True Crime Reporter™
True Crime Podcasts
The True Crime Reporter™ podcast takes its audience behind the yellow crime scene where few podcasters dare to go.
The Dallas-based podcast takes listeners on a journey into darkness guided by Peabody Award-Winning investigative reporter Robert Riggs.
Everything is bigger in Texas, and crime is no exception.
The 2021 Webby Awards named the True Crime Reporter™ podcast among seven honorees, including Dateline NBC and BBC Sounds for “Best True Crime Podcast.”
Hailed as the Internet’s highest honor by The New York Times, Claire Graves, Executive Director of the Webby Awards, praised Riggs’ podcast, "Honorees like Robert Riggs and the True Crime Reporter™ podcast are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet. It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 13,500 entries we received this year from 50 states and 70 countries."
A leading television streaming channel is currently producing a five-episode news documentary based on Riggs’ first season about serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff.
Bill Johnston, a decorated former federal prosecutor, joined the True Crime Reporter™ podcast in 2021 as Riggs cohost.
This Texas duo has been up close and personal with the worst of the worst criminals, including serial killers, mass murderers, and sexual predators. You name it, and they’ve seen it from the crime scene to the courtroom, from maximum-security prisons to death row.
Their real crime stories are stranger than fiction.
True Crime Reporter™ produces three types of episodes.
True Crime Reporter™ Extra - features highly produce narrative storytelling about criminal cases. It blends Robert Riggs’ writing/narration with his interviews of investigators, crime victims, forensic experts, convicted criminals, music, and natural sound.
True Crime Reporter™ Confidential - conducts a classic “police procedural.” Riggs and Johnston weave compelling stories during an interview-style/talk show. Think of them as the “Larry King’s” of True Crime. They interview investigators, crime victims, forensic experts, members of the judiciary, even convicted criminals about criminal cases.
True Crime Reporter™ Texas Ranger Files - features unique access to the case files of one of the worlds’ most legendary law enforcement organizations. Riggs and Johnston interview Texas Rangers about their most unusual investigations. These officers work murders in the wild frontier of Texas. True Crime Reporter™ tells epic and heroic stories about the Rangers that most people have never heard.
Our mission is not only to entertain but also to educate. The episodes on True Crime Reporter™ discuss means and motives. We want listeners to come away with insights about crime prevention and self-protection.
The criminal justice system has recognized Riggs and Johnston for their sensitivity to crime victims. Bill Johnston received the “Victim Advocate of the Year Award” for bringing the nation’s first prosecution under the Violence Against Women’s Act. Three weeks after its enactment, Johnston utilized the new law to prosecute a man who sent a twenty-pound pipe bomb to his ex-wife in an attempted murder plot.
The American Bar Association has honored Riggs with its Silver Gavel Award for investigative reports that exposed corruption in Texas’ parole and prison systems. The Dallas Crime Commission, in conjunction with the FBI, awarded Riggs its first-ever Excellence In Reporting Award for his investigation of teenage heroin deaths in Plano, Texas, and a landmark series on identity theft.
The first season of True Crime Reporter™ broadcasted a 17-episode series about the corrupt release of serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff from prison by the Texas Parole Board. Bill Johnston organized and led the successful manhunt for McDuff. Following Robert Riggs’ news investigation about parole selling, Johnston prosecuted the Texas Parole Board Chairman who had released McDuff.
The True Crime Reporter™ podcast takes its audience behind the yellow crime scene where few podcasters dare to go.
The Dallas-based podcast takes listeners on a journey into darkness guided by Peabody Award-Winning investigative reporter Robert Riggs.
Everything is bigger in Texas, and crime is no exception.
The 2021 Webby Awards named the True Crime Reporter™ podcast among seven honorees, including Dateline NBC and BBC Sounds for “Best True Crime Podcast.”
Hailed as the Internet’s highest honor by The New York Times, Claire Graves, Executive Director of the Webby Awards, praised Riggs’ podcast, "Honorees like Robert Riggs and the True Crime Reporter™ podcast are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet. It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 13,500 entries we received this year from 50 states and 70 countries."
A leading television streaming channel is currently producing a five-episode news documentary based on Riggs’ first season about serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff.
