Crime Adjacent

On the afternoon of Friday, Sept. 4, 1987, 9-year-old Jessica Murphy disappeared from her cul-de-sac in the quiet, peaceful Willow Creek neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska.

One minute, she was whizzing around the court on her Space Invaders edition BMX bicycle with red streamers flowing off the handle bars and a sparkly red banana seat.

And the next, she was simply gone.

Jessica remained missing for decades, as investigators considered suspects ranging from neighborhood boys to traveling serial killers. Who could have taken Jessica? They had no idea.

But in January 2026, something incredible happened.

A viral TikTok reel made by one of Jessica's own relatives brought new light to this case and led to a confession and then a discovery that re-opened this case and turned this quiet suburban community upside down all over again.

This is Crime Adjacent episode 586: The Murder of Jessica Murphy, told live in Detroit during our tour.

OK, profilers. Can you solve an unsolvable murder?

Join host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick live on stage for Crime Adjacent, the world’s biggest true crime podcast. Every week, at shows across the country, Chase reopens the most haunting, enduring mysteries from the grim underbelly of American true crime and challenges you to solve them.

“An atmospheric and immersive podcast where true crime and psychological thrillers intersect.” — Earworthy

From the Zodiac to the Rest Stop Killer, the Michigan Nightstalker to the Cross Country Killer, each episode unfolds like a real investigation — like the whip smart, nerdy love child of Murder, She Wrote and War of the Worlds — and dares you to unravel the mystery and provide justice for those who need it most.

It looks like a true crime podcast. It sounds like a true crime podcast. But what happens when the cosmology of our escapist entertainment looks terrifyingly like our real world? That’s Crime Adjacent. It’s a fully scripted, intimate, locked-room mystery that pulls back the curtain on our social obsession with true crime and what this fascination with humanity’s darkest impulses says about … us.

“Crime Adjacent is redefining the true crime genre.” — Podcasting Today

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick, a former crime reporter turned contributor for NPR, The New York Times, and McSweeney’s. He uses degrees in sociology and gender studies from UC Berkeley, along with an obsession with criminal profiling, true crime, and Jessica Fletcher, to explore why people commit crimes, why we are enthralled with them, and who, ultimately, pays the price.

So listen closely, profilers. Because with every episode, a new crime is afoot and every detail matters.

It’s not crime. It’s Crime Adjacent.

New live shows every Wednesday from theaters across America.

Weekly live behind the scenes insights for Crime Adjacent insiders at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is produced & edited by Multitude.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On Wednesday, June 17, 2015, Officer Danielle Peterson breaks down the front door of a house on quiet Lundy Street in the fancy North Arts District of Columbus, Ohio.

The co-workers of David Thomas Brown, 56, said the man had not reported to work since the previous week, and they were worried something had happened to him.

So as Officer Peterson performed a welfare check that morning, she did, indeed, find David.

He was inside a basement bedroom -- with two missing women, college students from nearby Ohio State University.

Police were able to piece together the clues quickly and learn that David was not just a mild mannered health care worker in Columbus. He was an unknown serial killer responsible for the abduction, torture, and murder of 37 girls and women since the 1990s.

What they couldn't figure out, however, was exactly how he had died inside that basement bedroom.

This is Crime Adjacent episode 585: The Ohio Basement Killer, told live in Santa Fe during our tour.

OK, profilers. Can you solve an unsolvable murder?

Join host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick live on stage for Crime Adjacent, the world’s biggest true crime podcast. Every week, at shows across the country, Chase reopens the most haunting, enduring mysteries from the grim underbelly of American true crime and challenges you to solve them.

“An atmospheric and immersive podcast where true crime and psychological thrillers intersect.” — Earworthy

From the Zodiac to the Rest Stop Killer, the Michigan Nightstalker to the Cross Country Killer, each episode unfolds like a real investigation — like the whip smart, nerdy love child of Murder, She Wrote and War of the Worlds — and dares you to unravel the mystery and provide justice for those who need it most.

It looks like a true crime podcast. It sounds like a true crime podcast. But what happens when the cosmology of our escapist entertainment looks terrifyingly like our real world? That’s Crime Adjacent. It’s a fully scripted, intimate, locked-room mystery that pulls back the curtain on our social obsession with true crime and what this fascination with humanity’s darkest impulses says about … us.

