The Midwest Crime Files

183 episodes listed below

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Small towns, hard cases, plainspoken grief.

The gist

The Midwest Crime Files follows murder cases from Midwestern towns and nearby regions, often tracing how ordinary homes, hospitals, roads, and neighborhoods become crime scenes. Gina’s narration mixes case chronology with candid reactions from guests, leaving room for emotion, disbelief, and plainspoken judgment.

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About The Midwest Crime Files

The Midwest Crime Files is a conversational true-crime show about murders and severe violence that break through the quiet surface of smaller communities. Gina is the clearest recurring voice in the excerpts, guiding cases through timelines, family relationships, warning signs, police findings, and the aftermath left behind. The show has a loose, unscripted feel. That looseness matters. Instead of presenting each case as a sealed documentary package, episodes often sound like someone working through the facts with another person in the room, stopping for disbelief, frustration, or a hard emotional beat. Guest hosts such as Taylor, Lindsay, and Sophia give the show a reactive texture, especially when a case depends on suspicious explanations or choices that make little sense under scrutiny. In Jade’s story, Jessica Bradley’s presence shifts the episode into something more personal, with grief and memory carrying as much weight as procedure. The subject matter is heavy. Recent excerpts include child abuse, domestic violence, a child’s death, a man found shot in his front yard, a young man found dead in a Chicago alleyway, and the Erica Parsons case, where the supposed story around “Nan” collapses under investigation. The show also reaches into older crime history, including the Bloody Benders. Its editorial center is not mystery for mystery’s sake. It is the rupture: what happened, who was hurt, what families knew, what investigators could prove, and how a community absorbs the damage. The tone can be blunt, especially when the facts are cruel or the alleged behavior is hard to sit with. It does not hide that reaction. That makes The Midwest Crime Files best for listeners who want true crime with human immediacy, not a heavily produced reenactment or a clinically neutral case file. The show’s strength is its plainspoken moral pressure. It keeps asking the practical questions that linger after the headline fades.

Made for: For true-crime listeners who want intimate case storytelling, victim context, and candid reactions around murders that shook smaller communities. It fits audiences comfortable with emotionally heavy material and a less-polished, more conversational format.

What sets it apart: The show’s unscripted case-talk style gives room for real-time disbelief, personal connection, and blunt moral response. Episodes often feel less like a studio documentary and more like a detailed case conversation at the kitchen table.

In their own words

Small Towns. Heinous Crimes. We are exploring the crimes that rocked small communities. Chris & Gina are a married couple who discuss real crimes from their area and other midwest towns in an unscripted format. Gina researches the cases and writes the blog, but the podcast is completely unscripted and Chris usually has no knowledge of the case before hand. His reactions are raw and real.

Why you'd press play

Gina brings the case file; you bring a strong stomach and room for raw reactions.

Press play if you want

victims remembered as people before their lives become evidence
a bereaved mother telling you her own story instead of becoming a case detail

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

small-town murder casesdomestic violence homicideschild abuse and child deathsmissing-child casesfamily testimony and griefpolice investigationshistorical crime cases

Talks about

True Crime Murder Cases

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Find your next episode

About The Midwest Crime Files

In their own words

Why you'd press play

Talks about

Podcasts like The Midwest Crime Files

Episodes

Escaping Kentucky: The Lillelid Murder

Someone They Knew: The Amy Weidner Story

Worst of the Worst: The Victims of Edward Johnson

He Didn't Stand a Chance? The Joe Murphy Story

Jade's Story

The Call That Changed Everything: The Ohio Strangler

Daddy's in the Backyard: The Walter Couch Story

A Mother's Deception

The Unthinkable: The Murder of Liese Dodd

Killing for Cars: The Murder of Bill Reynolds

Paula Sims: A Victim?

No Small Favor: The Murder of Oscar Velesquez

No Small Favor: The Murder of Oscar Velesquez

Fatherhood: A Life Sentence

Fatherhood: A Life Sentence

Deadly Rejection: The Murder of Troy Temar

Case Closed: The Delphi Murders

The Delphi Murders: Case Closed

JUST A TEST

Deadly Rejection: The Murder of Troy Temar

Beyond Redemption: The Murder of Colleen Slemmer

The Date from Hell: The Murder of Sydney Loofe (Remastered)

Mushrooms for Dinner Dear!

The Snake He Didn't See Coming

Friday The 13th

In Love with Evil: The Murders of David Plue & Raymond Gates

Evil in West Memphis: The Murders of Michael Moore, Steve Branch, & Christopher Byers

The Mother of Manipulation: The Murder of John Parker

Out of Control: The Murder of Blake Wolfe

Tragic Coincidence: The Murder of Halee Rathgeber

The Greedy Executive: The Story of Charles Albanese

The Date from Hell: The Murder of Sydney Loofe

Murder in the Ozarks: The Death of Tommy Hope

New Year’s Eve Murder: The Murder of Tyrone Hassel III

Delusional & Dangerous: The Story of the Slender Man Stabbing

Pending Execution: Did Marcellus Williams Kill Lisha Gayle?

Eliminating the Burdens: The Staudte Family Murders

Unspeakable Crimes: The Stacey Lannert Story

A Mother Accused: The Patricia Stallings Case

Always a Victim: The Tragic Life and Death of Thomas Bauer

America’s First Serial Killer Family: The Bloody Benders

Frenemies: The Murder of Stacy DeGrandchamp

Missing: Phoenix Coldon

A Crime Most Vile: The Murders of Cory & Jenna Clark

Who Killed Christine Schultz?

Guilty or Innocent: The Case Against Sarah Jo Pender

Murder in Brownstown: The Death of James Skinner

The Uber Driver’s Rampage

The Family Feud Murder

Free to Kill Again

Real Life Horror: The Story of Ed Gein

The Serial Killer Dentist of St. Louis: Glennon Engleman

Born to Be a Serial Killer: Steven Pfeil

Don’t Let Me Out: Serial Killer David Maust

A Husband’s Secret: The Victims of Herbert Baumeister

The Highway Killer: The Victims of Larry Eyler

Thieving & Murdering: The Victims of Dorothy Williams

The Bonecrusher: Serial Killer in Peoria

Twisted: The Murders of Marsha Spicer & Michelle Huff-Ricci

Dangerous Games: The Victims of Edward Wayne Edwards

St. Louis Metro Serial Killer or Killers?

In the Blood: Kalamazoo’s Sibling Serial Killers

The Foster Child: The Murder of Lisa Knoefel

Witness for the Prosecution: The Murder of Judy Malinowski

The Wedding Guest: The Murder of Bridget Drobney

A Mother's Nightmare: The Murders of Desiree McCartney & Nathaniel Ritz

Teenage Killer Couple: The Murders of Bob & Geneva Phillips

Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The Murder of Theresa Halbach

A Murder in Valley Park: The Death of Casey Williamson

Death of a Solider: The Murder of Inez Tulk

The Murder of David & Dawn Lieneke

Murder-for-Hire: The Murder of Elizabeth DeCaro

What Happened to Ashleigh Miller?