Bill Johnston, a decorated former federal prosecutor, joined the True Crime Reporter™ podcast in 2021 as Riggs cohost.
This Texas duo has been up close and personal with the worst of the worst criminals, including serial killers, mass murderers, and sexual predators. You name it, and they’ve seen it from the crime scene to the courtroom, from maximum-security prisons to death row.
Their real crime stories are stranger than fiction.
True Crime Reporter™ produces three types of episodes.
True Crime Reporter™ Extra - features highly produce narrative storytelling about criminal cases. It blends Robert Riggs’ writing/narration with his interviews of investigators, crime victims, forensic experts, convicted criminals, music, and natural sound.
True Crime Reporter™ Confidential - conducts a classic “police procedural.” Riggs and Johnston weave compelling stories during an interview-style/talk show. Think of them as the “Larry King’s” of True Crime. They interview investigators, crime victims, forensic experts, members of the judiciary, even convicted criminals about criminal cases.
True Crime Reporter™ Texas Ranger Files - features unique access to the case files of one of the worlds’ most legendary law enforcement organizations. Riggs and Johnston interview Texas Rangers about their most unusual investigations. These officers work murders in the wild frontier of Texas. True Crime Reporter™ tells epic and heroic stories about the Rangers that most people have never heard.
Our mission is not only to entertain but also to educate. The episodes on True Crime Reporter™ discuss means and motives. We want listeners to come away with insights about crime prevention and self-protection.
The criminal justice system has recognized Riggs and Johnston for their sensitivity to crime victims. Bill Johnston received the “Victim Advocate of the Year Award” for bringing the nation’s first prosecution under the Violence Against Women’s Act. Three weeks after its enactment, Johnston utilized the new law to prosecute a man who sent a twenty-pound pipe bomb to his ex-wife in an attempted murder plot.
The American Bar Association has honored Riggs with its Silver Gavel Award for investigative reports that exposed corruption in Texas’ parole and prison systems. The Dallas Crime Commission, in conjunction with the FBI, awarded Riggs its first-ever Excellence In Reporting Award for his investigation of teenage heroin deaths in Plano, Texas, and a landmark series on identity theft.
The first season of True Crime Reporter™ broadcasted a 17-episode series about the corrupt release of serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff from prison by the Texas Parole Board. Bill Johnston organized and led the successful manhunt for McDuff. Following Robert Riggs’ news investigation about parole selling, Johnston prosecuted the Texas Parole Board Chairman who had released McDuff.
Location:
United States
Genres:
True Crime Podcasts
Description:
The True Crime Reporter™ podcast takes its audience behind the yellow crime scene where few podcasters dare to go. The Dallas-based podcast takes listeners on a journey into darkness guided by Peabody Award-Winning investigative reporter Robert Riggs. Everything is bigger in Texas, and crime is no exception. The 2021 Webby Awards named the True Crime Reporter™ podcast among seven honorees, including Dateline NBC and BBC Sounds for “Best True Crime Podcast.” Hailed as the Internet’s highest honor by The New York Times, Claire Graves, Executive Director of the Webby Awards, praised Riggs’ podcast, "Honorees like Robert Riggs and the True Crime Reporter™ podcast are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet. It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 13,500 entries we received this year from 50 states and 70 countries." A leading television streaming channel is currently producing a five-episode news documentary based on Riggs’ first season about serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff. Bill Johnston, a decorated former federal prosecutor, joined the True Crime Reporter™ podcast in 2021 as Riggs cohost. This Texas duo has been up close and personal with the worst of the worst criminals, including serial killers, mass murderers, and sexual predators. You name it, and they’ve seen it from the crime scene to the courtroom, from maximum-security prisons to death row. Their real crime stories are stranger than fiction. True Crime Reporter™ produces three types of episodes. True Crime Reporter™ Extra - features highly produce narrative storytelling about criminal cases. It blends Robert Riggs’ writing/narration with his interviews of