20 True-Crime Podcasts That Will Give You Goosebumps
Prepare your ears.
Our editors handpick the products that we feature. We may earn commission from the links on this page.
Trying to pick a new true crime podcast is like selecting a frozen yogurt flavor at 16 Handles—but worse: Like a good nonfiction book, you've got your long-buried historical homicides, your thrillers, your blood-racing mysteries, your criminal justice commentaries, your amateur sleuthing call-ins, your Serial-host-like investigative heroes, your hardened detective heartthrobs—and each is tempting in its own way. But if you go into a must-test-this, must-try-that rabbit hole for too long, you won’t be tuning into anything on your painfully clogged commute. Podcast paralysis should never be faced alone, which is why we’ve pre-screened 20 of the best true crime podcasts for your binge-listening pleasure. As with pod-turned-drama Dirty John, several stories chronicled here were so nuts they became TV shows, including the Peacock series Dr. Death (starring Joshua Jackson as the murderous physician), Apple's The Shrink Next Door, which features Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd, and Netflix's hit docuseries Tiger King. This jaw-dropping group promises plenty of gasps, sobs, and uncanny conversations around the office water cooler. In other words, we know what you’re listening to this summer.
Over My Dead Body: Fox Lake
Host: Matt Baglio
Each season of Over My Dead Body is a deep dive into a different case. The first was about Tiger King's Joe Exotic; the third focuses on yet another Joe—this time, a small town police officer nicknamed "GI Joe." After Joe "GI Joe Gliniewicz" was found dead in Illinois 2015, his story became the subject of national media scrutiny. It looked like a murder—but not all is what it seems in this story.
My Favorite Murder
Hosts: Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
Since its inception in January 2016, this wildly successful and popular podcast has broken global download records and spawned a community of listeners lovingly known as "murderinos."
The ladies of MFM look at true-crime cases from recent times through to 100 years ago, as well as survival and disaster stories. Their dedication to victim support, women's rights, LGBTQA+, people of color, and frank discussion of mental health and addiction has earned them a dedicated fan base.
Listen Now
Black Girl Gone
Host: Amara Cofer
Black Girl Gone true-crime podcast focuses on telling the stories of missing and murdered Black women and women of color in America. This show shines a light on cases that often receive little to no attention from the mainstream media, making this powerful podcast both important and poignant. Host Amara Cofer tells the stories of the victims and families with compassion, while always striving to bring awareness to the crimes that claimed their lives.
Dr. Death
Host: Laura Beil
You've been warned: Dr. Death is not for the squeamish. But it's quite a story, one that doubles as an indictment of the American medical system. How did Dallas-based neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch maim, paralyze, and even kill patients in a series of botched spinal surgeries before he was stopped? Journalist Laura Beil unfurls this story in season 1. After you listen, check out Peacock's scripted series starring Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater, and Joshua Jackson as Dr. Duntsch.
The Clearing
Host: Josh Dean
April Balascio was 40 years old when she learned that her father, Edward Wayne Edwards, murdered multiple people—but she'd had a sinking suspicion dating back to her nomadic, tumultuous childhood. The Clearing shakes up the true-crime pod's traditional format: Investigative journalist Josh Dean works together with Balascio to piece together her past, and figure out who else the enigmatic Edwards may have killed.
Over My Dead Body: Joe Exotic
Host: Matt Shaer
From the same studio that produced the hit podcast Dirty John comes Over My Dead Body, a gripping show about people being pushed to their limits. In the second season, a zookeeper/tiger breeder takes out a hit on his rival, a woman who runs a big cat sanctuary. The same story is explored in the hit Netflix show Tiger King.
Uncover: The Village
Host: Justin Ling
Nine engrossing, Serial-esque episodes examining the horrible rash of violence Toronto’s LGBTQ community faced over the past 12 years at the hands of serial killer Bruce MacArthur—and police’s lackluster response to the murders. Ling not only frequently passes the mic to victims’ friends and families, prioritizing healing story-telling as much as grisly detail-sharing, but also peers into the past to ask a chilling question: Could MacArthur be involved in other cold cases dating back to the 1970s?
Killer Psyche
Host: Candice DeLong
When a heinous crime takes place, people often ask "Why?" Was it jealousy? Revenge? Money? Or something else? This is where Killer Psyche's Candice DeLong comes in. She uses her decades of first-hand experiences as a psychiatric nurse and an FBI criminal profiler to delve into the minds of killers. Through analysis and research, DeLong explores the murderer's background and discusses what events and relationships may have shaped their psyche, leading them to commit crimes. If you're a fan of Netflix's Mindhunter and are fascinated with psychology and what drives people, then this podcast is for you.
The Dropout
Host: Rebecca Jarvis
A clear-eyed glimpse into the carefully fabricated, dangerously ambitious, deep-voiced, and utterly scamalicious world of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of now-defunct health technology behemoth, Theranos. The Shakespearean, $9 billion-sized downfall unfolds via interviews with company whistleblowers, former professors, even the lawyer for Holmes’s one-time business partner and secret lover, Sunny Balwani.
White Lies
Hosts: Andrew Beck Grace and Chip Brantley
An NPR-produced show examining the still-unsolved murder of Reverend James Reeb, a white Unitarian minister killed in 1965 after sojourning to Selma, Alabama, to contribute to the civil rights fight. Reeb’s death received national attention (and was cited by President Lyndon B. Johnson when he signed the Voting Rights Act), but its personal and historic repercussions have largely faded from memory—until now.
