Blue Lights and Bylines

bluelightsandbylinespodcast
  • 5.0 (6)
  • True Crime

"Blue Lights and Bylines" is a true-crime based podcast hosted by veteran journalists Kathy Kelly and Claire Metz, who have some 90 years of experience between them covering crime and other breaking news in Central Florida. Kelly started at the Daytona Beach News-Journal as a 16-year-old "copy kid," working her way up to become a seasoned crime writer and news editor. Meanwhile, Metz began her career in the 1980s at WESH-TV - the NBC affiliate for Orlando/Daytona Beach - working her way up to the anchor desk before retiring in 2023. Coverage of "hard news" in those days was generally delegated to male journalists, but these two women were undaunted covering the grittiest, most sobering stories in a busy news market that spread from Florida's east coast to Walt Disney World and beyond in the west, and from the Space Coast in the south to St. Augustine and beyond in the north. Unlike many podcasters, who often go no further than Google and Wikipedia for their information, Kelly and Metz were boots-on-the-ground journalists who lived these stories from their first moments on the crime scenes to the courtrooms. Along the way they talked to law enforcement officers, witnesses, suspects, attorneys, family and friends of victims and community leaders. This included interviews with some of America's most infamous serial killers. For example, Kelly covered the case of Geraldo Stano, who was the verified killer of 23 women and girls across Florida and who was suspected of killing three or four times that many victims. Stano corresponded with Kelly from death row, where she also interviewed him in person, and he agreed to cooperate with her for her book about his life and crimes, “I Would Find a Girl Walking,” published by Penguin in 2013. For her part, Metz was a go-to reporter in the case of Aileen Wuornos, a former prostitute who shot and killed at least 7 men and whose story was the basis for the 2003 film "Monster," starring Charlize Theron in an Oscar-winning portrayal of Wuornos. The murderer granted Metz, whom she had come to know during her trial, an exclusive interview on death row, and Metz was a witness to the execution of Wuornos in 2002. "Blue Lights and Bylines" will include stories and updates of other murders - from the infamous "XBox murders" in Deltona in 2004 and the "Pulse murders" of 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando in 2016 to cases ranging from the slaying of a beloved photographer in 1996 to the case of a teen tourist abducted from her hotel room in 1980 and murdered by a serial killer. The podcast will feature cold cases, solved murders and other crimes with questions about their resolution, and Kelly and Metz will occasionally have guests with them in the studio, including law enforcement officers and other journalists. What's more, "Blue Lights and Bylines" will explore other types of stories Kelly and Metz covered related to breaking news, including mysterious disappearances, the slayings of police officers and even natural disasters such as hurricanes and attacks on humans by sharks and alligators. Kelly and Metz crossed paths as rivals during their years as journalists working for competing news outlets, but they became friends over time. Now with "Blue Lights and Bylines," they are partners in crime.

Episodes

  1. 5d ago

    'Missing person' cases sometimes take an unexpected, yet tragic, turn

    A "missing person" case can be especially difficult for the loved ones of the missing. What if the loved one was abducted? What if they wanted to start a new life and leave their old life behind? What if the loved ones never find out what happened? There's another scenario that proves all too real, all too often: What if the missing person simply drove off the road and plunged into a body of water, disappearing under the surface along with their vehicle? Up to 600,000 Americans go missing every year, and many of those cases are never solved. Meanwhile, Florida alone has 7,500 lakes, 12,000 miles of waterway and up to 760,000 ponds. Many of these bodies of water harbor vehicles - some abandoned, some with victims still strapped inside. In this episode of "Blue Lights and Bylines," hosts Kathy Kelly and Claire Metz - veteran Central Florida journalists who were once professional rivals - talk about the heartbreak and fear of the unknown that families of "missing persons" have to endure and how diving teams that specialize in recovery are finding some of the missing who came to such a tragic end - sometimes years after they vanished.

  2. Sep 2

    Now this is how you do a crime podcast

    The new "Blue Lights and Bylines" isn't your typical crime podcast. While the hosts of other shows may get their information from search engines in the comfort of their homes, "Blue Lights and Bylines" co-hosts Kathy Kelly and Claire Metz are seasoned journalists whose boots-on-the-ground coverage of Central Florida gave them decades of firsthand insight into some of the worst crimes ever committed in the state - and in the U.S. in general. Working the same busy news market in Florida but for different news outlets, Kelly (a print journalist) and Metz (a broadcast journalist) were professional rivals who struck up a friendship over the years. Now they're "partners in crime" with "Blue Lights and Bylines." This introductory episode of the show lets you know who they are and what they're about as Kelly and Metz explain their backgrounds and touch on some of the many subjects they will cover in coming episodes, from serial killers and mass killings to mysterious and unresolved crimes to the murders of law enforcement officers. They will update some old cases, occasionally host guests and sometimes branch out into other "breaking news" tales that always seem to be happening in Florida.

  • 2 Episodes

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

"Blue Lights and Bylines" is a true-crime based podcast hosted by veteran journalists Kathy Kelly and Claire Metz, who have some 90 years of experience between them covering crime and other breaking news in Central Florida. Kelly started at the Daytona Beach News-Journal as a 16-year-old "copy kid," working her way up to become a seasoned crime writer and news editor. Meanwhile, Metz began her career in the 1980s at WESH-TV - the NBC affiliate for Orlando/Daytona Beach - working her way up to the anchor desk before retiring in 2023. Coverage of "hard news" in those days was generally delegated to male journalists, but these two women were undaunted covering the grittiest, most sobering stories in a busy news market that spread from Florida's east coast to Walt Disney World and beyond in the west, and from the Space Coast in the south to St. Augustine and beyond in the north. Unlike many podcasters, who often go no further than Google and Wikipedia for their information, Kelly and Metz were boots-on-the-ground journalists who lived these stories from their first moments on the crime scenes to the courtrooms. Along the way they talked to law enforcement officers, witnesses, suspects, attorneys, family and friends of victims and community leaders. This included interviews with some of America's most infamous serial killers. For example, Kelly covered the case of Geraldo Stano, who was the verified killer of 23 women and girls across Florida and who was suspected of killing three or four times that many victims. Stano corresponded with Kelly from death row, where she also interviewed him in person, and he agreed to cooperate with her for her book about his life and crimes, “I Would Find a Girl Walking,” published by Penguin in 2013. For her part, Metz was a go-to reporter in the case of Aileen Wuornos, a former prostitute who shot and killed at least 7 men and whose story was the basis for the 2003 film "Monster," starring Charlize Theron in an Oscar-winning portrayal of Wuornos. The murderer granted Metz, whom she had come to know during her trial, an exclusive interview on death row, and Metz was a witness to the execution of Wuornos in 2002. "Blue Lights and Bylines" will include stories and updates of other murders - from the infamous "XBox murders" in Deltona in 2004 and the "Pulse murders" of 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando in 2016 to cases ranging from the slaying of a beloved photographer in 1996 to the case of a teen tourist abducted from her hotel room in 1980 and murdered by a serial killer. The podcast will feature cold cases, solved murders and other crimes with questions about their resolution, and Kelly and Metz will occasionally have guests with them in the studio, including law enforcement officers and other journalists. What's more, "Blue Lights and Bylines" will explore other types of stories Kelly and Metz covered related to breaking news, including mysterious disappearances, the slayings of police officers and even natural disasters such as hurricanes and attacks on humans by sharks and alligators. Kelly and Metz crossed paths as rivals during their years as journalists working for competing news outlets, but they became friends over time. Now with "Blue Lights and Bylines," they are partners in crime.

Information

  • Creator
    bluelightsandbylinespodcast
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Blue Lights and Bylines