Criminal’s 50th Episode
To celebrate Criminal’s 50th episode, we asked host Phoebe Judge and producer Lauren Spohrer to share their favorite episodes. Phoebe writes: “Over the last two and a half years, we’ve learned that you should never walk into an interview thinking you know what you’ll get. We’re always amazed by how open people are to discussing horribly sad or strange periods in their lives. If anything, making Criminal has shown us that crime (like all things) is infinitely more interesting than it first appears, and that people are remarkably resilient.”
Check out their favorites below, and subscribe to the Criminal podcast in iTunes here.
Phoebe’s Favorite Episodes
Episode 4: Call Your Mom
There are plenty of things we don’t share with our mothers. Dark, sad things. Unless of course, you’re both in the business of death.
Episode 14: The Fifth Suspect
In June 2014, authorities released information about a massive child
pornography ring being conducted in North Carolina. Four suspects had
already been arrested, and the police were asking the public for help
finding a fifth suspect. But they didn’t need to look very hard — the
suspect was about to turn himself in, almost by accident.
Episode 23: Triassic Park
The Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona has the largest
collection of petrified wood in the world. The beautiful wood is more
than 200 million years old, and visitors to the park often take a
little piece home with them as a souvenir. But stealing the wood has
serious consequences, both legal and, some say, supernatural.
Lauren’s Favorite Episodes
Episode 25: The Portrait
More than eighty years ago, a North Carolina family of nine posed for
a Christmas portrait. Two weeks later, all but one of them had been
shot dead.
Episode 36: Perfect Specimen
The 500-year-old Treaty Oak in Austin, Texas was once called “the most
perfect specimen of a North American tree.” But in 1989, Austin’s city
forester realized that the Treaty Oak didn’t look so good, and began
to wonder whether someone had intentionally tried to kill it.
Episode 18: 695BGK
Police officer John Edwards was patrolling a quiet neighborhood in
Bellaire, Texas when he saw an SUV driven by two young
African-American men. It was just before 2am on December 31, 2008.
Edwards followed the SUV and ran the license plate number. His
computer indicated that the SUV was stolen, and Edwards drew his gun
and told the two men to get down on the ground. It wasn’t until later
that he realized he’d typed the wrong license plate number into his
computer. He was off by one digit. By the time he realized his
mistake, one of the men had already been shot in the chest at close
range.
Listen to Criminal by subscribing in Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you’ve already binged the show, check out the team’s other podcast, This Is Love.
Originally published at blog.prx.org on September 9, 2016.
