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Sarah Koenig, left, and Julie Snyder, right, the co-creators of the hit podcast "Serial," with Ira Glass, executive producer and host of "This American Life." Koenig and producer Dana Chivitz have been recording testimony in the triple-murder trial of suspected Warrensville Heights barbershop shooter Douglas Shine.

(Meredith Heuer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The host and a producer from the award-winning Serial podcast spent several days listening to and recording testimony in the capital trial of a man accused of killing three people in suburban Cleveland barbershop.

Sarah Koenig, host of the acclaimed podcast that wrapped up its second season in March, and producer Dana Chivitz have been in and out of court proceedings in recent weeks. It's unclear if the case could be featured as part of a future season of the show, a spin-off podcast in the works, or at all.

The show, which has been scouting several stories around the country, has not announced an official topic or release date for its third season.

Koenig said she could not confirm whether the case would be featured on Serial or any other podcast.

"We're here, and we're working," she said Tuesday.

Douglas Shine faces dozens of charges in a string of violence leading up to the Feb. 5, 2015 slayings at Chalk Linez Barbershop in Warrensville Heights. He is also charged with conspiracy after police said ordered his brother to kill a key witness in the case, Aaron Ladson.

The trial raises several issues currently dominating the national conversation over the criminal justice system. Gang violence, retaliatory shootings, witness intimidation, the continued use of the death penalty, and the reliability of eyewitness identification are all at play in the trial which began in early September.

The trial also features issues that the program explored in its breakout first season -- the accuracy of cellphone tower records.

That season's subject, Adnan Syed, was granted a new trial this summer, years after he was sentenced to life in prison after a jury convicted him of murder in his ex-girlfriend's death.

Syed was convicted largely by using data culled from cell towers. Investigators here say cellphone data puts Shine's cellphone in the area of the barbershop the night of the slayings.

The show hasn't released information on its next season, but based on previous statements from the show the work had already begun nearly a year ago.

In a November 2015 New York Times story announcing the show would focus on Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. Army soldier who was captured after he went AWOL from his base in Afghanistan, a spokesman for the show said that Serial had already begun reporting for its third season, as well as a spin-off podcast that would be similar to Serial.

Serial is co-produced with WBEZ and This American Life, and won a Peabody and an Edward R. Murrow award.

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