True Crime Obsessed

A decade after making the documentary film “Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer” about serial killer Aileen Wuornos, director Nick Broomfield was subpoenaed as a witness for Aileen’s final appeal in overturning her death sentence. When he became a participant in Aileen’s legal fight, Broomfield decided made this new documentary which looks at Aileen's violent, tortured childhood in Troy, Michigan and her subsequent years on the road as a hitch-hiking prostitute which culminated in her committing seven murders in the span of one year. For the documentary, Aileen granted Broomfield exclusive interviews in order to share her side of the story—conspiracy theories and all—as she prepared to be executed.  YOU GUYS! Our very first full bonus episode will be available via Patreon THIS WEEK! We're covering "The Queen of Versailles," a completely bonkers doc about a family of billionaires who begin construction on the biggest home in America just before the economy tanked in 2009. BTW, Gillian HATED this d

Kidnapping! Murder! Swindling Rich People! Fancy Art Shenanigans! This one has it all. Christian Gerhartsreiter, a man eventually known as "Clark Rockefelle," lived a life of deception; the FBI called it "the longest-running con in FBI history." After ingratiating himself into New York society and marrying a top banker with a Harvard MBA, "Clark" settled into his new luxurious life. The two had a daughter before they divorced after 13 years. When his wife won custody, a distraught Clark abducted his beloved daughter. Ironically, it was the search for the missing child that not only exposed a web of lies and multiple identities, but a double murder committed decades earlier .  Check out our Patreon where you'll find mini bonus episodes (2 there now!), monthly bonus full episodes (first one coming this week!), exclusive videos (we're gonna watch Unsolved Mysteries and talk about it) and more! Join our Patreon Community!

On August 1, 1966, a sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the iconic University of Texas Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes in what was a previously unimaginable event. Based entirely on first person testimonies from witnesses, heroes, and survivors, TOWER combines archival footage with rotoscopic animation to tell the story of that day. The film highlights the fear, confusion, and visceral realities that changed the lives of those present, and the rest of us, forever - a day when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others. For this one, you guys, the garbage bell is magically transformed into the hero bell. And there's a whole lot of dinging.

A four-year-old girl, whose paintings are compared to Kandinsky, Pollock, and even Picasso, has sold $300,000 dollars worth of paintings. Is she a genius of abstract expressionism, a tiny charlatan, or an exploited child whose parents have sold her out for the glare of the media and the lure of the almighty dollar? This one's a dozy, but hey, nobody gets murdered! Do you know someone who would love TCO? Tweet them and us (@truecrimeobsess) using  #GetObsessed and let us playfully harass them until the check us out! This week's sponsor is Songfinch and Patrick is OBSESSED! This week's palate cleanser is the song Patrick had Songfinch write for Daisy's 4th birthday. If you love it, tweet them (@Sonfinch) and tell them that you heard it on TCO

BEWARE THE SLENDERMAN tells the story of the internet's elusive Boogeyman and two 12-year-old girls who would kill for him. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier lured their best friend into the woods, stabbed her 19 times, then set out on an odyssey to meet the tall and faceless man known online as Slenderman. Shot over 18 months with heartbreaking access to the families of the would-be murderers, the film plunges deep down the rabbit hole of their crime, a Boogeyman. and our society's most impressionable consumers of media. The entrance to the internet can quickly lead us to its dark basement, within just a matter of clicks. How much do we hold children responsible for what they find there? Find all of our episodes at our website and follow us on twitter!

Strangeness is afoot. Most people don't notice the hundreds of cryptic tiled messages about resurrecting the dead that have been appearing in city streets over the past three decades. But Justin Duerr does. For years, finding an answer to this long-standing urban mystery has been his obsession. He has been collecting clues that the tiler has embedded in the streets of major cities across the U.S. and South America. But as Justin starts piecing together key events of the past he finds a story that is more surreal than he imagined, and one that hits disturbingly close to home.

In the 1960s, Gerald Foos bought a motel in Colorado, furnished the rooms with louvered vents that allowed him to spy on his guests, and kept a journal of their sexual encounters and more (including maybe a murder?). Over the course of 30 years, celebrated writer Gay Talese coxes Gerald’s story out of him and finally convinces Gerald to let him publish it. But when the story gets out, questions are raised and nothing is as it seems.