investigators, crime victims, forensic experts, convicted criminals, music, and natural sound. True Crime Reporter™ Confidential - conducts a classic “police procedural.” Riggs and Johnston weave compelling stories during an interview-style/talk show. Think of them as the “Larry King’s” of True Crime. They interview investigators, crime victims, forensic experts, members of the judiciary, even convicted criminals about criminal cases. True Crime Reporter™ Texas Ranger Files - features unique access to the case files of one of the worlds’ most legendary law enforcement organizations. Riggs and Johnston interview Texas Rangers about their most unusual investigations. These officers work murders in the wild frontier of Texas. True Crime Reporter™ tells epic and heroic stories about the Rangers that most people have never heard. Our mission is not only to entertain but also to educate. The episodes on True Crime Reporter™ discuss means and motives. We want listeners to come away with insights about crime prevention and self-protection. The criminal justice system has recognized Riggs and Johnston for their sensitivity to crime victims. Bill Johnston received the “Victim Advocate of the Year Award” for bringing the nation’s first prosecution under the Violence Against Women’s Act. Three weeks after its enactment, Johnston utilized the new law to prosecute a man who sent a twenty-pound pipe bomb to his ex-wife in an attempted murder plot. The American Bar Association has honored Riggs with its Silver Gavel Award for investigative reports that exposed corruption in Texas’ parole and prison systems. The Dallas Crime Commission, in conjunction with the FBI, awarded Riggs its first-ever Excellence In Reporting Award for his investigation of teenage heroin deaths in Plano, Texas, and a landmark series on identity theft. The first season of True Crime Reporter™ broadcasted a 17-episode series about the corrupt release of serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff from prison by the Texas Parole Board. Bill Johnston organized and led the successful manhunt for McDuff. Following Robert Riggs’ news investigation about parole selling, Johnston prosecuted the Texas Parole Board Chairman who had released McDuff.
Language:
English
Contact:
2146861949
Episodes
Jailhouse Romances: Why Do Women Fall In Love With Serial Killers
5/23/2022
Can you imagine yourself falling in love with a serial killer or murderer to the point you will give up your family, career, and even your life for them? A veteran Alabama jail officer, Vicky White did just that in April of 2022 when she staged a getaway with a capital murder suspect. The 56-year-old White had an unblemished record. She was on her last day of work before retirement. Her colleagues had just voted her Corrections Employee of the Year for a fifth time before she went on the...
Duration:00:32:04
The Greatest Escape From Texas Death Row Since Bonnie & Clyde
5/16/2022
In this vintage photo from 1993, Peabody Award-Winning Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs stands on a guard tower overlooking Texas Death Row. Poking up behind him to the right of the large spotlight is the steeple of the prison chapel where seven condemned prisoners made their daring break for freedom five years later. 29-year Martin Gurule, a cold-blooded killer from Corpus Christi in South Texas made it over the prison’s fence on a foggy Thanksgiving night under a hail of rifle fire from...
Duration:00:23:25
Prison Inmate Sued Because His Rice Krispies Did Not Snap, Crackle, Pop
5/9/2022
Frivolous lawsuits filed by convicted criminals flooded the federal court system in Texas. A prison inmate who regarded himself as the "Perry Mason" of the Texas prison sued for millions of dollars because his Thanksgiving Turkey was served cold. Another sued because his Rice Krispies Cereal did not Snap, Crackle, Pop as advertised. This underscores why the True Crime Reporter® podcast features true crime stories that are stranger than fiction. Investigative reporter Robert Riggs dusted off...
Duration:00:09:29
Sheriff Parnell McNamara Rides Herd On The Lawless Solving Cold Cases
5/2/2022
Sheriff Parnell McNamara promised his constituents in McLennan County, Texas around Waco that he would actively pursue cold cases. McNamara was elected for a third four-year term in January of 2021. And he has made good on his campaign pledge to open up homicide cases that had been long forgotten. Because as McNamara sees it no one should get away with murder and the victim’s family deserves to know what happened. The McNamara clan started in law enforcement in 1902 with Guy McNamara who...
