Best Cold Case True Crime Podcasts
The best podcasts investigating cold cases — unsolved murders, disappearances, and decades-old mysteries finally getting the scrutiny they deserve.
Cold case podcasts investigate murders and disappearances where official investigations have stalled. The best use modern forensic techniques, digital investigation, and persistent journalism to bring new attention to forgotten cases. Here are the highest-rated cold case podcasts in our community.
24 podcasts — ranked by binge factor
Serial
Anyone interested in journalism, legal procedure, and deep investigative dives into morally ambiguous cases with no easy answers.
In the Dark
Listeners who want journalism-grade investigation into wrongful convictions, systemic racism, and institutional failures — more 60 Minutes than true crime thriller.
The Deck Investigates
Audiochuck's deep investigation of cold case homicide victims featured on playing card decks distributed to prison inmates.
Bone Valley
True crime fans who care deeply about wrongful conviction, prosecutorial failure, and the fight to free innocent people; fans of In the Dark will find this essential.
Missing and Murdered: Finding Cleo
CBC's Connie Walker investigates the Sixties Scoop through the disappearance of Cleo Semaganis Nicotine.
CounterClock
Audiochuck's serialised investigative podcast working with law enforcement to bring cold cases to justice.
West Cork
True crime fans who love atmospheric investigative journalism, Anglo-Irish tensions, and cases that remain unresolved and fiercely contested decades later.
The Teacher's Pet
True crime fans who like journalism-driven investigations with massive real-world impact; anyone fascinated by domestic crime and institutional failure.
Bear Brook
True crime fans fascinated by forensic science, DNA technology, and cold cases with a genuine scientific payoff.
Your Own Backyard
Listeners who want investigative true crime with real-world consequence and single-minded, passionate focus from a creator who refused to let a case die.
Unraveled
Journalist Alexis Linkletter's serialised investigation into major cases, starting with the Long Island Serial Killer.
The Coldest Case in Laramie
NYT/Serial Productions investigate a 1985 campus murder closed for decades — and possibly wrongly solved.
Someone Knows Something
True crime fans who value empathy, journalistic integrity, and collaborative investigations conducted alongside the victim's own family.
LISK: Long Island Serial Killer
Dedicated ongoing coverage of the Long Island Serial Killer investigation, which began in 2010 with the disappearance of sex worker Shannan Gilbert.
Nighttime True Crime
Straightforward true crime storytelling for late-night listening with minimal music or embellishment.
The True Crime Files
Wide-ranging American true crime podcast covering murder, cold cases, fraud and organised crime.
Man in the Window: The Golden State Killer
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Paige St. John uncovers never-before-revealed details about the Golden State Killer, told through his victims' eyes.
Death in Ice Valley
True crime fans who love cold case mysteries with an international dimension; people fascinated by forensic identification and the stories hidden in unidentified remains.
Untold: The Daniel Morgan Murder
Journalist Peter Jukes traces the 1987 axe murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan — and the police corruption that kept it unsolved for decades.
White Lies (NPR)
True crime fans interested in civil rights history; listeners who want journalism with genuine historical consequence; anyone who believes true crime must engage with political violence and institutional cover-up.
Charlene: Somebody Knows Something
The Crime Desk revisits the 2003 disappearance of 14-year-old Charlene Downes from Blackpool — a case that still has no resolution.
Manhunt: Finding Kevin Parle
Ex-Flying Squad detective Peter Bleksley runs a live fugitive hunt for BBC Radio 5 Live, tracking a man wanted over two murders.
Dark Investigations
Bill Dunlap delivers deep-dive investigations into real murder cases, unsolved mysteries, cold cases, and serial killers, praised for its atmosphere.
Trace: Murder in the Rainforest
ABC Australia's investigation into the mysterious 2001 disappearance of British backpacker Peter Falconio in the Australian outback.
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