It's October 2014, I am an audit secretary in a small firm. I spend my days alone in an office while my audit teams are out at client sites. I am listening to Halloween Party Hits on Pandora radio. I get an ad for Serial, a twelve-part serial on the Case of Adnan Syed, with the most comforting voice I have ever heard, Sarah Koenig. I click on the link and listen to the first 4 parts; I am obsessed immediately. I think this is the best mystery audio-book I have ever heard.
I look up the resolution to the case and get so frustrated that I cannot find if Adnan really killed Hae Min Lee. But I find for the first time that this is not an audio-book. This is a podcast and a true story. I dig even deeper. I tell everyone I know about it. I ask my friends to listen so we can discuss who they think killed Hae Min. I don't think Adnan did it. I listen to the 12-part serial 3 or 4 times until I have heard it so many times I know it by heart, and there is no new information about who may have killed this poor 17-year-old girl in 1999. I have to fill this hole in my brain.
I google "Similar Stories to Serial" what I had obsessed over for the last few weeks is a Podcast. A What? How had I never heard of this before? I then find that iPhones have a podcast app built in? What, so cool now, I can find other stories and occupy all of this alone time in my head while I work.
I found so many wonderful podcasts to download and listen to every episode they offer.
The first I found was Serial Dynasty by Bob Ruff, now named Truth and Justice.
The next podcast I found has been my favorite for the last 6 years, True Crime Garage. Nic and The Captain tell a mysterious story each week, usually over the course of 2 episodes. Listening to their podcast filled up a lot of my time, but I still needed more, one mystery a week wasn't enough to keep my bored mind occupied, thankfully they had ads for other podcasts similar.
Next I found The Generation Why. Another mystery a week to think about.
I needed more. Now Undisclosed exists, 3 lawyers who dig deeper into the Hae Min Lee Case and Adnan Syed. Some episodes were over my head, but I finally had the information I needed to figure out who I think killed Hae Min. And I knew after dozens of episodes, no way in hell could Adnan have killed Hae. I built a story in my head for who I believe killed Hae, between the information I have gathered thanks to Undisclosed and Serial Dynasty.
Thankfully, I now had my base, but I had a deep obsession by now. I had filled hours and hours of my life with true crime podcasts. Any free time was spent listening to them, so I didn't have to think about my own lonely life. So I listened to every episode each of these podcasts put out and then started making my way through many more podcasts so I could keep my mind preoccupied.
My favorite case, which is a terrible way to say it, but the case I connect to most closely, along with probably a million other people, is Maura Murray. A young woman who went missing in February 2004, when I was 12 years old. I hadn't heard of this case until January 2015 when I found the podcast Missing Maura Murray.
I have since never made it more than a day without thinking of Maura. It is such a weird thing, but I feel connected to her. I dream about what may have happened to her. This is even worse than the Hae Min Lee case because we know that Hae was murdered. They found her body. But Maura, it's now been 16 years with no answers and somehow there are still things to find out about her and the people closely connected to the case.
I listen to 4 podcasts in the year 2020 that revolve around Maura's case and if you have never heard of it, brace yourself before looking into it further. I guarantee you will lose hours of your life and may lose hours of your life on repeat.
I pray daily that we may find what happened to her, for her family and for my sake because I'll think about her daily for the rest of my life. I could share parts of her story, but I will let you find it on your own time.
My favorite stories have become all missing persons stories so whenever I hear of a podcast focused on a missing person I download it. Another very dramatic and confusing story I have followed is the podcast Hide & Seek.
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