The world couldn't keep its eyes off two athletes at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer - Nancy Kerrigan, the elegant brunette and Tonya Harding, the feisty blonde engulfed in scandal. Just weeks before the Olympics on January 6, 1994 at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Kerrigan was stunningly clubbed on the right knee by an unknown assailant and left wailing, "Why, why, why?" As the bizarre "why" mystery unraveled, it was revealed that Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, had plotted the attack with his misfit friends to literally eliminate Kerrigan from the competition. Now two decades later, The Price of Gold takes a fresh look at the worldwide spectacle that elevated the popularity of professional figure skating and has Harding still facing questions over what she knew when she knew it.

Meet Joyce McKinney, a former Miss Wyoming with an IQ of 168. 30 years ago, she fell in love with a young Mormon named Kirk. When Kirk disappeared and then turned up a few months later in the UK, Joyce was convinced he’d been kidnapped and was being held against his well. Determined to get him back, Joyce set off on a journey that would lead her across the globe, into jail, and onto the front pages of the most popular tabloids of the time. Her crusade for love took her through a surreal world of kidnapping, manacled Mormons, risqué photography, magic underwear, and celestial sex. Oh AND to the 1977 after party for the film “Saturday Night Fever.” “Tabloid,” directed by the genius Errol Morris, is a portrayal of a phenomenally driven woman whose romantic obsessions and delusions catapult her over the edge into scandal, fame, and an unimaginable life.

It's not what you think. After stumbling upon a bizarre "competitive endurance tickling" video online, wherein young men are paid to be tied up and tickled, reporter David Farrier reaches out to request a story from the company. But the reply he receives is shocking-the sender mocks Farrier's sexual orientation and threatens extreme legal action should he dig any deeper. So, like any good journalist confronted by a bully, he does just the opposite: he travels to the hidden tickling facilities in Los Angeles and uncovers a vast empire, known for harassing and harming the lives of those who protest their involvement in these films. The more he investigates, the stranger it gets, discovering secret identities and criminal activity. Discovering the truth becomes Farrier's obsession, despite increasingly sinister threats and warnings. With humor and determination, Farrier and co-director Dylan Reeve summon up every resource available to get to the bottom of this tickling worm hole.

Who killed Marsha P. Johnson? When the beloved, self-described "street queen" of NY's gay ghetto was found floating in the Hudson River in 1992, the NYPD chalked it up as a suicide and refused to investigate. But Marsha was a lover of life and many who knew her refused to believe she would have taken her own life. Now, a quarter century later, at a time of unprecedented visibility and escalating violence in the transgender community, Marsha's old friend and fellow activist Victoria Cruz has taken it upon herself to reexamine what happened to Marsha. Dipping deep into jaw-dropping archival footage of another era of New York City life, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson follows as this champion pursues leads, mobilizes officials, and works to tell the story of Marsha's life and get to the bottom of Marsha's death.

Our most requested episode to date, and it was a doozy! But don't worry, we found a way to laugh through our rage. In 2001, Dr. Andrew Bagby was shot dead by jealous ex-girlfriend Dr. Shirley Turner. Shortly thereafter, Bagby's friends and family were hocked to learn that Turner was pregnant with Bagby's son. Hoping to create a film that would serve as both a memorial to Bagby and an introduction to the father the boy would never know, Bagby's bwst friend Kuenne quickly began production on a film celebrating the life of his late friend.  Meanwhile, upon learning that Turner had fled to Newfoundland, Bagby's devastated parents uprooted their entire lives and relocated to the easternmost providence of Canada in order to fight for the custody of their newborn grandson, Zachary. However, the Canadian government freed Turner on bail and she maintained custody of Zachary as she awaited extradition to the United States. The situation took a devastating turn during that crucial time and tragedy ensued.

In May 2003, 16-year-old Martha Puebla was shot in the head on the doorstep of her Los Angeles home, days after testifying in a gangland murder trial. Police arrested 24-year-old Juan Catalan at gunpoint, alleging that he’d carried out the hit for his gangster brother Mario. Not only did Catalan not commit the crime, but he had an alibi. At the time of Puebla’s cold-blooded killing, he was at Dodger Stadium with his six-year-old daughter. Frustratingly, though, Catalan’s lawyer couldn’t find clear enough TV footage to prove it. Catalan faced death row if found guilty at trial. Even worse, the prosecuting attorney was unbeaten in murder cases and nicknamed “Sniper” because she liked to pick off defendants with the death penalty. Then came the head-spinning twist. It just so happened that an episode of the HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm” was also being shot at the ballpark that night. Finding Juan in the episode was the last hope this innocent man’s life.

