Photo: Vulture

The true-crime podcast universe is ever expanding. We’re here to make it a bit smaller and a bit more manageable. There are a lot of great shows, and each has a lot of great episodes, so we want to highlight the noteworthy and the exceptional. Each week, our crack team of podcast enthusiasts and specialists will pick their favorites. To read the last edition, click here.

Ologies: “Victimology”

Ologies isn’t a true-crime podcast. Rather, as the name suggests, host Alie Ward dives into a different “ology” each episode — think: volcanology, etymology, and felinology (yes, cats!). This week’s installment, however, is a worthwhile listen (and, dare I say, palate cleanser) for any true-crime aficionado. Ward welcomes as her guest victimologist Callie Rennison, and if her name sounds familiar it’s likely because she went viral in 2017 for putting Brock Turner’s image next to an entry on rape in the criminal-justice textbook she authored. (So, yeah, total badass.) Rennison’s forte is numbers, and she shares some of her unexpected findings about who the real victims in our society are. She also spends a bit of time contemplating terminology choices, such as victim versus survivor. But perhaps the most useful takeaways from this episode are the very actionable steps she provides for when a friend reveals that he/she has been victimized. It’s all a necessary reminder that behind every true-crime story is a very real victim. —Amy Wilkinson

Without Fail: “The Decades Long Hunt for the Golden State Killer”

If you’re reading this, I’m going to guess you’re familiar with the Golden State Killer. You’ve probably read the book and maybe listened to one of the copious podcasts about it, and maybe you’ve got a framed photo of Paul Holes with a big red heart around his face. Oh wait, that’s just me? Anyway, here we have Holes sitting down with Gimlet’s Alex Blumberg to talk about his decades-long investigation into the cold case and how it eventually led to an arrest. With the increasing use of genealogy research and online family-tree websites leading to arrests, Holes explains how they actually used this against the Golden State Killer. Spoiler: It’s not as simple as a few clicks on a website. —Hillary Nelson

The Thread

The case of James Hadfield, who unsuccessfully tried to kill King George III at the Theatre Royal in 1800, launches the fourth season of The Thread from OZY Media. Hadfield was tried for high treason but ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity, with doctors testifying his delusions resulted from earlier head injuries, thus giving him claim to the first successful insanity defense. From there, host Sean Braswell delves into unrelated criminal cases where the accused purported to be insane when they committed a crime, linking Aurora movie shooter James Holmes, domestic violence survivor Lorena Bobbitt, and attempted presidential assassin John Hinckley Jr., all of whom relied upon the insanity defense. The Thread balances interviews with experts, including a doctor who examined Holmes, with a lively overview of the cases themselves. Listeners are left to ponder how the definition of insanity differs in legal and psychological communities, an oftentimes frustratingly complex issue. —Lara Bricker

Without Warning: The Lauren Agee Case

This recommendation is coming to you courtesy of the woman sitting in front of me at the Billy Jensen show at the Gramercy Theatre last week, who asked if I listened to podcasts. When I said that I did, she suggested Without Warning. “It’s about this girl who fell off a cliff,” she told me. “That’s not what happened,” I said, immediately. “You’re right,” she agreed.

The case of Lauren Agee’s 2015 death was hastily closed by Tennessee law enforcement, and private investigator Sheila Wysocki is examining the circumstances in this podcast. Start with this early episode to get your bearings and learn exactly what is so sinister about Lauren’s death, which was labeled an accident. There are the “friends” who asked questions way too soon (and then didn’t show up at her funeral), a really bad dude with a man bun, a floating bar, and much more. By the time you’re caught up on the podcast, which is still going strong, you’ll also be thinking, “Yeah, that’s not what happened.” —Chanel Dubofsky

In Sight: “Sky Metalwala”

