The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast is a weekly true crime podcast from journalist/producers Hannah Smith and Patia Eaton. It's a show about people who’ve been dropped into a story they didn't start, but are left to finish. In-depth interviews take the listener behind the punchy headlines to hear what really happened from the people who lived it. The Knife reveals the ripple effect of crime. Through empathetic, solution-oriented journalism, Hannah and Patia find the untold stories of people who’ve been touched by crime. They’re not breaking news or solving cases, they’re cutting to the heart of the experience through gripping, first-person storytelling. Follow The Knife on Instagram @theknifepodcast and on Bluesky @theknifepodcast.bsky.social. The Knife is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including true crime, comedic interviews, news, science, pop culture and more. The network is home to My Favorite Murder hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, This Podcast Will Kill You, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, Buried Bones and more.
Episodes
When Julie Belshe learned her parents had been placed under private guardianship and taken from their home in September 2013, she launched a battle to get them back. Her fight exposed a disturbing, corrupt network that all led back to a woman named April Parks.
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When Julie Belshe arrived at her parents’ Las Vegas house in 2013, they’d vanished. After a desperate weekend of searching, she located them, but their reappearance sparked a deeper mystery. What happened to her parents, and how would Julie bring them back?
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As a follow-up to last week's episode, Patia and Hannah break down the fraud perpetrated by Tony Dia, the father of fallen police officer, Anthony Dia. Patia also tells Hannah about an additional victim of Lisa Titkemeier.
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When Lisa Titkemeier told her new friend Dee Lynn that she had cancer, Dee sprang into action, raising thousands of dollars to help. But what began as an inspiring story of friendship and community support soon took a dark turn.
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What is a public defender really up against? Emily Galvin Almanza fought for over 2000 clients in some of America's toughest courts and saw firsthand how even being accused of a crime can derail someone's life. Today, we speak with Emily about her most memorable cases and her new fight to reform the criminal justice system.
Emily's book: The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Def...
Attorney Michael Cowgill joins us to discuss a wrongful death lawsuit involving Kratom, the widely available and largely unregulated substance sold in gas stations across the U.S. At the center of the case is Patrick Coyne, a 39-year-old husband and father, whose death has been attributed to Kratom use. We explore the legal battle, the risks associated with the substance, and the questions surrounding oversight and consum...
Paul Fronczak discovered that he was not biologically related to his parents, Dora and Chester Fronczak, but was born in New Jersey as Jack Rosenthal. He also learned he had a twin sister, Jill, who was missing. Paul's search for his identity had expanded. He was now looking for three people: the real Paul Fronczak who was kidnapped in 1964, the kidnapper, and his biological twin sister, Jill.
Referenced in the episode: ...
In 1964, Paul Fronczak was kidnapped from a Chicago hospital just one day after he was born. Miraculously found and returned two years later, he grew up unaware of his past until a childhood discovery sparked a search for the truth. As an adult, Paul’s investigation into his own identity uncovers astonishing secrets that rewrite everything he thought he knew.
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Investigative reporter Samantha Michaels of Mother Jones spent a year digging into Oklahoma’s controversial “failure to protect” laws—statutes meant to safeguard children, but that can also send victims to prison. At the center of her reporting is Kerry King, a mother of four, and the fallout from a single night in January 2015, when her boyfriend, John Purdy, brutally abused both her and her four-year-old d...
Patia tells Hannah the story of LaVonne Skalias and her fight to survive two brutal attacks by her stalker, a man she barely knew.
Recommendation: Girl on the Run: The Hunt For America's Most Wanted Woman
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Chancy Lewis, a retired schoolteacher and recent widower, struck up an unlikely online friendship after receiving a text from a wrong number. Five short weeks later, his entire world began to unravel.
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In today's episode, we're speaking with Dusty Turner, who was recently released from prison after 31 years. Dusty reflects on the night that changed his life forever and shares with us his plans for the future.
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In 1995, 21-year-old Jennifer Evans was murdered in Virginia Beach. Dusty Turner and Billy Brown were both convicted and sent to prison. But from the beginning, Dusty maintained his innocence. Erin Lottman joins us to walk us through Dusty's case.
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Hannah tells Patia the story of a six-year undercover FBI operation infiltrating an international smuggling operation. Plus, Patia tells Hannah about her favorite new podcast.
Recommendation: Adults in the Room
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April Scales was 15, pregnant and running out of options. When her grandparents tried to step in, April made a devastating decision that changed the course of her life and landed her in prison.
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Patia tells Hannah a story about Christine Echohawk, who ran a sweeping online romance scam that drained more than $1.5 million from women who believed they were in love. But who was Christine working for and was she also a victim?
Recommendation: Neighbors (HBO docuseries)
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In 2018, Rebecca Peluso, a single mother whose daughter Ella has high-support-needs autism, sold off her belongings to afford a service dog she was told would change Ella’s life. Instead, Rebecca uncovered a devastating fraud.
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Hannah tells Patia about the criminal case against the leaders of a religious group known as His Way Spirit Led Assemblies. Its leaders, Shelley Bailey “Kat” Martin and Darryl Muzic Martin, are now facing charges connected to a 2010 death within the group, as well as the case of a current missing person. Former members allege years of religious and physical abuse, claiming that Kat Martin presented herself as a god-like...
This is part 2 of a 2-part series. Embroiled in a hellish custody battle over her 9-month-old daughter, Lee Barnett made a surprising and criminal decision, to leave the life she'd known behind and start a new one, as an international fugitive.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This is part 1 of a 2-part series. Embroiled in a hellish custody battle over her 9-month-old daughter, Lee Barnett made a surprising and criminal decision, to leave the life she'd known behind and start a new one, as an international fugitive.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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