True Crime Audiobooks | Mystery, Thriller & Horror

In Plain Sight: The Kaufman County Prosecutor Murders

JUDGE. JURY. EXECUTIONER. On a cold January morning, the killer executed Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse in broad daylight. Eight shots fired a block from the Kaufman County Courthouse. Two months later, a massacre. The day before Easter, the couple slept. Bunnies, eggs, a flower centerpiece gracing the table. Death rang their doorbell and filled the air with the rat-a-tat-tat of an assault weapon discharging round after round into their bodies. Eric Williams and his wife, Kim, celebrated the murders with grilled steaks. Their crimes covered front pages around the world, many saying the killer placed a target square on the back of law enforcement. Williams planned to exact revenge on all those who had wronged him, one at a time. Throughout the spring of 2013, Williams sowed terror through a small Texas town, and a quest for vengeance turned to deadly obsession. His intention? To keep killing, until someone found a way to stop him.

Kathryn Casey (Author), Kate Reading (Narrator)

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Innocent Victims: The True Story of the Eastburn Family Murders

On Mother's Day, 1985, the bodies of Kathryn Eastburn and her two young daughters were found in their Fayetteville, North Carolina, home. Katie, an air force captain's wife, had been raped and stabbed to death. Kara and Erin's throats had been slit. Their toddler sister, Jana, was the only survivor of a bloody killing spree that terrified a community still reeling from the conviction, six years prior, of Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald for the savage slayings of his pregnant wife and two daughters. The Cumberland County Sheriff's Department soon focused its investigation on US Army soldier Tim Hennis. Detectives and local prosecutors built their case on circumstantial evidence and a jury convicted Hennis and sentenced him to death. But his defense team refused to give up. Piece by piece, they discredited the state's case, exposing false testimony, concealed evidence, and prosecutorial misconduct. At a second trial, Hennis was found not guilty and released from death row. But an even more stunning turn of events was yet to come. Twenty-five years after the murders, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation tested a crucial piece of DNA evidence from the crime scene. The shocking results led to an unprecedented third trial to determine Tim Hennis's guilt or innocence.

Scott Whisnant (Author), Chris Andrew Ciulla (Narrator)

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Death of an Altar Boy: The Unsolved Murder of Danny Croteau and the Culture of Abuse in the Catholic

The tragic death of thirteen-year-old Danny Croteau in 1972 faded from headlines and memories for twenty years until the Boston abuse scandal-a string of assaults taking place within the Catholic Church-exploded in the early 2000s. Despite numerous indications, including forty claims of sexual misconduct with minors, pointing to him as Croteau's killer, Reverend Richard R. Lavigne remains "innocent." Drawing on more than ten thousand pages of police and court findings and interviews with Danny's friends and family, fellow abuse victims, and church officials, the author uncovers the truth-church complicity in the cover-up and masking of priests' involvement in a ring of abusive clergy-behind Croteau's death and those who had a hand in it.

E. J. Fleming (Author), Peter Berkrot (Narrator)

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The Billionaire Murders: The Mysterious Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman

A top journalist crosses the yellow tape to investigate a shocking high-society crime. Billionaires, philanthropists, socialites . . . victims. Barry and Honey Sherman appeared to lead charmed lives. But the world was shocked in late 2017 when their bodies were found in a bizarre tableau in their elegant Toronto home. First described as murder-suicide - belts looped around their necks, they were found seated beside their basement swimming pool - police later ruled it a staged, targeted double murder. Nothing about the case made sense to friends of the founder of one of the world's largest generic pharmaceutical firms and his wife, a powerhouse in Canada's charity world. Together, their wealth has been estimated at well over $4.7 billion. There was another side to the story. A strategic genius who built a large generic drug company - Apotex Inc. - Barry Sherman was a self-described workaholic, renowned risk-taker, and disruptor during his fifty-year career. Regarded as a generous friend by many, Sherman was also feared by others. He was criticized for stifling academic freedom and using the courts to win at all costs. Upset with building issues at his mansion, he sued and recouped millions from tradespeople. At the time of his death, Sherman had just won a decades-old legal case involving four cousins who wanted 20 percent of his fortune. Toronto Star investigative journalist Kevin Donovan chronicles the unsettling story from the beginning, interviewing family members, friends, and colleagues, and sheds new light on the Shermans' lives and the disturbing double murder. Deeply researched and authoritative, The Billionaire Murders is a compulsively readable tale of a strange and perplexing crime.

Kevin Donovan (Author), Kevin Donovan (Narrator)

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You'll Never See Daylight Again

The gritty prison memoir of Michaella McCollum, one half of the infamous 'Peru Two', imprisoned in a Peruvian jail for attempting to smuggle 11kg of cocaine from Peru to Madrid in August 2013. She was just a regular girl, spending the summer working at a bar in Ibiza, until she was approached by a man who asked her if she'd like to make some quick, easy money...and it would change her life forever. This is the truth of her time in prison, told through her own diaries and letters to her mother, family and friends, recounting tales of vicious guards, psychotic inmates and horrendous prison conditions. A brilliantly affecting tale of a naïve young girl who starts out in the Ibiza party scene and comes of age in the dark heart of Peru, before finally emerging into the sun a stronger, more confident, mature young woman.

