TRUE CRIME TODAY +PLUS

LISTEN AD-FREE to ALL of our True Crime Podcasts!

$5.99/mo or $39.99/yr after trial

True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews

True Crime Today
  • 4.2 (578)
  • News Commentary
  • Updated Daily

🔎 Daily True Crime Stories | Unsolved Mysteries | Criminal Investigations | Cold Cases True Crime Today is your go-to daily true crime podcast, bringing you the latest murder cases, ongoing trials, criminal psychology insights, and shocking unsolved mysteries. Whether it’s breaking crime news, high-profile trials, serial killers, missing persons, or cold cases, we cover it all with expert analysis, investigative storytelling, and real-time updates. 🎙️ Hosted by leading crime analysts, we uncover the psychology of killers, forensic breakthroughs, police investigations, and courtroom drama—giving you the full story behind the headlines. From notorious cases to little-known crimes that deserve attention, we break down what really happened and why. If you're obsessed with true crime podcasts, criminal psychology, and investigative reporting, subscribe to True Crime Today on Apple Podcasts now! 🎧 New episodes daily.

  1. HOW TO LISTEN to PREMIUM PLUS AD-FREE, ADVANCE Episodes!

    Jan 22

    HOW TO LISTEN to PREMIUM PLUS AD-FREE, ADVANCE Episodes!

    How to Get Ad-Free, Advance Content from True Crime Today and Hidden Killers Podcasts Do you want to enjoy all the content from True Crime Today and Hidden Killers podcasts without ads and before everyone else? Here’s exactly how to do it: Subscribe to True Crime Today PREMIUM PLUS on Apple Podcasts. Choose either a monthly or yearly subscription. Make sure you select True Crime Today PREMIUM PLUS—this is the channel that gives you all the ad-free and advance content. Important: If you’re hearing ads, it means you’re not on the right channel. Double-check that you’ve subscribed to True Crime Today Premium Plus. Follow the True Crime Today PREMIUM PLUS channel on Apple Podcasts. This is a separate channel where all the ad-free and early-access episodes are uploaded. Remember: Regular episodes with ads will still be available on the main channels. To get the ad-free and advance episodes, you must subscribe and follow the True Crime Today PREMIUM PLUS channel. If you’re still getting ads, head over to the True Crime Today PREMIUM PLUS channel and ensure you’re subscribed there! Enjoy your exclusive content!

    1 min
  2. The Crash: Why a Defense Attorney Says the Mackenzie Shirilla Case Is a Failure at Every Level

    1h ago

    The Crash: Why a Defense Attorney Says the Mackenzie Shirilla Case Is a Failure at Every Level

    Defense failure. Prosecutorial overreach. Systemic rigidity. And a defendant making post-conviction choices that may be sealing her own fate. Criminal defense attorney Bob Motta says the Mackenzie Shirilla case isn't just one thing that went wrong — it's a cascade of failures that compounded at every stage. Shirilla was seventeen when the crash in Strongsville, Ohio killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. She was convicted of four counts of murder in a bench trial. Her defense raised a medical condition but never proved it. The prosecution charged murder without a confession. A post-conviction petition with expert evidence was rejected over a one-day filing miss. And then she agreed to a Netflix documentary that reignited every negative characterization and prompted a fellow inmate to publicly contradict her on-camera persona. Motta, host of the Defense Diaries podcast, sat down for a full examination of the case. He starts with what the defense should have done — the experts that were needed, the evidence that was available, and the strategy that could have challenged the prosecution's narrative. He moves into the prosecution's overreach — whether murder was the right charge and whether the bench trial format gave the state an unfair advantage. And he addresses the post-conviction reality — the documentary fallout, the families' opposition, the social media footprint, and what Mackenzie should actually be doing inside prison to have any chance at parole in 2037. The legal system processed Mackenzie Shirilla. The question is whether it processed her correctly — and whether anything she does from here can change the trajectory. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#MackenzieShirilla #TheCrash #TheCrashNetflix #DominicRusso #DavionFlanagan #BobMotta #DefenseDiaries #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Justice

    59 min
  3. Why Does Murdaugh's Housekeeper Think Alex Had A Plan A And A Plan B?

    3h ago

    Why Does Murdaugh's Housekeeper Think Alex Had A Plan A And A Plan B?

    Alex Murdaugh never worked alone. Not when he was stealing from clients. Not when he was running pills through Curtis Eddie Smith. Not when he staged his own shooting on the side of a Hampton County road. Every major scheme in his life had other hands on it. Other people carrying the weight. Other names on the checks.So why would the murders be different?That's the question Blanca Simpson keeps coming back to. She spent twenty years watching Alex operate from inside his own household. She saw the relationships. The visitors. The phone calls. The way people moved in and out of Alex's orbit depending on what he needed. And she's built a theory that the night of June 7th, 2021, wasn't a one-step plan.Blanca believes someone else was supposed to be at Moselle. She's called it Plan A. When that person didn't show or the arrangement fell apart, Alex executed Plan B himself. The framework for blaming someone else was already built — he just had to carry the act out on his own and redirect suspicion toward the boat crash families.The defense is now running a parallel track. They went on national television and said they have information about "third parties and potential motives." But their version of third parties means someone other than Alex. Blanca's version means Alex had help.In this interview, Blanca explains the foundation of her theory. She confronts the defense's "other suspects" narrative from the position of someone who watched Alex build and use a network of people for decades. And she names the investigative territory she believes has been overlooked.Part 3 of a three-part True Crime Today exclusive. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #AlexMurdaugh #BlancaSimpson #MurdaughRetrial #MurdaughConspiracy #MaggieMurdaugh #PaulMurdaugh #Moselle #MurdaughDefense #CurtisSmith #HiddenKillers

