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline from the ATM video at 9:58 PM to the discovery of Angela Price’s body five days later, and follow the records-room lead that reopened the investigation. How did a software glitch and one investigator’s weather check change everything?

    Person: Angela Price
    Date: November 13, 2007
    Location: Farwell Road Savings and Loan ATM
    Event: Video of Angela at ATM playing backward for 6 minutes 40 seconds
    Person: Kathleen Mason (14-year-old) found Angela’s tote bag at 6:55 AM on November 14

    - Angela Price withdrew $40 at 9:58 PM on November 13, 2007 at the ATM.
    - The courtroom video played for 6 minutes and 40 seconds and every juror watched it twice.
    - Angela’s gray two-door car was found the next morning in the Grange Hall parking lot, 0.7 miles from her last confirmed location.
    - Her body was recovered on November 19, 2007 from a drainage culvert less than 200 meters from the bank.
    - Meteorological records show 0.62 inches of rain fell between 11:00 PM and 3:00 AM the night she disappeared.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The Shoe in the Blizzard: Why He Placed Her Sneaker to Be Found

    The Shoe in the Blizzard: Why He Placed Her Sneaker to Be Found
    29 Oct 2026
    The Shoe in the Blizzard: Why He Placed Her Sneaker to Be Found

    A single left sneaker-size seven, white canvas with a pale blue stripe-stood upright and dry on top of the snowpack during a blizzard on a sealed road, placed after the road had been closed and before the plow arrived. Who walked out into the storm, set that shoe down with the lace tied, and vanished without leaving a single track?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Amanda Watson’s last phone ping along the Route Nine corridor to the moment Kathleen Armstrong discovered the sneaker on Ridgeline Road, asking how that shoe became the center of an eleven-day trial and what motive would drive someone to make it findable.

    Person: Amanda Watson
    Location: Ridgeline Road, Halverson County
    Date: discovered at 6:14 a.m. during a blizzard
    Status: missing for fourteen days before shoe identification
    Person: Chad Johnson, 31

    - The sneaker was found at 6:14 a.m. on a road closed since 11:00 p.m. the night before.
    - Amanda Watson had been missing for fourteen days when the shoe was identified by noon that day.
    - The shoe was a size seven white canvas sneaker with a pale blue stripe, lace tied and dry inside.
    - Amanda’s phone last pinged a tower along the Route Nine corridor on the Tuesday evening before she was reported missing.
    - Ridgeline Road is about one mile inland from Route Nine, reached by a gravel spur few would take at night in January.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • The Watch That Sent an Innocent Man to Prison for Nine Years

    The Watch That Sent an Innocent Man to Prison for Nine Years
    27 Oct 2026
    The Watch That Sent an Innocent Man to Prison for Nine Years

    A single Seiko watch, oval face and cracked crystal, was found seven feet from a dead woman's back door with blood that typed O-positive - the same blood as the victim. How did one object transform a missing-person inquiry into a prosecution that put a man behind bars for nine years?

    In this episode, we walk through the sequence of discoveries from the fence post watch to the courtroom testimony, and we trace the pieces of evidence that were accepted, overlooked, or misread - including a receipt with an impossible timestamp. What went wrong in the chain of proof that hinged on a watch?

    Person: Connie Farrow
    Date: September 7 (probable time of death)
    Location: Aldgate Circle, Harwick
    Person: Raymond Thorpe
    Person: Warren Romano

    - A Seiko watch with an oval case and brown leather strap was found on a fence post seven feet from Connie Farrow’s back door.
    - The watch’s crystal was cracked at the lower left and contained a dried brown smear that typed as O-positive blood matching the victim.
    - Raymond Thorpe found the watch while working utility poles on September 11 and reported it to police the same day.
    - witness Donald Kemp placed a figure near Aldgate Circle at dusk on September 6 after seeing Romano’s photo in the newspaper.
    - A watch battery receipt found in Warren Romano’s kitchen drawer showed a timestamp of 9:51 AM, though the jewelry counter did not open until 10:00 AM.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • The Yellow Gloves on the Railing: How One Fiber Framed a Murder

    The Yellow Gloves on the Railing: How One Fiber Framed a Murder
    25 Oct 2026
    The Yellow Gloves on the Railing: How One Fiber Framed a Murder

    A pale-yellow knit glove left folded on a reservoir railing became the single piece of evidence that sent a neighbor to trial for murder. The fiber was barely visible, the gloves were dry on the north-end guardrail, and the victim’s routine made her presence there at 6:05 AM no accident - so who actually left the gloves, and why did one fiber nearly seal a conviction?

    In this episode, we tell how a morning run, a routine walk, and a civil dispute converged around one tiny piece of textile evidence. You’ll hear how the glove, an eyewitness photo identification, and a missing receipt shaped a prosecution - and what hidden file finally began to tell a different story.

