True Crime Reporter™
True Crime
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
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
Texas Justice Prevails: Texas Deputy Steve January Arrested Killers For 34 Years
5/30/2023
Steve January, the Chief Deputy of the McLennan County Sheriff in Waco, Texas, was a lawman cut from denim of the old west.
Hundreds of officers recently paid their last respects to January, whose life was not cut short by a bullet from his many face-offs with killers but by cancer.
I’m Robert Riggs with a story about an officer who fought many a round seeking justice inside the crime scene tape.
Steve and I were last pictured together holding up a barrel racing jacket given to the Sheriff’s office by Nicole Sheridan, the wife of Taylor Sheridan.
Yes. Taylor Sheridan, The creator of Yellowstone, a true-life Texas cowboy, and cousin of January’s boss Sheriff Parnell McNamara.
I met McNamara and January in May 2022 to discuss their cold case unit.
In honor of Steve’s memory, I am rebroadcasting the episode.
After hearing the original, many of you commented that you wished you had a pair of straight-talking, no-nonsense Texas lawmen like January and McNamara watching over your community.
Their motto is “Riding Herd On The Lawless.”
And they are about as Texas as you can get.
In closing, here’s my reporter’s recap and reflections.
Steve January was a lawman who would not quit when trying to find justice for the victims of crime.
He stood up the cold case unit to solve cases once considered unsolvable.
That was Steve, and the law-abiding citizens of Central Texas will miss him.
You’ve been listening to the True Crime Reporter Podcast: Stay True. Stay Safe. And Stay Tuned for more stories from inside the crime scene tape.
This is Robert Riggs Reporting.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:31:31
Fearless In The Face Of Murder Unstoppable Detective Johnny Bonds
5/23/2023
God forbid if I ever was murdered, I would want Johnny Bonds on the case.
His name sounds like a film noir detective. Johnny Bonds is the stuff true crime legends are made of.
In 1972, he became the youngest officer ever assigned to the elite homicide division in Houston, Texas.
He had a sixth sense of how to approach people or investigations.
He relentlessly hunted down killers and challenged powerful politicians who got in the way of justice.
Bonds became known as “The Cop Who Wouldn’t Quit” for relentlessly pursuing the contract killers who murdered a Houston couple and their baby for life insurance benefits.
The brutality of the case and the cold-blooded nature of their killers shocked Houston residents in 1979.
If Bonds had not bucked politics and fearlessly challenged a faulty murder-suicide ruling by the powerful medical examiner at the time, the killers would have gotten away with murder.
Former Harris County District Attorney Johnny Holmes said of Bonds. "He kept looking for the truth when others gave up."
In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® podcast, I sat down with Holmes to discuss the highlights of his 40-year career in law enforcement.
We go inside the crime scene tape to discuss the motives of murder.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:27:52
She Lived Next Door To America's Most Infamous Killer: The UNABOMBER
5/16/2023
Before, there was Osama bin Laden. Before, there was Timothy McVeigh. There was Ted Kaczynski. The UNABOMBER. FBI codename for “UNiversity and Airline BOMBER.”
For sixteen years, Jamie Gehring grew up next door to Ted Kaczynski. She never had a clue that the man who appeared to be a harmless hermit was one of the most notorious serial killers of the 20th Century.
Hello. I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs here to ask you a chilling question from inside the crime scene tape. Do any of us really know our neighbor?
Ted Kaczynski mailed and hand-delivered homemade bombs to people at scientific universities, airlines, and businesses for what he believed was their role in the over-industrialization of society and the destruction of nature.
The former Berkley math professor, a certified genius who entered Harvard at age 15, terrorized America for seventeen years between 1978 and 1995.
The FBI called Kaczynski a twisted genius.
He killed three people and injured 23, claiming limbs and eyesight, leaving many with permanent emotional and physical scars.