Duration:00:32:45
How Cold Case Investigator Paul Holes Unmasked The Golden State Killer
4/25/2022
Cold case investigator Paul Holes played a major role in ending a decades-long reign of terror by The Golden State Killer. First known as The East Area Rapist, a masked psychological sadist assaulted 50 women in Northern California between 1976 and 1979. He progressed from burglaries to vicious sexual assaults in the middle of the night, to bludgeoning his victims to death. Along the way, he called 911 to taunt the police. Suddenly it seemed he had disappeared. But he had moved to a new...
Duration:00:52:44
Death Row Interview With The Mass Killer Known As The "Terminator"
4/18/2022
Doug Feldman’s resume gave no clue that a mass killer was lurking inside him. He graduated from a prestigious university. He was a financial wizard. He was the funniest man in the room at social functions. Everything appeared to be going his way. But beneath Feldman's cool exterior, a volcano was swelling up inside him. First, there were tremors. Then a deadly eruption against random strangers. Feldman cruised around Dallas on his Harley Davidson motorcycle randomly shooting truck drivers to...
Duration:00:16:06
The Teenage Gang That Graduated To Cold Blooded Murder
4/11/2022
Gun-wielding gang members from Houston burst into a rural bank located a hundred miles north of Houston. The high school-age teenagers graduated from burglaries and drive-by shootings to cold-blooded murder that day. They left behind the bullet-riddled body of an 82-year old woman who was tending her family’s graves. They robbed a bank and shot up the small town while making their getaway. They pistol-whipped a deputy sheriff and used his gun to shoot a Texas State Trooper. Investigative...
Duration:00:25:51
Do Murderous Roots Lie Within Your Family Tree?
4/4/2022
It was called the Ride Murder. The bullet-riddled body of an unidentified seaman from the Port of Houston, Texas was found dumped in a ditch a few miles away. Two men and a woman used a “honey pot” trap to lure the seaman into their car to rob him. It was one of the most sensational murder trials ever brought in East, Texas. School children paraded through the county jail on macabre field trips to get a look at the accused killers. One of the defendants who had already killed a traveling...
Duration:00:14:20
A Sniper In The Tower--Why Did He Do It?
3/28/2022
Before Columbine. Before Sandy Hook. Before Virginia Tech. There was the Sniper in the Tower at the University of Texas. America’s first mass murder and school shooting unfolded on live television in Austin, Texas more than a half-century ago. Since then the question has lingered, “Why did he do it?” Gary Lavergne, the author of A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders, addresses the whys and the myths about the why. In this True Crime Reporter™, Confidential investigative reporter...
Duration:00:51:44
CBS News Anchor Bob Schieffer Shocked By Broomstick Killer’s Brutality
3/21/2022
Retired CBS News Anchor Bob Schieffer was the first reporter to interview Kenneth McDuff and cover his crimes in 1966. Back then Schieffer was the police beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Schieffer had just returned from a combat assignment covering the Vietnam War when the call came in from homicide detectives. The bullet-riddled bodies of 17-year old Robert Brand and his cousin 16-year-old Mark Dunnam had been found in the trunk of their abandoned car on a remote farm road...
Duration:00:27:50
First There Was the Lone Ranger. Now There's Creed True.
3/14/2022
We usually take our fans inside the crime scene tape of real-life crimes. But in this episode, we are testing out a fictional Texas Ranger superhero named Creed True, inspired by real-life cases. The Texas Ranger became a superhero in pop culture long before Spider-Man and fellow characters from Marvel Comics captured our collective imaginations. Think about how the phrase "Who was that masked man?" is now part of our vocabulary. Superheroes possess supernatural or superhuman powers and are...
Duration:00:17:06
One Riot, One Ranger Fuels 200-Year Old Legend
3/7/2022
Texas kicked off festivities on Texas Independence Day, to commemorate the 2023 Bicentennial of the Texas Rangers. As the Rangers approach their 200th year of service their legend is embodied in the following quote. When Texas Ranger Captain Bill McDonald was sent to Dallas in the 1890s to prevent a scheduled prizefight, McDonald was greeted at the train station by the city's anxious mayor, who asked: "Where are the others?" To which McDonald supposedly replied, "Hell! ain't I enough?...
