Precision & Instinct

Simone Valdez and Eli Marchetti

Every case has a body, a mystery, and no confession. Precision and Instinct is a true crime debate show built around two hosts who never agree. Eli Marchetti argues the hard evidence — what can actually be proven. Simone Valdez argues the pattern — what the evidence is too careful to say out loud. There is no narrator telling you what to think, and no tidy resolution. Just two sides of every case, argued out in full, and you decide who is right. Each episode takes on a real, unresolved case — from an unidentified man found dead on an Australian beach with a coded poem in his pocket, to the real exorcism that inspired a horror classic, to the oldest unsolved murder in Los Angeles history. Every case gets the same treatment: hard evidence versus pattern and instinct, argued out completely, no verdict handed to you. New episodes weekly. SIMONE VALDEZ grew up two blocks from the water in Santa Barbara, in a family of storytellers who trusted their gut long before they trusted the news. Her grandmother read coffee grounds; her mother ran a small business on instinct alone and never once went under. Simone inherited both the skepticism of outsiders and the conviction that some truths show up in a room before they show up on paper. She spent her twenties as a behavioral researcher, then a private investigator's assistant, chasing the parts of a case that never made it into the official report — the pause before an answer, the detail nobody thought to ask about. She has an unshakeable belief that people tell you who they are, if you're willing to actually watch. Precision and Instinct lets her finally say out loud what she's been thinking the whole time. ELI MARCHETTI was raised in a house where dinner conversations doubled as cross-examinations. The son of a Cook County paralegal and a high school chemistry teacher, he spent his childhood summers on the South Side of Chicago, where he learned early that a good story and a true one are rarely the same thing. He studied journalism before switching, halfway through, to statistics — a decision his mother still brings up. Before turning his attention to cold cases and unsolved mysteries, Eli spent the better part of a decade fact-checking for a Midwest newsroom, where he developed a reputation for being the last person in the building willing to sign off on a headline. He now lives by one rule: if it can't be documented, it isn't true yet — it's just a good guess wearing a suit. Precision and Instinct is his first venture into audio, though friends say he's been cross-examining people for free his whole life.

Season 1

  1. Episode 1

    The Somerton Man

    Episode 1: The Somerton Man Precision and Instinct is a true crime debate show. Every episode, Eli argues the hard evidence. Simone argues the pattern. Neither one wins — you decide. December 1st, 1948. A man in a full suit and tie is found propped against a seawall on a quiet Australian beach, legs crossed, arms folded, like he simply sat down and never got up. No wallet. No ID. Every label cut out of his clothes. Seventy-five years later, nobody has ever definitively said who he was — and the deeper the case goes, the stranger it gets: an unclaimed suitcase, a scrap of paper reading Tamam Shud sewn into a hidden pocket, a rare book with an unbreakable code scrawled in the back, and an unlisted phone number belonging to a nurse who denied everything. Eli says it's a man who built himself to disappear — no conspiracy required. Simone isn't so sure. Tonight, they argue it out, and you get to decide who's right. A note before you press play: this episode covers a real, still-unidentified death. We approach it with the same care we'd want if it were someone we knew.

    The Somerton Man

  2. Episode 2

    The Real Exorcist

    Episode 2: The Real Exorcist Precision and Instinct is a true crime debate show. Every episode, Eli argues the hard evidence. Simone argues the pattern. Neither one wins — you decide. Episode Notes January 1949, just outside Washington, D.C. A thirteen-year-old boy starts exhibiting behavior no one in his family can explain — scratching in the walls, furniture moving on its own, welts spelling out words on his skin. A Lutheran pastor witnesses it first. Then two Jesuit priests at Saint Louis University get involved, and over the following weeks perform what's become one of the most famous exorcisms in American history — the real case that inspired the novel and film. Eli says there's not a single neutral witness in the entire record. Simone says you don't get this many independent, credible people converging on the same specific claims by accident. Along the way: a diary that sat sealed in an abandoned hospital room for decades, and a detail from a single, less-reliable source that — if true — reframes the entire case. A note before you press play: this episode covers real events involving a minor experiencing significant psychological and physical distress. We approach it with the same care we'd want if it were someone we knew.

