Unjust & Unsolved

Unjust & Unsolved

The Innocence Project estimates that there are currently over 20,000 innocent people locked away in US prisons. These cases remain unsolved. Each week, Investigative Journalist Maggie Freleng tells the story of one of those people and takes a deep dive into the crime they were convicted of. Through her original interviews with the convicted, their lawyers, families, and friends, Freleng chronicles each inmate’s fight for exoneration and their hope that justice can still be served.

Episodes

Introducing: Get the Money and Run, Ep. 1 - "First Time Out"

July 7, 2025 • 30 mins

“Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.”

That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Joe was one of California’s most daring bank robbers. He used disguises, body doubles, speeding getaway cars…and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars,  even as the FBI was closing in. Joe was also a soul searcher, driven by a dark rage he set out to understand. To do that he must understand why trying to murder...

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Introducing "Murder in Alliance: Ep. 1 Dead in the Water"

May 13, 2021 • 29 mins
Hey, Unjust and Unsolved listeners! We're so excited to bring you the new show from the Obsessed Network, "Murder in Alliance." The new show dives deep into an episode we covered in "Unjust and Unsolved," reinvestigating the case in real time.  We've got the first episode here for you in this feed, and two more available right now wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen to the first three episodes and follow "Murder in...
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22: Cheri Hayden

February 4, 2021 • 42 mins
On Feb 23, 2008 a botched robbery took place leaving 68-year-old Patricia Landry dead. Witnesses said the driver of the vehicle that ran her over was a blonde woman in her 20s. Despite the age discrepancy, Cheri Hayden, a 45-year-old woman with deep facial wrinkles, clearly not 20, was arrested, tried and convicted with no evidence other than eyewitness testimony. In fact, if the police had done a proper investigation they wou...
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21: Brandon Spencer

January 28, 2021 • 41 mins
Halloween night 2012, 19-year-old Brandon Spencer and his girlfriend were on the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles attending a Halloween party. Suddenly, shots rang out and it was pandemonium. Everyone scattered, ducked, and hid. There was screaming...it was chaos and Brandon Spencer a smart kid from a well-to-do supportive family, with a good job getting ready to enter an EMT program wound up being pinne...
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20: Sara Bennett

January 21, 2021 • 44 mins
Former appellate attorney and author Sara Bennett captures stunning, honest portraits of women serving life sentences in prison. She and Maggie talk about how women doing time differs from men, re-entry for women, and the humanity of the people we lock up. Sara’s art has been widely exhibited and featured in publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker Photo Booth, and Variety & Rolling Stone’s “American (In)Justic...
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19: Andre Brown

January 14, 2021 • 43 mins
1990’s Bronx, New York: The most violent decade in the city’s history in one of the most impoverished areas in the nation at the time, and college student Andre Brown was right in the middle. A drug turf war, teens with guns, and a corrupt mob lawyer for the Bonanno crime family - what could possibly go wrong?

For more information and a complete list of sources for this episode, visit:
https://www.unjustandunsol...
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18: Ralph Trent Stokes

January 7, 2021 • 41 mins
On March 11, 1982 three people were murdered during a robbery of a famous Philadelphia restaurant. 19-year-old Ralph Trent Stokes was arrested three days later and at trial after only 45 minutes of deliberation, Ralph Stokes was convicted of three counts of first degree murder and sentenced to death. Roger King was the prosecutor. He held the record for most death sentences achieved in the state of Pennsylvania when he retired...
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17: The Prosecutors

December 31, 2020 • 51 mins
Brett and Alice are The Prosecutors. Both are real life prosecutors, co-workers, friends and co-hosts of the podcast "The Prosecutors." This week, Maggie interviews Brett and Alice about being on the other side of the cases Unjust & Unsolved covers. They talk specifically about Darrell Ewing's case from Episode 8. Maggie gave them the transcripts, appeals, and all the documents she had and they dive into how the case was p...
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Announcement

December 22, 2020 • 1 min
Hi everyone! We are off this week for the holiday break, but if still want to hear "Unjust & Unsolved", you can head over to Patreon for more bonus content: 

patreon.com/unjustandunsolved

Happy Holidays!
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16: Tracy Alan Zornes

December 17, 2020 • 48 mins
On Feb 19 2010, Tracy Zornes and some friends were hanging out drinking. Tracy left to see his girlfriend and when he came back, the apartment he was at was on fire. Tracy, avoiding a previous warrant for burglary, fled. Two weeks later he was arrested and charged in the stabbing, beating and arson murder of his friends Megan Londo and John Cadotte. Years later, a cop and a PI discovered evidence that Tracy, a Native American ...
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15: Diamantina Salinas Kolojaco

December 10, 2020 • 38 mins
This week's episode is absolutely insane. Diamantina Salinas Kolojaco and her lover Andres Mascorro did almost 2 decades in prison for the murder of her husband, before Proclaim Justice took their case after one of the most notorious serial killers confessed to journalist Alex Hannaford before execution.

