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#11 in True Crime Podcasts
of 14 ranked entries
Payne Lindsey · Tenderfoot TV · 2018
Lindsey turned to the Atlanta Child Murders of 1979-81 and treated the case’s lingering local controversy — was the right man convicted — with real historical and racial context most true-crime treatments of the case had skipped. Recorded specifics: launched 2018, host Payne Lindsey, network Tenderfoot TV. Panel highlighted historical and racial context often missing from earlier coverage of the case, revisits still-contested convictions with real investigative scrutiny and strong production polish reflecting Tenderfoot TV’s growth since its first show. The reservation on record is covers ground some listeners will find already familiar from prior documentaries.
Score breakdown
Each criterion is scored independently, then combined using the weights published on True Crime Podcasts.
On the record
| Launched | 2018 |
|---|---|
| Host | Payne Lindsey |
| Network | Tenderfoot TV |
| Rating | 8.4 |
Panel verdict
What it gets right
Where it gives ground
1 appearance
From the same list
Phoebe Judge · Since 2014
Judge treats crime as a lens for genuinely strange human behavior rather than a formula to repeat, and the show’s range — a heist, a wrongful arrest, a man who legally impersonated a doctor for years — refuses to stay inside true crime’s usual grooves.
Madeleine Baran · APM Reports · Since 2016
Baran’s team spent years re-investigating a wrongful murder conviction with the rigor of an actual legal appeal, and their reporting on the Curtis Flowers case directly contributed to his eventual release — journalism with a documented, real-world outcome.
Laura Beil · Wondery · 2018
Beil reported on a surgeon who kept operating and kept maiming patients despite repeated warnings to the hospitals employing him, and the show’s real fury is aimed less at the surgeon than at every institution that let him keep a scalpel.
Gilbert King · Lava for Good · 2023
King, a Pulitzer-winning author, spent years re-investigating a Florida wrongful-conviction case, and the show’s late-season turn — actually locating a credible alternate confession — is the kind of reporting payoff true crime rarely delivers for real.
Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark · Since 2016
Kilgariff and Hardstark built the genre’s most successful comedic entry by treating true crime fandom itself as the subject as much as the cases, and "stay sexy, don’t get murdered" became one of podcasting’s most recognized sign-offs.
Ashley Flowers · audiochuck · Since 2017
Flowers built a tight, efficient weekly-case format that consistently tops the podcast charts, trading the slow-burn investigative approach of prestige true crime for a briskly paced, highly repeatable structure.
Casefile · Since 2016
The Australian-produced show’s host has stayed anonymous since launch by deliberate choice, letting meticulously sourced case files speak without the parasocial host relationship most true-crime shows lean on.
Payne Lindsey · Tenderfoot TV · Since 2016
Lindsey started investigating a cold missing-persons case as an independent amateur project, and the show’s reporting is widely credited with generating new leads that helped finally close the real Tara Grinstead case.
Top 49 rankings are editorial. Scores are produced from the published criteria on each list and are refreshed on the cadence stated there. Figures shown across this section are curated demonstration data.