January’s 5 best new true-crime podcasts
Since the release of “Serial” in 2014, the true-crime podcast genre has exploded, giving way to global successes like “Crime Junkie” and “Morbid” in a relatively short span of time.
While the true-crime genre as a whole definitely has its critics — who rightfully point out that some media can exploit victims and glamorize criminals — it can also help bring attention to unsolved cases and advocate for victims’ rights. One “Crime Junkie” episode recently helped exonerate a man wrongfully convicted of murder.
Here are five of the best true-crime podcasts that have been released this month.
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True crime podcasts of January 2024
1. The Godmother
History is full of forgotten figures, but “The Godmother” seeks to ensure Eunice Carter, one of the first Black women to become a prosecutor in the United States, is remembered for her work.
This new iHeartPodcasts series premiered on Jan. 14 and details the life and legacy of Carter, who was responsible for taking down notorious gangster Lucky Luciano in the 1930s when she served as the state of New York’s assistant district attorney.
The first three episodes of “The Godmother” are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the iHeart website.
2. Cover Up: Body Brokers
If you’ve ever read “Stiff,” you know that the life of a human cadaver is not nearly as uneventful as one might expect. However, no one in the small town of Montrose, Colorado, expected the mother-daughter duo that ran the local funeral home was participating in criminal activity, selling body parts of the deceased they were meant to preserve.
This new podcast from The Binge covers the shocking story of Megan Hess and Shirley Koch, “body brokers” who sold parts of the bodies they were meant to be cremating without authorization from the deceased’s families.
The first four episodes of “Body Brokers” are available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
3. Murder 101
Citizen detective work is often seen as ineffective, but in the case of a high school teacher who invited his students to study a local cold case, it actually led to the discovery of a serial killer.
Alex Campbell, a teacher in a small town in Tennessee, gave the students in his sociology class an unusual assignment: to investigate a slew of local murders from the 1980s that had never been solved. The students got to work investigating and interviewing and actually identified the killer. However, although the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations agrees with the students’ findings, it has not yet filed charges against the suspect, The 74 reports.
This iHeartPodcasts series covers the students’ investigation and their current efforts to bring the killer to justice. Three episodes are out now and available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the iHeart website.
4. Catching the Kingpins
This six-part BBC series covers one of the biggest busts made by the UK’s Metropolitan Police. Featuring hackers, drugs and the criminal underworld, the podcast explores how Met Police were able to infiltrate an encrypted phone network used by criminals.
The first three episodes are available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and all six are available on the BBC website.
5. January 6th: An American Story
Three years after the attack on the United States Capitol, the events of that day and the people involved remain in the public spotlight. This six-part podcast from Our Body Politic addresses the attack and its lasting impact by exploring the perspectives of those investigating its perpetrators.
The podcast’s website explains that many of the investigators on the official January 6th Committee are people of color, and “January 6th: An American Story” seeks to uncover their experiences and how they shaped their leadership and investigation.
All six episodes are available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
