In Search of Lost Crime

In a plotline that seems to come straight out of a Dan Brown movie, in 2011 a priceless medieval manuscript is stolen from the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. What follows is a web of bizarre twists and turns, blackmail, infighting, backstabbing, greed and... REVENGE.

 
On July 7th, 2011, cathedral organist Joaquín Barreira walks into Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, just before morning mass. One of the...

In a plotline that seems to come straight out of a Dan Brown movie, in 2011 a priceless medieval manuscript is stolen from the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. What follows is a web of bizarre twists and turns, blackmail, infighting, backstabbing, greed and... REVENGE.

 
On July 7th, 2011, cathedral organist Joaquín Barreira walks into Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, just before morning mass. One of the...

On January 11th, 2003, Maria Angels Ribot leaves work at the usual time. She parks her car in her usual parking space: number 15, on the fourth floor of Calle Beltran in the posh Putxet district of Barcelona. She walks to the elevator as usual.
But then something unusual happens: she suddenly sees a stranger step out of the shadows. That's strange, because to get into the parking garage you need a special key. How did this guy get ...

On January 11th, 2003, Maria Angels Ribot leaves work at the usual time. She parks her car in her usual parking space: number 15, on the fourth floor of Calle Beltran in the posh Putxet district of Barcelona. She walks to the elevator as usual.
But then she sees a stranger step out of the shadows. That's strange, because to get into the parking garage you need a special key. How did this guy get in here? More importantly: why is he...

On April 22nd, 1984, a man in his forties drives a white Mercedes to Estación de Francia, a busy railway station in Barcelona. He has three children in the car with him: five-year-old Ramón, four-year-old Ricard, and two-year-old Elvira. 

'Sit here for a moment,' the man tells the three. 'I'm just gonna go and get us some candy.'

Time ticks by, but the man never returns. No candy either. The t...

In 1979, one of the biggest criminals from the 1930s died quietly in a fancy apartment in Torremolinos. Alvin "Creepy" Karpis was behind countless bank robberies, kidnappings, and murders. For years, he was one of America's most wanted criminals with the FBI constantly on his tail. Karpis was also the prisoner who spent the longest time incarcerated at the infamous Alcatraz prison. In 1979, the police find his remains ...

In December 1928, a large crate arrives at Mediodía station in Madrid, nowadays known as Atocha Station.  The paperwork shows that the crate was sent from Barcelona on December 7 and has been sitting there for four and a half months, waiting for someone to pick it up. No one ever comes for it, so according to the rules, the station master will now open the crate and sell the contents.

As soon as they pull ...

In the early morning of July 15, 1915, sixteen-year-old Joaquín Barniello walks into the Finca de Malladas, a huge manor farm. The Count of Malladas's farm is one of the biggest employers around, mainly raising pigs. Joaquín works there as a seasonal worker. It's oddly quiet today. Joaquín kind of expected this, since even though there are usually about fifty people working on the farm, pretty much everyone's got the d...

In the early morning of July 15, 1915, sixteen-year-old Joaquín Barniello walks into the Finca de Malladas, a huge manor farm. The Count of Malladas's farm is one of the biggest employers around, mainly raising pigs. Joaquín works there as a seasonal worker. It's oddly quiet today. Joaquín kind of expected this, since even though there are usually about fifty people working on the farm, pretty much everyone's got the d...

On the night of April 11th, a priceless, 15th-century masterpiece is stolen from Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent. Thieves manage to run off with a side panel of the Ghent Altarpiece. What follows, reads like a crime novel: threatening letters, ransom demands, deathbed confessions, secret codes, international conspiracies, Templars, Nazis, the Holy Grail, murder and … a cheese theft.

Almost a hundred years af...

On the night of April 11th, a priceless, 15th-century masterpiece is stolen from Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent. Thieves manage to run off with a side panel of the Ghent Altarpiece. What follows, reads like a crime novel: threatening letters, ransom demands, deathbed confessions, secret codes, international conspiracies, Templars, Nazis, the Holy Grail, murder and … a cheese theft.

Almost a hundred years af...

On February 17, 1934, the lifeless body of King Albert I of Belgium was discovered at the foot of a peak in Marche-les-Dames. The king has a large head wound and has clearly been dead for some time. A climbing accident, according to the official sources. 

But before the king is even cold in his grave,  the first rumors start popping up. Why was the king out there, climbing alone in the mist? Why were his g...

The Ibis hotel on Avenida Kansas City in Sevilla may look like your average hotel. It has hot showers, friendly staff and cold, if indifferent, beer. What makes this hotel more memorable is that it comes with a built in Crime scene.

Every year on the 28th of February, all of Andalusia celebrates Andalusia Day and when they do they usually honour the father of the Andalusian idea, Blas Infante. Who was murdered almost a century ago,...

(Part 2 of 2)
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On  September 13th 1915 a Norwegian steamship comes across a drifting  herring lugger in the middle of the sea. The ship, from the Dutch port of Katwijk, has been dismantled, the crew is  singing hymns incessantly and on the deck they see... Pools of blood.
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The ship would go down in history as the Gekkenlogger, the Crazy Lugger, and in Katwijk they still prefer not to talk about it.
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What happened here? Was it...

(Part 1 of 2)
🐟
On  September 13th 1915 a Norwegian steamship comes across a drifting  herring lugger in the middle of the sea. The ship, from the Dutch port of Katwijk, has been dismantled, the crew is  singing hymns incessantly and on the deck they see... Pools of blood.
🐟
The ship would go down in history as the Gekkenlogger, the Crazy Lugger, and in Katwijk they still prefer not to talk about it.
🐟
What happened here? Was it...

Maria Catherina van der Linden-Swanenburg, also known as Goeie Mie, or 'Kind Mary', was a Dutch mass murderer who killed at least 27 people and was suspected of killing over 90. Mostly her own family memebers and her neighbours.

How did she get away with it for so long and what drove her to kill most of her family? And what is the delightful Dutch word for pin worms? 
Listen right now!

In Search of Lost Crime focuses on historical...

In the early morning of 21 April 1932, a gunshot rings out in a bungalow in the small Florida town of Coral Gables. The victim is a young man, one Haden Clarke and he appears to have committed suicide: he has left behind two letters for his housemates, aviation pioneers Jessie 'Chubbie' Miller and Captain Bill Lancaster.

But when the police find the diaries of Haden's roommate, Captain Bill, these shed a v...

In the early morning of 21 April 1932, a gunshot rings out in a bungalow in the small Florida town of Coral Gables. The victim is a young man, one Haden Clarke and he appears to have committed suicide: he has left behind two letters for his housemates, aviation pioneers Jessie 'Chubbie' Miller and Captain Bill Lancaster.

But when the police find the diaries of Haden's roommate, Captain Bill, these shed a v...

In the early morning of 21 April 1932, a gunshot rings out in a bungalow in the small Florida town of Coral Gables. The victim is a young man, one Haden Clarke and he appears to have committed suicide: he has left behind two letters for his housemates, aviation pioneers Jessie Chubbie Miller and Captain Bill Lancaster. But when the police find the diaries of Haden's roommate, Captain Bill, these shed a very different l...