PODCAST · history
Once Upon A Crime
by Esther Ludlow
Step into the darker side of history with Once Upon A Crime, a true-crime podcast that delves deep into some of the world’s most gripping cases. Hosted by an expert storyteller, Esther Ludlow, each episode unravels the mysteries behind notorious crimes, exploring the lives of victims, perpetrators, and the intricate details of the investigations that followed. With carefully researched narratives, thematic series, and thoughtful insights, Once Upon A Crime offers listeners a captivating blend of suspense, history, and human psychology. Whether you're a seasoned true-crime fan or just curious about the stories that shaped headlines, Once Upon A Crime promises to keep you on the edge of your seat.
Episodes
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The Sedona Sweat Lodge Tragedy
In 2009, self-help superstar James Arthur Ray invited dozens of followers to a six-day retreat near Sedona, Arizona, promising a life-changing journey of spiritual transformation. Instead, his Spiritual Warrior program ended in tragedy when three participants—Kirby Brown, James Shore, and Liz...
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Copycat Killers - Did Scott Peterson Inspire Other Murders?
In this bonus episode of Once Upon a Crime, we ask a disturbing question: did the Scott Peterson case inspire other men to murder their wives? We examine the cases of Lori Hacking, Jennifer Corbin, and Teresa Lane, three women whose murders shared striking similarities with the Peterson case. In...
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Scott Peterson Revisited - Part Two: Esther & Yolanda Reopen the Case
In Part Two of Scott Peterson Revisited, Esther is joined by her sister Yolanda to take a closer look at the claims now being made on behalf of convicted murderer Scott Peterson. In 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project announced that it was investigating Peterson’s claims of actual innocence....
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Bonus: Unmasking Scott Peterson
In this bonus episode of Scott Peterson Revisited, we look beyond the evidence to examine the man at the center of the case. Was Scott Peterson capable of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner? We explore Scott’s family history, childhood, relationships, repeated...
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Scott Peterson Revisited: Part One - Separating Fact from Fiction
Twenty-three years after the murders of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner, the case against Scott Peterson is once again under scrutiny. In January 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project announced that it was representing Peterson and investigating his claims of actual innocence. Since...
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Scott Peterson: The Case, the Claims, and the Controversy
More than twenty years after Laci Peterson's murder captivated the nation, one of America's most infamous true crime cases is back in the spotlight. In this upcoming special two-part series, Once Upon a Crime host Esther Ludlow revisits the case with fan-favorite co-host Yolanda, taking a fresh...
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Before Bali: The Untold Story of Sheila von Wiese-Mack
In this episode of Once Upon a Crime, we revisits the murder of Sheila von Wiese Mack through the new book When Lambs Become Wolves by retired Sergeant Rasul T. Freelain, who knew Sheila and her daughter Heather years before the Bali killing. Freelain recounts how a 2010 theft report led to...
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The House on New York Street: The Sylvia Likens Case, Part Two
Part 2 of the Sylvia Likens case examines the heartbreaking final hours of Sylvia Likens, one of the most horrific child abuse and murder cases in American history. On October 26, 1965, after months of unimaginable torture inside a home in Indianapolis, Indiana, 16-year-old Sylvia was carried...
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TRAILER: The House on New York Street, Part 2
Police arrived at the New York Street house and quickly realized the story didn’t add up. Within hours, Gertrude Baniszewski, her children, and neighborhood teens were arrested in the torture of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens. In court, everyone pointed fingers—mother against children, children…
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The House on New York Street - The Sylvia Likens Case, Part One
Some crimes are so shocking that they force us to ask a question that seems impossible to answer. Not 'Who did it?' We know who did it. Not even 'Why?' Though we'll spend this series trying to understand that. The question is this: How did an entire neighborhood watch a teenage girl disappear in...
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TRAILER: The House on New York Street: The Sylvia Likens Case
How does an ordinary home become the scene of extraordinary evil, and how does a community fail to save a sixteen-year-old girl? This week on Once Upon a Crime, we begin a two-part series on the murder of Sylvia Likens, examining the heartbreaking facts of the case and the psychological forces…
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The Tragedy of Sylvia Likens: A Two-Part Series Preview
In the summer of 1965, 16-year-old Sylvia Likens was left in the care of a mother of seven while her parents traveled for work. What should have been a temporary arrangement turned into one of the most horrifying child abuse and torture cases in American history. As the abuse escalated behind...