Residents of tiny remote Lincoln, Montana, thought Kaczynski was an oddball, cranky loner. He lived off the grid in a remote mountain cabin 10 feet by 12 feet. No running water. No electricity.
It was a primitive bomb-making factory. Kaczynski handcrafted bombs from scrap materials that were impossible to trace. He called the bombings experiments.
He smelled foul. His hair was unruly, uncombed, and dirty. No one could imagine that he was the anonymous author of a 35-thousand word manifesto sent to the New York Times and Washington Post in1995 threatening more bombings if it was not published.
Until then, it was the cold case of all cold cases. It gave the FBI a big break. When it hit the press, Kaczynski’s brother and sister-in-law spotted similar semantic railings in letters written to them by their estranged relative, and they contacted the FBI.
For 16 years, Jamie Gehring lived next door to this serial killer and wanted domestic terrorists. Her late father, “Butch,” helped the FBI to find his cabin and to lure him outside.
She has written a deeply researched book, Madman in the Woods: Life Next Door to the UNABOMBER. Here’s our interview.
True Crime Reporter® Website With UNABOMBER PHOTOS
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
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The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:41:24
How DNA Forensic Genetic Genealogy Brought A Monster To Justice
5/9/2023
This is the third episode in my series about how new DNA technology solves previously unsolvable cold cases. It’s called FGG -- Forensic Genetic Genealogy.
I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs taking you inside the crime scene case into how the first use of forensic genetic genealogy in Dallas County, Texas, caught a serial rapist responsible for over 50 victims.
75-year-old David Thomas Hawkins of Fort Worth, Texas, left a trail of victims along his truck route for at least ten years.
The investigation by the office of District Attorney John Creuzot was made possible by a Sexual Assault Kit Initiative federal grant known as SAKI.
You will learn more about SAKI in this episode from cold case prosecutor Leighton D'Antoni who is solving cases once thought to be unsolvable.
D'Antoni is on the cutting edge of using sophisticated DNA technology that stems from research on the human genome project to solve murders and sexual assault cases.
You Can Reach D'Antoni at: leighton.dantoni@dallascounty.org
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
Reach Robert and the team of detectives that work with him: Fan@TrueCrimeReporter.com
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:39:21
Solving The Toughest Cold Case Murders With Forensic Genetic Genealogy
5/2/2023
The Golden State Killer got away with 12 murders, 50 rapes, and more than 100 burglaries for over forty years before being caught.
DNA evidence from his crime scenes never matched DNA samples in the FBI’s CODIS databases because he had never been arrested for murder or rape.
Eventually, investigators uploaded the profile to genealogy sites and identified a relative on the killer’s family tree.
It led to the conviction of James DeAngelo, a 72-year-old former police officer.
I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs from inside the crime scene tape reporting how DNA analysis, called Forensic Genetic Genealogy, also known as FGG, is solving cold cases once thought unsolvable.
You can learn more about the Golden State Killer case in my episode titled How Cold Case Investigator Paul Holes Unmasked The Golden State Killer, dated April 25th of 2022.
In this my second episode about Forensic DNA, Dr. Suzanne Bell, who served on the National Commission of Forensic Science (NCFS), returns with more insight on the subject.
She coauthored Understanding Forensic DNA and emphasizes that DNA does not solve cases by itself. DNA results are always part of an extensive investigation.
At the end of our interview, Dr. Bell also provides advice on how to get into forensic science. It’s attracting large numbers of women.
Here’s our discussion about forensic genetic genealogy.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:21:19
The Power of Forensic DNA Bringing Killers and Sexual Predators to Justice
4/25/2023
Sitting across the desk from a DNA profiler, she told me that I was leaving a trail of cells in her office that would lead back to me, especially if I committed a crime there.
The rapid advancement of science and technology makes DNA evidence a powerful investigative tool for catching killers and rapists, solving cold cases, identifying missing persons, and clearing the innocent.
I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs here to take you inside the crime scene tape to look at how DNA plays a central role in the judicial system.