    The Real Exorcist

  3. Episode 3

    The Springfield Three

    Episode 3: The Springfield Three Precision and Instinct is a true crime debate show. Every episode, Eli argues the hard evidence. Simone argues the pattern. Neither one wins — you decide. Episode Notes June 6th, 1992. Two friends come home from graduation parties to spend the night at a mother's house in Springfield, Missouri — the safe option, the responsible choice. By morning, all three women are gone. Cars still in the driveway. Purses, keys, shoes all left behind. The only thing broken in the entire house is the porch light. Over thirty years later, there's still no body, no arrest, and one prime suspect who told a reporter from prison that he knew where they were buried — then called the question "frivolous" when asked directly if he did it. Eli says over five thousand tips and decades of searches have never produced a single piece of physical evidence. Simone says a two-dollar broken porch light might be the most important clue in the whole case. A note before you press play: this episode covers a real, still-unsolved disappearance. We approach it with the same care we'd want if it were someone we knew.

    The Springfield Three

  4. Episode 4

    The Black Dahlia

    Episode 4: The Black Dahlia Precision and Instinct is a true crime debate show. Every episode, Eli argues the hard evidence. Simone argues the pattern. Neither one wins — you decide. January 15th, 1947. A mother walking with her child in a Los Angeles vacant lot spots what she thinks is a discarded mannequin. It's Elizabeth Short — twenty-two years old, cut cleanly in half at the waist, her body completely drained of blood. Seventy-nine years later, it's still the oldest unsolved murder in LA history, and the deeper it goes, the stranger it gets: a killer who mailed the victim's own belongings to a newsroom nine days later, a taunting string of letters, and a prime suspect — a physician caught on a police wiretap all but admitting it — who was never charged and died free. Eli says almost eighty years of investigation has never met a real evidentiary bar. Simone says the pattern speaks for itself. Tonight, they argue it out, including a real, still-standing connection to Santa Barbara most retellings of this case never even mention. A note before you press play: this episode covers a real homicide with graphic detail. We approach it with the same care we'd want if it were someone we knew.

    The Black Dahlia

  5. Season 1 Trailer

    Precision & Instinct Series Trailer

    Every case has a body, a mystery, and no confession. Precision and Instinct is a true crime debate show built around two hosts who never agree: Eli argues the hard evidence, Simone argues the pattern underneath it, and neither one wins. There's no narrator telling you what to think — just two sides of every case, and you decide which one holds up. New cold cases, argued out in full, every episode. First case drops soon — a man found dead on an Australian beach in 1948 with no name and no explanation. Follow now so it's waiting for you the moment it's live.

    Precision & Instinct Series Trailer

Trailer

About

Every case has a body, a mystery, and no confession. Precision and Instinct is a true crime debate show built around two hosts who never agree. Eli Marchetti argues the hard evidence — what can actually be proven. Simone Valdez argues the pattern — what the evidence is too careful to say out loud. There is no narrator telling you what to think, and no tidy resolution. Just two sides of every case, argued out in full, and you decide who is right. Each episode takes on a real, unresolved case — from an unidentified man found dead on an Australian beach with a coded poem in his pocket, to the real exorcism that inspired a horror classic, to the oldest unsolved murder in Los Angeles history. Every case gets the same treatment: hard evidence versus pattern and instinct, argued out completely, no verdict handed to you. New episodes weekly. SIMONE VALDEZ grew up two blocks from the water in Santa Barbara, in a family of storytellers who trusted their gut long before they trusted the news. Her grandmother read coffee grounds; her mother ran a small business on instinct alone and never once went under. Simone inherited both the skepticism of outsiders and the conviction that some truths show up in a room before they show up on paper. She spent her twenties as a behavioral researcher, then a private investigator's assistant, chasing the parts of a case that never made it into the official report — the pause before an answer, the detail nobody thought to ask about. She has an unshakeable belief that people tell you who they are, if you're willing to actually watch. Precision and Instinct lets her finally say out loud what she's been thinking the whole time. ELI MARCHETTI was raised in a house where dinner conversations doubled as cross-examinations. The son of a Cook County paralegal and a high school chemistry teacher, he spent his childhood summers on the South Side of Chicago, where he learned early that a good story and a true one are rarely the same thing. He studied journalism before switching, halfway through, to statistics — a decision his mother still brings up. Before turning his attention to cold cases and unsolved mysteries, Eli spent the better part of a decade fact-checking for a Midwest newsroom, where he developed a reputation for being the last person in the building willing to sign off on a headline. He now lives by one rule: if it can't be documented, it isn't true yet — it's just a good guess wearing a suit. Precision and Instinct is his first venture into audio, though friends say he's been cross-examining people for free his whole life.

Information

  • Creator
    Simone Valdez and Eli Marchetti
  • Episodes
    5
  • Seasons
    1
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Precision & Instinct 2026
  • Show Website
    Precision & Instinct