Tenfold More Wicked
Host: Kate Winkler Dawson
Take a horrifying trip through history with spine-tingling tales of true crime and mystery. Hosted by Kate Winkler Dawson, a lecturer at UT Austin, Tenfold More Wicked is a unique blend of narrative nonfiction storytelling with investigative journalism, a deep dive into the lives of victims...and killers. And how they made history.
Everything from Civil War time family feuds through to Jazz Age flapper murders is explored, often with interviews of relatives and living descendants of those affected by the crimes. If you relish good storytelling, journalism, and mystery like that of Dateline or 48 Hour Mysteries, then this podcast will hold you firmly in its chilling grip.
Listen Now
Charged
Host: Emily Bazelon
An in-depth, six-episode investigation tackling criminal justice, mass incarceration, the seemingly untouchable Second Amendment, and misguided gun reform efforts filtered through the harrowing experiences of the overwhelmingly young, Black, and male defendants caught up (even ensnared) in New York City’s so-called “gun court,” designed to speedily prosecute those found illegally possessing firearms.
Root of Evil
Hosts: Yvette Gentile and Rasha Pecoraro
Scandal, abuse, secrets, homicide—this eight-part series has all that and more. Listen as Gentile and Pecoraro bring together their fractured family to mine a twisted history, which flows forth from their great grandfather, George Hodel, one of the prime suspects in the infamous 1947 Black Dahlia murder of actress Elizabeth Short. Produced in part by TNT, the riveting show is equal bits gruesome murder mystery and heart-wrenching personal reckoning.
Bomber
Host: Jason Puckett
Six episodes exploring the 19-day bombing rampage, orchestrated by Mark Anthony Conditt, that shocked and panicked the city of Austin. Listen in for intimate interviews with neighbors and survivors and teased-apart answers to lingering questions—like how Conditt, whose homemade explosives killed two Texans and injured five others, selected who or where to target; how law enforcement’s frantic manhunt unfolded; and what drove the serial bomber to embark on a terror-laden spree.
The Murder Squad
Hosts: Paul Holes and Billy Jensen
An interactive series of cold case reopenings led by Holes and Jensen, who possess major investigating chops. (Holes’ expertise helped catch the Golden State Killer; Jensen helped finish Michelle McNamara’s chilling book on the GSK, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, after her sudden death in 2016.) Come for the behavioral deep dives and modern-day detective strategies; stay for the invitation to be an amateur sleuth (seriously), per each episode’s stated assignment and code of conduct.
Running From Cops
Host: Dan Taberski
Six episodes detailing an 18-month analysis of hundreds of hours of Cops episodes (yes, that Cops). Taberski (of Missing Richard Simmons) interviews reality TV producers, ex-police officers, media critics, and people captured on both sides of the jittery, handheld Cops camera. He unpacks the wacky existence of a show that has had supersize influence on how millions interpret our justice system’s inner workings.
Unsolved: The Devil You Know
Host: Gina Barton
A 10-part spine-tingler about the mysterious slaying of Father Alfred Kunz, who was found murdered at the Catholic church and school where he worked in Dane, Wisconsin, in 1998. From Kunz’s strict traditionalism to alleged affairs with congregants to a close friendship with a waitress who had, uh, visions, Barton pulls at various threads of this twisty, Serial-like story to try and solve a still-unanswered question: Why was Kunz killed?
What Happened to Holly Bartlett
Host: Maggie Rahr
A stirring six-parter that digs deep into the suspicious death of 31-year-old Holly Bartlett, a blind woman found unconscious under a bridge in Halifax in 2010. For the past nine years, police have sworn there was never enough to suggest foul play (the case was actually ruled an accident within the first 72 hours)—but family, friends, and hired private detectives insist something fishy must have gone down and are still on the hunt for new evidence.
Criminal
Host: Phoebe Judge
An oldie but a goodie with bi-monthly episodes featuring interviews with those who have committed a crime, been the victim of a crime, or got stuck somewhere in between. Judge’s buttery-smooth radio voice never fails to captivate whether she’s discussing house hauntings, illegal lotteries, the witness protection program, sex work, bank heists, séances, even a famous dog kidnapping.
The Shrink Next Door
Host: Joe Nocera
Six episodes stitching together Nocera’s seven-plus years of exhaustive investigative work into his one-time psychiatrist neighbor, Isaac Steven Herschkopf. The fancy-schmancy New York City therapist hosted wild romps at his Hamptons estate, counseled (and partied with) celebrities—and blurred the lines between help and hurt as he took advantage of and isolated vulnerable patients. Talk about Dr. No-Good. The Apple series based on this featuring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd was released last November.
I’m O, The Oprah Magazine’s associate editor. I oversee the Live Your Best Life section, where we cover everything from pop culture happenings to social justice movements to the best in pet podcasting. I live in Brooklyn, write poetry, stan Kate Winslet, and make a killer risotto.
Aaron Radford-Wattley is the e-commerce and SEO Manager at Oprah Daily, where he oversees all things relating to commerce content, shopping, and search optimization. Aaron has over 15 years of experience in the media industry. Prior to joining the Oprah Daily team, he worked extensively in news media, digital marketing, fashion, and retail.
Watch Next
An Unexpected Remedy for Anxious Thoughts
Beyoncé Says Cécred Helps Her Maintain Blonde Hair
Princess Kate Shares Sweet Photo She Took of Louis
"GMA" Star Robin Roberts Shares Major Career News