The first use of DNA typing for a criminal investigation occurred in 1986 in England. DNA evidence identified the killer of two 15-year-old girls and cleared an innocent, mentally challenged suspect who had confessed to one of the murders.
Police conducted a DNA dragnet by collecting thousands of samples from men in the village around the crime scenes.
I recommend watching Code of a Killer to learn more. It’s a three-part British police drama television series that tells the true story of the case, and I have placed a link to a story in the Guardian about the case.
DNA analysis has come a long way since then.
To bring us up to date, I asked Dr. Suzanne Bell to take me back to biology and chemistry class to help me understand the advances in science and technology.
Dr. Bell is an Emeritus Professor and Chair of the Department of Forensic and Investigative Sciences at West Virginia University.
She coauthored Understanding Forensic DNA with John M. Butler.
This is the first of a two-part interview series with Dr. Bell.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:19:20
The Enduring Fascination of Bonnie and Clyde: A Love Story Gone Wrong
4/11/2023
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were two of the most notorious outlaws in American history, forever linked to the public consciousness.
They were young, daring, and dangerous, and they captured the imagination of a country struggling through the Great Depression. But behind the legend lay the harsh reality of their lives, a story of poverty, violence, and desperation.
They met in Dallas, Texas, and were immediately drawn to each other.
Together, Bonnie and Clyde embarked on a crime spree that would capture the nation's attention and make them both into legends.
They robbed banks, gas stations, and stores across the South and Midwest, always staying one step ahead of the law.
The outlaw lovers became folk heroes to many Americans who were struggling to survive amid the Great Depression, seen as modern-day Robin Hoods who were sticking it to the wealthy and powerful.
Today, Bonnie, pictured in a beret and flapper-style dress with a cigar stuck out the side of her mouth, would be described as a rebellious fashionista. Clyde wore suits and ties with a fedora cocked on his head.
The glamorous image captured in photographs of the outlaw couple taken by members of their gang riveted American newspapers.
But for Bonnie and Clyde, the fame came at a cost. They were constantly on the run, never able to settle down and live a normal life.
They were always looking over their shoulders, afraid that the law would catch up with them.
As their crimes became more violent and their notoriety grew, Bonnie and Clyde began attracting the attention of law enforcement agencies nationwide.
Texas Ranger Frank Hamer hunted them for staging a deadly escape from the Eastham Prison Farm.
Their day of reckoning came on May 23, 1934, in Louisiana, where Ranger Hamer lured them into a deadly ambush.
More than fifty thousand people came to see their open caskets at two funeral homes in Dallas.
In death, the legend of their crimes and love affair grew, immortalized in magazines, books, and movies.
Investigative reporter Robert Riggs separates facts from fiction in this episode.
For listeners who want to learn more, he recommends Bonnie and Clyde: The Making Of A Legend by Dallas journalist and author Karen Blumenthal.
Photographs mentioned in the podcast can be viewed at True Crime Reporter®
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:23:26
A Shocking Failure of Justice: A Serial Rapist And Serial Killer Murder Six Teens
4/4/2023
Texas Death Row Inmates Called Them The “Macs.”
Kenneth McDuff and Jerry McFadden.
Two violent psychopaths hated and feared by fellow death row inmates.
Two killers with a lust for randomly abducting, raping, and murdering young people.
Two killers whose victims would still be alive if Texas had kept them behind bars.
In this episode, investigative reporter Robert Riggs takes listeners inside the crime scene tape of one of Texas' most brutal killers.
He called himself "The Animal."
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:15:14
Inside the Minds of Death Row Inmates: A Terrifying Journey Into Evil
3/28/2023
Pastor Wayne Whiteside says, “there are people that seem to be hell-bent on being held bound.”
Whiteside knows of what he preaches after ministering to prison inmates for thirty-nine years.
He spent the last 24 years talking with death row inmates in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Mississippi.
