If you have even a passing interest in true crime podcasts, you’ll definitely have heard of My Favorite Murder, the smash-hit true crime / comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. And you might recognise Paul Holes from his key role in nabbing the Golden State Killer, with a suspect arrested last year. And you probably already know that Holes, along with investigative journo Billy Jensen, is the co-host of a new podcast on Karen and Georgia’s podcast network Exactly Right called Jensen And Holes: The Murder Squad.
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The series is a true crime poddy with a twist: instead of your usual fare of people retelling crime stories (like PEDESTRIAN.TV‘s own hit podcast, All Aussie Mystery Hour!) The Murder Squad appeals to the armchair detectives and amateur sleuths out there by asking listeners to help actually solve the crime.
It’s definitely a unique concept, with the podcast only providing one element of the process — there’s also the show’s website, which houses all the visual elements and more details on the case, and The Murder Squad‘s Twitter and Facebook account which also call out for help and allow listeners to message in tips.
The first episode focuses on now-deceased William Bradford, who was convicted of the 1984 murders of Shari Miller and Tracey Campbell. Bradford posed as a photographer and tricked the women into trusting him by saying he could build up their modelling portfolios.
After raiding his apartment during his investigation, police found “modelling” photos of 54 women, and believe Bradford may have murdered more than just the two women he was convicted of killing. So, The Murder Squad are asking listeners to help figure out who these women are.
Billy tells Fortune:
You’re [the listener] trying to identify who these pictures are, sharing that with everybody that was from southern California from that time period, sharing it on social media, bringing it up to family. Someone knows something. It’s just getting the information to the right person.
It might sound strange, but Billy has actually helped police solve crimes using social media, and there’s obviously some guidelines around audience participation which the two hosts make clear in each episode: Don’t hassle family members of victims. Don’t publish the names of suspects. And don’t root around in people’s garbage looking for DNA or go undercover talking to suspects. Be safe, people!
If you prefer to just be a passive listener rather than the next Sherlock Holmes, The Murder Squad is still a fascinating listen. And while you’re at it, why not give our podcast All Aussie Mystery Hour a go? We chat about Australian mysteries and you don’t have to try and solve them (unless you’re really set on finding our missing Prime Minister Harold Holt and in that case, be our guest!)
You can find it on iTunes HERE, Spotify HERE, or just listen / download below.
