Tiffany Dover · Scamfluencers · Morbid
Everything you need to know about the state of true crime podcasts
the true crime that's worth your time
Happy Friday, friends! For our weekend pleasure, I’m running down all the true crime podcast news that’s crossed our desk the last couple weeks. We’ve got industry gossip, back stories, and a lot to listen to. Let’s get into it! — EB
The weird story behind true-crime podcast ‘Tiffany Dover is Dead*’ [Fast Company]
What if a real-life murder mystery is actually a bunch of junk? That’s the point of Truthers: Tiffany Dover is Dead, a podcast about a Tennessee nurse who was interviewed on local broadcast after getting the COVID-19 vaccination last year. She fainted during the interview, spurring a false online claims that the was killed by the vaccination and the world was conspiring to cover it up. That’s not true, host and misinformation Brandy Zadrozny makes clear in the new podcast.
In a Q&A with FC, she says that the conspiracy claim “is so stupid. This is a person who is alive. This is— I don’t think I’m spoiling it by saying it—really easily verified. The fact that it’s had such staying power, even though it’s so easily refutable, that’s wild to me.” The first two episodes dropped on April 18, and are available on all the usual apps. — EB
‘Morbid’ Podcast Network Inks Exclusive Ad Sales, Distribution Deal With Wondery, Amazon Music [The Hollywood Reporter]
The podcast network behind Morbid: A True Crime Podcast, a show that isn’t to my taste but might be to yours, is the latest to hop on the Amazon train. That means episodes will be on Amazon-owned Wondery and the Amazon Music app for a week before they appear everywhere else, and its ads will be Amazon ones.
It also means hosts Alaina Urquhart and Ashleigh Kelley will create an additional episode a week, which means listeners will get three eps weekly. Ugh, I can barely keep up with the shows that do one episode a week! — EB
Scamfluencers Is The Podcast For Scammer Obsessives [Nylon]
This is a new Wondery show that launched earlier this month, and it’s about “epic stories of deception from the worlds of social media, fashion, finance, health, and wellness.” I have been saving this one for this weekend (I have a lot of driving) but the concept alone gets my heart racing — here’s hoping it lives up to its promise. If you’re listening now (it’s three episodes in), what do you think? — EB
Apple debuts a new true crime standalone original podcast called ‘Run, Bambi, Run’ [TechCrunch]
I’d forgotten that Apple was getting into the original podcast game, but here’s my reminder. This is an eight-part series from Vanessa Grigoriadis/Campside Media (which has an OK track record) about, well, here’s Apple’s description:
Laurie Bembenek was a Milwaukee police officer and Playboy Club bunny before being arrested for the murder of her husband’s ex-wife, a crime she insisted she did not commit. Nicknamed “Bambi Bembenek,” she became a tabloid fixation, a feminist cause célèbre and, after she escaped from prison, an American folk hero, though she was never exonerated. Journalist and Campside Media co-founder Vanessa Grigoriadis takes a fresh look at the case Diane Sawyer called the “most glamorous murder case of the 1980s.”
As always, Wikipedia has more on the case. The show is three episodes into its run, and though it’s from Apple, you can find it on all the apps. — EB
‘Stalking is a unique kind of trauma’: The woman who turned her 13-year ordeal into a terrifying podcast [Guardian]
The podcast in question is Stories of the Stalked, an Audible-only podcast (side note: Amazon, you own Amazon Music, Wondery and Audible; all have different content and access rules. Get it together, bro. Also, stop blocking unionization efforts and double parking in the bike lane. Thanks.) from filmmaker Lily Baldwin. Back in 2009, Baldwin was a backup dancer for David Byrne; that’s where an unnamed stalker (referred to as “X”) noticed her and harassed her for the next 13 years. Here’s where to get creeped out:
Baldwin also interviews an intelligence expert in the first episode, revealing to the audience that “X” is still out there and Stories of the Stalked may be the catalyst for increased activity from him, which shows how her story – like many women’s – does not yet have an ending.
The show is only three episodes long, each between 33-44 minutes. It’s only on Audible, but I am sure you can work access to that platform out. — EB
Introducing: Sympathy Pains [Podchaser]
Our understanding is that Best Evidence reader Liz is featured on the third episode of this show about Sarah Delashmit, the subject of Elle longread “A Sick Scam” and alleged health-crisis fraudster. Here’s the description, from production company iHeart:
Hosted by Laura Beil (Dr. Death, Bad Batch), Sympathy Pains is a six-part series from Neon Hum Media and iHeartRadio. For 20 years, Sarah Delashmit told people around her that she had cancer, muscular dystrophy, and other illnesses. She used a wheelchair and posted selfies from a hospital bed. She told friends and coworkers she was trapped in abusive relationships, or that she was the mother of children who had died. It was all a con. Sympathy was both her great need and her powerful weapon. But unlike most scams, she didn’t want people’s money. She was after something far more valuable.
Liz, if you have anything to add, you know what to do:
For everyone else, the show is on all the usual apps, and is only four episodes in. — EB
How one true crime podcast is reminding Omaha to 'stay Heartland kind, but darkland weary' [KETV 7]
Heartland Darkland launched last month with an ambitious goal: to cover “all things true crime, paranormal and unexplained in the Heartland of the United States.” The show’s doing well enough to get some local news coverage, and is clearly well-intended. It’s seven episodes in, and functions nicely as the type of cozy, “friends talking about a crime” type of show that — for many folks here — was likely their gateway podcast to this entire genre. — EB
WNYC Launches Dead End Podcast [Radio Ink]
I was recently quoted in a story about WNYC, but we’re not here to talk about that — this podcast, which drops on April 26, is “a seven-part investigative series about the unsolved killing of John and Joyce Sheridan.” John Sheridan was a former New Jersey Transportation Commissioner, Chris Christie pal and big Republican donor; he and wife Joyce were found stabbed and dead in 2014 inside their burning Skillman, New Jersey home.
Officials said it was a murder-suicide, but the Sheridans’ son Mark and WNYC Senior Reporter Nancy Solomon launched an investigation to see “how the deaths of such a politically-connected couple could be ignored by top law enforcement agencies and left unresolved.” It’s available for early subscription via all the usual apps. — EB
Next week on Best Evidence: Marthas and Mormons!
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