True Crime Obsessed

In 2006, three Duke University lacrosse players were accused of rape. The men were presumed guilty by the much of school's student body, the faculty, and when the story became national news, the country. If convicted, the accused men faced decades of mandatory jail time without the possibility of parole. The District Attorney who was trying the case was determined to put them away at all cost and was willing to break the law to do it. But the men were innocent. The victim had lied. The question was, would the men be able to prove. It. In related-ish news. These lacrosse players had the filthiest bathroom on Earth. There is photographic evidence. And we go in on it. Because it’s disgusting. Have you heard? We're covering "Serial" episode-by-episode via our Patreon feed! Check it out! You'll also find hilarious extended outtakes from recent episodes, 2 other full bonus episodes, and 7 mini episodes! Join our Patreon community today and see what everyone is talking about! NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE: Author: The J

Kate Logan, an Evangelical missionary, was in The Dominican Republic on a break from her second year of film school when she stumbled upon  Escuela Caribe, an American-operated, faith-based reform school that aims to "cure" teens of homosexuality and purge "ungodly" influences though "Christian milieu therapy." She set out to document the 'good work' the school was doing, but quickly realized that the kids she was documenting were in serious danger at the hands of their 'house fathers.' Kate then embarks on a year long journey of helping one of the students, David, escape.

There really aren't words to describe how much both Gillian and Patrick hated this film. H.A.T.E.D. Also, they both agree, this MIGHT be their best episode. These ladies are hilarious when they're furious.  Whatever, Garbage Bert meets Linda. He's disgusting, she's gorgeous. He's also insane, she's basically normal. He's rich, she likes him for his money and they date. But then she finds out that he's married. She finds someone else and he hires two guys to THROW ACID IN HER FACE. She's scarred and blinded. He goes to jail. But after he gets out her GARBAGE FRIENDS decide TO SET THEM UP ON A DATE (Like, I can't) and after five months THEY GET ENGAGED. And then THEY GET MARRIED.  Fine, whatever, they deserve each other.  Did you hear? We're covering 'Serial' episode-by-episode via our Patreon feed! Our first episode is live now! Check it out and join our Patreon community here!

YOU GUYS!! Our new podcast, "My So-Called Podcast" is live! It's hilarious and fun--it's TCO for "My So-Called Life." HEAR OUR TRAILER HERE! And e'd love for you to check out our episodes! Find "My So-Called Podcasts wherever you get your podcasts!

We've been keeping a secret from you. We haven't liked it. But it's time for us to come out about the fact that WE'RE MAKING A PODCAST ABOUT MY SO CALLED LIFE! It's called "MY SO-CALLED PODCAST" and you're going to love it. Imagine the format of True Crime Obsessed, but for "My So-Called Life"--all the flannel, floppy hair, drama, under aged drinking, and JORDAN CATALANO! Listen to this teaser and then go wherever you get your podcasts to listen to the full promo! And subscribe! We love you, that's why we're asking you to, like, join us on this journey....or whatever. You can also stream the promo here!

As Gillian Says: "this is 'My Kid Could Paint That,' but with wine, meets 'The Queen of Versailles.' And I hated it."  Rudy Kurniawan has charisma, pockets full of cash, and an uncanny memory for vintages. He earns the reputation of a wine savant by surrounding himself with some of high society’s most fervent wine connoisseurs. But when Bill Koch – a top US collector – and Laurent Ponsot – a Burgundian wine producer – discover suspicious bottles, a humorous and suspenseful investigation begins into one of the most ingenious cons of our time. Join our Patreon community to check out our 2 commercial-free full bonus episodes and our 7 mini episodes! And we're adding more content every week!

How not Awesome would it be if a group of weirdo Nazis tried to take over your town? That's exactly what happened to the 24 (yes twenty four) residents of Leith, North Dakota.  As you might have guessed,the bad-ass residents of Leith were not having it and an all out war was waged to run the Nazis out of town. Maybe they shouldn't have been Nazis, you know? Join our Patreon community to find our monthly full bonus episodes and our weekly mini episodes! Later this week we'll be dropping full bonus episode number 2--"Madonna: Truth or Dare." We are on record that this might be the funniest episode we've ever made! You can join our Patreon Community here!