Michaella Mccollum (Author), Maeve Smyth (Narrator)

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Italy's Most Powerful Mafias: The History and Legacy of the Cosa Nostra, La Camorra, and 'Ndrangheta

The word "mafia," Sicilian in origin, is synonymous with Italy, but Italy is home to several different mafias, with three being particularly notorious. While the Cosa Nostra of western Sicily is the most infamous, other powerful groups include the ferocious 'Ndrangheta of Calabria and the Camorra, the third-largest mafia, which is active in Naples and the Campania region. A "mafia" is loosely defined as a criminal organization that is interested in social, economic and political power, combining elements of a traditional secret society with those of a business, but further levels of nuance are necessary in order to understand these groups. In a general sense, this is because each mafia creates a myth about the development of the organization, which becomes like an unquestionable truth. In essence, part of what makes its members so completely loyal to it is also what makes outsiders so utterly afraid of it. While all three mafias have initiation rituals dating to the 19th century, the oldest of the three belongs to the Camorra. The rituals date back to 1850, as the Camorra was taking shape in the prisons of southern Italy. In this simple but profound ritual, the new member was told to take an oath over crossed knives and then made to have a dagger fight with another man (either another possible initiate or a current member). However, the blades would be wrapped leaving just the point exposed, so that the only objective would be to draw a faint trace of blood, after which the fight would end. This ritual ceased in 1912, around the time that the Neapolitan Honored Society dissolved itself, and as it reconstituted itself in various formations over the course of the century, it never again returned to those more antiquated rituals. Instead, the group began to exist more as a loose network of criminals, all working for their own enrichment.

Charles River Editors (Author), Jim Johnston (Narrator)

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Robert Kennedy: JFK: The Death of Marilyn Monroe: Who Didn't Kill Them

From the bestselling author of Pop Goes the Weasel, Red Herrings, New World Order, 9/11 Conspiracy and many more. Robert Kennedy, JFK and the Death of Marilyn Monroe. Who Didn't Kill Them? For five decades the world has been told that the killers of John F Kennedy and his brother Bobby were either already dead or languishing in prison. Lee Harvey Oswald was shot the day after the assassination but the Warren Commission, set up to investigate the brutal murder of the President, insists that he did. And that he acted alone. Details in this essay prove beyond doubt that the small piece of evidence that could prove it one way or another has never been revealed. And Sirhan Sirhan, the young Palestinian currently residing at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County, California, could not have killed Bobby Kennedy either. The evidence, never released until now, prove conclusively that he could not have fired the fatal bullets. And as for their shared lover, Marilyn Monroe? Well, much debate has been had about her untimely death. Was it the CIA? Was it the FBI? Were the Kennedy's themselves responsible, or the Mafia, who also had good reason to silence the dumb blonde? Well, the truth about the death of the Twentieth-Century's most famous actress will surprise many people as further evidence emerges about that untimely event too. This book may be short but it is a great read and will inspire anybody to do their own research into the three of the most famous (and linked) deaths in history. And each with their own conspiracy theories. This is part of Albert Jack's Mysterious World Series

Albert Jack (Author), Albert Jack (Narrator)

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‘Ndrangheta: The History of Italy’s Most Powerful Organized Crime Syndicate

The word “mafia,” Sicilian in origin,[1] is synonymous with Italy, but Italy is home to several different mafias, with three being particularly notorious. While the Cosa Nostra of western Sicily is the most infamous, other powerful groups include the ferocious ‘Ndrangheta of Calabria and the Camorra, the third-largest mafia, which is active in Naples and the Campania region.[2] A “mafia” is loosely defined as a criminal organization that is interested in social, economic and political power, combining elements of a traditional secret society with those of a business, but further levels of nuance are necessary in order to understand these groups.[3] In a general sense, this is because each mafia creates a myth about the development of the organization, which becomes like an unquestionable truth. In essence, part of what makes its members so completely loyal to it is also what makes outsiders so utterly afraid of it.[4] The ‘Ndrangheta (pronounced an-drang-et-ah) is a close neighbor of the Cosa Nostra and currently considered the most powerful (and difficult to spell) criminal organization in Italy. The ‘Ndrangheta is centered around Calabria, the most southwestern region of Italy, almost touching the Sicilian city of Messina. Though it began as far back as the late 19th century, it was not until the 1950s that the ‘Ndrangheta started to spread its tentacles throughout Italy and then across the entire globe, forming an empire that now ranges from Australia and Turkey to Chile to Canada. The fact that the ‘Ndrangheta is overshadowed by the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, as well as by the Neapolitan mafia, the Camorra, allowed it to grow and develop outside of the public eye. For years, people actually considered the Calabrian mafia to be part of the Cosa Nostra as a mere appendage, rather than its own entity.