Whiteside says he has looked evil in the eye and seen nothing but empty souls.
He has come face to face with the worst of the worst of serial killers who inflicted unimaginable pain and suffering on their victims.
Whiteside holds an unusual perspective on capital punishment.
He has witnessed 30 executions and was present as a chaplain inside the Texas death chamber for one execution.
Two hours before a lethal injection started flowing, one killer confessed to Whiteside the murder of a young convenience clerk and solved a 17-year-old cold case.
Our episodes often take listeners inside the crime scene tape. This episode is truly a journey into darkness.
At its end, Pastor Whiteside shares advice about how to keep yourself safe from men with a lust for murder.
Note: We have shared photographs of some inmates Whiteside discusses in this episode, including Jerry “The Animal" McFadden.”
You can view them at TrueCrimeReporter.com.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:54:38
China Kills Hundreds With Deadly Fentanyl - It Ought To Be A Crime
3/21/2023
Mexican cartels aided by China are poisoning the United States with deadly fentanyl overdoses.
The death toll is the equivalent of a jumbo jet load of passengers crashing every day.
What better way to undermine a country without firing a shot?
In this episode, I conduct a wide-ranging discussion about the consequences of the war in Iraq on U.S. security.
This is a timely conversation because March 20th of, 2023, marks the 20th anniversary of the war in Iraq.
David Grantham, an intelligence officer for the Tarrant County Sheriff in Fort Worth, Texas, joins me for an interview.
Grantham served as an Air Force intelligence officer in Iraq and is the author of Consequences: An Intelligence Officer’s War.
We discuss the challenges faced by U.S. law enforcement and the communities they are charged with protecting.
And we offer some practical personal safety advice stemming from the investigation and arrest of a suspect in the murder of four Idaho college students.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:48:01
Women Who Kill: This Bank Robber Viciously Shot Her Victim In The Back
1/24/2023
Jerry and Dava Truett lived well beyond their means in the small central Texas town of Kosse. They owned a lake house and a speed boat. They drove a pair of expensive pickup trucks and numerous recreational vehicles.
Townfolk thought they were receiving oil and gas money from their farmland or had an inheritance.
The small community of 500 people confronted the cold-blooded truth about the couple's lifestyle when 52-year-old Michael Wells was murdered inside the First State Bank of Kosse.
Williams was the bank's president and a beloved community leader.
He arrived early one morning before the bank opened to meet with a customer.
A 68-year-old business owner wanted to find out why thirty thousand dollars was missing from his account.
Before they could meet, Williams was gunned down. The bank's vault was still locked. No money was missing from it.
But in the aftermath of this tragedy, an FBI audit discovered that $700,000 was missing from elderly customers' accounts.
What happened to all of that money?
In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® Podcast investigative reporter Robert Riggs takes you inside the crime scene tape with a case from former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston.
It will leave you wondering if you can trust anyone.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:31:53
Idaho Arrest Affidavit Traces Path Of Suspected Killer of 4 Students
1/17/2023
Homicide detectives and even killers categorize the slain four University of Idaho students as “shiny” victims.
They were young, innocent, and attractive.
John Moriarty, the former Inspector General of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, says such cases motivate investigators to go the extra mile to solve the crime.
“It’s the ultimate good versus evil,” said Moriarty.
Investigators used sophisticated techniques detailed in an arrest warrant affidavit, including DNA, cell phone data, and ubiquitous video surveillance cameras, to charge 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger with murdering four University of Idaho students in their off-campus home on November 13, 2022.
If Kohberer, a Ph.D. criminology student at the University of Washington, is convicted, it will prove the old adage that some criminals return to the scene of the crime.
In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, John Moriarty and investigative reporter Robert Riggs walk listeners through details contained in the arrest warrant.
Moriarty, the former Inspector General of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, used the same means to hunt down fugitives wanted for murder and violent crimes.