The hero bell and the garbage bell both got a workout with this one... "How To Survive A Plague" is a riveting, powerful telling of the story of the grassroots movement of activists, many of them in a life-or-death struggle, who seized upon scientific research to help develop the drugs that turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Ignored by public officials, religious leaders, and the nation at large, and confronted with shame and hatred, this small group of men and women chose to fight for their right to live by educating themselves and demanding to become full partners in the race for effective treatments. Around the globe, 16 million people are alive today thanks to their efforts. Be sure to check out the hilarious bonus content we're creating via Patreon! We have a whole bunch of mini episodes--we upload at least one per week--and one FULL Bonus episode all about the bat shit doc "The Queen of Versailles." Our next FULL bonus episode will be out within the next few days and i

It's a sports doc…but stick with us, you guys, it's also super murderey. When billionaire John Du Pont decides to build the United States' premiere wrestling training facility on his property in Pennsylvania, he attracts the sport's top athletes and coaches to come live and train there. As the athletes and their families begin to create an idyllic 'sports utopia,' Du Pont devolves into a state of constant paranoia. As his mental state deteriorates and goes unchecked, Du Pont becomes suspicious and distrustful of the athletes who've come to depend on him--a combination that results in a brutal and senseless murder. For even more TCO, find our weekly bonus mini episodes and our monthly Full Bonus Episodes on our Patreon page!

A decade after making the documentary film “Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer” about serial killer Aileen Wuornos, director Nick Broomfield was subpoenaed as a witness for Aileen’s final appeal in overturning her death sentence. When he became a participant in Aileen’s legal fight, Broomfield decided made this new documentary which looks at Aileen's violent, tortured childhood in Troy, Michigan and her subsequent years on the road as a hitch-hiking prostitute which culminated in her committing seven murders in the span of one year. For the documentary, Aileen granted Broomfield exclusive interviews in order to share her side of the story—conspiracy theories and all—as she prepared to be executed.  YOU GUYS! Our very first full bonus episode will be available via Patreon THIS WEEK! We're covering "The Queen of Versailles," a completely bonkers doc about a family of billionaires who begin construction on the biggest home in America just before the economy tanked in 2009. BTW, Gillian HATED this d

Kidnapping! Murder! Swindling Rich People! Fancy Art Shenanigans! This one has it all. Christian Gerhartsreiter, a man eventually known as "Clark Rockefelle," lived a life of deception; the FBI called it "the longest-running con in FBI history." After ingratiating himself into New York society and marrying a top banker with a Harvard MBA, "Clark" settled into his new luxurious life. The two had a daughter before they divorced after 13 years. When his wife won custody, a distraught Clark abducted his beloved daughter. Ironically, it was the search for the missing child that not only exposed a web of lies and multiple identities, but a double murder committed decades earlier .  Check out our Patreon where you'll find mini bonus episodes (2 there now!), monthly bonus full episodes (first one coming this week!), exclusive videos (we're gonna watch Unsolved Mysteries and talk about it) and more! Join our Patreon Community!

On August 1, 1966, a sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the iconic University of Texas Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes in what was a previously unimaginable event. Based entirely on first person testimonies from witnesses, heroes, and survivors, TOWER combines archival footage with rotoscopic animation to tell the story of that day. The film highlights the fear, confusion, and visceral realities that changed the lives of those present, and the rest of us, forever - a day when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others. For this one, you guys, the garbage bell is magically transformed into the hero bell. And there's a whole lot of dinging.

A four-year-old girl, whose paintings are compared to Kandinsky, Pollock, and even Picasso, has sold $300,000 dollars worth of paintings. Is she a genius of abstract expressionism, a tiny charlatan, or an exploited child whose parents have sold her out for the glare of the media and the lure of the almighty dollar? This one's a dozy, but hey, nobody gets murdered! Do you know someone who would love TCO? Tweet them and us (@truecrimeobsess) using  #GetObsessed and let us playfully harass them until the check us out! This week's sponsor is Songfinch and Patrick is OBSESSED! This week's palate cleanser is the song Patrick had Songfinch write for Daisy's 4th birthday. If you love it, tweet them (@Sonfinch) and tell them that you heard it on TCO

BEWARE THE SLENDERMAN tells the story of the internet's elusive Boogeyman and two 12-year-old girls who would kill for him. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier lured their best friend into the woods, stabbed her 19 times, then set out on an odyssey to meet the tall and faceless man known online as Slenderman. Shot over 18 months with heartbreaking access to the families of the would-be murderers, the film plunges deep down the rabbit hole of their crime, a Boogeyman. and our society's most impressionable consumers of media. The entrance to the internet can quickly lead us to its dark basement, within just a matter of clicks. How much do we hold children responsible for what they find there? Find all of our episodes at our website and follow us on twitter!