Charles River Editors (Author), Jim Johnston (Narrator)

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The Less People Know About Us: A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity

In this powerful true crime memoir, an award-winning identity theft expert tells the shocking story of the duplicity and betrayal that inspired her career and nearly destroyed her family. Axton Betz-Hamilton grew up in small-town Indiana in the early '90s. When she was 11 years old, her parents both had their identities stolen. Their credit ratings were ruined, and they were constantly fighting over money. This was before the age of the Internet, when identity theft became more commonplace, so authorities and banks were clueless and reluctant to help Axton's parents. Axton's family changed all of their personal information and moved to different addresses, but the identity thief followed them wherever they went. Convinced that the thief had to be someone they knew, Axton and her parents completely cut off the outside world, isolating themselves from friends and family. Axton learned not to let anyone into the house without explicit permission, and once went as far as chasing a plumber off their property with a knife. As a result, Axton spent her formative years crippled by anxiety, quarantined behind the closed curtains in her childhood home. She began starving herself at a young age in an effort to blend in--her appearance could be nothing short of perfect or she would be scolded by her mother, who had become paranoid and consumed by how others perceived the family. Years later, her parents' marriage still shaken from the theft, Axton discovered that she, too, had fallen prey to the identity thief, but by the time she realized, she was already thousands of dollars in debt and her credit was ruined. The Less People Know About Us is Axton's attempt to untangle an intricate web of lies, and to understand why and how a loved one could have inflicted such pain. Axton will present a candid, shocking, and redemptive story and reveal her courageous effort to grapple with someone close that broke the unwritten rules of love, protection, and family.

Axton Betz-Hamilton (Author), Laurie Catherine Winkel, Laurie Winkel (Narrator)

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The Man Who Played with Fire: Stieg Larsson's Lost Files and the Hunt for an Assassin

“A fascinating ‘creative nonfiction’ account of the greatest unsolved mystery in Swedish history.” —Wall Street Journal “It’s more than just a thrilling book…There’s a lot of evidence that points to an international conspiracy.” —CBS This Morning Saturday The author of the Millennium novels laid out the clues. Now a journalist is following them. When Stieg Larsson died, the author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had been working on a true mystery that out-twisted his Millennium novels: the assassination on February 28, 1986, of Olof Palme, the Swedish prime minister. It was the first time in history that a head of state had been murdered without a clue who’d done it—and on a Stockholm street at point-blank range. Internationally known for his fictional villains, Larsson was well acquainted with their real-life counterparts and documented extremist activities throughout the world. For years he’d been amassing evidence that linked their terrorist acts to what he called “one of the most astounding murder cases” he’d ever covered. Larsson’s archive was forgotten until journalist Jan Stocklassa was given exclusive access to the author’s secret project. In The Man Who Played with Fire, Stocklassa collects the pieces of Larsson’s true-crime puzzle to follow the trail of intrigue, espionage, and conspiracy begun by one of the world’s most famous thriller writers. Together they set out to solve a mystery that no one else could.

Jan Stocklassa (Author), Ulf Bjorklund (Narrator)

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The Forest City Killer: A Serial Murderer, a Cold-Case Sleuth, and a Search for Justice

Dig deep into the unsolved murder of Jackie English and join the hunt for a serial killer Fifty years ago, a serial killer prowled the quiet city of London, Ontario, marking it as his hunting grounds. As young women and boys were abducted, raped, and murdered, residents of the area held their loved ones closer and closer, terrified of the monster ― or monsters ― stalking the streets. Homicide detective Dennis Alsop began hunting the killer in the 1960s, and he didn’t stop searching until his death 40 years later. For decades, detectives, actual and armchair, and the victims’ families and friends continued to ask questions: Who was the Forest City Killer? Was there more than one person, or did a depraved individual commit all of these crimes on his own? Combing through the files Detective Alsop left behind, researcher Vanessa Brown reopens the cases, revealing previously unpublished witness statements, details of evidence, and astonishing revelations. And through her investigation, Vanessa posits the unthinkable: is it possible that the Forest City Killer is still alive and, like the notorious Golden State Killer, a simple DNA test could bring him to justice?

Vanessa Brown (Author), Vivienne Leheny (Narrator)

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Gotti's Boys: The Mafia Crew That Killed For John Gotti

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano takes you inside John Gotti's inner circle to reveal the dark hearts and violent deeds of the most remorseless and cold-blooded characters in organized crime. Men so vicious even the other Mafia families were terrified of them. Meet Gotti's Boys . . . - Charles Carneglia: the ruthless junkyard dog who allegedly disposed of bodies for the mob-by dissolving them in acid then displaying their jewels. - Gene Gotti: the younger Gotti brother who ran a multimillion-dollar drug smuggling ring-enraging his bosses in the Gambino family. - Angelo 'Quack-Quack' Ruggiero: the loose-lipped contract killer who was wire-tapped by the FBI-and dared to insult Gotti behind his back. - Tony 'Roach' Rampino: the hardcore stoner who looked like a cockroach-and used his gangly arms and horror-mask face to frighten his enemies. - 'Sammy the Bull' Gravano: the Gambino underboss who helped John Gotti execute Gambino mob boss Paul Castellano-then sang like a canary to take Gotti down. Contains mature themes.

Anthony M. DeStefano, Anthony M. Destefano (Author), Johnny Heller (Narrator)

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True Crime Audiobooks in Mystery, Thriller & Horror