Thomas Montgomery, a 47-year-old, married factory worker was playing a game online when a beautiful 18-year-old teenager named Jessi, screen name talhotblond, texted him ‘hello.’ He was instantly hooked. In order to keep her attention, he lied and pretended to be a buff, brave 18 year old soldier, screen name marinesniper. The online romance was epic, but the fantasy blew up when the teenager found out who Montgomery really was. For revenge, she started up an online affair with one of Montgomery's co-workers, 22 year-old Brian Barrett. When Jessi pits the men against each other, the levels of desire and deceit escalate and mind games result in real-life murder. But even then, the story isn’t over and the truth about talhotblond’s is revealed.

In 1999, writer John Krakauer stopped at a gas station in Colorado City, AZ, a place he had never been. What he found was a town frozen in time, with women in long prairie dresses and hairstyles that rang of the 1800s. The curious sight led him on a journalistic investigation into a modern day 'prophet' named Warren Jeffs and the cult-like FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). When the investigation of Warren Jeffs sends him on the run, he winds up in the number two spot on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. The number one spot being occupied by Osama Bin Laden. The manhunt for Jeffs uncovers his 'religion's most vile atrocities including the forced marriages of underage girls, rape, and polygamy.  Fun, right? But fear not, we play a LOT of "The Book of Mormon" in this one. 

On Sunday, July 26, 2009, Diane Schuler left the campgrounds in upstate New York where she was vacationing with her family and set off towards home on Long Island. With her were five young children: her son, her daughter, and three nieces. Four hours later, she drove the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway for nearly two miles – eventually crashing into an oncoming SUV, killing herself and seven others. Nine days after her deadly crash, Diane’s toxicology report revealed she had a blood-alcohol content of .19% – the equivalent of ten drinks and more than twice the legal limit – as well as a high blood level of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. In sharp contrast to the toxicology report, Schuler had no known history of substance abuse or psychological problems and was generally known as a loving and stable wife and mother. In the aftermath, Diane Schuler was portrayed as a reckless drunk and a mother who cracked. But was she the monster the public made her out to be? Or the perfect wife and mother

Growing up on Staten Island, filmmakers Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio had often heard the legend of ‘Cropsey.’ For the kids in their neighborhood, Cropsey was the escaped mental patient who lived in the old abandoned Willowbrook Mental Institution, who would come out late at night and snatch children off the streets. Later as teenagers, the filmmakers assumed Cropsey was just an urban legend. That all changed in the summer of 1987 when a 12-year-old girl disappeared from their community. The police quickly connected this disappearance to several other children who'd gone missing in the area. The hunt for the abductor would lead authorities to the real-life boogeyman living in their midst. 

When the curtain rose on the murder trial of Pamela Smart 23 years ago, the stage was set for the birth of reality TV. Accused of plotting the 1990 murder of her husband Gregory, 22-year-old Smart was subsequently convicted in the first fully televised, gavel-to-gavel court case, which has inspired TV shows, books, plays and feature films. This documentary takes another look at everything we think we know about the case. Is it possible that Pamela had nothing do to with the murder? That her teen aged lover killed her husband in a jealous rage without Pamela's knowledge? The evidence is shockingly compelling.  Join us on this bonkers romp through one of the most thought provoking true crime documentaries we've ever seen.

An amateur documentary filmmaker named Thierry is on a mission to track down and film the elusive and anonymous street artist named Banksy. When Thierry finds him, Banksy turns the camera on the filmmaker and hilarity, mystery, shenanigans, and some pretty frikking impressive art ensue. BUT SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS, ARE WE BEING PUNKED? Is the whole thing an elaborate piece of performance art? Is it real? And WHO is Banksy?  We have lots of thoughts and opinions. We're flipping tables and taking the bait. Join us!

A bunch of altruistic hot people join a cult in 1980s West Hollywood, what could possibly go wrong? Using footage shot by the cult's (known as The Buddahfield) in-house documentarian, we follow these lovable gorgeous weirdos as they slowly become disenchanted by their 'master' 'lord' 'leader' 'prophet' who claims to have a direct line to God. It all, inevitably, falls apart. Lives are ruined, faiths are shaken, and fruit salads are painstakingly made.