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PODCAST

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast

The darkest true crime cases are the ones you've never heard of. Obscura investigates murders written off as accidents, disappearances dismissed as runaways, and obscure cases buried in forgotten files. Host Justin Drown delivers unflinching investigations through real archival audio, court records, and graphic forensic detail. No comedy. No sanitized narratives. Only the complete truth. New episodes every Tuesday.

true crime documentary

All Episodes

26:51

MURDERED: Paula Thompson | Des Moines, Iowa 2020

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/12/09

On March 13, 2020, a long-simmering domestic conflict in Des Moines, Iowa, erupted into fatal violence. Paula Marie Thompson, a 50-year-old claims processor, was beaten to death with a crowbar by her adult son Christopher inside the home they shared on Pleasantview Drive. Her body would not be discovered until five days later.VICTIM PROFILE:Paula Thompson was 50 years old at the time of her death. She worked as a claims processor and was known among friends and coworkers as hardworking and

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34:18

SERIAL KILLER: Paul Durousseau | Jacksonville,...

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/12/02

On a humid September day in 1997, a man walking his dog discovered the nude body of 26-year-old Tracy Habersham in a ditch near Fort Benning, Georgia. She had been strangled. What investigators couldn't know then was that her death marked the beginning of a six-year killing spree.Part 2 of 2VICTIM PROFILE:Paul Durousseau's victims shared heartbreaking commonalities. They were young African American women—many of them mothers—struggling to build better lives. Tyresa Mack was raising three

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47:40

SERIAL KILLER: Paul Durousseau | Jacksonville,...

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/11/25

On a humid September day in 1997, a man walking his dog discovered the nude body of 26-year-old Tracy Habersham in a ditch near Fort Benning, Georgia. She had been strangled. What investigators couldn't know then was that her death marked the beginning of a six-year killing spree.Part 1 of 2VICTIM PROFILE:Paul Durousseau's victims shared heartbreaking commonalities. They were young African American women—many of them mothers—struggling to build better lives. Tyresa Mack was raising three

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28:39

MURDERED: Jessica Lunsford | Homosassa, Florida 2005...

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/11/18

[Part 2 of 2]On February 24th, 2005, nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford vanished from her bedroom in Homosassa, Florida—taken through an unlocked door while her family slept. The girl who was afraid of the dark, who couldn't sleep without her stuffed purple dolphin, was about to become the center of one of the most heartbreaking cases in American true crime history.Jessica was a cheerful third-grader who loved singing, helping others, and spending time with her dachshund, Corky. She lived with her

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27:02

MURDERED: Jessica Lunsford | Homosassa, Florida 2005...

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/11/11

On February 24th, 2005, nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford vanished from her bedroom in Homosassa, Florida—taken through an unlocked door while her family slept. The girl who was afraid of the dark, who couldn't sleep without her stuffed purple dolphin, was about to become the center of one of the most heartbreaking cases in American true crime history.Jessica was a cheerful third-grader who loved singing, helping others, and spending time with her dachshund, Corky. She lived with her father Mark

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23:47

MURDERED: Christine McGowan | Apopka, Florida 1990

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/11/04

Apopka, Florida. October 30, 1990. When 10-year-old Christine McGowan's stepfather entered her bedroom to wake her for school—he found her lifeless body face down in bed, the sheets beneath her soaked in blood. The door to their home stood slightly ajar. His white construction truck—keys left in the ignition the night before—had vanished.Christine McGowan was a child who spent her afternoons watching her neighbor at The Lighthouse Mission halfway house craft decorative wooden boats. She stood in

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24:21

Black Label: Butcher's Market (Excludes Halloween...

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/10/28

In January 2025, Nguyen Dat, a 35-year-old Vietnamese man living in Ha Dong, voluntarily sought his own execution—fulfilling a years-long sexual obsession with decapitation. Through extreme pornography forums and dating apps, Nguyen publicly advertised his desire to be beheaded, eventually connecting with an unnamed butcher who shared his fatal fetish.The killing occurred between January 25 and February 24, 2025, in a makeshift execution chamber. Graphic video footage—leaked to Vietnamese and

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307:32

Black Label + Halloween Specials

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/10/28

In January 2025, Nguyen Dat, a 35-year-old Vietnamese man living in Ha Dong, voluntarily sought his own execution—fulfilling a years-long sexual obsession with decapitation. Through extreme pornography forums and dating apps, Nguyen publicly advertised his desire to be beheaded, eventually connecting with an unnamed butcher who shared his fatal fetish.The killing occurred between January 25 and February 24, 2025, in a makeshift execution chamber. Graphic video footage—leaked to Vietnamese and

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32:25

179: The Ricin Physician - Part 02

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/10/22

Listener, what happens when your home is destroyed in an accident and you lose everything? You have no home to go to, and are adrift without the people you love who you rely on to make difficult times easier to bear. You feel abandoned and alone. What happens if that ‘accident’ that destroyed your home and killed your loved ones wasn’t actually determined to be an accident at all, but something far more sinister, caused by the last person on earth you’d suspect?Our Sponsors:* Check out Chime:

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29:12

178: The Ricin Physician - Part 01

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/10/15

Listener, what happens when your home is destroyed in an accident and you lose everything? You have no home to go to, and are adrift without the people you love who you rely on to make difficult times easier to bear. You feel abandoned and alone. What happens if that ‘accident’ that destroyed your home and killed your loved ones wasn’t actually determined to be an accident at all, but something far more sinister, caused by the last person on earth you’d suspect?Our Sponsors:* Check out Chime:

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17:42

177: Inferno - Screams in the Night

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/10/09

Listener,On a quiet May evening, a white stretch limousine glides across the San Mateo Bridge — nine women inside, celebrating a new chapter in life. But before the night can unfold, flames consume the vehicle, trapping five passengers inside as desperate 911 calls flood dispatch. What begins as confusion on the highway becomes a horrifying tragedy burned into California’s memory.In this episode, Obscura host Justin Drown takes you inside the 911 recordings, witness statements, and the official

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20:03

176: The Turbulent Life and Death of Kelsey Hildal -...