Plus, he wrote countless arrest and search warrant affidavits, and Riggs relied on such affidavits as the factual basis for his crime reporting.
You may recall that Moriarty, a transplanted Irish cop from New York City, is featured in True Crime Reporter®’s series about serial killer Kenneth McDuff and the Telly Award-winning television documentary on Fox Nation streaming titled Freed To Kill.
Kohberger made a brief court appearance on January 5th of 2023, with cuts on his face raising questions if the suspect’s alleged victim’s had fought back.
Based on the review of the arrest warrant affidavit by Moriarty and Riggs, you will hear their thoughts about a possible motive for the murders.
Link to Arrest Warrant Affidavit
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2023 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:45:25
True Crime Reporter® Answers Questions About Murder Mysteries
1/3/2023
This episode marks Part 2 of questions posed to investigative reporter Robert Riggs by true crime fan and Texas A&M architecture major Patricia Rocha.
Hopefully, listeners can take away advice about staying safe in the wake of an arrest of a suspect in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students on November 13, 2022, at their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.
Two other roommates upstairs slept through the brutal slayings.
The mysterious murder struck fear in college students across the country.
This is a continuation of our new press conference at the True Crime Reporter® podcast.
This episode marks the second part of our press conference in which the fans of the True Crime Reporter® podcast ask investigative reporter Robert Riggs questions.
If you want to come on the podcast to ask Robert questions, email Fan@TrueCrimeReporter.com.
Tell him what you want to talk about and why.
Here’s today’s True Crime Reporter® press conference.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:33:07
Reporter Robert Riggs Answers Questions About Serial Killers
12/27/2022
In a new press conference-style episode, True Crime Reporter's Robert Riggs takes questions from fans.
True crime fan Patricia Rocha turns the table on Riggs and asks what it is like to go inside the crime scene tape.
Riggs recently met Rocha, an architecture student, and her friends at a ceremony for Outstanding Alumni from the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University.
Afterward, Rocha and her friends peppered him with questions about true crime cases.
Looking on was Bill Peel, an Outstanding Alum and Executive Director of Innovation at Texas A&M’s Mays School of Business. Peel suggested that a press conference-style interview by fans should be a regular feature here.
Riggs has covered his share of press conferences at the White House, Capitol Hill, Pentagon, State Department, FBI, and breaking news at crime scenes.
But unlike the spokespersons behind those podiums, you will not find Riggs dancing around any questions.
If you want to come on the podcast for a press conference send an email to Fan@TrueCrimeReporter.com.
Tell Riggs what you want to talk about and why.
Here’s today’s True Crime Reporter® press conference.
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The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:26:16
Why & How Women Murder - Love Triangles and Hiring Hitmen
12/20/2022
What goes on inside the minds of women who commit murder and other crimes?
In my previous episode on December 13, 2022, titled A Mother’s Pursuit of Justice: The Contract Murder of Dan Markel, I reported that three women are the focus of an eight-year-long murder investigation.
Markel, a distinguished law professor at Florida State University was gunned down by hitmen at his Tallahassee home in 2014.
Katherine Maguahua (phonetic pronunciation: MAC-BANA-WAH) was the go-between for the contract killing.
In November of 2022, evidence from an FBI sting helped convict Maguahua.
She received a life sentence plus 60 years for hiring her ex-boyfriend, the father of her children, to execute Dan Markel. Allegedly so his ex-wife could move the couple’s two sons to South Florida.
The ex-wife, 35- year old Wendi Adelson, a fellow law professor, and her mother, Donna Adelson, have been named as unindicted conspirators in the alleged plot.
According to criminal trial testimony, Katherine Maguahua hired the hitmen at the request of Wendi Adelson’s brother Charlie Adelson. She was a girlfriend and dental assistant in his office. Charlie Adelson has been charged with the murder and is expected to stand trial in 2023.
But back to Katherine Maguahua, was it for love or money?
