True crime fan Lizz Melgar Rose found herself in the middle of her own case. In 2012, her father Jim was murdered in his Texas home while her mother Sandy was tied up and left in a closet wedged shut by a chair. But Sandy Melgar’s inability to recall details of the home invasion made police suspicious. Lizz claimed investigators never pursued other leads, including evidence of a burglary, choosing instead to believe Sandy tied her own hands behind her back and staged the crime scene. Even with no motive or evidence linking her to the brutal stabbing, prosecutors charged her with murder.

iHeartPodcasts and BBC Studios present “Hands Tied.” Host Maggie Robinson Katz explores the theory that a middle-aged woman with epilepsy and arthritis could stab her husband 30 times, stay spotless, then bind herself in a closet locked from the outside. The podcast also follows Lizz’s fight to prove her mother’s innocence.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "HANDS TIED" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 15 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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Ashley and Albert Debelbot had just put their newborn McKenzy to bed for the first time, but hours later rushed the infant back to the hospital after finding a bump on her forehead. When she died, police concluded the parents harmed her and charged them with murder. Facing an overzealous prosecutor, a partial judge, and ineffective defense attorneys, the Debelbots spent twelve years in prison trying to clear their names. But a new legal team uncovered evidence suggesting McKenzy died from a prenatal injury, not a beating.

Season 11 of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s investigative series “Breakdown: Three Days in May” looks into the Debelbots’ complicated case. Hosts Bill Rankin and Tamara Stevens recount the investigative rush-to-judgment, the flawed trial, and the evidence pointing to a medical cause of the baby’s death—not a criminal one.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "BREAKDOWN: THREE DAYS IN MAY" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THIS EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: going nuts!

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He left his child in the backseat of a hot car. He said it was a tragic accident - the police said it was a calculated murder. We’ll go back to our May 7, 2016 discussion of “Breakdown: Death in a Hot Car" from host Bill Rankin and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

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A group of pensioners at a British retirement village have an unusual hobby: they gather weekly to ponder cold cases. But when its co-owner is murdered in the midst of a business dispute over closing the Cooper Chase facility, the elderly sleuths insert themselves in the mystery. With a mix of senior citizen charm and a lifetime of hidden expertise, the Thursday Murder Club digs into the shady backgrounds and dodgy business associates of the retirement community’s remaining owners. As the bodies pile up, these armchair detectives find themselves in real-world peril as they get closer to solving the mystery.

Based on the hit book series, “The Thursday Murder Club” stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley. It brings the cozy murder trope into a quiet retirement village where the unlikely sleuths chase down a killer—and remind the world that experience, friendship, and love never grow old.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: I ain't saying she a gold digger™

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Many feared their lives would be forever altered after New Years 2000. For some, it was - just not in the ways they thought. We’ll go back to our Dec 10, 2018 review of “Headlong: Surviving Y2K” from Dan Taberski.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "HEADLONG: SURVIVING Y2K" BEGIN IN THE FINAL SIX MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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Thirteen-year-old Lauryn thought the cruel texts about her and her boyfriend were just another case of teenage cyberbullying. But the messages didn’t stop. They escalated, becoming more vicious, graphic, and relentless. Everyone had a theory. Parents blamed classmates. Teachers suspected students. Police hit dead ends. Then a digital breadcrumb buried deep in the texts exposed the last person anyone expected.

From Netflix and the director of “Abducted in Plain Sight” comes “Unknown Number: A High School Catfish,” a chilling dive into digital deception. Teen victims, shattered families, and stunned investigators retrace the damage. We also hear from the catfish, allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions about their actions and motives.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "UNKNOWN NUMBER" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 13 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: A Dark Knight's sleep.

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Three neighbors put their true crime fandom to the test in a real life mystery. But they won’t solve just any crime…only murders in the building. We go back to our September 6, 2021 review of season one of the Hulu classic starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selina Gomez, "Only Murders in the Building."

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING" BEGIN IN THE FINAL SEVEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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At a Chicago hospital, labor-and-delivery nurse Clara Hochhäuser prepared to give birth to her own set of twins. But during her Caesarian section, her epidural never kicked in, subjecting her to feel the pain of the entire procedure. Despite her cries of agony, her own colleagues downplayed her suffering as routine discomfort. The incident forced an obstetric anesthetist to realize Clara’s experience was not uncommon. Not only do the pain medications fail in a significant number of C-sections, but doctors often dismiss patients’ complaints as anxiety or over-reactions. It set her on a crusade to change the way her profession perceives and addresses women’s pain.

In season two of “The Retrievals” from Serial Productions and The New York Times, host Susan Burton explores the under-reported horror of unmedicated C-sections and exposing how institutional neglect and cultural silence continue to shape the way women experience birth. It also follows the quest for systemic change in medical attitudes and procedures for dealing with women’s pain.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE RETRIEVALS" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 14 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: Don't play it again, Sam.

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