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Marie Hilley: The Woman Who Became Her Own Twin
She poisoned her husband. She nearly killed her own daughter. She vanished while out on bail. Then she reinvented herself with a brand-new identity… and somehow convinced people she was her own twin sister. This week on Once Upon a Crime, we unravel the unbelievable case of Marie Hilley. One of…
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Marie Hilley: The Poisoner Who Fooled Everyone
A black widow. A poisoner. A con artist. A master manipulator. This week on Once Upon a Crime, Esther dives into the unbelievable case of Marie Hilley. A woman accused of murdering her husband, nearly killing her own daughter, disappearing while out on bail, and creating entirely new identities…
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Marie Hilley: Black Widow and Master Manipulator
She could become whoever people needed her to be. A devoted wife. A loving mother. A trusted friend. A helpless victim. But behind the carefully crafted image was one of the most manipulative and deceptive women in true crime history. In this chilling new episode of Once Upon a Crime, Esther…
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Marie Hilley: The Woman Who Became Her Own Twin
What happens when a killer reinvents herself so completely that even the people closest to her believe the lie? In this shocking new episode of Once Upon a Crime, Esther explores the bizarre and twisted case of Marie Hilley. A woman accused of poisoning her husband to death, later poisoning her…
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Once Upon a Crime – Season 11 Announcement
After the explosive Bundy For the Defense series, Once Upon a Crime took its first extended hiatus in the podcast’s ten-year history. But behind the scenes, the team has been busier than ever. What’s been happening during the break? Appearances at the Beyond the Crime Convention in Albuquerque…
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The Most Personal Season of Once Upon a Crime Yet
For ten years, Once Upon a Crime has explored some of the world’s most haunting true crime stories. Uncovering secrets, examining criminal investigations, and telling the stories of victims, survivors, investigators, and killers whose lives were forever changed by crime. But now, for the first...
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Season 11 Will Be Unlike Anything We’ve Done Before!
For ten years, Once Upon a Crime has explored the world’s most fascinating true crime stories, covering infamous murders, criminal investigations, disappearances, and the hidden truths behind headline-making cases. Now, after hundreds of episodes and millions of downloads, we're preparing for the...
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Something Big Is Coming - Once Upon A Crime Season 11
For nearly ten years, Once Upon a Crime has taken listeners deep into the world of true crime, uncovering hidden secrets, questioning official narratives, and exploring the stories behind some of history’s most fascinating criminal cases. Host Esther Ludlow has always looked beyond the headlines…
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Ted Bundy for the Defense - Part Four: Reckoning
In the final chapter of Ted Bundy for the Defense, the mask comes off. After the shocking courtroom moment in which Bundy cross-examined first responders and forced graphic testimony about the Chi Omega crime scene, the trial shifts decisively in the prosecution’s favor. Survivors take the stand....
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Ted Bundy for the Defense - Part Three: Unhinged
After escaping from a Colorado jail, Ted Bundy fled to Florida — and unraveled. In this episode, we follow Bundy’s path to Tallahassee, the brutal Chi Omega sorority house murders, the attack on Cheryl Thomas, the abduction of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach, and Bundy’s eventual arrest in Pensacola...
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The Other Ted Bundy: Suspicion, Denial, and the Warnings That Came Too Early
In the summer of 1974, Seattle was gripped by fear as young women disappeared and witnesses began describing a polite man named “Ted” and his tan Volkswagen. As newspapers cautiously reported on a possible suspect, few believed the man they were describing could be dangerous. He looked like a law...
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Ted Bundy for the Defense - Part Two: The Mask Cracks
In Part Two of Ted Bundy for the Defense, we follow Ted Bundy from his first arrest in Utah through conviction, psychological evaluation, escalating murder charges, and the escape attempts that would ultimately unleash his most violent crimes. About This Series: Ted Bundy for the Defense examines...
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Bonus Episode - Bill Mann - “The Black Dahlia” follow-up interview - The Suspect
A recent Los Angeles Times article has reignited worldwide interest in the Black Dahlia murder, spotlighting an amateur sleuth’s theory that attempts to link the case to the Zodiac Killer—and naming Marvin Margolis as a “new” prime suspect. But Marvin Margolis is not new. In this bonus episode,...
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Ted Bundy for the Defense – Part One: Beginnings
In Ted Bundy for the Defense: Part One, we examine the earliest confirmed crimes of Ted Bundy and the investigation that led to his first conviction. This episode follows Bundy’s documented attacks beginning in 1974, starting with the brutal assault of Karen Sparks and the murder of University of...