For more information and a complete list of sources for this episode, visit:
https://www.unjustandunsolved.com...
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Live Q&A Tonight with Ronnie Long

December 9, 2020 • 1 min
Ronnie Long is celebrating 3 months out of prison after serving for 44 years for a crime he did not commit. Join us live tonight at 8pm EST on GetVokl for a Q&A with Ronnie and his wife AshLeigh. Access the link by joining the Patreon now: 

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14: Temujin Kensu

December 3, 2020 • 47 mins
On the morning of November 5 1986, 21-year-old Scott Macklem, a student at St. Clair Community College, was gunned down near his car in the school parking lot. Almost immediately, Temujin Kensu was homed in on as a suspect. The victim's fiancé had dated Kensu months earlier. An eyewitness also identified Kensu, who was tried and convicted of first degree murder. However, Kensu has at least 10 witnesses stating that he was 450 ...
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Live Q&A Tonight!

December 2, 2020 • 1 min
We have a breaking news exclusive in John Brookins' case. Join us live tonight at 8pm EST on GetVokl for a Q&A with John's wife Karen Brookins as she reveals breaking updates in the case and takes listener questions. Access the link by joining the Patreon now: 

https://www.patreon.com/unjustandunsolved
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13: Marty Tankeleff

November 26, 2020 • 46 mins
At 6 AM on September 7, 1988 17-year-old high school senior Marty Tankleff found both of his parents brutally murdered; stabbed and beaten. Almost two years later, Marty was convicted and sentenced to fifty years to life for their murders. Marty did 17 years behind bars before his conviction was overturned. In this Thanksgiving special, Maggie talks to Marty, her hometown exoneree from Port Jefferson, NY, about his conviction,...
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12: Nikki Zinger

November 19, 2020 • 46 mins
On March 10, 1991 Nikki Zinger's mother Linda Holley was found dead in her Magnolia, AR, home. The crime was brutal. She was stabbed 12 times, bludgeoned and left for dead. A month went by with no arrests, and then out of the blue 28-year-old Nikki and her boyfriend 24-year-old Daniel Rischer were arrested and convicted for her mother's murder. The prosecution said the motive was Linda's $90,000 life insurance policy. However,...
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11: John Brookins

November 12, 2020 • 45 mins
On December 20th, 1990 26-year-old John Brookins went to his friend Sheila Ginsberg's house to help her clean. Sheila was an older woman, 58, and actually the mother of his on and off again girlfriend Sharon. When John arrived he says he found Sharon standing over her mother's dead body, stomping scissors into her chest. The crime scene was brutal. Sharon fled and then John, a young black man standing over a dead white woman, ...
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10: DeMarco Wilson

November 5, 2020 • 43 mins
On February 1, 1997, Charles Newsome was shot while driving his car in a parking lot in West Memphis, AR. Newsome was a known gang member and according to witnesses there was gunfire between him and people in the parking lot. A passenger in his car, Frederick ‘Tyrone’ Ellis, gave a statement about the shooters. He changed his statement multiple times until he said the three defendants who were there: DeMarco Wilson, Antonio Wi...
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9: Jeffrey Havard

October 29, 2020 • 39 mins
On February 21, 2002 Jeffrey Havard was babysitting his girlfriend’s baby, Chloe Britt. Jeff was bathing her when she accidentally slipped from his hands and hit her head on the toilet. He put her to bed and everything was fine until she was later rushed to the hospital and died. Jeff was arrested, charged and sentenced to death in Mississippi for the sexual assault and murder Chloe. Changes in science behind “Shaken Baby Synd...
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Introducing "Crimes of the Centuries"

October 26, 2020 • 14 mins
"Crimes of the Centuries" is a new podcast from the Obsessed Network featuring award-winning journalist (and crucial "Unjust and Unsolved" collaborator) Amber Hunt.  Each episode tells the story of a case that might not be remembered today, but was huge when it happened.

The first two episodes are out today, and we're presenting a special preview of Episode 1.  Subscribe to "Crimes of the Centuries" wherever you get y...
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