New Orleans Unsolved

This is one of the best true crime podcasts out there! It is very thorough and well researched! The focus on justice for the victims is something you don’t always get in many true crime podcasts, kudos to Anna and Thanh in their search for justice.

New Orleans Unsolved by Anna Christy stands out in the saturated world of true crime podcasts by delivering not only gripping storytelling but also the kind of professional, research-driven investigative journalism that honors both the victims and the truth. It slams the doors wide open on a topic most want to pretend doesn’t exist. #truecrime #investigativejournalism #pedophilerapistandserialkillers

I sat on this podcast for a bit then decided to take a listen. WOW…this has been a rollercoaster ride to say the least. Completely captivated by the stories, the narrator and wanting to know more as I sit on pins and needles waiting the next episode.

I’m from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and have spent a good chunk of my life in the city, yet I had never heard of this case or this podcast until today. And I am someone who eats, sleeps and breathes true crime and listens to a lot of true crime podcasts. I especially love episodic ones that stretch a case out over a whole season like this one does, so how this gem has never popped up on my radar I don’t know. It’s really a shame that it isn’t insanely popular, because there are plenty of subpar (if not downright bad) podcasts (and podcasters) out there that are super-famous and backed by big podcast companies. I don’t know if I would have found this one were I not today specifically looking for podcasts that focused on local cases, but thank goodness I did. The podcast is pretty close to having everything just how I like it—super in-depth research, thoughtful interviews, and investigative details, police work, forensics, etc. as well as finding out what the cops who were involved thought at the time and what they think now, and the fact that family members were included. The reporters are also great at being podcast hosts, and have perfect voices and attitudes for this medium. They aren’t afraid to ask tough questions and critique how things were handled, either. Pacing is great, it held my interest just fine and wasn’t too short or too long for my taste. And of course, the cases are all local so I love that. I’m a big fan now and I highly recommend it and hope more people listen to it. They clearly spent a ton of time, energy and money on this. These guys really turn over every stone and are just dogged. I really appreciate it.

The first season and some of the second were pretty compelling, but at this point, half the podcast is just Anna talking about herself and making excuses for why she doesn’t really even edit anything anymore, as if dropping irrelevant personal musings and uncontextualized raw audio is some courageous act of integrity instead of poor storytelling and stubborn defensiveness in the face of legitimate, constructive criticism. She’s also gotten so uncomfortably fixated on pedophiles as low-hanging fruit/modern-day vampires that it feels like she’s glamorizing the carceral state and retributive justice. Ironically, it’s that kind of ideology that allowed Stanley Burkhardt to function as an effective predator in the first place. This show is unfortunately becoming a cautionary tale about the dangers of so-called citizen journalism.