How DNA Revolutionized Crime Solving and Justice

On the evening of January 2, 2020, emergency services responded to a house fire outside of Bismarck, North Dakota. Inside they found 42 year old Chad Entzel, dead from an apparent suicide. But as more details were uncovered, it became increasingly obvious that there was foul play involved. Investigators begin piecing together a timeline of events leading up to murder that kept leading back to one person … Chad's wife - Nikki Sue Entzel.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

Parade goers watched on as a red SUV travelling at an estimated 40 or even 50 miles per hour came barrelling down Main Street in the historic downtown core of the small Milwaukee suburb. The sound of the marching band, chatter and laughter was quickly overtaken by calls for help as the vehicle drove through the parade procession without stopping. In the chaos, the driver escaped - but not for long. A rapid and straightforward investigation pieced together the events - almost all caught on camera. Yet this case still culminated in one of the most bizarre and unpredictable trials in recent memory.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

This case has been the recipient of many notable claims over the years. It has been called “the case that changed Minnesota.” It has been credited with changing the way that missing children investigations have operated - and at the time that it happened - back in 1989 - this case involved the largest-scale search for a missing person in the history of the United States. After sunset on the evening of 22 October 1989, in rural St Joseph, Minnesota, 11 year-old Jacob Wetterling was taken by a stranger. A masked man carrying a pistol, dressed all in black, managed to steal him away in the dark of night. The man left two witnesses to the abduction; Jacob’s younger brother and his best friend. It was a case that gripped the nation and sparked a nearly 30 year-long, perplexing investigation. One that would be the source of intense speculation - and criticismBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

In 1984, Tampa, Florida, was gripped by fear as a sadistic predator stalked, raped, and murdered at least ten women, leaving their bodies dumped along highways. The FBI’s only clue? Red trilobal carpet fibers—a rare synthetic material found on every victim. With no suspect, the case stalled—until a 17-year-old victim survived, providing a description that unlocked the nightmare. Her testimony, paired with forensic fiber analysis, led authorities to Bobby Joe Long, a trucker whose maroon Chrysler matched the killer’s profile—down to the carpet fibers in his trunk.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

In the silent halls of morgues and anthropology labs, forensic sculptors perform a miracle: they give faces—and, with them, names, stories, and justice—to the unidentified dead. Using clay, anatomical precision, and intuition, these artists bridge the gap between skeletal remains and the living person they once were. From cold-case Jane Does to victims of mass disasters, their reconstructions have cracked some of history’s most haunting mysteries.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

In 1974, the idyllic Palmyra Atoll—a remote Pacific paradise—became the stage for a real-life horror story. Two couples arrived, but only one left: Buck Walker and Stephanie Stearns sailed back to Hawaii on the Sea Wind, a yacht belonging to Mac and Muff Graham, who had mysteriously vanished. The Grahams’ disappearance was initially dismissed as a boating accident, but when Muff’s skeletal remains were found years later in a shallow island grave, the FBI uncovered a chilling tale of betrayal, starvation, and cold-blooded murder.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

Poison is the weapon of the patient, the calculating, and the cowardly—but not all poisoners are alike. Deadly Chemistry dissects the critical divide between targeted killers (who murder with intimate precision) and random terrorists (who sow chaos indiscriminately), revealing how forensic toxicologists trace their crimes back to the source. From disgruntled spouses slipping arsenic into tea to the Tylenol Murders' anonymous monster, poison leaves a trail only science can follow.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

For decades, Vincent "The Chin" Gigante ruled the Genovese crime family not from a throne, but from a psychiatric ward—or so he wanted authorities to believe. While other mob bosses held court in steakhouse booths, Gigante wandered Greenwich Village in a bathrobe and slippers, muttering to himself in a brilliant act of insanity that fooled doctors, judges, and even his own men. But the FBI wasn’t buying it.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

In the annals of forensic science, few breakthroughs have been as transformative as DNA analysis. Double Helix delves into how this genetic blueprint—extracted from a speck of blood, a single hair, or even saliva on a discarded gum wrapper—has rewritten the rules of justice. From catching serial killers to exonerating the wrongfully convicted, DNA doesn’t lie—and its testimony is irrefutable.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.

In 1992, the body of 17-year-old Dawn Marie Birnbaum—a runaway from Florida—was discovered dumped beside a rural Pennsylvania road, brutally beaten and strangled. Though she was an outsider, the small community mourned her as one of their own, demanding justice. What began as a local homicide investigation soon spiraled into a chilling revelation: Dawn’s killer, James Robert Cruz Jr., a long-haul trucker, was linked to a decade-long spree of murders along highways in Ohio and Pennsylvania—with hundreds of women found dead under similar circumstances.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime--6473403/support.