I reached out to Meghan Sacks, a criminologist with a Ph.D. who teaches classes on Women and Crime at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey to explore this true crime subject.
Sacks is also the co-host of the Women and Crime podcast.
We discuss possible motivations in the Austin cyclist murder case that I covered on July 11, 2022, A Love Triangle Ends In An Alleged Murderous Fit Of Jealous Rage.
You will also hear me discuss interviewing female inmates at Texas prison units.
Archive News Report About Female Inmates Con Games
Links to resources about the Dan Markel murder case:
Full coverage by Paul Caron, Dean of the Pepperdine University
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2022/10/extreme-punishment-the-chilling-true-story-of-dan-markels-murder.html
Link to recent court testimony by Wendi Adelson:
https://youtu.be/KIDXVsibEJw
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:35:31
A Mother’s Pursuit of Justice: The Contract Murder of Dan Markel
12/13/2022
Murder is a life sentence for the victim’s family and friends. Closure is a myth perpetuated by the news media.
During three decades of investigative reporting, Robert Riggs has witnessed how the victim’s families often suffer in silence and are left out of the confusing criminal justice process.
In this episode of the True Crime Reporter® podcast, Ruth Markel shares a remarkable story of grief, resilience, and hope during an eight-year murder investigation that is not over.
Her son, Dan Markel, a Florida law professor, was ambushed in a murder-for-hire conspiracy allegedly masterminded by his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, and members of her family, according to state prosecutors.
Wendi Adelson has denied those accusations during a police interrogation and under oath in court testimony.
The anatomy of the murder has been highly publicized on television crime shows and true crime podcasts.
But Robert Riggs is here with the “rest of the story” from behind the crime scene tape.
In this interview, Ruth Markel reveals how the victim’s family can become advocates for their lost loved ones. She inspired the Florida State Legislature to pass a grandparent visitation bill titled the “Markel Act.”
Before the murders, Markel had published eight books about the advancement of women in the corporate workplace. She never expected to write about such a horrific and powerless situation as the murder of her son.
Now Ruth Markel shares her story to help others survive their grief from murders and violent crime in her book titled The Unveiling: A Mothers’ Reflection on Murder, Grief, and Trial Life.
Riggs and Markel discuss her fight for justice on behalf of her son and the struggle to be legally reunited with her grandchildren.
Riggs starts the episode by recounting the key events of the contact murder, which occurred in 2014.
Links to resources mentioned during the podcast:
Full coverage by Paul Caron, Dean of the Pepperdine University
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2022/10/extreme-punishment-the-chilling-true-story-of-dan-markels-murder.html
Link to recent court testimony by Wendi Adelson:
https://youtu.be/KIDXVsibEJw
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:41:49
"To Catch A Predator" -- Reporter Chris Hansen Launches True Crime Nation
12/6/2022
Chris Hansen, the journalist who created the televised series To Catch A Predator, warns that the problem of adults preying on children for sex is growing at an alarming rate.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has reported that during the peak of the pandemic, inappropriate contacts between adults and children, predatory contacts, as well as the transmission of inappropriate material between adults and children shot up nearly 900%.
Indicative of the problem is the case of the former Virginia police officer accused of “catfishing” a teenage girl and murdering her grandparents and her mother.
“Catfishing” is a form of online deception in which someone pretends to be a different person.
Firefighters discovered the teen's family inside their burning home in Riverside, California.
28-year-old Austin Edwards, the ex-cop, was killed in a shootout with San Bernadino County Sheriff’s deputies. The teenage girl was not harmed.
Hansen and investigative reporter Robert Riggs have encountered predators throughout their respective journalism careers.
The journalism community has honored Chris Hansen with 10 Emmys and 5 Edward R. Murrow reporting Awards.
Chris has broken stories worldwide and is launching a new series, True Crime Nation, on the TruBlu Streaming Network. His To Catch A Predator series is now called TAKEDOWN.
