14 episodes
Dirty John Los Angeles Times | Wondery
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- True Crime
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4.6 • 158 Ratings
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All episodes are available for free, with remastered ad-free episodes available for Wondery+ subscribers.Debra Newell is a successful interior designer. She meets John Meehan, a handsome man who seems to check all the boxes: attentive, available, just back from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders. But her family doesn’t like John, and they get entangled in an increasingly complex web of love, deception, forgiveness, denial, and ultimately, survival. Reported and hosted by Christopher Goffard from the L.A. Times.
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The Real Thing
Debra Newell, an interior designer in Southern California, meets John Meehan on an over-50 dating site. His profile looks exciting: Anesthesiologist, divorced, Christian. She falls in love fast. But her children dislike him and warn her that his stories don’t add up. A psychologist advises Debra to set firmer boundaries with her kids, saying she has a right to be happy.
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Newlyweds
After an intruder appears in John and Debra’s livingroom, John insists that they install security cameras. Debra begins to wonder whether he is spying on her. Her nephew, Shad, looks into John’s background and confronts him with what he finds. Debra’s vision of an idyllic marriage is shattered when she discovers a stash of paperwork in John’s home office.
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Filthy
Debra grapples with the question, “Who did I marry?” The story of John’s mysterious past unfolds through the eyes of his sisters, his law-school housemate, his ex-wife, and an Ohio cop who hunted him. The origins of John’s nickname are revealed. Bed-ridden in an Orange County hospital, he pleads with Debra to take him back.
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Forgiveness
Debra is in hiding, living out of hotels and disguising herself with a wig. Debra fears she will meet the fate of her sister Cindi, who was killed by her husband as she tried to escape a bad marriage. John has explanations for the accusations against him. He weeps and apologizes. Three decades earlier, that had helped Cindi’s killer walk out of prison.
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Escape
Episode 5: John finds a lawyer and plots to unleash a blizzard of lawsuits against his enemies, with the aim of proving to Debra that he is the victim, in case after case. The lawyer believes her life is in danger. As her painful isolation from her family deepens, she secretly plans her escape from the marriage.
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Terra
Jacquelyn and Terra Newell suspect that John has been watching them. When Jacquelyn tells her mother that he is in town, her mother believes she is mistaken. Jacquelyn warns Terra to carry her pocket knife. But Terra is preoccupied by a country-music concert, and she is watching for the wrong car.
Customer Reviews
Horrifying and fascinating
The story of John Meehan and Debra Newell is horrifying!
It’s unbelievable what this family endured, and all the women he cursed with his presence.
He was a monster and it’s scary to think that people like him are out there.
I often think about Terra, I feel for her.
She seems so sweet and pure; it’s sad that her innocence and energy had to be tainted by John.
A great podcast!
Really good starting, then drags on…
Was brought here by all the good online reviews.
Thought the first few episodes were really good, and was equally surprised by how something like this could’ve happened!
I couldn’t finish the series - at the end of the fifth episode I’m seeing the story dragging on and on, and the producer trying to squeeze every last bit of drama.
Also, for some reason it seems these dynamically inserted ads are really loud!
It’s almost surreal, and that’s why it deserved to be made
Some people here are complaining about the truthfulness or realism of the show. I don’t share the same view. Why would anyone make a true crime podcast series if the circumstances are not special?
Debbie’s family is a little weird, I agree. But they’re real, and they HAVE been through all of that. If they’re a bit insane, yeah, the whole thing is.
Listen to the first episode, it’s well made and very intriguing. There’s one specific (and crucial) mystery that lasts for the entire series. Check it out for yourself :)