The Coldest Case in Laramie is a true crime podcast [1] produced by Serial Productions and The New York Times [2] and hosted by Kim Barker. [3] The eight episodes podcast [4] debuted on February 23, 2023. [5]
The podcast is about a cold case, the unsolved murder of Shelli Wiley, a 22-year-old student at the University of Wyoming, [6] that took place in 1985, [7] in Laramie, Wyoming. [8] After she was killed her home was set on fire. [9] Barker, who grew up in Laramie [10] and has worked as a war reporter in Afghanistan and as a correspondent in New Delhi and Islamabad, [11] started investigating the case during the COVID-19 pandemic. [12]
The podcast contains archival audio related to the case. [13] The show was criticized by James Marriott in The Times , who said that "the idea that anyone could consider this horrible tragedy a promising source of entertainment baffles me". [14]
True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines a crime and details the actions of people associated with and affected by criminal events. It is a cultural phenomenon that can refer to the promotion of sensationalized and emotionally charged content around the subject of violent crime, for the general public. Many works in this genre recount high-profile, sensational crimes such as the killing of JonBenét Ramsey, the O. J. Simpson murder case, and the Pamela Smart murder, while others are devoted to more obscure slayings.
Dennis Lynn Rader, also known as BTK, is an American serial killer who murdered at least ten people in Wichita and Park City, Kansas, between 1974 and 1991. Although Rader occasionally killed or attempted to kill men and children, he typically targeted women. His victims were often bound, sometimes with objects from their homes, and either suffocated with a plastic bag or manually strangled with a ligature.
James Renner is an American author, investigative journalist, producer, and director. He worked as a reporter for Cleveland Scene and was editor of the alternative newspaper The Cleveland Independent. He is known for his work in the thriller, science fiction, and true crime genres. In 2019, Renner founded The Porchlight Project, a nonprofit dedicated to offering support for the families of the missing and murdered.
The Claremont serial killings is the name given by the media to a case involving the disappearance of an Australian woman, aged 18, and the killings of two others, aged 23 and 27, in 1996–1997. After attending night spots in Claremont, a wealthy western suburb of Perth, Western Australia, all three women disappeared in similar circumstances leading police to suspect that an unidentified serial killer was the offender. The case was described as the state's biggest, longest running, and most expensive investigation.
The backpacker murders were a spate of serial killings that took place in New South Wales, Australia, between 1989 and 1993, committed by Ivan Milat. The bodies of seven missing young people aged 19 to 22 were discovered partially buried in the Belanglo State Forest, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south-west of the New South Wales town of Berrima. Five of the victims were foreign backpackers and two were Australians from Melbourne. Milat was convicted of the murders on 27 July 1996 and was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences, as well as 18 years without parole. He died in prison on 27 October 2019, having never confessed to the murders for which he was convicted.
The Easey Street murders, often simplified to just Easey Street, refer to the knife murders of two women in Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, an inner suburb of Melbourne, in January 1977. Described as "Victoria’s most brutal crime", the case remains unsolved despite a A$1 million reward being posted in 2017.
Theresa Allore was a Canadian college student who disappeared on Friday, November 3, 1978, from Champlain College Lennoxville in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. She was later found dead under suspicious circumstances. Allore's brother later started the true crime podcast Who Killed Theresa. The podcast started out as a personal exploration of the Allore's death but later expanded its focus to cover other unsolved crimes. After discovering links between the circumstances of Allore's case and the close resemblance to the recent deaths of two other girls, Manon Dubé and Louise Camirand, Allore's brother theorized that the three deaths may have been committed by the same person.
Serial is an investigative journalism podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, narrating a nonfiction story over multiple episodes. The series was co-created and is co-produced by Koenig and Julie Snyder and developed by This American Life; as of July 2020, it is owned by The New York Times.
Hae Min Lee was a Korean-American high school student who went missing on January 13, 1999, in Baltimore County, Maryland, before turning up dead on February 9, 1999, when her corpse was discovered in Leakin Park, Baltimore. Her autopsy revealed that she had been killed by way of manual strangulation.
Casefile is an Australian crime podcast that first aired in January 2016 and is hosted by an Australian man who remains anonymous. The podcast, produced by Casefile True Crime Podcast, is usually released on a Saturday for three consecutive weeks, with a bonus episode on the fourth week. The series deals with solved or cold criminal cases, often related to well-known murders and serial crimes. Unlike a number of similar podcasts, the series is fully scripted and narrated, while relying primarily on original police or mass-media documents, eyewitness accounts, and interview or public announcement recordings.
Paul Holes is an American former cold-case investigator for the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office. Holes is known for his contributions to solving the Golden State Killer case using advanced methods of identifying the killer with DNA and genealogy technology. Since retiring in March 2018, Holes has contributed to books, television, and podcasts about the Golden State Killer and true crime.
Kim Barker is a journalist who authored The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan about her experiences covering the war in Afghanistan. The book was adapted into the 2016 film Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and Barker was portrayed by Tina Fey.
Ronald Lee Moore was an American fugitive, murderer, rapist and suspected serial killer who murdered at least two women between 1996 and 1999. He was not connected to either murder until over a decade later. In November 2007, while incarcerated in Baltimore for burglary, Moore was accidentally released due to a clerical error. He was captured on December 24, 2007, but committed suicide by hanging in January 2008 at the Nelson Coleman Correctional Center in Louisiana. After his suicide, DNA testing linked him to other crimes and he was mentioned in the podcast Serial (2014) as a possible suspect in the killing of Hae Min Lee.
Jonathan Allore, usually credited as John Allore, was a Canadian actor and podcaster, most noted for his true crime podcast Who Killed Theresa. The podcast started out as a personal exploration of the Death of Theresa Allore, his sister, and later expanded its focus to cover other unsolved crimes.