Crime of the Truest Kind

Jolly Jane Toppin, a nurse in late 19th century Lowell, Massachusetts, became one of New England's most prolific serial killers, confessing to 31 murders and claiming responsibility for 100 deaths. Her story reveals how she used her position as a trusted caregiver to poison patients and family members while deriving sexual pleasure from watching them die.

The haunting legacy of "Jolly Jane" Toppin still echoes through Massachuse...

Veteran crime reporter Bob Ward of Boston 25 News joins me for a candid conversation about the recent online hysteria surrounding a New England serial killer after 12 people have been recovered around Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

Drawing from his nearly three decades as host of "New England's Unsolved," Bob shares the profound impact of covering cases like Theresa Corley's 1978 murder—a young woman ...

What do Auntie Em, Dropkick Murphys, Mr. Ballen, and HoJos have in common? We roll into Quincy for a look and a story. 

A Missing Mom Mystery. Sandra Crispo vanished from her Hanson, Massachusetts home on August 7, 2019. She left her beloved dog, Clarance, behind without food or water and her home unlocked with lights and air conditioning running. She was living her best life in her new home and spending quality hours with her young...

Justice is coming for Charline at last! News broke this week in her 16-year-old murder case. The first real hope for justice for Charline and her family. 

On Thursday, April 10, Middlesex County District Attorney Marion Ryan announced the arrest of Heinsky Anacreon, age 38, of Malden, Mass, who was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury on charges of murder, willfully misleading a police officer and willfully misleading...

The North Shore presents a postcard-perfect façade of historic towns and scenic coastline, beneath this charming exterior lies a darker history of unsolved mysteries that have haunted local communities for decades. During a sold-out live show at Off Cabot in Beverly, Massachusetts, we pulled back the curtain on cold cases that continue to echo through North Shore communites, revealing how justice finally arrived for Claire Gravel, ...

More from our sold out live in March. We have decades worth of unsolved mysteries and forgotten tragedies in our own backyards. In this continuation of our show at Off Cabot in Beverly, Mass, in March, we plunge into the case of Beryl Atherton—a 47-year-old schoolteacher brutally murdered in her Marblehead home during a 1950 Nor'easter, her throat cut in the sign of a cross. Decades later, her killer remains unidentified and h...

Elizabeth Short grew up in Medford, Massachusetts. Her story has the most brutal of endings. Elizabeth's death has been twisted and exploited for nearly eight decades, transforming a young woman searching for her place in the world into the infamous "Black Dahlia." Beyond the gruesome headlines lies a more poignant truth – Elizabeth was simply searching for belonging in post-war America when her life was brutally cut...

Elizabeth Short in life, The Black Dahlia in death. What do people really understand about the woman before she became the poster girl for true crime curiousities? Most know her as the Black Dahlia, but few know Elizabeth Short was a young woman whose life was marked by tragedy long before her brutal 1947 murder made headlines across America.

In part one, we separate fact from fiction in the life of Elizabeth Short, who wa...

Reina Carolina Morales Rojas was last seen on Saturday, November 26, 2022 when she left her apartment in her East Boston neighborhood. She was seen getting into a vehicle that was headed to Somerville - reportedly to a friend's house. She is believed to have entered that building on Alston St. That is the extent of what we know. But we didn't know it until she was missing for 45 days. The Boston Police Department would ev...

This is about the abuse of children by those who should be trusted figures. Listen with care.

Episode 78, part two of my conversation with Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, host of Open Investigation, the 9-part investigative podcast, and documentary filmmaker of "Have You Seen Andy?", we explore classism, child exploitation, and the vital role of advocacy in creating safer communities for all children and adult survivors of CSA...

This is about missing and murdered children. Listen with care.

In episode 77, Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, creator and host of Open Investigation, the 8-part investigative podcast, and documentary filmmaker of "Have You Seen Andy?" shares her story of her missing childhood friend, Andy Puglisi, and the new discoveries in his almost 50-year-old unsolved case.

Melanie recounts meeting Andy - the cute old...

This is about abuse, missing, and murdered children. Listen with care.

In preparation for Friday's new episode with Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, a replay of Andy Puglisi's case first released in June 2023, in two parts.
There are many updates to this story, despite it being a decades-long mystery.

Explore the haunting case of Andy Puglisi, a young boy who vanished from a public pool in 1976, spotligh...

This is about abuse, missing, and murdered children. Listen with care.

In preparation for Friday's new episode with Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, a replay of Andy Puglisi's case first released in June 2023, in two parts. There are many updates to this story, despite the  decades-long mystery.

In part one, we explore the haunting case of 10-year-old Andy Puglisi, the boy who vanished from his neighborhood, ...

In episode 76, I revisit the Attiin Shaw case in Washburn, Maine (I did an episode earlier this year with Brandie of Evaporate the Missing). I dug deeper into her story and those of two other Northern Maine missing people who've been in the news very recently - Stephanie Damron (New Sweden) and Erik Foote (Washburn). It's not good. It never is. 

Missing in Maine, three stories, and one town's involvement in a tragic o...

EP 75: The Vanishing of Tammy Belanger: A Dark Anniversary
This month marks the 40th anniversary of the disappearance of 8-year-old Tammy Belanger from Exeter, New Hampshire. Tammy’s story is one that many in Southern New Hampshire know all too well, but the dark truth behind her abduction is still haunting. In this episode, we explore the mystery of what happened to Tammy after she was last seen crossing the street on her usua...

North Shore Crime Cases was recorded live on October 10, 2024 at Off Cabot in Beverly, Mass. This bonus episode features questions from our audience in an open Q+A setting. Nothing was off limits.

Episode: https://www.crimeofthetruestkind.com/post/ep74northshorecases

Join us for a captivating journey through some of the North Shore of Massachusetts' most perplexing crime cases like that of Susan Taraskiewicz...

Our live shows have become something special. We have enjoyed hosting them and plan many more in the year ahead because it is important to share empathetic storytelling, to keep these stories alive as time passes and victims of these stories are being forgotten about. Special thanks to Sean and Stephanie and the Brodie family.

Episode page: https://www.crimeofthetruestkind.com/post/ep74northshorecases

Join us fo...

A true crime collaboration with the insightful and kind, Nina Innsted, creator and host of the Already Gone podcast. Together we explore the intricate world of missing persons cases, the truth about the rise of disturbing social media scams exploiting missing persons, grim realities faced by families of missing and murdered loved ones, and the critical need to strengthen resources and data to tell the whole story.

Nina co...

Bonus episode! A transcontinental true crime collaboration. And it's a real whodunit. Centuries later, the most notorious murder case in Massachusetts history is explored with our friends across the pond, Nicky and Lisa, hosts of The Red Rabbit Hole podcast. 

In part one of two, we unravel the infamous case of the Borden murders in Fall River, Massachusetts and the main - and only - suspect, the daughter, 32-year-old Lizzie Bor...