It’s April, 1992, in California. When three members of the Ewell family are found shot to death in their Fresno home, the news is met with shock. Fresno is a quiet community with low crime rates and good people. Veteran Detective John Souza, and his partner, Chris Curtice are assigned to the case. At first, it looks like a robbery gone wrong. But then details about one of the victims emerges. With a vast fortune to his name, there could be as many as eight million reasons why Dale Ewell and...

It’s January 1929 in Southampton, England. The body of missing businessman Vivian Messiter is found inside a locked garage. Local police call in one of Scotland Yard’s finest to take charge of the investigation, Detective Chief Inspector John Prothero. The ace detective uncovers vital clues missed by his colleagues, which lead him to the man he believes killed Messiter. But the conclusive evidence that can prove his case eludes him. Until a shaft of sunlight falls across a seemingly blank...

In July 1984 the body of an unidentified young woman is found in a Los Angeles parking lot. Veteran homicide detective John St John investigates. When a teenage girl goes missing a week later, St John believes the two cases are linked and that there’s a serial killer on the loose. As he learns more about the lives of the victims, he keeps coming back to one man who knew them both, a photographer called Bill Bradford. But can the detective they call Jigsaw John piece together the clues and...

It’s December 2003, in Texas. When four gunshots ring out in the suburban city of Sugar Land, killing two members of the Whitaker family, and badly injuring two more, the news is met with disbelief in the community. Detective Marshall Slot takes the case. At first, the cops think that it’s simply a robbery gone wrong. But there are details that just don’t add up. Before long, Slot finds himself tangled up in one of the most bizarre and challenging investigations he’ll ever face.  A Noiser...

It’s 2008, in Budgeree, Australia. The kidnapping of Julian Buchwald and Carolynne Watson shocks the local community. After all, who would want to harm the devout Christian couple? That’s the question Victoria Police hope to answer. Faced with endless acres of unforgiving scrubland and no clues as to their whereabouts, locating the pair feels like an impossible task. The investigation takes an even more sinister turn when a letter arrives from a satanic cult associated with ritualistic...

This episode originally appeared on Short History Of… read by John Hopkins. If you like what you hear, search ‘Short History Of’ in your podcast app and hit follow or weekly episodes. Detectives Don’t sleep will be back next week.  Retaining the title of the “Queen of Crime” to this day, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Across 66 novels, 14 short-story collections, and 20 stage plays, she depicted the evil lurking in the hearts of ordinary people. But how did this...

From 1925 to his death in 1926, the great escapologist and illusionist Harry Houdini conducts a tireless campaign against fake mediums. To help him, he has a small army of secret spirit investigators, led by the plucky female detective Rose Mackenberg. Working undercover in a range of disguises, Rose travels the continent on Houdini’s behalf, rooting out charlatans and helping Houdini to expose them. And when Houdini and Rose go to Washington to give evidence at a Congressional hearing, they...

In February 1925, Richard Reese Whittemore breaks out of Maryland State Penitentiary, killing a prison guard in the process. So begins a year-long violent crime spree as Whittemore’s gang carry out a series of daring heists. Despite his love of violence, Whittemore’s exploits capture the public’s imagination. He’s the Candy Kid. His wife Margaret is Tiger Girl. Together they’re America’s sweethearts. But one man isn’t buying the myth. Inspector John D. Coughlin of New York’s Detective...

It’s 2014, and we’re in Mexico. Twenty-year-old Karen Rodriguez is on her way to meet some friends when she is kidnapped by cartel members. The abductors send a ransom demand to her terrified family, which they pay straight away. However, Karen is never returned. Her mother, Miriam, might not have a police badge or a private eye license, but when the police refuse to help, she takes the law into her own hands. Armed with a gun, an array of disguises, and an unquenchable thirst for justice,...

In June 1986, Sue Snow, a healthy, forty-year-old woman, is found unresponsive in the bathroom of her home in Auburn, Washington. She is rushed to hospital where she dies a short time later. During the autopsy, the pathologist notices a strange smell - the smell of almonds. It’s a scent she knows well. It seems Sue Snow died from ingesting Excedrin tablets laced with cyanide. Aurora Police Detective Mike Dunbar and FBI Special Agent Jack Cusack take the case. Sue's death echoes the 1982...

In May 1937, the citizens of Paris are horrified by the murder of a young woman on the Métro. The case is a classic locked room mystery, with an added twist. The locked room is a first-class car on an underground train. To Inspector Moreux of the Judicial Police, Laetitia Toureaux’s murder has all the hallmarks of a professional hit. But as he investigates the mystery of her death, he finds he must first solve the riddle of her life. Just who was Laetitia Toureaux and why did she have to...

It’s 1920, in Los Angeles. Two men force their way into one of the city’s most prominent department stores pretending to be private investigators from the world-renowned Nick Harris Detective Agency. But, these men aren’t detectives. They’re thieves. When Nick Harris hears about it, he resolves to find the criminals and clear his agency’s name. However, Harris, and his deputy, Carl G. Armstrong, quickly find themselves embroiled in something much bigger than a department store heist. A visit...

