Island Crime Island Crime+

I am glad I stumbled on this podcast. I’m listening to season five right now. The story is very interesting, intriguing and human. The host doesn’t just focus on the story, but also tries to give background on the individuals involved. Their feelings, motivations, fears, faults and lives.

There is just one thing that stopped me from giving this five stars. It’s the unnamed witnesses and the reporter from episode one. My problem is not that they are unnamed, my problem is that there is quite a bit of exaggeration with a few of them. I feel that they are taking the fact that their identity is hidden, voice is altered and the fact that a few of the most dangerous individuals in this story are dead to create an opportunity to exaggerate. In addition I can tell that they inflate their importance and level of friendship in the victims’ lives. The reporter from episode one is so melodramatic and over the top. So, that kind of makes it hard for me to believe them. However, the host does not play into it, she merely moves to another topic or presses them on their exaggerated statements.

Just found this podcast and am so impressed. Laura Palmer has done her research so professionally. Looking forward to the other seasons.

This podcast can’t be called investigative journalism. I listened to season 5 over the course of about a week. When I finished, I went back and checked to make sure I didn’t somehow skip/miss some episodes…nope, there just wasn’t any meat to this story. The whole season is comprised of a few interviews with the family & friends of victims, explaining who they were and what their life had been like. There’s almost zero info about the crime itself, what lead up to it, leads the police had, etc etc…nothing! I kept thinking that the journalist would get to the actual story, but she never did. I won’t waste my time with the other 4 seasons.