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Ted Bundy for the Defense - The Myth on Trial
Ted Bundy is often remembered as charming, intelligent, and dangerously persuasive—a serial killer who outsmarted investigators and manipulated everyone around him. But how much of that story is myth? In this introductory episode of Ted Bundy for the Defense, we set the stage for a three-part...
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Interview: Crystal Gutierrez on the Disappearance of Anthonette Cayedito
In this special bonus episode of Once Upon a Crime, Esther sits down with journalist and investigator Crystal Gutierrez to discuss the missing persons case she and her team are actively investigating. The disappearance of 9-year-old Anthonette Cayedito, who vanished from her home in Gallup, New...
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Bonus: John Wayne Gacy: A Case Review & Peacock’s “Devil in Disguise”
In this bonus episode of Once Upon a Crime, Esther revisits the horrific crimes of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, often referred to as “The Killer Clown,” and reviews the 2025 Peacock docu-drama Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy. The episode explores Gacy’s background, his crimes, the...
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Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder — Bonus Episode: Series Wrap-Up + Q&A
In this special bonus episode, Esther and producer Lorena answer listener questions and share their own reflections after a six-week deep dive into the life, death, and murder of Elizabeth Short. Topics include: • Who the real Elizabeth Short was versus the myth of “The Black Dahlia” • Whether…
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Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder - Part Six: The Black Dahlia Legacy
In the sixth and final episode of our series Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder, we explore the enduring cultural legacy of one of America’s most haunting unsolved crimes. For nearly eight decades, Elizabeth Short’s name, and the moniker “The Black Dahlia”. Has inspired countless books, films,...
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Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder - Part Five: Severed
In Part Five of Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder, we examine the discovery of Elizabeth Short’s mutilated body, the forensic evidence revealed by the autopsy, and how early investigative missteps and media sensationalism derailed the search for her killer. We break down the crime scene on Norton...
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Bonus: The First Suspects - The Black Dahlia Files
In this bonus episode, Esther takes listeners back to the earliest days of the Black Dahlia investigation — before the world even knew the victim’s name. Detectives faced a gruesome and mystifying crime scene in a quiet Los Angeles neighborhood. Who was the young woman whose body had been staged…
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Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder - Part Four: The Black Dahlia’s Lost Week
In this fourth installment of Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder, we trace Elizabeth Short’s final, mysterious days — the missing week between her last confirmed sightings in early January 1947 and the shocking discovery of her body on January 15th. This episode follows “The Lost Week” through the...
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Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder - Part Three: City of Broken Dreams
In 1946, Elizabeth Short – the young woman the world would later know as The Black Dahlia – returned to California chasing love, glamour, and a new beginning. Instead, she found herself drifting through a postwar Los Angeles filled with promise, danger, and people who would soon become key…
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Bonus: Love Letters from The Black Dahlia
Before Elizabeth Short became known to the world as The Black Dahlia, she was a young woman searching for love and belonging in a world still recovering from war. In this bonus episode, Esther reads excerpts from Elizabeth’s personal correspondence with Lt. Joseph Gordon Fickling and Major…
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Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder - Part Two: Becoming Elizabeth
Before she became The Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short was simply Beth — a young woman with big dreams, an open heart, and a longing for something beyond the ordinary. In Part Two: Becoming Elizabeth, we step back in time to uncover the story of the woman behind the legend. From her childhood in...
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Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder - Part One: The Girl in the Empty Lot
In January 1947, a mother walking through a quiet Los Angeles neighborhood made a horrifying discovery — the bisected body of a young woman posed in a vacant lot. Within hours, newspapers had a headline that would echo for decades: The Black Dahlia Murder. In this first episode of BROKEN: The…
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Introducing “Broken: The Black Dahlia Murder” - A Once Upon a Crime Original Series
In January 1947, Elizabeth Short’s brutal murder shocked Los Angeles — and turned her into the enduring legend known as The Black Dahlia. In this new six-part Once Upon a Crime series, host Esther Ludlow goes beyond the headlines to uncover the real woman behind the myth. Drawing on her…
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Hanged: Ruth Ellis and the Price of Passion – Q&A Aftershow
In this special Aftershow episode, Esther and Lorena answer listener questions and reflect on the powerful story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom. Together, we unpack the psychology, the heartbreak, and the social forces behind one of Britain’s most infamous true...
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Bonus Episode: Hanged: Those She Left Behind
In this special bonus wrap-up episode of Hanged: Ruth Ellis and the Price of Passion, we step beyond the execution chamber and trace the ripple effects of Ruth’s final act—the shockwaves that forever altered the lives of those left behind. We’ll look at the family who grieved and struggled in the...
