True Crime Obsessed Mama: My 5 Favorite True Crime Podcasts

Confession time: I’m a mom and I’m obsessed with true crime podcasts.

I am completely and utterly addicted to true crime podcasts. I know, true crime podcasts are not a new thing, in fact, my favorite one has been going strong since 2015. They are just new to me.

After 4 years of rocking my iPhone 6, I finally upgraded last month and now have enough storage and battery life to actually utilize my iPhone to its full potential. In addition to having the ability to listen to podcasts, I also have the time. About a month ago, I began walking for an hour about three times a week. Before I took my first walk, I decided to download some podcasts. I asked myself… “What’s that famous true crime podcast?” I was, of course, thinking of Serial. I could not think of the name, so I just searched the phrase “true crime” in the Apple podcast app. That is how I found most of my current favorites.

The only issue with being a true crime podcast-obsessed mama is keeping my listening habits from my children.

At first, I was not too great about setting reasonable boundaries for myself. I assumed that, since my kids don’t listen when I’m speaking, they also aren’t listening to what’s playing in the car. I found out the hard way that this definitely isn’t true.

I happened to be talking with my husband about a friend named Maura when my 4-year-old turned to us and said, “Who, Maura Murray?” In that moment, everything that had been said in the first 20 or so episodes of the Missing Maura Murray podcast flashed through my mind. My jaw dropped as I wondered how much he had heard and how much detail he might remember. Luckily, this podcast is not gruesome (more on it below).

On another occasion, I was listening to True Crime Garage in my car as I drove my older son to a well-child pediatrician appointment. The beginning of the episode seemed to be pretty harmless background information, until the host said, “This is the horrible scene her father found…” I immediately turned off the podcast and began singing Styx (“Come Sail Away” is his favorite) with my son.

It was a very close call. I am now extra cautious not to listen to true crime podcasts in my kitchen when my kids are home from school and I have a strict no true crime podcasts rule in the car when my boys are present. Even so, I find plenty of time to indulge my obsession.

Here are my 5 favorite true crime podcasts:

True Crime Garage:

This is one of the most popular true crime podcasts out there. It’s hosted by Nick and the Captain, though, TBH, Nick carries the show. They’ve been putting out episodes since 2015 and have nearly 300 episodes out to date. Most episodes are two parts and they typically release both episodes on Tuesday and Wednesday of each week. You can listen to recent episodes on iTunes or get their entire back catalog on Stitcher. The best episodes I’ve listened to so far cover the Oklahoma Girl Scout murders. The story is so chilling, I still find myself thinking about this case.

Missing Maura Murray:

This epic podcast was started by two guys, Lance and Tim, who were researching for a documentary focusing on how people become obsessed with unsolved true crime stories. They began in 2015 and just hit 100 episodes. You might be asking, “How on earth can they do 100 episodes on the same case?” and I’m telling you, this case has so many theories- it’s possible. Some episodes branch off onto potentially related cases, but for the most part, it is all Maura, all the time.

This case is especially interesting to me as I was close to Maura’s age when she went missing. She also went missing right over the border in New Hampshire and could have potentially been on her way to the Stowe or Burlington area. Getting into this podcast some years after it began did give me a good chuckle as I listened to episode 27 and heard the hosts talk about not putting out many more episodes, knowing full well that the podcast would still be pumping out new content 3 years later with more the 70 episodes still to come.

If you want to go all the way back to the beginning on this one, you’ll need to go to YouTube. This is a bit annoying because you can’t download the episodes to your device so you’ll be a little limited to listening when you have wifi available. You can get episode 41-100 (or their most recent episode) on the Apple Podcast app.

Crawlspace:

This podcast is also hosted by Lance and Tim from the Missing Maura Murray podcast. In its earliest episodes, they had a co-host, Chloe, who has a background in psychology and criminal justice and who has worked in mental health and social services. The first ten or so episodes of this podcast deal exclusively with the Brianna Maitland disappearance, which might be familiar to you as she went missing from Montgomery, VT in March of 2004.

In the 2+ years they have been doing Crawlspace, Lance and Tim have branched off into other cases, but they tend to stick to New England based cases. They also work closely with Brianna’s father, Bruce, on a nonprofit, Private Investigators for the Missing.

True Crime Twins:

Chloe from Crawlspace has a new podcast with her twin sister Melina. This podcast is brand spanking new, like, the first episode was just released on April 7th. They take a really interesting psychological approach to analyzing cases. They both have degrees in psychology and experience working in mental health facilities which really lends credence to their approach in breaking down cases. I also really value hearing women’s perspectives as many of these true crime cases involve women. The first case they tackle is the 2012 unsolved murder of Faith Hedgepeth.

Not Another True Crime Podcast:

This podcast combines two of my favorite things, true crime, and Betches Media. I’ve been straight up obsessed with everything Betches since the beginning. Like way before my entire inbox was full of newsletters and mailing lists, Betches was the only one I allowed in. Betches offers a number of podcasts, like Betch Slapped and Diet Starts Tomorrow. But, my favorite, of course, is Not Another True Crime Podcast.

This podcast covers a single topic in each episode. Anything from cults, to conspiracy theories, to crime. Listening to this podcast is a little less creepy and a lot more like discussing possible theories with your besties. They’ve been on a bit of a hiatus, only putting out a few bonus episodes in the past couple of months, but they just launched a new season with a new co-host on April 8th. And, their latest episode is about… you guessed it, Maura Murray.

Are you a true crime obsessed mama? Give me a holler in the comments. I love to chat theories! And, let me know your top picks for true crime podcasts!