About Examined: Overlooked cases that never got the real investigation they deserved. Each season features deeply reported stories about crime, punishment, and the people inside the criminal legal system. Nearly 40 years ago, in the parking lot of a community college in Port Huron, Michigan, a 20-year-old student named Scott Macklem was shot dead in broad daylight. His murder shocked the community. It made no sense. The police quickly found their suspect. There was only one problem: the man said he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. And he could prove it. In Examined: The Backfire Effect, journalist Josie D...
Latest episodes
-
40 min
Episode 7: The Guilty Party
For Temujin Kensu to have a chance at leaving prison, his legal team would have to convince courts that another person killed Scott Macklem. There are theories pointing to at least…
-
42 min
Episode 6: The Women
Note: This episode contains descriptions of rape and sexual assault. With his state and federal appeals almost exhausted, Temujin Kensu turns to the work of private investigators l…
-
40 min
Episode 5: Time Barred
The trial of Temujin Kensu had happened quickly, just six months from arrest to verdict. What came next was unbearably slow. And with every year that passed, his odds of getting ou…
-
34 min
Episode 4: The Alibi
At trial, Temujin Kensu’s defense is simple — he was across the state when the crime occurred. In court, he brings multiple witnesses to testify that they saw him in the Upper Peni…
-
35 min
Episode 3: The Ninja
In November 1986, Robert Cleland was the head prosecutor in St. Clair County, Michigan. The morning after Cleland lost a statewide race for Attorney General, Scott Macklem was murd…
-
43 min
Episode 2: The Hypnotist
Temujin Kensu spent much of his youth wandering, mainly in his home state of Michigan. In 1986 he and his then-fiancée moved to a cabin outside Port Huron, where he briefly dated s…
-
32 min
Episode 1: The Good Cop
On the morning of November 5th, 1986, students at a community college in Port Huron, Michigan, heard the sound of what many thought was a car backfiring. It was a gunshot, and it k…
-
3 min
Trailer: The Backfire Effect
In 1986, a man named Scott Macklem was killed in broad daylight. Eight days later, a suspect was arrested. But now, almost 40 years later, reporter Josie Duffy Rice is re-examining…
-
2 min
Lost Hills is Becoming Examined
Lost Hills has been quiet for a bit, so we've decided to do something different: turn this feed into a home for a new kind of story, told fresh each season. Starting this fall, thi…
-
40 min
Petra Mathers and Her Michael | From Death of an Artist
In February 2024, celebrated children’s book author and illustrator Petra Mathers and her husband, photographer Michael Mathers, mailed letters to dozens of friends and family memb…
-
37 min
Deep Cover: The Family Man | The Raid
Deep Cover's new season, The Family Man, tells a story about how families can deceive each other and the lengths we’ll go to to protect our loved ones Elise and Marissa grew up in…
-
5 min
Preview: The Pain of Others
Here’s an excerpt from a new Pushkin audiobook, The Pain of Others by Miguel Ángel Hernández. In a quiet town in the Spanish countryside, Miguel Ángel Hernández’s best friend murde…
-
29 min
Bad Women Presents Stolen Sister: Elizabeth Plunkett
Here's a preview of a podcast we think you'll enjoy, Bad Women Presents Stolen Sister, a special limited series from RTÉ. The story of Elizabeth Plunkett – a 23 year old woman from…
-
32 min
From The Kink Machine: The Hidden Business of Pleasure
Streamed by millions every day, porn is everywhere. It shapes our culture, our relationships, and even technology. Yet, nobody seems to know who really controls the business. The p…
-
53 min
Episode 8: The Finish Line | Valley of Shadows
A reunion between two retired detectives brings new focus to the Aujay investigation, just as Hayley and Betsy find out about another tragedy in the Punchbowl area. When a woman an…
-
51 min
Episode 7: The Trial | Valley of Shadows
While the DEA showers Hager in accolades, the LASD turns against him. But Hager fights back, and drags the department’s dirty secrets out into open court. Betsy and Hayley go throu…
-
43 min
Episode 6: The Big Takedown | Valley of Shadows
Brandenburg is taken off the Aujay case, but the LASD can’t stop Hager and the federal task force. With the help of wiretaps, informants, and 18 months of investigation, the team p…
-
43 min
Episode 5: The Legend of Bigfoot | Valley of Shadows
Decades before Jon Aujay’s disappearance, the Devil’s Punchbowl was infamous for something else: Bigfoot sightings. Sasquatch became a known boogeyman in the area. But beneath the…
-
47 min
Episode 4: Outlaw Country | Valley of Shadows
As Detective Brandenburg follows leads in the Aujay case, he finds himself with an unlikely ally. A young buck narcotics detective named Darren Hager, who’s trying to dismantle a m…
-
47 min
Episode 3: Tweaker Talk | Valley of Shadows
At the time of Jon Aujay’s disappearance, California is under siege by a meth epidemic and the Antelope Valley is the epicenter. So when investigators receive tips that Aujay was k…