Top 10 True Crime Podcasts That Will Keep You Up at Night

Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark turned true crime into comedy and built a media empire around it. MFM pioneered the conversational true crime format — two friends discussing murders over wine, mixing genuine empathy with dark humor. Their "Murderino" fanbase grew to 35 million monthly downloads, spawned a fan convention (MurderFest), and led to a book deal, TV show, and the Exactly Right podcast network. The phrase "Stay sexy and don't get murdered" became a cultural meme. Love it or hate it, MFM democratized true crime.

Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat created the most-downloaded true crime podcast in history — over 2 billion total downloads as of 2025. Crime Junkie's formula is deceptively simple: tight 30-45 minute episodes, clear storytelling, and Brit's "wait, what?" reactions that mirror the listener's experience. The podcast helped launch audiochuck, a podcast network now worth an estimated $100 million. Flowers also founded Season of Justice, a nonprofit that has funded DNA testing for over 50 cold cases.

An anonymous Australian host known only as "Casey" delivers meticulously researched cases with zero humor, zero banter, and zero filler. Casefile is the anti-My Favorite Murder — pure information density with cinematic sound design. The 5-part EAR/ONS series (later identified as the Golden State Killer) is widely considered the best true crime podcast series ever produced. Over 700 million downloads and a Peabody Award nomination. Casey's identity remains unknown despite the show being the most popular podcast in Australia.

CBC journalist David Ridgen spent decades investigating cold cases, and this podcast is the culmination of that obsession. Each season follows one case: Season 1 (Adrien McNaughton, missing since 1972) and Season 2 (Sheryl Sheppard, murdered 1998) are masterclasses in how dogged journalism can pressure police to reopen investigations. Ridgen's approach is patient, empathetic, and methodical — no sensationalism, no speculation, just evidence. The podcast directly contributed to new leads in multiple cases.

The most controversial true crime podcast ever made. Host Mike Boudet uses actual 911 calls, police interrogation recordings, and courtroom audio in ways that other shows won't — or can't. The result is viscerally disturbing and ethically debatable. Critics call it exploitative; fans call it unflinching. The show has been dropped from multiple platforms, its host permanently banned from Reddit, and yet it consistently ranks in the top 10 true crime podcasts worldwide. It forces the question: where's the line between journalism and voyeurism?

APM Reports' In the Dark won a Peabody Award for Season 2, which investigated Curtis Flowers — a Black man tried six times for the same crime in Mississippi by the same prosecutor. Reporter Madeleine Baran's investigation was so thorough that it was cited by the US Supreme Court when they overturned Flowers' conviction in 2019. Season 1 examined the abduction of Jacob Wetterling, leading to a confession after 27 years. This is investigative journalism that changes outcomes — the podcast as accountability mechanism.

Christopher Goffard's LA Times investigation into con man John Meehan became a podcast phenomenon in 2017, hitting #1 on Apple Podcasts within a week. The story — a charming stranger seduces a successful businesswoman, then systematically destroys her life — is so unbelievable that listeners kept checking if it was fiction. It wasn't. The podcast spawned a Bravo TV series starring Connie Britton and Eric Bana. Dirty John proved that a single, well-told true crime story could cross every media platform.

In 1985, two barrels containing four bodies were found in Bear Brook State Park, New Hampshire. For 34 years, nobody knew who they were. Reporter Jason Moon spent years following the case as forensic genealogy — the same technology that caught the Golden State Killer — finally identified the victims and the killer. The 6-episode podcast is a masterclass in pacing, weaving together the science of DNA phenotyping, the psychology of serial killers, and the heartbreak of families who never got answers. It won the IRE Award and a Peabody.

From the creators of Serial, S-Town starts as a murder mystery in a small Alabama town and becomes something entirely different — a meditation on genius, loneliness, time, and what happens when a brilliant mind is trapped in a place that can't contain it. John B. McLemore's story is so extraordinary that critics debated whether it was journalism, biography, or literature. It was downloaded 40 million times in its first month, making it the fastest start in podcast history. S-Town expanded what a podcast could be.

Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark turned true crime into comedy and built a media empire around it. MFM pioneered the conversational true crime format — two friends discussing murders over wine, mixing genuine empathy with dark humor. Their "Murderino" fanbase grew to 35 million monthly downloads, spawned a fan convention (MurderFest), and led to a book deal, TV show, and the Exactly Right podcast network. The phrase "Stay sexy and don't get murdered" became a cultural meme. Love it or hate it, MFM democratized true crime.

Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat created the most-downloaded true crime podcast in history — over 2 billion total downloads as of 2025. Crime Junkie's formula is deceptively simple: tight 30-45 minute episodes, clear storytelling, and Brit's "wait, what?" reactions that mirror the listener's experience. The podcast helped launch audiochuck, a podcast network now worth an estimated $100 million. Flowers also founded Season of Justice, a nonprofit that has funded DNA testing for over 50 cold cases.

An anonymous Australian host known only as "Casey" delivers meticulously researched cases with zero humor, zero banter, and zero filler. Casefile is the anti-My Favorite Murder — pure information density with cinematic sound design. The 5-part EAR/ONS series (later identified as the Golden State Killer) is widely considered the best true crime podcast series ever produced. Over 700 million downloads and a Peabody Award nomination. Casey's identity remains unknown despite the show being the most popular podcast in Australia.

CBC journalist David Ridgen spent decades investigating cold cases, and this podcast is the culmination of that obsession. Each season follows one case: Season 1 (Adrien McNaughton, missing since 1972) and Season 2 (Sheryl Sheppard, murdered 1998) are masterclasses in how dogged journalism can pressure police to reopen investigations. Ridgen's approach is patient, empathetic, and methodical — no sensationalism, no speculation, just evidence. The podcast directly contributed to new leads in multiple cases.

The most controversial true crime podcast ever made. Host Mike Boudet uses actual 911 calls, police interrogation recordings, and courtroom audio in ways that other shows won't — or can't. The result is viscerally disturbing and ethically debatable. Critics call it exploitative; fans call it unflinching. The show has been dropped from multiple platforms, its host permanently banned from Reddit, and yet it consistently ranks in the top 10 true crime podcasts worldwide. It forces the question: where's the line between journalism and voyeurism?

APM Reports' In the Dark won a Peabody Award for Season 2, which investigated Curtis Flowers — a Black man tried six times for the same crime in Mississippi by the same prosecutor. Reporter Madeleine Baran's investigation was so thorough that it was cited by the US Supreme Court when they overturned Flowers' conviction in 2019. Season 1 examined the abduction of Jacob Wetterling, leading to a confession after 27 years. This is investigative journalism that changes outcomes — the podcast as accountability mechanism.

Christopher Goffard's LA Times investigation into con man John Meehan became a podcast phenomenon in 2017, hitting #1 on Apple Podcasts within a week. The story — a charming stranger seduces a successful businesswoman, then systematically destroys her life — is so unbelievable that listeners kept checking if it was fiction. It wasn't. The podcast spawned a Bravo TV series starring Connie Britton and Eric Bana. Dirty John proved that a single, well-told true crime story could cross every media platform.

In 1985, two barrels containing four bodies were found in Bear Brook State Park, New Hampshire. For 34 years, nobody knew who they were. Reporter Jason Moon spent years following the case as forensic genealogy — the same technology that caught the Golden State Killer — finally identified the victims and the killer. The 6-episode podcast is a masterclass in pacing, weaving together the science of DNA phenotyping, the psychology of serial killers, and the heartbreak of families who never got answers. It won the IRE Award and a Peabody.

From the creators of Serial, S-Town starts as a murder mystery in a small Alabama town and becomes something entirely different — a meditation on genius, loneliness, time, and what happens when a brilliant mind is trapped in a place that can't contain it. John B. McLemore's story is so extraordinary that critics debated whether it was journalism, biography, or literature. It was downloaded 40 million times in its first month, making it the fastest start in podcast history. S-Town expanded what a podcast could be.