Hands Tied episode artwork

EPISODE · Oct 2, 2025 · 46 MIN

Hands Tied

from Crime Writers On... · host Partners in Crime Media

True crime fan Lizz Melgar Rose found herself in the middle of her own case. In 2012, her father Jim was murdered in his Texas home while her mother Sandy was tied up and left in a closet wedged shut by a chair. But Sandy Melgar’s inability to recall details of the home invasion made police suspicious. Lizz claimed investigators never pursued other leads, including evidence of a burglary, choosing instead to believe Sandy tied her own hands behind her back and staged the crime scene. Even with no motive or evidence linking her to the brutal stabbing, prosecutors charged her with murder.iHeartPodcasts and BBC Studios present “Hands Tied.” Host Maggie Robinson Katz explores the theory that a middle-aged woman with epilepsy and arthritis could stab her husband 30 times, stay spotless, then bind herself in a closet locked from the outside. The podcast also follows Lizz’s fight to prove her mother’s innocence.OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "HANDS TIED" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 15 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.About the show: Crime Writers On… is the original true‑crime review podcast, covering the best in true‑crime podcasts, documentaries, TV, film, journalism, and storytelling.From Partners in Crime Media — creators of These Are Their Stories, the Law & Order aftershow and Netflix's You Can't Make This Up.Keywords: true‑crime review, podcast review, documentary review, TV review, media criticism, pop‑culture commentary, crime documentaries, journalism, storytelling, Partners in Crime Media Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Oct 2, 2025

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A true crime fan tries to prove her mother didn’t kill her father. How can she be so sure? Because she was tied up in a locked closet during the murder. We’ll review the podcast “Hands Tied” from iHeartPodcasts and BBC Studios.

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Hands Tied

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