Case Files with Kat and Ashley

Case Files with Kat and Ashley is two friends, one case, and a lot of commentary in between. The structure is a handoff. Whoever brings the case has researched and scripted it, and the other hears it cold, reacting in real time and asking the questions an outsider would ask. They take turns at the script: publisher notes credit Ashley with cases such as Asha Degree, Karlie Guse and the Short family, and Kat with Ed Gein, Brenda Andrew and Ken McElroy of Skidmore. That exchange matters to them. When a faulty recording card cost them large chunks of an episode, the plan was to re-record with Sarah sitting in, rather than have one of them reread a script to someone who already knew the ending. The range of cases is wide. Titles run from 'Where is Timmothy Pitzen?' and 'The Disappearance of Jodi Sue Huisentruit' to 'Deadly Divorce: The Dan Markel Case', 'Folie à Deux: The Eriksson Twins' and 'From Model to Manipulator: The Kat Torres Story'. Killers whose crimes fed horror films sit next to bigamists, murder-for-hire plots and spiritual and wellness figures. What ties much of it together is attention to where investigations faltered. In the Short family case, the telling turns on men later convicted of lying to tie an early suspect to the crime, a detour believed to have cost the case dearly. On Jodi Sue Huisentruit, the pair weigh a retiring state representative's suggestion of a cover-up and a retiring police chief who held on to a journal. On Karlie Guse, the shifting accounts of a father, stepmother and mother are set against a private investigator's list of steps the sheriff's office skipped. The opinions are blunt. Openings run loose, with beer from local breweries, a cat named Louie and his unimpressed expression, upcoming surgeries and tired weeks all getting airtime before the case begins. The language is unfiltered, and nobody is precious about stumbles: a tangled name earns an apology and the story keeps moving. Underneath the chatter sits real care. Cases close with where to send information, sometimes with a reward figure attached, and the pair are open about hoping families at least learn where a loved one is. Story ideas are invited, and 'Disappearance of Phylicia Thomas' came from a listener suggestion. That episode makes a strong first stop: a woman vanishes while trying to solve a friend's disappearance, her mother builds files of notes, maps and witness accounts, and the closing becomes a plea to call for help when someone is in danger. The sign-off most often lands in the same place: see something, say something.