Break in the Case
In Season 3 of Break in the Case, we take you behind the scenes of one of NYPD’s most notorious cases from the 1990s, the New York Zodiac Copycat. From 1990 to 1996, a serial killer evades capture while sending taunting notes to the media and the police. For six years, detectives from the Zodiac Task Force follow every lead to the ground. And then, one day, a series of events brings them face to face with the Zodiac. Break in the Case is written and produced by the New York City Police Department and sponsored by the New York City Police Foundation.
Episodes
October 16, 2019 • 1 min
Welcome to Season One of Break in the Case: True Stories by NYPD Detectives. Starting October 29, 2019.
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October 29, 2019 • 28 mins
A gruesome discovery by a road crew in Washington Heights sends the 34th Precinct Detective Squad on a hunt for a little girl's identity.
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November 5, 2019 • 35 mins
Two years into the investigation, detectives are no closer to knowing Baby Hope's real name.
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November 13, 2019 • 52 mins
For two decades, detectives struggled with the Baby Hope case. One day, a tip was called in that changed everything.
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November 19, 2019 • 57 mins
For 22 years, detectives searched for the true name of the little girl they called "Baby Hope." Once they found it, it was eight days before they were face to face with her killer.
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December 3, 2019 • 47 mins
After hours of interrogation, the truth about what happened to Baby Hope is revealed.
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December 10, 2019 • 41 mins
Police find the severed body parts of a woman in South Brooklyn, and struggle to identify her. UPDATE: In 2022, the NYPD used familial DNA to identify the victim as Jennifer McAllister, from Gravesend, Brooklyn.
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August 31, 2021 • 1 min
Welcome back to Season 2 of Break in the Case! Listen as we follow the world’s greatest detectives to crime scenes—some which you may know, some which you certainly don’t. Episodes begin on September 9th and appear every other Thursday.
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September 9, 2021 • 25 mins
Just before midnight, on September 11, 2001, a man was gunned down on a street in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. His name was Henryk Siwiak. Despite the best efforts of a police department spread thin by a large-scale terrorist attack, the killer was never apprehended, and the case remains open to this day.
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September 23, 2021 • 15 mins
The dark web comprises a fraction of the internet. But illegal activity there is increasing. Threatening savings. Damaging peace of mind. In this episode, we’ll meet a detective who fights crime on the dark side, and find out how he moved from online to real life to nab a credit card fraudster.
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October 7, 2021 • 21 mins
It’s a race against the clock as detectives in the 6th Precinct investigate a series of assault and robbery cases with elderly victims. Here’s how they collared the man that was behind the crime spree.
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October 21, 2021 • 30 mins
In 2003, the Emergency Service Unit met their match when they discovered a 250-pound Bengal tiger in a man’s Harlem apartment. This is the story of Ming the Harlem Tiger, and the officers who responded.
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November 4, 2021 • 17 mins
In the early hours of December 11, 2012, Shalema Gaskin was on her way to visit her daughter at Brookdale Hospital in Brownsville, Brooklyn. It was four blocks away from her home, but she never made it there. She was found behind the hospital with a gunshot wound to the back of the neck. A couple of days later, Steven Evans was killed a mile away with the same gun. To this day, no tips have been called in for either case. Detective...
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December 16, 2021 • 25 mins
The night of August 26, 2006, a driver went on a six-hour shooting spree that left one person dead, four injured, and a trail of shattered glass and bullet-scarred vehicles across Queens. He shot at pedestrians and cars, and showed a preference for the color red in his targets. The Queens detectives, bosses, and cops who were working that night tell the harrowing story.
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February 10, 2022 • 43 mins
Season 2 concludes with the second and last episode of the Queens Sniper story. In Part 2, a suspect is in custody, and the case is upgraded to a homicide. The real work begins for the detectives and the Queens prosecutor as they collect evidence and build a counter-narrative to a potential insanity defense.
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April 15, 2022 • 32 mins
Anna Sorokin, also known as Anna Delvey, came to New York City from Germany in 2014 and quickly became a fixture in the downtown social scene. She claimed to be an heiress with a vast fortune. But she wasn’t quite what she said she was. In August 2017, she was indicted on an array of financial and fraud-based crimes, including Attempted Grand Larceny. In this special episode, the NYPD detective who led the investigation into Soroki...
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April 19, 2023 • 58 secs
Season 3 of Break in the Case goes behind the scenes of one of New York City's notorious cases from the 90s, The New York Zodiac Copycat. Look for new episodes every Tuesday beginning April 25, 2023.
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April 25, 2023 • 22 mins
It’s the summer of 1990, and crime in New York City is at an all-time high. Daily headlines bring fresh stories of random violence and stranger-on-stranger crime. Then, one day in June, someone calling himself “Zodiac” writes a disturbing letter to the New York Post. He claims to have killed three people in Brooklyn according to their astrological signs, and he promises to kill nine more. When the shootings check out, the NYPD form...
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May 2, 2023 • 24 mins
At Zodiac Task Force headquarters in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, tips pour in from across the city. Even the psychics get in on the action. After one of the victims dies from his wounds in the hospital, the case becomes a homicide.
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May 9, 2023 • 29 mins
In August, 1994, a new letter from the Zodiac lands on the front page of the New York Post. The Zodiac claims to have shot five more victims in 1992 and 1993, in the same geographic area as his first three shootings. A second Zodiac Task Force is formed. Detective Sergeant Joseph Herbert from the 75 Detective Squad focuses on the hard evidence: fingerprints, ballistics, and the Zodiac's letters.
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