Forensic Tales
Not all stories have happy endings... A weekly true crime podcast with a forensic twist. Each episode features real stories highlighting how forensic science was used. From fingerprinting to criminal profiling to familial DNA, we have every investigative angle covered.
Episodes
April 28, 2025 • 53 mins
#278 - December 12, 1985. St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. A quiet morning was shattered by gunfire. Forty-five-year-old mother of four, Yvonne Menke, was found shot to death outside her apartment—one bullet to the neck, two to the back of the head. The killer vanished, leaving behind only footprints in the snow and a trail of unanswered questions.
For decades, the case went cold. No arrests. No justice. But in 2021, a renewed investiga...
Mark as Played
April 21, 2025 • 53 mins
#277 - In August 1975, 8-year-old Gretchen Harrington left her parent’s house in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, heading to summer vacation Bible school class. The church was less than a mile up the road, and she had walked it many times in the past, but something about this morning was different. Gretchen never made it.
Two months later, her remains were found by a jogger in Ridley Creek State Park. Next to the remains were her ne...
Mark as Played
April 14, 2025 • 45 mins
#276 - In October 1981, a 30-year-old single mother living in Carmel, California, was brutally murdered in her own home. She was found strangled to death, and the case shocked the quiet, upscale community of Carmel. For many years, there were few leads, and the case went cold. But in 2020, thanks to advancements in DNA technology, investigators were able to link DNA from the scene to a promising suspect.
Support
If you love the s...
Mark as Played
April 7, 2025 • 51 mins
#275 - Throughout the early 1990s, Phoenix, Arizona, was terrorized by a series of violent crimes, including the murders of two young women. The crimes went unsolved for decades, and the man responsible remained unidentified. By the time the police caught up to him, he had a new persona and was hiding in plain sight. But besides the two victims he would eventually be charged with murdering, are there any more innocent victims out t...
Mark as Played
March 31, 2025 • 44 mins
#274 - In October 1986, a 29-year-old nurse and mother was found dead inside her Polk County, Florida home. The attack was so vicious that it left her nearly decapitated.
Despite the tremendous amount of DNA evidence left behind at the crime scene, investigators were unable to identify her killer for over three decades. But just when everyone thought they had hit a roadblock in the investigation, the authorities got the clue they ...
Mark as Played
March 24, 2025 • 64 mins
#273 - The death of UK spy Gareth Williams in 2010 has become one of the most high-profile unsolved mysteries in years after his naked body was discovered padlocked inside a duffel bag. Described as a genius mathematician who the intelligence service had recruited, Gareth’s exact cause of death remains unknown, and people can’t agree whether he could have locked himself in there on his own or whether someone else was responsible.
...
Mark as Played
March 17, 2025 • 42 mins
#272 - In February 1979, 17-year-old high school student Esther Gonzalez was attacked while walking from her parent’s house to her sister’s home in Riverside County, California. The following day, her body was found dumped in a snowpack near a highway. Without any solid leads or suspects, the case went cold for more than 45 years until the police were able to use new DNA testing to find her killer.
Support
If you love the show, t...
Mark as Played
March 10, 2025 • 56 mins
#271 - In the summer of 1987, a young bartender from Green Bay, Wisconsin, goes missing, only to turn up dead hours later. The police interviewed dozens of people, including the customers who were at the bar with the victim the night before. Almost all of them said they noticed a strange man hanging around the bar wearing a flannel shirt despite temperatures above 90 degrees that day. It wasn’t until years later that the police arr...
Mark as Played
March 3, 2025 • 49 mins
#270 - In September 2002, two women were found dead inside the Dolly Madison bakery in Great Bend, Kansas. They were 24-year-old Mandi Alexander and 79-year-old Mary Drake.
Even after years of investigating and the discovery of foreign DNA on one of the victims, the case of the Dolly Madison murders is still unsolved today. How might new advancements in forensic science solve these awful murders?
Support
If you love the show, th...
Mark as Played
February 24, 2025 • 43 mins
#269 - Over 40 years ago, Susan Schwarz was found bound and shot to death inside her own Washington home. At first, the police suspected this was somehow a robbery gone wrong. But over the years, that theory fizzled out, and they began looking at someone very close to the victim.