It’s 1885, in Richmond, Virginia. The body of a young, pregnant woman is found floating in the city’s old reservoir. At first, the coroner thinks she died by suicide. That is, until he spots bruises on her face and a tear in her dress. He hands the case over to Charles H. Epps, captain of the Richmond Police Force, who begins investigating her murder. With no way of identifying her, and no witnesses, it starts to feel like one of those cases that will remain unsolved. And then, at the...

In January 1936, in New Brunswick, Canada, a generous, sociable man called Philip Lake is found dead in the doorway of his burnt-out cabin in the woods. The bodies of his common-law wife and his infant son are found frozen in the snow outside. There is no sign of the youngest child, 6-month-old Betty, though they assume she died with her father in the fire. But when the Mounties investigate, they realise that this fire was no accident — the family was brutally murdered, and Betty is missing....

Noiser presents a brand-new podcast. Real Survival Stories brings you astonishing tales of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary survival situations. In this taster episode, we meet Jeremy Evans. He’s a man most at home hiking and fishing in the Canadian wilderness. But one day, on a solo camping trip, he stumbles across a Grizzly and her cub. Scarcely surviving a frenzied attack, Jeremy is left battered and broken. Despite everything, something inside will compel him to just keep going,...

Detective Sergeant Frank Matthews concludes his investigation into the disappearance of police informant Jim Smith. The prime suspect is Smith’s friend, Paddy Brady, but Brady denies involvement and points the finger at two members of Sydney’s wealthy elite – Reginald Holmes and Albert Stannard. After surviving a dramatic suicide attempt, Holmes agrees to tell Matthews everything he knows. But other interested parties are determined to silence him. DS Matthews’ frustration grows as he is...

On Anzac Day 1935, visitors to an aquarium in Sydney witness a grotesque spectacle as a massive tiger shark vomits up a severed arm. Whose arm is it? And how did it end up inside the shark? These are just some of the questions facing Detective Sergeant Matthews of Sydney’s Central Intelligence Bureau. When the victim is identified as a man called Jim Smith, Detective Matthews realises he knows him. Not only that, he may be the reason Smith was killed.  A Noiser production, written by Roger...

Legendary PI Bill Dear continues his hunt for Dean Milo’s murderer. His pursuit takes him across the country, where he comes into contact with a host of shady characters. And then, just as he’s making a breakthrough, there’s bad news. Fred and Sophie Milo assume control of the Milo Barber and Beauty Supply Corporation and fire the private investigator. However, Bill has come too far to fail. He vows to see the case through to a successful conclusion. But with a growing pool of suspects and...

It’s August 1980, in Akron, Ohio. Detective Larry Momchilov is called to a crime scene in a wealthy part of the city. Waiting for him is the body of a local businessman, Dean Milo. He’s been shot twice in the head, execution style. There doesn’t seem to be anything missing in his house, so the motive for his murder is unclear. With the investigation stalling, the dead man’s widow calls in investigator Bill Dear. But, with Milo’s family unwilling to assist with the investigation, and no real...

In September 2010, a quiet, hardworking landman, Greg Fleniken, is found dead in his hotel room. He appears to have suffered traumatic internal injuries which have led to his death. But with no sign of a struggle, no enemies, and no witnesses to any kind of fight, the cops are quickly stumped. Who could have killed this man? And how did they do it? It’s only when the unstoppable Private Investigator, Ken Brennan joins the team that they begin to piece together the events leading up to Greg’s...

In 1910, a body is found in a first-class compartment of a train at Moscow’s Kursky Railway Station. The man has been stabbed to death, but the motive for the murder isn’t immediately obvious. In his pockets, celebrated Detective Arkady Koshko finds a monogrammed wallet with some money in it, a handkerchief, and a decorated silver cigar case. It’s a baffling crime scene, with more questions than clues. Most investigators would be stumped, but Koshko isn’t like most investigators. Can Russia’s...

In 1910, a body is found in a first-class compartment of a train at Moscow’s Kursky Railway Station. The man has been stabbed to death, but the motive for the murder isn’t immediately obvious. In his pockets, celebrated Detective Arkady Koshko finds a monogrammed wallet with some money in it, a handkerchief, and a decorated silver cigar case. It’s a baffling crime scene, with more questions than clues. Most investigators would be stumped, but Koshko isn’t like most investigators. Can Russia’s...

In August 1922, Ivy Giberson is found tied up in her home in Lakehurst, New Jersey, while her husband William lies dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Ivy says two burglars broke in and did it. When crack detective Ellis Parker is brought in to take charge of the investigation, he reassures her that he’ll do everything he can to find her husband’s killer. And that’s just what he does, in record time. But the solution he discovers is not quite what she – or anyone else – was expecting. A...

In 1972, while Hollywood legend Marlon Brando is in France filming Last Tango in Paris, his teenage son goes missing, presumed kidnapped. To find the boy, Brando turns to America’s most recognisable and flamboyant Private Eye — Jay J. Armes. This incredible investigator, famous for the fact that he has hooks for hands, has hunted down murderers, kidnappers, robbers, and cheats, and worked for millionaires, celebrities, and dignitaries all over the world. By the time he’s finished with this...