From the crime to the people left behind.
Charlie takes a case from the crime through the investigation and, when it gets there, the courtroom, then stays with the people left behind. The cases include a teenager who killed his parents, a 1969 death that autopsies called natural, and the abduction and murder of Monique Baugh.
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Crimelines is a narrated true crime show hosted by Charlie, and you can hear its method in how a case is paced. Each story unfolds in order: the crime, the investigation, the legal fight, and then the lives that went on afterward. Several of these cases don't stop at the verdict. The William Leslie Arnold episode shows the range. It concerns a teenager who killed his parents and later died under an assumed name, leaving several people unsure who he really was. Along the way Charlie pauses on juvenile justice. The U.S. banned death sentences for minors under 16, and it took until 2005 to extend the ban to 16- and 17-year-olds. Then the focus moves to his brother Jim, who was sent to live with relatives in Missouri and let people assume the deaths were an accident. When a case runs long, it becomes a two-parter, and Charlie says so plainly: the Joan Robinson Hill case was twice the length of a usual episode. 'Part One: John and Joan Robinson Hill | Decades of Questions' lays out a 1969 death that several autopsies ruled natural, a father sure it was murder, and a husband charged under a rarely used law. 'Part 2: John and Joan Robinson Hill' opens with a recap of the timeline before moving into the courtroom. There, Ann Kurth testified to a confession she was not allowed to mention, which drew an immediate motion for a mistrial. The case closes on Connie, who took in a traumatized boy after he lost both parents. The narration turns dry when a story calls for it. Retelling John Hill's cover story about an affair, Charlie points out that the woman involved did not even have a husband. Investigations get as much attention as trials. 'Kara Nichols | Victimization' covers an October 2014 search of land owned by the parents of a man named Joel, near where Kara's phone last pinged. The search team, NecroSearch International, brought cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar. Charlie also brings up the corruption case at the sheriff's office, while saying outright that nobody knows how it affected the investigation. 'Monique Baugh | Aiding and Abetting' follows a web of suspects that includes Barry Davis, Elsa Segura and Lyndon Wiggins, plus an anonymous Crimestoppers tip. It ends with practical safety steps for real estate agents, pairing Monique's story with Dorothy Miller's. Interviews are the exception. Charlie describes doing one or two a year as bonus episodes. 'That Beast Was Not Me | An interview with Dr. Jeffrey Smalldon' made the cut because it was a book Charlie actually wanted to read. The show also runs themed series, such as the 12 Days of Crimelines Missing Persons series. Some episodes end with birthday thanks to Patreon supporters. For a first listen, the Hill two-parter shows the show at full length.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants a case told in clear order, from the crime through investigators and courts, and who is happy to stay with a complicated case across two parts.
What sets it apart: Charlie keeps the aftermath in view: a brother who hid how his parents died, the woman who raised an orphaned son, a safety lesson drawn from a murder. Legal history comes in where it explains the case, and interviews are saved for the occasional bonus episode.
Crimelines walks you through true crime events, pairing captivating tales with clear storytelling. Host Charlie brings in appropriate historic and cultural context to look beyond what happened and consider why it happened.Crimelines is a registered trademark of Crimelines LLC
Two autopsies, different infections, and you're still nowhere near a neat answer.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A teenage murder case becomes a story of identity, family trauma, and a court process shadowed by the possibility of a death sentence.
William Leslie Arnold's story sits in the long distance between killing his parents as a teenager and dying under an assumed name. Crimelines follows that distance through the people left to live with it: his brother Jim, who let others believe their parents had died in an…
A disputed death, a barred supposed confession, and a mistrial leave the Hill case caught between medical evidence and suspicion.
Joan Robinson Hill's death still resists a clean answer, even after two autopsies, two grand juries, and an exhumation left competing views on whether meningitis was the cause or whether something harder to prove was involved.
A decades-old death becomes more tangled as affairs, autopsies, and grand-jury testimony push the case in opposing directions.
Joan Robinson Hill's 1969 death anchors a case that keeps shifting under closer attention: her father suspected foul play, multiple autopsies found natural causes, and the state charged her husband under a rarely used law before his own death left the case without a conviction.
A patient, detail-driven account of Kara Nichols's disappearance, the delayed search, and Joel Hollendorfer's imprisonment.
Kara Nichols's disappearance is handled as a patient look at how a case can be slowed and shaped by its surroundings: a sheriff's office under federal corruption charges, a search warrant that did not arrive until 2014, and Joel Hollendorfer's access to nearby property.
A vanished house showing becomes a conspiracy case shaped by tips, searches, and one familiar voice.
A house showing opens into a conspiracy case after Monique Bao disappears following a meeting with a potential buyer, and hours later a home intruder shoots her boyfriend.
A dark calendar of consequential cases.
True crime with blunt questions and rough edges.
Appalachian case files, told from the record.
Southern cases, sharp context, steady storytelling.
Historical mysteries built from the smallest clues.
This episode of Crimelines examines the 1969 disappearance of Lucille Butterworth in Tasmania, focusing on how a confession was mishandled due to police bias and procedural errors.
The host apologizes for a technical issue with the previous episode and introduces the case of missing 18-year-old Angelica Hadsall, where mysterious clues appeared around town.
This episode of Crimelines covers the case of Byron Wright, a decades-old murder discovered when a car thief confessed to police in Arlington, Washington.
This episode of Crimelines covers the cold case of 15-year-old Pearl Pinson, who was kidnapped in Vallejo, California, and highlights the need for tips to find her.
Crimelines True Crime covers Bill and Opal Arnold, their son William Leslie "Les" Arnold, and the 1958 Omaha family murder that later turned into a prison escape story.
["Joan Robinson Hill's 1969 death from an infection led to two autopsies, a third exhumation autopsy, and a murder-by-omission indictment against John Hill after Ash Robinson kept pressing Houston prosecutors.", "Ann Kurth described a June 30, 1969 crash, a syringe struggle, and John Hill's alleged confession, which became the state's most damaging evidence at the February 1971 trial.", "Racehorse Haynes fought spousal privilege, Joan's maid Effie and houseguest Diane testified about Joan's illness and the pastries, and the trial ended in mistrial when Ann repeated the alleged confession.", "The episode then moves into the 1972 killing of John Hill at his Houston home and the investigation that followed the stolen gun, Bobby Van Diver, Marsha McKittrick, and Lilla Paulus."]
Joan Robinson Hill died in 1969, her father thought foul play was involved, and Texas still charged John Hill under a rarely used law after multiple autopsies called it natural causes.
Crimelines® True Crime follows Kara Nichols, a Colorado Springs woman born in May 1993 whose disappearance eventually led investigators to Joel Hollendorfer and a 2022 excavation on his family property.
Crimelines® True Crime follows Monique Bao, a Minneapolis real estate agent whose December 31, 2019 house showing in Maple Grove leads to a shooting at her mother Wanda's home and a second crime scene in an alley.
Crimelines® True Crime recounts the 2005 deaths of fortune teller Ha Smith and her daughter Anita Vaux in Orange County.
Crimelines host Charlie examines the 2015 deaths of Thomas and Jennifer Ayers in rural Oneida County, Wisconsin.
Jeffrey Smalldon says a 16-page letter from Sandy Good threatened a wave of assassins after he was asked to contact company executives.