12 episodes

Peta and Chris are in paradise - they sail into hell. Why does it take 38 years to arrest the only suspect: Silas Duane Boston? A BBC 5 Live podcast investigating their murders.

Paradise BBC Radio 5 Live

    • News
    • 4.5 • 357 Ratings

Peta and Chris are in paradise - they sail into hell. Why does it take 38 years to arrest the only suspect: Silas Duane Boston? A BBC 5 Live podcast investigating their murders.

    Episode 11 - No such luck?

    Episode 11 - No such luck?

    Was Boston a master criminal or was he just a lucky one? As Paradise concludes, Dan and Stephen examine the breaks Boston received that allowed him to escape justice for 38 years.

    • 1 hr 10 min
    Episode 10 - Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity

    Episode 10 - Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity

    As the podcast nears its conclusion, fresh information kept hidden in UK Foreign Office files for 40 years delivers yet another twist to this case.

    Martin Bottomley of the Greater Manchester Police Cold Case Unit gives an unexpected reply to a question Dan hesitates to ask - and it becomes clear this story is far from over.

    And Boston's public defender, Lexi Nagin, reveals she's an avid listener to the podcast - but hasn't changed her mind about her client.

    • 48 min
    Episode 9 – Double Crosses

    Episode 9 – Double Crosses

    Vince, Penny and Dan head out to the remote island of Hunting Caye, where Peta and Chris were last seen alive.
    They find a near deserted paradise, far removed from any sense of danger. But as they sit and talk, Vince reveals disturbing new details about his father.
    Leaving Belize and Vince behind, Penny and Dan go on to the port city of Puerto Barrios in Guatemala in the hope, more than expectation, of finding Chris and Peta’s lost graves.
    What they discover at the cemetery leaves them with a creeping sense of unease about the information they'd been given – and the investigation the FBI led.

    • 48 min
    Episode 8 – You Better Belize It

    Episode 8 – You Better Belize It

    As Dan heads to Belize, hopes of finding Chris and Peta’s graves in Guatemala fade with new information about the lengths the FBI went to in their attempts to find them.

    We meet Orlando, Dan’s Belizean fixer, who seems to know everybody in Belize by name as we begin to follow Chris and Peta’s steps. Peta’s letters start to come to life as we trace people and places she mentioned in her letters 40 years before.

    Very few locals seem to remember Boston – but a visit to the factory Peta write about in her letters leads to a breakthrough in the investigation and Orlando’s experience as a mechanic proves pivotal.

    Penny joins us in Belize to see some of the places her brother experienced on his travels with Peta in ’78 – before a memorable meeting in Belize City with Vince – the first time they have met. On board a near replica of the Justin B, Vince reconstructs the entire attack.

    The episode ends with a conclusion to one of the podcast’s biggest questions – but a possibly bigger one remains.

    • 1 hr 5 min
    Episode 7 – The Vikings

    Episode 7 – The Vikings

    Dan heads to Sandwich in Kent to meet Blaise and Jenny, Peta’s eldest brother and sister-in-law. He hears where Peta got her stoicism from and learns that Blaise was never told that the FBI failed to find the graves.
    Back in the States, Detective Amy Crosby hands over files that contain a vital clue to what happened on the Justin B – and raise the possibility of there being two more victims, ‘the Vikings’
    Meanwhile, Annie finds the Bombero who pulled the bodies from the water in ’78. What he tells her only leaves us asking more questions - and there’s a troubling inconsistency that clashes with Vince and Russell’s account.
    The episode ends with a startling breakthrough that gives us hope we could actually locate the graves of Chris and Peta that the FBI failed to find.
    Find out more about the case here: www.bbc.co.uk/paradise

    • 55 min
    Episode 6 - Dear Mr. Boston

    Episode 6 - Dear Mr. Boston

    Dan travels to Oxfordshire to meet Penny and her mother, Audrey, who by now is in her nineties. He hears how Audrey and her late husband, Charles, painstakingly tracked down information about Chris and Peta's whereabouts and made appeals on radio and TV.
    Back in Greater Manchester, the now retired detective, David Sacks, talks about the investigation he conducted, with the help of Charles Farmer, that centred in on Silas Duane Boston. It's his file, sent to the US in 1979, that Boston's lawyer, Lexi Negin, says contained all the details necessary to frame her client. But were details in that file ever leaked? Dan tracks down the officer in the US who received it, Jim Kelly, to find out.
    It's in speaking to Jim Kelly that Dan learns a startling revelation that explains why the case went cold for so long. And it appears Vince and Russell's former step mum, Kathe, may hold the key to closing out Lexi's defence - or maybe there's another way of solving this case.
    Find out more about the case here: www.bbc.co.uk/paradise

    • 53 min

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
357 Ratings

357 Ratings

erica.laye ,

Interesting but a bit disjointed

Overall an interesting podcast of a terrible crime. I enjoyed it but This podcast suffers from showing its age in a genre that’s evolving and professionalizing quickly.
At times the pacing is too slow and at others very fast. It seems that this was filmed in progress so they needed some fillers and it might have benefitted from being fully scripted.
The hosts seem genuinely interested and invested in the case but also clueless and hopelessly naive. They’re shocked that a public defender would try to defend her client? Have no idea what trauma responses are? (The criticisms of their badgering of witnesses who were children are valid and were very uncomfortable) They seem surprised that an FBI agent won’t verbally admit any possible errors. In many ways it seems like they’re new investors having the scales fall from their eyes about the “real world”.
The sheer amount of badgering and leading witnesses undermines much of the investigation. This wasn’t biggest issue- almost everyone they talked to could have taken all their cues from them to “remember” specifics

PSUx2 ,

Thorough and worth listening to…

What makes this captivating isn’t just the story but it’s the dogged spirit, empathy and intelligence demonstrated by the two journalists. They are unafraid to ask the painful, uncomfortable questions. The results of this investigation are a testament to the power of persistence by the family, certain dedicated law enforcement personnel and the journalists.
The case is fascinating and I’ve never listened to a podcast in which no stone was left unturned.
As an aside, the podcast mercifully does not resonate with “real crime” podcasts that insult your intelligence and disrespect the victims and their families. This is a true, respectful investigative piece.

Ssaff91 ,

Great Listen, Satisfying Conclusion

Really great investigative work that left little to wonder about after the conclusion. They weren’t afraid to ask the tough questions, and in one particularly uncomfortable episode, willing to hold law enforcement accountable directly for their failure to perform their duties effectively. Hosts’ personalities were magnetic, and I enjoyed hearing from them every episode. Highly recommend!

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