    Person: Sandra Pruitt
    Date: August 9, 2011
    Location: North-end railing of the reservoir dam, Renner County, Indiana
    Person: Pamela Foster
    Event: Arrest on August 22, 2011

    - The gloves were pale-yellow knit, folded and centered on an aluminum guardrail.
    - Philip West logged the call about the gloves at 5:53 AM and by 7:15 AM a body was pulled from the shallows.
    - Sandra Pruitt was sixty-one and had walked the reservoir loop every Tuesday and Thursday for eleven years.
    - Pamela Foster was arrested thirteen days after the body was found, on August 22, 2011.
    - Lab analysis found a single pale-yellow fiber on Pruitt’s jacket collar consistent with the gloves on the railing.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • The Shoe on the Pad: A Plant, a Plea, or a Frame-Up?

    The Shoe on the Pad: A Plant, a Plea, or a Frame-Up?
    22 Oct 2026
    The Shoe on the Pad: A Plant, a Plea, or a Frame-Up?

    A single cream-colored women's dress shoe, size seven, was found perfectly upright on a concrete meter pad with a dry folded scrap bearing Sandra Pruitt's Ohio driver's license number tucked inside - dry despite overnight dew on surrounding surfaces. Who deliberately placed that shoe, with information not publicly available, and why did it become the hinge on which two trials turned?

    In this episode, we present the sequence of events from Sandra Pruitt's disappearance through the discovery of the shoe and the investigative details that followed, focusing on the item that shifted the case's direction: was it a planted piece of evidence or a deliberate signal that pointed to someone with access to restricted information?

    Person: Sandra Pruitt
    Date: July 14, 2009
    Location: 14 Fenwick Court
    Status: Missing (last seen July 9, 2009)
    Investigator: Detective Aaron Speight

    - Shoe found upright on a concrete meter pad at 14 Fenwick Court on the morning of July 14, 2009.
    - Inside the shoe was a dry folded paper with seven block-capital letters/digits matching Sandra Pruitt's Ohio driver's license number.
    - Sandra Pruitt had been missing for four days when the shoe was discovered; her last outgoing call was July 9, 2009 at 7:48 p.m.
    - Sandra's apartment showed no signs of struggle; keys were on the counter, purse on the couch, and the sliding balcony door was open three inches.
    - The Fenwick Court front gate spring was functional on July 7 but was found two inches open on July 14.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 min
  • The Timestamp Lie That Tried to Free a Killer

    The Timestamp Lie That Tried to Free a Killer
    20 Oct 2026
    The Timestamp Lie That Tried to Free a Killer

    A single date stamped June 9 on a drugstore photo threatened to erase a coroner's timeline that placed Loretta Voss dead on June 7 - and that one incorrect number became the fragile hinge between a killer and freedom. Who put the staged photograph in her unlocked garden shed, and could that tiny falsified timestamp have actually worked?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from Loretta's daily routines to the discovery of her body and the discovery of the photograph that contradicted the coroner's findings, asking whether the photo was meant to mislead investigators or to conceal something deeper.

    Person: Loretta Voss
    Date: June 7, 2014 (time of death window)
    Location: Pemberton Street, Harwick, Pennsylvania
    Person: Neil Perry
    Item: 4x6 drugstore photograph dated June 9, 2014

    - Loretta Voss, age 72, was found dead of asphyxiation in her kitchen on June 11, 2014.
    - The coroner placed her time of death between 9:00 PM on June 7 and the early hours of June 8, 2014.
    - A 4x6 photograph stamped June 9, 2014 was found tucked in Loretta's garden shed on June 11 by volunteer Erin Myers.
    - Loretta's Canon PowerShot contained 32 images, 31 with accurate date stamps and 1 with an incorrect stamp matching the print.
    - Neil Perry, age 49, admitted to repeatedly driving past Loretta's house and had performed two prior service calls at her home (2010 and 2012).

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • The Mug, the Map, and the Man Who Walked Free

    The Mug, the Map, and the Man Who Walked Free
    18 Oct 2026
    The Mug, the Map, and the Man Who Walked Free

    A white ceramic mug with three ounces of coffee was found twelve feet inside a drainage easement-at a spot most neighbors did not even know existed-and that single misplaced object became the hinge of a criminal trial. How did a mug that did not belong to the missing woman survive tampering, reappear as an X on a hand-drawn map, and help produce a confession that arrived minutes after arrest?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a disappearance to a surprise recovery and the legal unraveling that followed, covering the discovery, the confession, and the evidence chain that nearly disappeared-what does that X on a water-stained notebook page finally prove?

    Date: May 9, 2014
    Person: Laura Beckett
    Location: Carvell Woods drainage easement
    Case: Abduction and recovery
    Person: Dennis Taylor

    - A white ceramic mug with a blue flower rim pattern contained three ounces of coffee when found.
    - Laura Beckett was missing for seven days and was found May 14, 2014, severely dehydrated with ligature marks on both wrists.
    - Mark York found a wine-colored leather wallet and the mug while walking his dog along the treeline.
    - Surveillance captured a white Chevrolet cargo van with ClearFlow Home Services signage in a Vine Street lot at 7:42 AM on May 7, registered to Dennis Taylor.
    - Officer Brian Cahill spoke with Dennis Taylor four minutes into custody, without a lawyer or Miranda warning, and Taylor admitted to the abduction and to placing the mug.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min