WTOP’s American Nightmare Series
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“WTOP’s American Nightmare Series” is a podcast covering true crime stories in the Washington D.C. region. Season 3, "Unknown Subject": For 9 years, he terrorized women across the DC region. Breaking into homes and raping his victims before killing a brilliant scientist near the gates of Georgetown University in 1998. And then, it all stopped. Had he died? Was he locked up? Before the FBI would name him the infamous Potomac River Rapist, detectives simply called him their “unknown subject” for years. A man whose DNA linked him to multiple crime scenes but whose name and face remained a mystery to police. For nearly three decades, detectives had no idea who he was until a bike cop named Smugs began connecting the dots.  Season 2, “Murder in a Safe Place," investigates the vicious rape and murder of 50-year-old nurse Sherry Crandell inside the DC-area hospital where she worked. Her murder has mystified not only the police, but her family and the community for the past two decades. Police have DNA evidence and fingerprints - even a witness to the attack - but no suspect. In “Murder in a Safe Place,” veteran DC reporter Paul Wagner tells a story that, by the final episode, will have you thinking there may be a chance for justice after all.Season 1, “22 Hours: An American Nightmare,” hosted by WTOP award-winning reporters Megan Cloherty and Jack Moore was named the No. 2 Podcast of the Year by The Associated Press and was listed among Apple Podcasts’ Most Popular New Shows of 2019. “22 Hours: An American Nightmare” chronicles the case that became known nationwide as the “DC Mansion Murders” – the horrific killing of a DC power couple, their 10-year-old son, and housekeeper – in a way no one has covered it before. 

S5 E7 - Standing Tall

Arvin, Carla and others see their day in court, but was justice served? Most of the Zion Society children are either uncooperative or unable to testif...
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S5 E6 - Tell Me Everything

The media descends on Northwood. The Zion Society children are interviewed, but many refuse to cooperate. Mike King gets a surprise call from Cedar Ci...
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S5 E5 - Deliver Us From Evil

Seventy Ogden police officers gather in the dark and move into Northwood at dawn, hitting multiple Zion Society homes at the exact same moment. The pl...
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S5 E4 - The Buyer

Jeff Peterson has spent years trying to pull his kids out of the Zion Society - until the cult’s hunger for money creates an opening. When his ex-wife...
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S5 E3 - The Alpha

From inside the Zion Society, Erin (heard in rare archival audio) explains how predators exploit vulnerability - love-bombing, isolation, and religion...
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S5 E2 - To Hell And Back

Investigator Mike King is officially assigned to investigate Erin’s allegation - quietly, urgently, and under the threat of destroyed evidence and sto...
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S5 E1 - What Lies Beneath

Welcome to a new season of American Nightmares!A pristine neighborhood in Ogden, Utah hides something rotten. When a couple moves into Northwood subdi...
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S2 E10 - Answered Prayers

He was known as the Terror of East Baltimore who wrote poetry and went to readings.A convicted criminal at 15 who started a prison riot. That's just a...
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S2 E9 - Needle in a Haystack

How did a 2012 murder in Baltimore, a name from an obituary, and DNA entered into an ancestry database lead to solving the 1998 murder of Sherry Crand...
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