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Hanged: Ruth Ellis and the Price of Passion – Part Seven: The Last Woman
In this final installment of our seven-part series, we follow Ruth Ellis through her last days and hours at Holloway Prison. Convicted of the murder of her lover, David Blakely, Ruth became the last woman hanged in Britain. We trace the frantic efforts made by friends, family, and even members of...
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Hanged: Ruth Ellis and the Price of Passion – Part Six: An Eye for an Eye
In this episode, Ruth Ellis takes the stand in her own defense during her murder trial at the Old Bailey. What unfolds is one of the most disastrous testimonies in British legal history. Ruth answers questions with little emotion, even while recounting her tumultuous relationship with David...
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Hanged: Ruth Ellis and the Price of Passion – Part Five: Ruth’s Revenge
On Easter weekend 1955, Ruth Ellis reached her breaking point. After years of jealousy, violence, and betrayal, she spent a long, sleepless night replaying the wreckage of her life — and blaming one man: David Blakely. By Easter Sunday, her rage would boil over into an act that would shock…
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Hanged: Ruth Ellis and the Price of Passion - Part Four: Deadly Obsession
This is Part Four of our 7-part series, Hanged: Ruth Ellis and the Price of Passion. We trace the true story of the last woman hanged in Britain, exploring the tangled mix of love, obsession, and violence that sealed her fate. In this episode of Once Upon a Crime, the destructive love affair...
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Hanged: Ruth Ellis and the Price of Passion - Part Three: Love Triangle
In Part Three of “Hanged: Ruth Ellis and the Price of Passion”, we delve into the turbulent 1954 relationship between Ruth Ellis, David Blakely, and Desmond Cussen. Discover how Ruth’s guarded heart, David’s infatuation, and a dangerous rivalry set the stage for obsession, jealousy, and…
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Hanged: Ruth Ellis and the Price of Passion - Part Two: Into the Night
In this gripping second installment of “Hanged,” we delve into Ruth Ellis’s tumultuous journey through London’s shadowy nightlife, her relationship with the infamous Morris “Morrie” Conley, and her turbulent romance with George Ellis. Discover how Ruth’s ambition and desire for stability drew her...
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Hanged: Ruth Ellis and the Price of Passion - Part One: Becoming Ruth
Step into the haunting and captivating story of Ruth Neilson Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom. This Once Upon a Crime original series traces Ruth’s tragic life—from her fragile childhood amid the chaos of World War II, through her rise as a nightclub hostess caught in...
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Hanged: Ruth Ellis and The Price of Passion
Discover the haunting story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in the UK. This Once Upon a Crime series follows Ruth’s journey from a troubled wartime childhood to the smoky nightclubs of London’s underworld—and finally, to the crime that sealed her fate in 1955. Blending history and...
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The Murder of Jonathan Joss
Jonathan Joss (1965–2025) was a Native American actor and musician renowned for his roles as John Redcorn in King of the Hill and Chief Ken Hotate in Parks and Recreation. His tragic death on June 1, 2025, has brought attention to issues of hate crimes and the underrepresentation of Native…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Step into the darker side of history with Once Upon A Crime, a true-crime podcast that delves deep into some of the world’s most gripping cases. Hosted by an expert storyteller, Esther Ludlow, each episode unravels the mysteries behind notorious crimes, exploring the lives of victims, perpetrators, and the intricate details of the investigations that followed. With carefully researched narratives, thematic series, and thoughtful insights, Once Upon A Crime offers listeners a captivating blend of suspense, history, and human psychology. Whether you're a seasoned true-crime fan or just curious about the stories that shaped headlines, Once Upon A Crime promises to keep you on the edge of your seat.
HOSTED BY
Esther Ludlow
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Once Upon A Crime have?
Once Upon A Crime currently has 430 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Once Upon A Crime about?
Step into the darker side of history with Once Upon A Crime, a true-crime podcast that delves deep into some of the world’s most gripping cases. Hosted by an expert storyteller, Esther Ludlow, each episode unravels the mysteries behind notorious crimes, exploring the lives of victims, perpetrators,...
How often does Once Upon A Crime release new episodes?
Once Upon A Crime publishes regularly with 430 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Once Upon A Crime?
You can listen to Once Upon A Crime on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Once Upon A Crime?
Once Upon A Crime is created and hosted by Esther Ludlow.
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