Sometimes we see our legal system as black or white. Innocent or Guilty. But there is a technical gray area. Room for someone to plead guilty while still maintaining their innocence. And this is only possible because of a precedent set in the case against a man named Henry Alford more than half a century ago.

Join Brit and the founder of Safe from Online Sex Abuse (SOSA), Roo Powell, and learn about the incredible work SOSA is doing, how to stay safe online, and how any Crime Junkie parents can best support their children against the monsters of the internet.

Two harrowing stories – those of Asia Anderson and Walker Montgomery – illustrate how the rising digital threat of sextortion can impact anyone and forever change lives.

An ASU student comes home one afternoon in 1997 to find her roommate, Fiona Yu, clinging to life in their shared apartment. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten, and left for dead. Though DNA evidence was left at the scene, the case goes cold. When other attacks of young women in the area are reported and their cases closed, there is hope that a connection will shed light on Fiona’s.

When 23-year-old Beth Barnard is found murdered in her home, investigators immediately suspect a woman named Vivienne Cameron, whose husband had been having an affair with Beth. But the more investigators – and the wider public – dig into the mystery, the less the puzzle pieces seem to fit together.

When 23-year-old Beth Barnard is found murdered in her home, investigators immediately suspect a woman named Vivienne Cameron, whose husband had been having an affair with Beth. But the more investigators – and the wider public – dig into the mystery, the less the puzzle pieces seem to fit together. 

Two 17-year-old girls set off one summer night in 1999 for a high school field party, excited to mark the end of summer with friends. But when they never make it to the party…or back home…the search is on.

The sudden disappearance of the manager at an Off-Track Betting parlor has his family, friends, and the police convinced he's met with foul play at the hands of someone he knows.

Have you ever thought about whose job it is to track international fugitives, hunt child abductors, conduct espionage, or pull human remains from concealed mass graves? Everyday thousands of good and decent people work in these Dark Arenas. They’ve chosen professions that grapple with the grotesque, deal with the deviant, and dodge the dangerous.

Reed Jeppson, a Salt Lake City teen, went outside to feed his dogs one Sunday afternoon in 1964 – and vanished, with the dogs, into thin air. Decades later, his heartbroken family still has so many unanswered questions.

After nearly 50 years as East Haven, Connecticut’s Jane Doe, police have finally identified the murder victim found behind Bradlees Department Store as 18-year-old Patricia Newsom. Now, they need your help to catch her killer – or killers.

On March 24th, 2012, Molly Young rushed to her on-again, off-again boyfriend Richie Minton's aid, only to be found dead hours later in his Carbondale, Illinois apartment with a gunshot wound to the head. Did she take her own life, or was she the victim of foul play? With lingering doubts about the investigation's integrity, the search for answers continues.

When a young mother vanishes from her small town, alarm bells sound immediately. Local police are on the case, but just a few days into the investigation, the woman’s family discovers that she had been having a secret affair with a married police officer. When that officer turns out to be the lead investigator on the case, speculation runs rampant. Her family is sure she was murdered by this officer, and the motive seems clear. So, why after twenty years does her case remain ice cold?

In May 2021, Crime Junkie covered the 1981 murder of Father Patrick Ryan and the subsequent conviction of James Reyos. Now almost 40 years since James' arrest, officials discovered that there was untested evidence that has been sitting idle...which proved James was innocent and was only uncovered because two Crime Junkies listening to our episode decided to make a little noise.

When 18-year-old Jade Winston is found with a fatal gunshot wound to the head in her Carrier Mills, Illinois, apartment in August 2007, the entire community is stunned, and investigators are split on whether she was murdered or if she took her own life. As rumors fly, a Coroner's Jury rules Jade's death a homicide. But 16 years later, the case is on the shelf, and her family is still desperate to know what happened…and praying that someone will give it the attention it deserves.

When 32-year-old Deanna Cook is found murdered in her home, her family automatically suspects her ex-husband. But despite a swift arrest, the investigation into her homicide reveals appalling gaps in the Dallas 911 system and the people who failed Deanna when she needed them most.

When Pherbia Tinsley is found shot to death inside her car miles from her apartment in Central Virginia, authorities work fast to try and find her killer. Detectives uncover a handful of wild secrets in the lives of those around Pherbia which only deepen the mystery. Suspects are developed but the questions: who wanted Pherbia dead? and why? still plagues cold case investigators.

When Morgan Patten is killed in a mysterious auto crash while visiting her fiancé in North Carolina, police are quick to call it a tragic accident. But her loved ones believe she was the victim of foul play, and they won’t rest until they learn the truth.

When a local news anchor vanishes in the pre-dawn hours, the entire community is struck by the irony. The person who typically broke stories in their small town was now the focus of the biggest missing persons case in the Midwest. Leads and suspects are plentiful, but somehow, almost three decades have passed without a shred of evidence pointing to anyone in particular.

In 1843 Daniel M’naghten gunned down another man in broad daylight. But when he was taken to trial things got complicated. His defense argued that he shouldn’t be held fully responsible because he wasn’t in his right mind. However, the courts didn’t know what to do with that because there was no precedent for this kind of thing. So his defense team got to work putting in place a defense strategy that is still used, almost in the exact same way, almost 200 years later.

When the body of a man is found in the burned remains of the Roberts home, the family assumes it’s 52-year-old Clarence. But the question surrounding his identity remains for years… until another fire 10 years later leaves everyone with more questions than answers.

If you’ve been following Alissa Turney’s case, you’ll know that her stepfather, Michael Turney, has been acquitted of her murder which has left us all with too many questions. What does all this mean? What exactly happened in court? And what’s next? Well Alissa’s biggest advocate, Sarah Turney, is here to give us the answers.

When a young woman goes missing under mysterious circumstances, questions swirl around a local businessman. But throughout the next 15 years, authorities figure out he may be involved in much more.

When a young woman vanishes, police think she left willingly. That changes when her body is discovered months later and it’s clear she was brutally murdered. Small town secrets keep this case a mystery for decades…. Until a cold case team is finally able to get people talking.

When a promising young woman fails to show up for a Father’s Day celebration in 2013, her dad knows immediately that something is very wrong. And as investigators work to unravel the chaotic timeline of the night she went missing, they find no lack of viable persons of interest. But when her case goes ice cold, they’re forced to ask if they’ve been overlooking a monster in their midst.