“Crime Adjacent is redefining the true crime genre.” — Podcasting Today

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick, a former crime reporter turned contributor for NPR, The New York Times, and McSweeney’s. He uses degrees in sociology and gender studies from UC Berkeley, along with an obsession with criminal profiling, true crime, and Jessica Fletcher, to explore why people commit crimes, why we are enthralled with them, and who, ultimately, pays the price.

So listen closely, profilers. Because with every episode, a new crime is afoot and every detail matters.

It’s not crime. It’s Crime Adjacent.

New live shows every Wednesday from theaters across America.

Weekly live behind the scenes insights for Crime Adjacent insiders at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is produced & edited by Multitude.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On Saturday May 8, 2021, hikers Libby Mitchell and Stacey Rose Anderson met on the Deer Mountain Trail in the Rocky Mountain national park in Colorado.

They were before strangers before this morning, but they soon realized they had something in common.

Both of their partners had just abandoned them on the trail.

So as they're hiking back to the trailhead together, they see yet another solo woman hiker, and Libby makes a dark joke.

"Oh look, another Alpine Divorce."

But as they crept closer to this single woman, they realized she wasn't moving. Her limbs appeared twisted. Her shoes were scattered about.

And was that blood?

What happened next would uncover a murder, as well as an offender who kept getting away with the worst crimes imaginable.

This is Crime Adjacent episode 584: Alpine Divorce: Murder on the Trail, told live in Phoenix during our tour.

OK, profilers. Can you solve an unsolvable murder?

Join host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick live on stage for Crime Adjacent, the world’s biggest true crime podcast. Every week, at shows across the country, Chase reopens the most haunting, enduring mysteries from the grim underbelly of American true crime and challenges you to solve them.

“An atmospheric and immersive podcast where true crime and psychological thrillers intersect.” — Earworthy

From the Zodiac to the Rest Stop Killer, the Michigan Nightstalker to the Cross Country Killer, each episode unfolds like a real investigation — like the whip smart, nerdy love child of Murder, She Wrote and War of the Worlds — and dares you to unravel the mystery and provide justice for those who need it most.

It looks like a true crime podcast. It sounds like a true crime podcast. But what happens when the cosmology of our escapist entertainment looks terrifyingly like our real world? That’s Crime Adjacent. It’s a fully scripted, intimate, locked-room mystery that pulls back the curtain on our social obsession with true crime and what this fascination with humanity’s darkest impulses says about … us.

“Crime Adjacent is redefining the true crime genre.” — Podcasting Today

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick, a former crime reporter turned contributor for NPR, The New York Times, and McSweeney’s. He uses degrees in sociology and gender studies from UC Berkeley, along with an obsession with criminal profiling, true crime, and Jessica Fletcher, to explore why people commit crimes, why we are enthralled with them, and who, ultimately, pays the price.

So listen closely, profilers. Because with every episode, a new crime is afoot and every detail matters.

It’s not crime. It’s Crime Adjacent.

New live shows every Wednesday from theaters across America.

Weekly live behind the scenes insights for Crime Adjacent insiders at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is produced & edited by Multitude.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It was late at night on July 5, 2019, when the phone suddenly rang in the empty Ridge Hollow Recorder newspaper in Ridge Hollow, Colorado.

Reporter Penny C. Johnson casually answered the phone, thinking it was a caller perhaps angered over a typo -- that happened with surprising frequency.

This late night phone call was anything but ordinary. It was a watershed moment.

It was the moment Johnson first heard of a sex trafficking operation that had operated in this tiny southern Colorado town for quite literally decades, involving the most powerful townspeople.

This episode of Crime Adjacent recounts the week-long newspaper series Johnson was able to piece together following this phone call -- a series that revealed cover-ups, conspiracies, and at least one a murder.

And what's worse, this case is still ongoing.

As of 2026, there are allegation that the powerful men in this forgotten town are doing everything they can to keep the one person who knows all of their secrets from testifying. I guarantee you, this case will shock and enrage you.

This is Crime Adjacent episode 583: The Ridge Hollow files, told live in Los Angeles during our tour.

OK, profilers. Can you solve an unsolvable murder?

