In The Dark
October 19, 2016 1:33 AM   Subscribe

APM Reports, the investigative journalism effort from American Public Media, has just released the eighth and final episode of In The Dark, a podcast looking into the abduction and investigation of the 1989 Jacob Wetterling kidnapping which coincidentally debuted a week after a courtroom confession was made solving the 27-year-old mystery.

Individual show pages link to a play link plus additional material related to the episode. Also available on iTunes or for any RSS client.
posted by hippybear (14 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
[Ed. note: this is not a podcast trying to solve the case. It's a podcast analyzing what went on with the investigation of the case. It's utterly fascinating and knowing the outcome doesn't begin to tell the story, and doesn't matter to the story being told. Check it out!]
posted by hippybear at 1:36 AM on October 19, 2016


Listened to it this weekend while on a massive cleaning spree. Very well done, and WOW.
posted by Stewriffic at 4:16 AM on October 19, 2016


It's not the final episode, though - they announced there will be a bonus ninth episode with more information about Danny Heinrich (the confessed kidnapper/killer) next week.
posted by Flannery Culp at 5:47 AM on October 19, 2016


And I'm already 3 episodes in. Thanks for this! It's becoming impossible to sort through the haystack of new podcasts. This will serve as a much needed distraction from a certain other current event that I'd be obsessing about otherwise.
posted by dis_integration at 6:01 AM on October 19, 2016


Thanks for this! I have been searching for Serial-like podcasts and this could fit the bill (Criminal is another, albeit more a This American Life focused on one off crime stories and oddities). I will put this into my rotation.
posted by Megustalations at 6:33 AM on October 19, 2016


Boy, there are so many takeaways from this excellent podcast for me.

But the biggest (aside from reinforcing my opinion that 'psychics' are bottom-feeding vampires), is that we really need to take a stark look at how law enforcement is organized in this country. The impunity with which sherrifs can operate, combined with no record-keeping requirements is truly shocking. At the very least, I'll be looking for statistics from incumbent Sherrifs here in Washington's King County (one of the places mentioned with a shockingly low clearance rate)

I've been recommending this to everyone in shouting distance. It's that good.
posted by lumpenprole at 8:37 AM on October 19, 2016


One of the things I most enjoyed was the interview with the current sheriff near the end of the 5th episode. Madeleine Baran, our narrator, works in a very professional tone: empathetic (and sometimes emotive) but not pally, very much behind the desk, very practiced and matter-of-fact. For the interview, though, she comes across differently. Take a listen to episode 5 around 37:15 and the next 30 seconds. "So thanks for taking the tiiime," she says to him, uptalking and being a little sing-song-y (presumably) for the benefit of the 62-year-old sheriff. She proceeds to extract what is basically a bald confession of wrongdoing from the guy. I was impressed.
posted by 4th number at 8:59 AM on October 19, 2016 [4 favorites]


The end of this week's episode was so powerful and damning.

And who knew that the federal government doesn't know how many law enforcement agencies there are in the United States???
posted by Automocar at 9:50 AM on October 19, 2016


Listened to the first ep on my way to work this morning, and it's so good. Thanks for posting this, hippybear!
posted by rtha at 10:08 AM on October 19, 2016


Welp, now I know what I'll be listening to on my commute for the next few days, thanks.

However, I think you meant to tag JacobWetterling, not JasonWetterling?
posted by superna at 10:18 AM on October 19, 2016


And who knew that the federal government doesn't know how many law enforcement agencies there are in the United States???

That blew my mind too. I knew there were flaws in the FBI's data collection and Uniform Crime Report (it's only recently the rape/sexual assault category was expanded beyond 'forcible carnal knowledge of a woman without her consent'), but how can they not have a basic list of what and where the agencies are?
posted by Flannery Culp at 11:51 AM on October 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


Four episodes in so far, loving this! Heard about it on Sampler and had made a fanfare post.
posted by ellieBOA at 1:45 AM on October 20, 2016


The final episode is out now. No spoilers, but I'm impressed and pleasantly surprised they took such a strong stance with the ending. It will be interesting to see how this is received locally.
posted by Flannery Culp at 12:01 PM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]


Final episode on Fanfare.
posted by ellieBOA at 9:13 AM on October 26, 2016


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