Dirty John

By: Los Angeles Times | Wondery
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  • Summary

  • All episodes are available for free, with remastered ad-free episodes available for Wondery+ subscribers.Debra Newell is a successful interior designer. She meets John Meehan, a handsome man who seems to check all the boxes: attentive, available, just back from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders. But her family doesn’t like John, and they get entangled in an increasingly complex web of love, deception, forgiveness, denial, and ultimately, survival. Reported and hosted by Christopher Goffard from the L.A. Times.
    © 2017 All Rights Reserved.
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Politics & Government Social Sciences True Crime
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Episodes
  • Introducing Dirty John

    Introducing Dirty John
    Sep 11 2017

    A true story about seduction, deception, forgiveness, denial, and ultimately, survival. Reported and hosted by Christopher Goffard from the L.A. Times.

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    3 mins
  • The Real Thing

    The Real Thing
    Oct 2 2017

    Debra Newell, an interior designer in Southern California, meets John Meehan on an over-50 dating site. His profile looks exciting: Anesthesiologist, divorced, Christian. She falls in love fast. But her children dislike him and warn her that his stories don’t add up. A psychologist advises Debra to set firmer boundaries with her kids, saying she has a right to be happy.
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    40 mins
  • Newlyweds

    Newlyweds
    Oct 2 2017

    After an intruder appears in John and Debra’s livingroom, John insists that they install security cameras. Debra begins to wonder whether he is spying on her. Her nephew, Shad, looks into John’s background and confronts him with what he finds. Debra’s vision of an idyllic marriage is shattered when she discovers a stash of paperwork in John’s home office.
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    36 mins

Featured Article: Catch Our Grift with These Tales of Female Frauds, Scammers, and Cons


When it comes to cons of the criminal variety, women often fly under the radar. And when it comes to pulling off high-level, multifaceted schemes, women continue to be underestimated. But with enough confidence to remain undetected, female con artists, fraudsters, and grifters have scammed their way to infamy, racking up dollars, favors, and fame along the way. The stories they leave behind make for some of the most intriguing cases of all time.

Featured Article Catch Our Grift with These Tales of Female Frauds Scammers and Cons

What listeners say about Dirty John

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Profile Image for MCL

wow

interesting and shows how abusers can manipulate thier way through life. Highly recommended. Be sure also to catch Tonia's story for a more complete picture.

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listening to this makes me soo mad

I can't stand hearing what this guy has done. classic example of someone who should not be living among society..

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Profile Image for Elizabeth Flores

I loved this!

it is unfortunate that John has done what he has done even with all these people trying to help him and support him in any way they can and he had a wife who loved him dearly. Terra deserved better, thank God she got away from that situation with John, every chapter gets interesting more and more to the point you don't want to stop listening I am going to watch the show on Netflix of dirty John now. I've always thought books are better than movies or shows but after I read the books I like to see the movies.

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Profile Image for Jennifer Kozlowski

Sick and twisted

Loved listening to it. Some parts were so maddening to listen to though. Love makes people do crazy things.

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Profile Image for We3Blessed

Hooked on Wondry

Dr. Death is my intro to true crime podcasts. Hooked and on to the next.

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Profile Image for Eileen Morgan

What a story !

It was so good. Disturbing on so many levels but gives you hope in fighting for yourself.

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Profile Image for Jillian A.

maybe it was the remix?

this was a tough one. to get through and not because of the subject matter. Maybe it's the 'salt remix' that is the problem? The storytelling was SO unnecessarily drawn out, parts of the story were repeated multiple times throughout multiple episodes, and there were WAY too many low-quality audio recordings. and phone calls played. It just did not need to be that excruciatingly detailed, there were SO many unnecessary details. We did not need to listen to every word of multiple-page letters, emails, and dialogue in order to fully grasp that this guy was evil.

And the story bothers me. I'm not one to victim-shame or judge a victim, but the storytelling made Deb sound just absolutely incapable of making good decisions. They also made the youngest daughter sound like a soft-spoken airhead who couldn't think about anything other than the walking dead and zombies. It completely took away from the things they went through. If I were this family I'd have been so angry being portrayed this way. This doesn't send the message that "this can happen to anyone." this sends the message that "this can happen if you're so gullible and vulnerable that you can't recognize GLARING red flags."


Very disappointing.


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