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This isn’t the first episodic true-crime podcast of its kind, but it’s earned five stars from almost10,000 listenersfor a reason. Every Monday, Indianapolis-based hosts Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat examine a new case, often one that’s unsolved or underreported. The women’s rapport — they’ve been close friends since childhood — helps make the show a reliably good listen, as does their refusal to waste time veering into distracting side conversations. They keep each episode tightly focused on the matter at hand: a compelling crime story.
Flowers, a member of theboard of directorsfor Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana, is an engaging storyteller who shows empathy when dissecting heinous crimes; the show never moves into exploitative territory. Though it tends to look at crimes that have not been widely covered, many of which occurred in the women’s Midwestern homeland, Flowers is at her best when dissecting complicated cases that stink of larger cover-ups and corruption. For example, the“Dalkon Shield” episodeis a must-listen for its terrifying recollections of a 1970s-era IUD that killed approximately twenty women andhurt at least 90,000others.
And the“Women in the U.S. Military” episodebrings an illuminating back-story to theheartbreaking case of LaVena Johnson, 19, a Private First Class in the U.S. Army. Originally from Missouri, Johnson died in Iraq in 2005. Her death was ruled a suicide, but many of the specificsappearquestionable, leading many to believe that she was actually raped and murdered.