    19 min
  4. The Crash: Is Public Opinion Going to Keep Mackenzie Shirilla in Prison?

    5h ago

    The Crash: Is Public Opinion Going to Keep Mackenzie Shirilla in Prison?

    Dominic Russo's sister started a podcast. His parents appear in the Netflix documentary. The families are visible, vocal, and firmly opposed to any leniency for Mackenzie Shirilla. On the other side, Mackenzie agreed to speak from prison in The Crash — and a fellow inmate immediately told the public that the remorseful, soft-spoken woman on camera isn't the person she saw behind bars. The court of public opinion is in session, and Mackenzie is losing. Shirilla is serving fifteen years to life for the crash in Strongsville, Ohio that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. Her legal options are exhausted. The conviction stands. Her first parole hearing is in 2037 — eleven years away. Between now and then, the only thing that changes her trajectory is what she does inside prison and how the public perceives her when the parole board convenes. Right now, that perception is working against her. The TikTok persona from before the crash still circulates. The inmate contradiction undercut the documentary's attempt at sympathy. And her maintained claim of "I don't remember" — which may be clinically legitimate — gives the public nothing to hold onto except the image of someone who won't take responsibility. Criminal defense attorney Bob Motta examines the collision between public perception and parole reality. Does what the internet thinks actually reach a parole board? How much weight do the families carry when they show up to oppose release? Can a social media footprint from when you were seventeen define you at thirty-three? And what should Mackenzie Shirilla actually be doing right now — not as a public figure, but as a person trying to earn a second chance? Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#MackenzieShirilla #TheCrash #TheCrashNetflix #DominicRusso #DavionFlanagan #BobMotta #DefenseDiaries #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Justice

    16 min
  5. How Did Ted Bundy Starve Himself Down Twenty Pounds and Crawl Through a Jail Ceiling?

    7h ago

    How Did Ted Bundy Starve Himself Down Twenty Pounds and Crawl Through a Jail Ceiling?

    Ted Bundy was convicted of aggravated kidnapping in Utah in 1976. Bench trial. Judge Stewart Hanson. Sentenced to one to fifteen years. In October 1976, Colorado charged him with the murder of Caryn Campbell. He was extradited to Aspen in January 1977. As his own attorney, he received the legal courtesies the Sixth Amendment requires. Library access. No shackles. No handcuffs in the building. The Pitkin County Courthouse gave a murder defendant the run of the second floor. On June 7, 1977, he jumped from the library window. Twenty-five feet to an alley. Across the Roaring Fork River. Six days in the wilderness east of Aspen. A manhunt involving bloodhounds, helicopters, and roadblocks on Highway 82. Recaptured June 13 in a stolen Cadillac by Officer Gene Flatt. Transferred to the Garfield County Jail in Glenwood Springs. Over the following months, he stopped eating, lost more than twenty pounds, and widened a gap around the light fixture in his ceiling. On December 30, 1977 — New Year's weekend, skeleton staff — he crawled through the ceiling into the head jailer's empty apartment, dressed in civilian clothes, and walked out. Seventeen hours later, a guard found books under the blanket. Bundy's route: Glenwood Springs to Vail to Denver to Chicago to Ann Arbor to Atlanta to Tallahassee, Florida. Nine days. A stolen car. A plane. Two trains. Two buses. He arrived in a state that had no file on him. This is the third of five conversations in Ted Bundy: History's Hidden Killers. Two escapes. Two preventable failures. And the charge sheet that was too narrow to describe the man inside it. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #TedBundy #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #PrisonEscape #Aspen #Colorado #GlenwoodSprings #Fugitive #SerialKiller #TrueCrimePodcast

    15 min
  6. The 'Walk the Dog' Letter Tells You Everything About How Kouri Richins' Brain Works

    9h ago

    The 'Walk the Dog' Letter Tells You Everything About How Kouri Richins' Brain Works