Duration:00:35:43
A Concise and Accurate History of the Texas Rangers
2/28/2022
The Bonnie and Clyde gang rode roughshod over the Central United States during the Depression in the 1930s until Texas Ranger Frank Hamer came out of retirement and ended their deadly robbery spree in an ambush. It’s one of many cases that contributes to the worldwide reputation of the Texas Rangers. On March 1st of 2022, Texas kicked off plans to commemorate The Texas Ranger Bicentennial in 2023. Robert Riggs and Bill Johnston, the cohosts of True Crime Reporter™, are members of the Host...
Duration:00:40:57
How Genetic Genealogy Solved The 1974 Murder Of Carla Walker
2/21/2022
Fort Worth Cold Case detectives solved the murder of 17-year old Carla Walker after it had gone cold for nearly five decades. They analyzed old evidence using genetic genealogy and new DNA extraction technology pioneered by Othram, a forensic genealogy lab in the Woodlands a suburb of Houston. Othram matched the DNA to a test submitted to a genealogy site by a member of the killer’s family tree. Othram did not disclose the relative’s name. Cold case investigators Jeff Bennett and Leah Wagner...
Duration:00:35:53
After Hitmen Failed To Kill Her Husband She Pulled The Trigger
2/14/2022
This is a story about two botched murder attempts by hired hitmen. And what happened when 65-year old Joyce Sturdivant took matters into her own hands. One of the most common forms of homicide is when one half of a couple kills the other. Women are usually the victims of this form of homicide. Only one percent of male victims are killed by a partner. But in this case, 65-year old Joyce Sturdivant knocked off her husband after the hitmen she hired failed to kill Big Joe Sturdivant, a burly...
Duration:00:26:28
Real Stories Of The Texas Highway Patrol
2/7/2022
The men and women of the Texas Highway Patrol work alone, often at night, on remote stretches of highway. They drive distinctive black and white cruisers and SUV’s with bright gold emblems in the shape of Texas on the side doors. If a traffic stop turns bad, help might be a hundred miles away. For example in 2021 Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Chad Walker was killed in an ambush. Walker stopped to help a driver in a disabled vehicle. The driver jumped out of the car armed with a...
Duration:00:13:47
How Mexican Cartel Hit Men Got Away With Murdering A U.S. Agent
1/31/2022
The Los Zetas drug cartel ambushed two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on a dangerous stretch of highway on February 15, 2011. Special Agent Victor Avila was severely wounded. His partner, Jaime Zapata, was killed. Zapata was the first U.S. enforcement officer killed in the line of duty in Mexico since the murder of DEA agent Enrique “KiKi” Camarena. The ICE agents had been dispatched from Mexico City to Monterrey to pick up supplies without proper training or protection....
Duration:00:50:22
Inside The Making Of Hollywood's Greatest Crime Movies
1/24/2022
Former NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen walked a beat in Harlem all the way into Hollywood’s greatest crime dramas of all time. His walk of fame started when William Friedkin, the director of The French Connection asked Jurgensen to demonstrate how to put a suspect against a wall for the “pat down”. Friedkin hired Jurgensen as the film’s technical consultant to advise him on how to realistically show the gritty side of heroin trafficking in the 1960s. It became Jurgensen's job to turn actors...
Duration:00:38:25
A Woman's Head Is Found Floating In A Lake...Who Did It?
1/17/2022
When a woman’s head bobbed to the surface on Lake Waco in Central Texas no one had the slightest clue about who she was or how she died. An autopsy revealed that she had been decapitated and there was no sign of the rest of her body in the lake. As veteran Texas Ranger John Aycock began to learn more about the woman’s life (profilers call it victimology), he declared the likely identity of the murder suspect. Now he just had to prove it. They call it a “Rangers Intuition” developed from...
Duration:00:21:42
Protect Your Self From Sexual Predators - Have A Plan Because They Do
1/10/2022
When you hear about violent crime, do you think to yourself, “it would never happen to me?” When 29-year old Colleen Reed went to a self-service car wash in Austin, Texas none of her family or friends thought it would be the last time they would see her. Reed never imagined that serial killer Kenneth McDuff was stalking her. McDuff is featured in the first season of True Crime Reporter™ and our story is being turned into a tv series for a major streaming channel scheduled for release in the...
Duration:00:43:51