The 2011 disappearance of 2-year-old Sky Metalwala is a baffling one, for sure, and one that touches on a host of pertinent, though often less-discussed issues of postpartum depression and mental illness. Julia Biryukova and her husband Solomon Metalwala were in the middle of a contentious custody battle after years of stress and unhappiness, and in Biryukova’s case, struggles with depression, intense OCD, and hospitalization that upended the family’s life. Biryukova has said that Sky woke up sick one Sunday, and she was on the way to take him and his older sister, Maile, to a local hospital when she ran out of gas. She left him in the car to go get help, and when they returned, he was gone. Biryukova has never talked to police about the disappearance, and since there’s no body, their hands are tied. Folks who have been following the unsolved case for years on Reddit and other sites have questioned whether Sky had actually disappeared weeks earlier.

I appreciated that In Sight host Charlie knows her Law and Order: SVU; some allege that Biryukova got the idea for the scheme to get rid of Sky after watching an episode about staging a kidnapping, but they got the details wrong, dammit! She and her guest co-host Colleen were also careful to explain all of the reasons why a person might stop taking their meds or going to therapy, lest that info be used against them in divorce proceedings, although naturally that wouldn’t absolve Biryukova if she were involved. Given all the details, it seems like she was behind the disappearance, but so many questions still remain. —Jenni Miller

The State of Perfect Balance: “The Murders in Logan”

The 1982 murders of Annette Johnston and Todd Schultz in Logan, Ohio, had all the markings of messed-upness, so much so that people suspected Satanic cult involvement (hello, the ’80s), but the actual circumstances manage to be even worse, once what really happened is established. Things are seldom the way they initially appear in true crime, and in this case, the amount of time it takes to access the facts is just another example of how nefarious the whole incident really was, and how deeply it took root in the psyches of Logan residents. The State of Perfect Balance, hosted by Amanda Daniels, is about solved and unsolved murders in small towns in Ohio. The fact that more than one episode of the show touches on the Satanic Panic of the 1980s is enough reason to be into it, but listen because each episode is its own gruesome, skillfully told orb of a story. —Chanel Dubofsky

Casefile: “Belanglo (Part 1)”

When Casefile goes deep, it goes deep (see: the 2017 five-parter on the East Area Rapist, a.k.a. the Golden State Killer). So it stands to reason that the Australian podcast’s latest series (also five episodes) “Belanglo” will be as equally thorough and engaging. “Belanglo” refers to the Belanglo State Forest located about 85 miles southwest of Sydney, where seven bodies were discovered in the early 1990s, believed to be murdered by a serial killer targeting backpackers. The anonymous host goes into each victim’s backstory, providing small windows into the lives of those lost. And that’s pretty much where the first episode ends — and where I’ll end as well to spare spoilers — but suffice to say the case is one of Australia’s most high profile and warrants the kind of careful examination Casefile is known for. —Amy Wilkinson

Unsolved: “The Devil You Know”

The brutal 1998 murder of Father Alfred Kunz in the small Wisconsin town of Dane (population 621) is the topic of the third season of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s podcast Unsolved, titled “The Devil You Know.” Father Kunz was found with his throat cut outside his apartment, which was within the town’s small Catholic school. He was a polarizing figure, a traditionalist who rejected the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. He held very conservative social views, admonished followers to homeschool their children, and even performed an exorcism. The list of people who might have had cause to do Father Kunz harm is long. He allegedly had affairs with parishioners. He aided in the investigation of local pedophile priests and claimed that he received death threats because of it. In episode nine, “Bear Wrongs Patiently,” host Gina Barton visits another possible suspect, tattoo artist Len Snowden, who lives with several pets, including a talkative bird named Peaches. His connection to the case is a brief affair he had with a flamboyant waitress who claims to have la presencia (future sight) and was apparently close friends with Father Kunz. It’s that kind of podcast … and I mean that in a good way. —Toby Ball

This week’s contributors: Toby Ball, Lara Bricker, Chanel Dubofsky, Jenni Miller, Hillary Nelson, and Amy Wilkinson.