    "Walk the Dog!!" written across the top of a six-page letter found hidden in Kouri Richins' jail cell. Inside: instructions for coaching her brother's testimony. The defense she should never have scripted.But the letter itself isn't the most revealing piece. The "fictional novel" defense is. Because when Kouri was confronted on a recorded jail call, she didn't pause. She didn't stumble. She produced a complete alternative explanation instantly — fictional novel, Mexican prison setting, Crest Whitestrips smuggled in by her attorney — like an immune system generating antibodies on contact with a pathogen.This episode traces the psychological reflex that drove every post-arrest behavior: the letters, the calls, the fired attorneys, the message to an admirer about "exposing" the prosecution and the judge and the Richins family. Not strategy. Compulsion. A narrative machine that can't be turned off because the narrative IS the self. When story-production stops, the identity collapses. So it runs. From a jail cell. On recorded lines. No matter the cost. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #KouriRichins #EricRichins #KouriRichinsTrial #Psychology #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #FentanylPoisoning #SummitCounty #TrueCrimeCommunity #Justice ———

    15 min
  7. The Crash: What a Defense Attorney Sees When He Looks at the Mackenzie Shirilla Prosecution

    11h ago

    The Crash: What a Defense Attorney Sees When He Looks at the Mackenzie Shirilla Prosecution

    A prosecutor called it a "mission of death." A judge agreed. But a criminal defense attorney who has spent his career on the other side of cases like this says the Mackenzie Shirilla prosecution has vulnerabilities that should have been exposed at trial — and weren't, because the defense never mounted the challenge the evidence demanded. Shirilla was convicted of four counts of murder for the Strongsville, Ohio crash that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. The prosecution relied on surveillance footage, black box data, selected text messages, and a prior incident on I-71. The defense accepted a bench trial with one judge and no jury, then failed to meaningfully challenge the prosecution's interpretation of any of it. Bob Motta, criminal defense attorney and host of Defense Diaries, breaks down what he would have done differently at every stage. The surveillance footage shows a car — in cross-examination, you force the detective to admit it doesn't show the driver's face, hands, or consciousness. The black box data is consistent with premeditation, but you bring your own expert to demonstrate it's equally consistent with loss of consciousness. The ninety-three thousand texts were curated for maximum damage — you introduce the mundane final messages to show the jury that the prosecution told half the story. And the I-71 incident that anchored the prior-calculation argument has a competing account that the defense inexplicably left on the table. The prosecution won. The question is whether the charge matched the evidence or whether a compelling story did the work that proof couldn't. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#MackenzieShirilla #TheCrash #TheCrashNetflix #DominicRusso #DavionFlanagan #BobMotta #DefenseDiaries #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Justice

    15 min
  8. The Crash: Every Way Mackenzie Shirilla's Defense Team Let Her Down

    13h ago

    The Crash: Every Way Mackenzie Shirilla's Defense Team Let Her Down

    The defense raised a medical condition. Never proved it. Had competing evidence that contradicted the prosecution's key witness. Never introduced it. Filed the post-conviction petition with the one expert who might have changed everything. Filed it one day late. At every critical moment in the Mackenzie Shirilla case, the defense failed — and a seventeen-year-old is serving fifteen years to life because of it. Shirilla was convicted of four counts of murder for the crash in Strongsville, Ohio that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. The prosecution built a narrative around surveillance footage, black box data, and threatening text messages. The defense had tools to challenge that narrative — a diagnosed medical condition, a neurologist's expert opinion, text messages that directly contradicted the prosecution's version of a key prior incident. None of it was effectively used. The POTS diagnosis was mentioned at trial but never supported with expert testimony. The post-conviction petition containing a neurologist's conclusion that the evidence was consistent with a medical episode was rejected because it arrived twenty-four hours past Ohio's filing deadline — not because it was wrong. The I-71 incident the prosecution called a rehearsal had a competing account the defense never surfaced. Criminal defense attorney Bob Motta examines every failure in this defense and asks the hardest question: if Mackenzie Shirilla's own legal team had done its job, would she be in prison right now? The answer matters — because ineffective assistance of counsel isn't just a legal term. It's a life sentence imposed by the people who were supposed to prevent one. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#MackenzieShirilla #TheCrash #TheCrashNetflix #DominicRusso #DavionFlanagan #BobMotta #DefenseDiaries #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #Justice

    29 min
See All (3.3K)

Shows with Subscription Benefits

TRUE CRIME TODAY +PLUS

LISTEN AD-FREE to ALL of our True Crime Podcasts!

$5.99/mo or $39.99/yr after trial

View Subscription FAQs

4.2
out of 5
578 Ratings

About

🔎 Daily True Crime Stories | Unsolved Mysteries | Criminal Investigations | Cold Cases True Crime Today is your go-to daily true crime podcast, bringing you the latest murder cases, ongoing trials, criminal psychology insights, and shocking unsolved mysteries. Whether it’s breaking crime news, high-profile trials, serial killers, missing persons, or cold cases, we cover it all with expert analysis, investigative storytelling, and real-time updates. 🎙️ Hosted by leading crime analysts, we uncover the psychology of killers, forensic breakthroughs, police investigations, and courtroom drama—giving you the full story behind the headlines. From notorious cases to little-known crimes that deserve attention, we break down what really happened and why. If you're obsessed with true crime podcasts, criminal psychology, and investigative reporting, subscribe to True Crime Today on Apple Podcasts now! 🎧 New episodes daily.

Information

More From True Crime Today

You Might Also Like