In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, Riggs and Hansen go inside the crime scene tape to remind parents that predators live online and that they need to have a conversation with their children about how to stay safe online and on social media.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:29:24
Deep Fried Theft Rings Cash In On Blackmarket Cooking Oil
11/22/2022
Cooking oil left over from french fries and fried chicken has become liquid gold.
Organized criminal gangs are emptying storage tanks at restaurants and convenience stores across the United States.
Hello. I’m investigative reporter Robert Riggs with an unusual story from inside the crime scene tape.
Did you know a gallon of used cooking oil is now worth more than a gallon of gasoline?
The thefts fuel a multimillion-dollar black market.
Here to talk about it is Gary Edgington, a 40-year law enforcement veteran.
We are going to talk about a wide range of his cases from his career with the
Beverly Hills Police Department, LA County District Attorney…we will touch on the OJ Simpson murder trial. His work on narcotics cases and a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Los Angeles. And later, his role in counter-insurgency operations in Iraq.
Now he is the author of, Outside The Wire–A Novel of Murder Love, and War.
It’s a fictional thriller inspired by his experience about Iranian operatives bent on destroying America.
I have put links to the book and his website in the show notes.
Here’s Robert Riggs' interview with Gary Edgington.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:42:59
Whoever Comes In This Room Is Going To Die With Us
11/15/2022
Sitting in the maternity ward of Dallas Methodist hospital, 30-year-old Nester Oswaldo Hernandez told his girlfriend that “we are both going to die today, and whoever comes in this room is going to die with us.”
Hernandez, a violent offender out on early parole in Texas, executed a social worker and a nurse as they entered the room of his girlfriend and newborn baby, according to a Dallas police arrest warrant.
Hernandez had just accused his girlfriend of cheating on him. He pistol-whipped her and fatally shot the two healthcare workers before a security officer wounded him.
Hernandez had a long rap sheet.
He was on parole for an aggravated robbery. In 2015 Hernandez and a female accomplice attacked a woman who was returning home from work.
They taped the victim's hands together and taped over her eyes. They broke her nose and fractured her eye during the robbery. Hernandez stole her phone, car, and $3,000 cash from a school fundraiser.
A year before the hospital murder, Hernandez was released early on parole with a special electronic monitoring condition.
Hernandez was granted permission to be at the hospital with his girlfriend during and after the baby's delivery. He was wearing an active ankle monitor.
Shortly after the shooting, Dallas police chief Eddie Garcia called the killings "an abhorrent failure of our criminal justice system" and said, “we give violent criminals more chances than our victims.”
Investigative reporter Robert Riggs, former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston, and the Chief of Police of Prosper, Texas, Doug Kowalski discuss early release policies that are setting off a wave of violence across the United States.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:49:49
How A Single Hair Caught A Killer
11/1/2022
In the previous episode, we showed how homicide detectives solved 50-year-old cold cases.
They analyzed old evidence by using new DNA extraction technology pioneered by Othram, a forensic genealogy lab in Texas.
Othram provided new leads by finding relatives of suspects on genealogy databases.
As revolutionary as that seems, it was just a few years ago that the FBI pioneered the use of mitochondrial DNA in a Texas murder case.
Mitochondrial DNA is handed down from mother to child, so it can only tell you about your maternal ancestors.
In a landmark case, former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston used the mitochondrial DNA from a single hair to send a killer to prison for the rest of his life.
Here’s the backstory of how he did it.
We want to become your favorite true crime podcast. Please leave a review wherever you listen.
Join our true crime community and follow us here.
The True Crime Reporter® podcast features stories about serial killers, mass murderers, murder mysteries, homicides, cold cases, prisons, violent criminals, serial rapists, child abductors, child molesters, kidnappers, bank robbers, cyber criminals, and assorted violent criminals.
True Crime Reporter® is a @2022 copyrighted and trade-marked production by True Crime Reporter®, LLC, in Dallas, Texas.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Duration:00:34:31