Strangeness is afoot. Most people don't notice the hundreds of cryptic tiled messages about resurrecting the dead that have been appearing in city streets over the past three decades. But Justin Duerr does. For years, finding an answer to this long-standing urban mystery has been his obsession. He has been collecting clues that the tiler has embedded in the streets of major cities across the U.S. and South America. But as Justin starts piecing together key events of the past he finds a story that is more surreal than he imagined, and one that hits disturbingly close to home.

In the 1960s, Gerald Foos bought a motel in Colorado, furnished the rooms with louvered vents that allowed him to spy on his guests, and kept a journal of their sexual encounters and more (including maybe a murder?). Over the course of 30 years, celebrated writer Gay Talese coxes Gerald’s story out of him and finally convinces Gerald to let him publish it. But when the story gets out, questions are raised and nothing is as it seems.

The world couldn't keep its eyes off two athletes at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer - Nancy Kerrigan, the elegant brunette and Tonya Harding, the feisty blonde engulfed in scandal. Just weeks before the Olympics on January 6, 1994 at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Kerrigan was stunningly clubbed on the right knee by an unknown assailant and left wailing, "Why, why, why?" As the bizarre "why" mystery unraveled, it was revealed that Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, had plotted the attack with his misfit friends to literally eliminate Kerrigan from the competition. Now two decades later, The Price of Gold takes a fresh look at the worldwide spectacle that elevated the popularity of professional figure skating and has Harding still facing questions over what she knew when she knew it.

Meet Joyce McKinney, a former Miss Wyoming with an IQ of 168. 30 years ago, she fell in love with a young Mormon named Kirk. When Kirk disappeared and then turned up a few months later in the UK, Joyce was convinced he’d been kidnapped and was being held against his well. Determined to get him back, Joyce set off on a journey that would lead her across the globe, into jail, and onto the front pages of the most popular tabloids of the time. Her crusade for love took her through a surreal world of kidnapping, manacled Mormons, risqué photography, magic underwear, and celestial sex. Oh AND to the 1977 after party for the film “Saturday Night Fever.” “Tabloid,” directed by the genius Errol Morris, is a portrayal of a phenomenally driven woman whose romantic obsessions and delusions catapult her over the edge into scandal, fame, and an unimaginable life.

It's not what you think. After stumbling upon a bizarre "competitive endurance tickling" video online, wherein young men are paid to be tied up and tickled, reporter David Farrier reaches out to request a story from the company. But the reply he receives is shocking-the sender mocks Farrier's sexual orientation and threatens extreme legal action should he dig any deeper. So, like any good journalist confronted by a bully, he does just the opposite: he travels to the hidden tickling facilities in Los Angeles and uncovers a vast empire, known for harassing and harming the lives of those who protest their involvement in these films. The more he investigates, the stranger it gets, discovering secret identities and criminal activity. Discovering the truth becomes Farrier's obsession, despite increasingly sinister threats and warnings. With humor and determination, Farrier and co-director Dylan Reeve summon up every resource available to get to the bottom of this tickling worm hole.

Who killed Marsha P. Johnson? When the beloved, self-described "street queen" of NY's gay ghetto was found floating in the Hudson River in 1992, the NYPD chalked it up as a suicide and refused to investigate. But Marsha was a lover of life and many who knew her refused to believe she would have taken her own life. Now, a quarter century later, at a time of unprecedented visibility and escalating violence in the transgender community, Marsha's old friend and fellow activist Victoria Cruz has taken it upon herself to reexamine what happened to Marsha. Dipping deep into jaw-dropping archival footage of another era of New York City life, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson follows as this champion pursues leads, mobilizes officials, and works to tell the story of Marsha's life and get to the bottom of Marsha's death.