Join host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick live on stage for Crime Adjacent, the world’s biggest true crime podcast. Every week, at shows across the country, Chase reopens the most haunting, enduring mysteries from the grim underbelly of American true crime and challenges you to solve them.

“An atmospheric and immersive podcast where true crime and psychological thrillers intersect.” — Earworthy

From the Zodiac to the Rest Stop Killer, the Michigan Nightstalker to the Cross Country Killer, each episode unfolds like a real investigation — like the whip smart, nerdy love child of Murder, She Wrote and War of the Worlds — and dares you to unravel the mystery and provide justice for those who need it most.

It looks like a true crime podcast. It sounds like a true crime podcast. But what happens when the cosmology of our escapist entertainment looks terrifyingly like our real world? That’s Crime Adjacent. It’s a fully scripted, intimate, locked-room mystery that pulls back the curtain on our social obsession with true crime and what this fascination with humanity’s darkest impulses says about … us.

“Crime Adjacent is redefining the true crime genre.” — Podcasting Today

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick, a former crime reporter turned contributor for NPR, The New York Times, and McSweeney’s. He uses degrees in sociology and gender studies from UC Berkeley, along with an obsession with criminal profiling, true crime, and Jessica Fletcher, to explore why people commit crimes, why we are enthralled with them, and who, ultimately, pays the price.

So listen closely, profilers. Because with every episode, a new crime is afoot and every detail matters.

It’s not crime. It’s Crime Adjacent.

New live shows every Wednesday from theaters across America.

Weekly live behind the scenes insights for Crime Adjacent insiders at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is produced & edited by Multitude.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On March 20, 2021, the body of Alexia Russo was discovered inside her Anaheim, California, townhouse just blocks from Disneyland.

The 33-year-old horticulturalist actually worked at the theme park. In fact, it was her dream job, a joyful convergence of her two favorite things in the world: trees and Disney.

But this dream job also had a dark side, because it was this very place where Alexia would meet the person who murdered her.

This wouldn't be a Crime Adjacent case if there wasn't some wild twist, however. And this case has plenty of them.

Because yes, this dream job might have brought Alexia face to face with her killer.

But it also brought her into the orbit of the very people who would find the tiniest clue and solve her murder, this band of grieving, elderly castoffs who ventured to Disneyland to find joy again and ended up smack dab in the middle of a murder investigation.

This is Crime Adjacent episode 582: The Happiest Sleuths on Earth, told live in San Francisco during our tour.

OK, profilers. Can you solve an unsolvable murder?

Join host and serial killer survivor Chase Patrick live on stage for Crime Adjacent, the world’s biggest true crime podcast. Every week, at shows across the country, Chase reopens the most haunting, enduring mysteries from the grim underbelly of American true crime and challenges you to solve them.

“An atmospheric and immersive podcast where true crime and psychological thrillers intersect.” — Earworthy

From the Zodiac to the Rest Stop Killer, the Michigan Nightstalker to the Cross Country Killer, each episode unfolds like a real investigation — like the whip smart, nerdy love child of Murder, She Wrote and War of the Worlds — and dares you to unravel the mystery and provide justice for those who need it most.

It looks like a true crime podcast. It sounds like a true crime podcast. But what happens when the cosmology of our escapist entertainment looks terrifyingly like our real world? That’s Crime Adjacent. It’s a fully scripted, intimate, locked-room mystery that pulls back the curtain on our social obsession with true crime and what this fascination with humanity’s darkest impulses says about … us.

“Crime Adjacent is redefining the true crime genre.” — Podcasting Today

Crime Adjacent is written and performed by Mike Adamick, a former crime reporter turned contributor for NPR, The New York Times, and McSweeney’s. He uses degrees in sociology and gender studies from UC Berkeley, along with an obsession with criminal profiling, true crime, and Jessica Fletcher, to explore why people commit crimes, why we are enthralled with them, and who, ultimately, pays the price.

So listen closely, profilers. Because with every episode, a new crime is afoot and every detail matters.

It’s not crime. It’s Crime Adjacent.

New live shows every Wednesday from theaters across America.

Weekly live behind the scenes insights for Crime Adjacent insiders at Patreon -- http://www.patreon.com/crimeadjacent

Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/crimeadjacent

Web site -- www.crimeadjacent.com

Crime Adjacent is produced & edited by Multitude.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.