However, without any forensic evidence linking him to the crime, would there be enough evidence to send an accused killer to prison?
Support
If you love...
Mark as Played
February 17, 2025 • 42 mins
#268 - A 78-year-old grandmother was found dead inside her Salt Lake City, Utah, home in February 1991. But for years, her brutal murder baffled investigators. Who would want to kill an elderly lady inside her very own home?
The case remained a mystery for two decades until investigators got the clue needed from a very unlikely source: A children’s Lego piece.
Support
If you love the show, the easiest way to show your support is...
Mark as Played
February 10, 2025 • 44 mins
#267 - In April 2005, 25-year-old Janet Abaroa was discovered stabbed to death inside her North Carolina home - she had been found by her husband, Raven. Nothing else in the home was disturbed, and the couple’s 6-month-old son, Kaiden, was found unharmed in another bedroom. The question of who killed Janet became a mystery that quickly captivated the Durham, North Carolina, community. Despite its popularity, the case has remained u...
Mark as Played
February 3, 2025 • 46 mins
#266 - It’s a case that haunted the authorities for decades. A woman is stabbed to death a total of 65 times inside her Minneapolis apartment. Although the scene overflowed with physical and forensic evidence, the case eventually turned cold. It wasn’t until the police collected DNA from a hot dog napkin that they finally got the break they had hoped for.
Support
If you love the show, the easiest way to show your support is by le...
Mark as Played
January 27, 2025 • 52 mins
#265 - A beautiful young nursing student is abducted from her parent's house in Tennessee, sparking a nationwide manhunt. But even after six people are arrested, is there enough forensic evidence to explain exactly what happened to Holly Bobo?
Support
If you love the show, the easiest way to show your support is by leaving us a positive rating with a review. You can also tell your family and friends about Forensic Tales.
Patreon ...
Mark as Played
January 20, 2025 • 51 mins
#264 - In January 1993, seven people were shot and killed inside a Brown’s Chicken fast-food restaurant in Chicago, becoming one of the deadliest mass shootings in the area at the time. For years, the case was cold, with very few leads. It wasn’t until evidence collected from a trash can at the crime scene was tested that investigators finally got a break.
Support
If you love the show, the easiest way to show your support is by ...
Mark as Played
January 13, 2025 • 51 mins
#263 - On February 2nd, 2008, a man posing as a delivery driver walked into a Lane Bryant clothing store in a Chicago suburb with a gun. He ordered the six women inside the store to the back room, where he duct-taped their hands behind their backs and eventually shot all of them. Despite a massive manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies, the shooter remains at large.
Support
If you love the show, the easiest way to sh...
Mark as Played
January 6, 2025 • 42 mins
#262 - In the spring of 1975, 16-year-old Sharron Prior left her mom’s house to meet up with her boyfriend and friends at a nearby pizzeria but never returned home. She was missing for three days until her body was found in a nearby field. Over the next four decades, the police did everything they could to track down her killer. But it wasn’t until new advances in DNA came around that they finally identified a suspect.
Support
If...
Mark as Played
December 30, 2024 • 50 mins
#261 - A 19-year-old college student from San Luis Obispo goes missing on Memorial Day weekend in 1996. She was last seen leaving an off-campus party one early Saturday morning.
Years later, soil samples detected the presence of human blood on one of the primary suspect’s properties. But without ever recovering human remains, is that enough to secure a conviction against him?
Support
If you love the show, the easiest way to show...
Mark as Played
December 23, 2024 • 51 mins
#260 - In the summer of 1971, 24-year-old schoolteacher Rita Curran was found brutally murdered inside her Burlington, Vermont, apartment. But despite an intense investigation, her killer remained at large for over 50 years. It wasn’t until investigators got the critical piece of forensic evidence they needed that her killer was finally identified.
Support
If you love the show, the easiest way to show your support is by leaving u...
Mark as Played
December 16, 2024 • 53 mins
#259 - An 18-year-old law student goes missing after a night out with friends in Monterrey, Mexico. Two weeks later, her body is found floating in the water tank of a motel. But even after three autopsies, there is still a lot of confusion surrounding her death. What happened to Debanhi Escobar, and what does the forensic evidence tell us?
Support
If you love the show, the easiest way to show your support is by leaving us a posit...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.