The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told

The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told

The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told S2 is an anthology of the most layered and engrossing true crime stories of female killers, cops, scientists, lawyers, scammers, activists, and more. Hosted by true crime writer, Mary Kay McBrayer, this podcast series tells stories at the intersection of society, justice, and the human psyche, siphoning wisdom and understanding from these truly great stories.

Episodes

August 23, 2025 • 2 mins

Law & Order: Criminal Justice System is back with Season Two, turning its focus to a threat that hides in plain sight, harder to predict and even harder to stop: terrorism. Hear the real stories from those who lived it, worked it, and risked everything to confront it.

Listen here and subscribe to Law & Order: Criminal Justice System S2 on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!

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In this episode, we look all the way back to seventeenth century Scotland, to Jenny Geddes and her revolutionary acts. It's the story of the butterfly effect, the impact one voice can have on a nation, and empires' intent on controlling us. 

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This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Check out more of her work at www.mar...

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July 22, 2025 • 57 mins

In this episode, we examine the story of Sarah Cornell, a young Methodist textile worker who was the inspiration for Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. The difference, of course, is that Hester Prynne wasn’t murdered. And she certainly didn’t kill herself.

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July 15, 2025 • 41 mins

In this episode, we look at the underground world of Sister Ping. It's a story about desperation, ambition, and the shadowy world of human smuggling. It’s about the lengths people will go in search of a better life—and those who build their empires by making that journey possible.

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In this episode, a woman comes back from the dead to solve her own murder, something beyond the realm of what most people consider possible. And yet, the story of Teresita Basa was credible enough to appear in a U.S. court of law, come before a judge and jury, and send a man to jail for murder. 

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This series is hosted by M...

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July 1, 2025 • 37 mins

In this episode, we examine the story of Rebecca Vance: one of a mother’s misdirected love, the line between self-determination and mental illness, and the way conspiracy theories can compel us to make very dangerous decisions, even in the name of safety. 

 

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This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Chec...

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June 24, 2025 • 34 mins

In this episode, we look at the story of an ordinary suburban mom, Diane Schuler, who did something extraordinarily terrible. And how the people who were left to pick up the pieces found themselves asking the same question over and over again, why?

 

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This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Check out more of her work a...

June 17, 2025 • 43 mins

In this episode, we look at the collegiate tragedy of Sinedu Tedesse: friendship gone wrong, the limits of human ambition, and the dark underbelly of the American dream. Because the thing they don’t tell you about having your greatest dream come true, is what to do with yourself afterwards. 

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In this episode, we look at the sprawling career and casework of Gloria Allred. She’s an icon who’s been involved in so many major legal cases, OJ, Bill Cosby, the fight for gay marriage, priest abuse cases and AIDS discrimination. She’s seen it all. She’s been practicing law for nearly fifty years, and in that time she’s been a hero, a villain, and everything in between. 

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In this third of three parts, we look the troubled life of Susie Newsom Lynch. A story steeped in paranoia and deceit, it has everything you need from a southern gothic tale.

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This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Check out more of her work at www.marykaymcbrayer.com.

This episode was written by Mary Kay McBrayer

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In this second of three parts, we look the troubled life of Susie Newsom Lynch. A story steeped in paranoia and deceit, it has everything you need from a southern gothic tale.

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• Explore more: diversionaudio.com 

This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Check out more of her work at www.marykaymcbrayer.com.

This episode was written by Mary Kay McBrayer<...

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In this first of three parts, we look the troubled life of Susie Newsom Lynch. A story steeped in paranoia and deceit, it has everything you need from a southern gothic tale.

• Follow Diversion Audio on Instagram 

• Explore more: diversionaudio.com 

This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Check out more of her work at www.marykaymcbrayer.com.

This episode was written by Mary Kay McBrayer

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May 13, 2025 • 32 mins

In the second of two parts, we look at the fallout of Coco Chanel's relations with Nazis during their rule over Paris in WW2.  

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This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Check out more of her work at www.marykaymcbrayer.com.

This episode was written by Mary Kay McBrayer

Developed by Scott Waxman, Emma...

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May 6, 2025 • 25 mins

In this bonus episode, we look into the mysterious lore behind Shakespeare's 'Weyward Sisters" from Macbeth. Did you know those three women, the weird sisters, the three witches who prophesied Macbeth’s ascendance… did you know those women really existed?

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This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Check out mo...

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May 6, 2025 • 39 mins

In this first of two parts, we examine the lives, public and private, of Coco Chanel in the wake of the France's fall in WW2. Though all had to make due with the new conditions, Coco fared better than others in this new life. 

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This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Check out more of her work at www.marykaymcbrayer.com....

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April 29, 2025 • 46 mins

In this episode, we dive into the infamous Gold Club, Atlanta's premiere strip club in the 1990s. It’s the story of some of the most beautiful and clever women in the world, and the men who manipulated them to become accomplices in wide scale, mafia-funded fraud.

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This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Check out more o...

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April 22, 2025 • 36 mins

In this episode, we look at the story of a Family Business, the Lamb Family Funeral Home… which wanted to be a booming business so badly that they allegedly circumvented a lot of laws, and even more ethics, for their profits. 


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This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Check out more of her work at www.mary...

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April 15, 2025 • 43 mins

In part two of two, we dive further into the tales of Cassie Chadwick. She ended up pulling one of the most elaborate cons in American history, securing her legacy alongside the upper-class she so coveted. Stay tuned until the end of the episode for an interview with author of 'The Impostor Heiress: Cassie Chadwick, The Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age', Annie Reed!


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In part one of two, we take a look at the story of a woman who wanted into east coast high society… and got there. Cassie Chadwick went by many names to cover her tracks, but ended up pulling one of the greatest cons in American history, securing her legacy alongside the upper-class she so coveted.


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This series is host...

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In this episode we take a look at Letitzia Batagliga, an acclaimed photojournalist from Palermo, whose stories and art helped legislators end the Cosa Nostra as we know it. 


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This series is hosted by Mary Kay McBrayer. Check out more of her work at www.marykaymcbrayer.com.

This episode was written by Mary Kay McBr...

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