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/09/30

In the conclusion of this two-part series, Obscura turns from the formative years of Kelsey A. to her final, devastating night.On April 1st, 2025, calls began flooding into dispatch: a wrong-way driver on Interstate 275. Officers pursued a gray Ford Escape, ultimately forcing it to a stop. What unfolded in the following minutes was chaos, fear, and tragedy—ending with gunfire that would claim Kelsey’s life.Part 2 captures the raw audio from the dash cams, radios, and body mics that recorded her

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20:05

175: The Turbulent Life and Death of Kelsey Hildal -...

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/09/25

In this first part of a two-part series, Obscura takes you inside the complicated and often tragic life of Kelsey A., a young woman whose story weaves together resilience, trauma, and the weight of circumstance.From her early struggles with brain surgery and a near-fatal car accident to her years in a bootcamp and boarding school, Kelsey’s life was shaped by events that altered her path in profound ways. Despite it all, she rose as a standout athlete—first on the basketball court, then in the MMA

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31:42

(fixed)174: The Peculiar Life and Death of Joe Winko...

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/09/17

Today we cover a strange case. An unusual case. The case of Joe Winko. But who is Joe Winko? Well, pinning him down is a challenge in itself. I’ll try my best. I warn you this episode is going to be unlike any Obscura episode you’ve heard before. But I promise you it will be worth it.Our Sponsors:* Check out Chime: https://chime.com/OBSCURA* Check out Mood and use my code OBSCURA for a great deal: https://mood.com* Head to https://homeaglow.com/OBSCURA to get your first 3 hours of cleaning for only

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23:40

173: The Peculiar Life and Death of Joe Winko - Part 01

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/09/17

Hello Listener.Today we cover a strange case. An unusual case. The case of Joe Winko. But who is Joe Winko? Well, pinning him down is a challenge in itself. I’ll try my best. I warn you this episode is going to be unlike any Obscura episode you’ve heard before. But I promise you it will be worth it.Our Sponsors:* Check out Chime: https://chime.com/OBSCURA* Check out Mood and use my code OBSCURA for a great deal: https://mood.com* Head to https://homeaglow.com/OBSCURA to get your first 3 hours of

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23:40

173: The Peculiar Life and Death of Joe Winko - Part 01

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/09/10

Today we cover a strange case. An unusual case. The case of Joe Winko. But who is Joe Winko? Well, pinning him down is a challenge in itself. I’ll try my best. I warn you this episode is going to be unlike any Obscura episode you’ve heard before. But I promise you it will be worth it.Our Sponsors:* Check out Chime: https://chime.com/OBSCURA* Check out Mood and use my code OBSCURA for a great deal: https://mood.com* Head to https://homeaglow.com/OBSCURA to get your first 3 hours of cleaning for only

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20:19

172 [Black Label]: A Discarded Man

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/09/05

In December 1984, a man walked into a karate dojo in Dumfries, Virginia. Minutes later, he was dragged out the back door, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. Decades later, the grainy footage of his brutal beating would reemerge on YouTube, igniting a firestorm of outrage, speculation—and questions that remain unanswered to this day.In this Black Label episode of Obscura, Justin Drown unpacks the haunting story behind what came to be known as the "Kung Fu Guy Incident." At the center is

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38:58

171: Hunted - The Butcher Baker Part 03

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/08/26

Anchorage wakes to the knock that ends the hunt: October 27, 1983, troopers arrive at Hansen’s bakery, and an interrogation room papered with maps and faces waits for him. Search warrants turn his life inside out—an aerial map etched with 24 Xs, hidden firearms, and jewelry that speaks for the dead. Ballistics tell the rest: shell casings match the Ruger Mini-14, and those Xs resolve into graves in the wild. From a 12-hour confession to a grim helicopter tour that yields new remains—including the

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46:04

170: Hunted - The Butcher Baker Part 02

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/08/19

Anchorage’s pipeline boom promised prosperity, but under the neon and snow, someone was hunting. In this episode, we revisit the disappearances of young women—Megan Emerick, Mary Phil, Roxanne Eastland, and more—whose lives were too easily dismissed as the city looked the other way. Through survivor testimony, including Cindy Paulson’s harrowing escape, we chart the failures that let a predator thrive and the dogged investigators who refused to let the case go cold. Forensic breakthroughs and

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37:32

169: Hunted - The Butcher Baker Part 01

Obscura: A True Crime Podcast ·

2025/08/13

Anchorage during the oil boom promised quick money and fresh starts—but the wilderness kept its own secrets. In this episode, we trace the disappearances of young women drawn north by opportunity, and the investigators who fought isolation, scarce resources, and a chilling pattern surfacing in the tundra. At the center stands Robert Hansen, the seemingly ordinary baker whose long shadow fell over a city in rapid transformation. Through survivor voices, case files, and methodical police work, we

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218 results

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