Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast · Ben Gibson

Wineville Chicken Coop Murders

·1 hr 19 min·5 clips

Christine Collins proved the boy was not Walter, and Captain J.J. Jones sent her to a psychiatric ward under code 12.

The episode starts with a conversational frame before settling into Christine Collins's fight with the LAPD. It follows the boy's arrival in Los Angeles, which Christine says is not her son, and the story tightens from there. The mood stays grave. As the police refuse to reopen the investigation, the hosts show how Christine's persistence stops looking cooperative to the department and starts reading as defiance. That shift matters. On September 8, 1928, Captain Jones orders Christine committed to the psychiatric ward at Los Angeles County General Hospital under code 12, without a new investigation into her claims. The detail lands hard. The show explains code 12 in plain language, making clear that it could be used to detain people seen as disruptive, unstable, or difficult to manage. The setup is ugly. Once Christine is hospitalized, doctors and staff closely tied to law enforcement question her about her mental state, her behavior, and her attitude toward police. The questions never feel neutral. The episode keeps showing how her distress is treated as proof against her, while calm is not allowed to count for much either. The trap is obvious. Rather than drift into legal jargon, the narration keeps returning to dates, offices, relationships, and the ordinary life that was already cracking under pressure. That choice helps. The hosts keep the tone conversational and emotionally reactive, then pull the story back into a steady chronological line. So the episode stays human. By the close, the conversation has moved from outrage to recognition, with Christine and a second voice named as the badasses of the day. The ending feels earned. The episode turns a grim miscarriage of justice into a measured, conversational story about grief, persistence, and a system protecting itself.

As heard by us

A steady, infuriating look at police power and Christine Collins's refusal to back down.

Wicked and Grim take Christine Collins's clash with the LAPD and turn it into a slow, maddening case study in police power. The boy's arrival in Los Angeles, the department's refusal to reopen the investigation, and the move to commit Christine under code 12 give the episode its…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a grim police-misconduct story centered on Christine Collins.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast