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When Shapearl Wells's son Courtney is found outside a Chicago police station with a fatal bullet wound, Shapearl immediately distrusts the official narrative. So she launches her own investigation into her son’s murder and teams up with journalists from the Invisible Institute to confront the cops and find the truth about Courtney's death. Somebody explores the racial disparities and turbulent relationship between law enforcement and citizens in one of America’s largest cities. A co-production of Topic Studios, The Intercept, the Invisible Institute, and iHeartRadio, in association with Tenderfoot TV.
A 1:15 text makes you question a witness's 1:11 memory of gunshots.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A mother's records-led search keeps Courtney's case moving through a year of police silence.
Maya's conversation with Shapurl Wells follows a mother trying to piece together what happened to her son Courtney after Chicago police officers came to her door.
A brisk iHeart promo sampler for listeners looking across several podcast pitches.
This iHeart audio functions less like a conventional episode and more like a brisk carousel of podcast promos, moving through comedy, interviews, sports, rewatch formats, pop culture, and unexplained-phenomena hooks.
A focused episode about turning pain over injustice into practical policy work that can save lives.
Courtney's pain is framed as more than private grief. The episode follows a question that gives the discussion its force: how can injustice become something visible, meaningful, and changeable for others?
A grieving mother turns her son's death into a focused push for police reform.
A mother channels the death of her son Courtney into a push for Courtney's Law, pressing a state representative on reforms tied to life-saving police techniques, quicker hospital transport, longer retention of police pod camera footage, and a single place for public records.
A double-blind photo lineup opens a path toward answers as questions around the shooting grow more dangerous.
The Tipster builds its tension around a living-room photo lineup, where Edgar is told there is no pressure to identify anyone before pausing on the image of a long-haired man.
A car, an overlooked witness, and an investigative gap that keeps the case unsettled.
The episode centers on a car sighting and a witness police never pursued. Elena told investigators she thought she saw a Camry, while also making clear she does not really know cars.
A 1960 McAllen murder, followed through church and courthouse.
Shapurl Wells says Chicago police knocked on her door at 2 a.m., told her to call Illinois Masonic Hospital, and left her learning that 22-year-old Courtney Copeland had been shot.
The City of Chicago's Office of the Inspector General opened an investigation after hearing Shapurl's account of Courtney Copeland's case.
Shapearl Wells and Jamie Kalven use a patio conversation near the University of Chicago to frame the George Floyd protests as "democracy is now in the streets." Wells says the looting debate misses the point because people in Chicago have been forced into survival mode by long-term marginalization, unequal health care, food, jobs, and education.
Shapearl Wells traces Courtney Copeland's death outside a Chicago police station and the lawsuit that city lawyers pushed to dismiss.
Somebody: The Tipster follows Shapurl Wells as she reopens Courtney Copeland's March 4 shooting in Chicago and tests a Facebook tip about a Grand Marquis.
Somebody follows Shapurl Wells on the second anniversary of her son Courtney’s death as she visits Burr Oak Cemetery and retraces his drive to a Chicago police station.
In Somebody: The Secret Girlfriend, Shapurl Wells investigates Courtney's 2016 shooting outside a Chicago police station by examining his relationships, phone records, and police file.
Somebody: The Police follows Shapurra Wells’s search for answers after her 22-year-old son, Courtney Copeland, was shot near a Chicago police station.
Somebody: The Nurse follows Shapurl Wells as she investigates the death of her son Courtney, a young Black man who arrived at a Chicago police station with a gunshot wound.
Somebody follows Shapurl Wells as she investigates the 2016 shooting death of her 22-year-old son, Courtney Copeland, outside a Chicago police station.