UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast

In the final year of his life, I spoke with Charles Manson on the phone multiple times. Those conversations became the foundation of a decade-long investigation into the people who once called themselves the Manson Family.
In this episode, I track down the surviving members of the Manson Family — speaking with former followers, examining trial records, and revisiting the places where the group formed, radicalized, and ultimately collapsed.
What emerges is a story far more complicated than the word “cult.” The Manson Family began as a loose commune of runaways and outsiders drifting through the counterculture of the late 1960s. Over time, isolation, fear, and loyalty transformed that group into something far more dangerous.
Through interviews with former members, firsthand witnesses, and people who knew Charles Manson personally, we examine how the Family formed, why people followed him, and what became of them after the murders.
The research behind this episode comes from years of interviews with members of the Manson Family — including Charles Manson himself. I document that investigation in my book Charles Manson: The Last Words.
Read it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7
For those who want to examine the Manson material directly, complete phone calls and documents are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files, our research portal, along with ad-free episodes.
Join here:
https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast
Follow UNMARKED for additional case material, updates, and short-form analysis:
• YouTube: @Unmarked_Podcast
• Instagram: @unmarked_podcast
• TikTok: @unmarkedpodcast
• Patreon: /Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast
UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.

Serial killer Hadden Clark is one of the most unsettling figures in modern criminal history — a man whose crimes, confessions, and psychological unraveling have baffled investigators for decades.
In this episode of UNMARKED, we examine the case through the original record. Former FBI agents, primary documents, and Clark’s own words reveal a deeply fractured personality and a disturbing window into the mind of a killer.
Clark’s writings and statements — including letters he sent from prison — offer rare insight into how he saw himself, his crimes, and the strange identities he adopted along the way.
But the deeper question remains: when investigators confront someone like Hadden Clark, what are they really looking at — manipulation, madness, or something far darker?
For those who want to examine the material directly, the complete letters are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files, our research portal, along with ad-free episodes:
https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast

Follow UNMARKED for additional case material, updates, and short-form analysis:
• YouTube: @Unmarked_Podcast
• Instagram: @unmarked_podcast
• TikTok: @unmarkedpodcast
• Patreon: /Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast
If you want to go deeper into the Charles Manson case, my book Charles Manson: The Last Words documents years researching the story and speaking directly with members of the Manson Family — including Charles Manson himself: 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7
UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.

I’m in Phoenix, Arizona, sitting down with a group called “Jodi Arias Is Innocent.” They aren’t arguing that Travis Alexander wasn’t killed — they’re arguing the case is more complicated than the verdict suggests. 
For this episode, I read Jodi Arias’ full appeal (300+ pages), spoke with her supporters, revisited the evidence, and re-examined what the trial did — and what it may have failed to weigh. 
We walk through the relationship, the timeline, the forensic sequence, and the competing interpretations — then we get to the part that won’t go away: allegations of misconduct, a media spectacle, and why the question at the center of this case is still open.

At the end, you decide: not just what happened — but whether we got this right. 

Extended interview content referenced in the episode is available inside UNMARKED: Case Files our research archive on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast

Follow UNMARKED for additional case material, updates, and short-form analysis:
• YouTube: @Unmarked_Podcast
• Instagram: @unmarked_podcast
• TikTok: @unmarkedpodcast
• Patreon: /Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast
For readers interested in primary-source work on the Manson case, see Buddy’s book, Charles Manson: The Last Words: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7
UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.

Celeste Beard Johnson appeared to live a life of privilege and stability — marriage to a millionaire, social status, financial security.
But beneath that image was something far more complicated.
After Steven Beard was shot, attention initially focused on the woman who pulled the trigger. But the trial would hinge on a deeper question:
Who created the circumstances that made the crime inevitable?
In this episode of UNMARKED we examine how manipulation operates slowly — how influence can become pressure, how dependency can become leverage, and how someone can orchestrate violence without ever touching the weapon.
Because sometimes the most dangerous person in the room is the one shaping the story.
Extended interviews, primary documents, and ad-free episodes are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast
Follow UNMARKED for additional case material, updates, and short-form analysis:
• YouTube: @Unmarked_Podcast
• Instagram: @unmarked_podcast
• TikTok: @unmarkedpodcast
• Patreon: /Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast
For readers interested in primary-source work on the Manson case, see Buddy’s book, Charles Manson: The Last Words: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7
UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.

Scott Kimball wasn’t just a fraudster or a murderer—he was a paid FBI informant.
For over a year, I corresponded with Kimball from prison. Phone calls. Letters. Recorded conversations. What he told me—and how he told it—reveals how a career con artist convinced federal agents to release him without probation, and how that decision allowed him to murder at least four people.
Beginning in 2003, Kimball used his position as an informant to gain access to vulnerable women, including the girlfriends of the very men he was supposed to be informing on. The murders we know about happened while he operated under federal trust.
This isn’t just a story about murder. It’s about deception, institutional vulnerability, and a man who still believes he’s in control of the narrative.
Extended interviews, primary documents, and ad-free episodes are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast
Follow UNMARKED for additional case material, updates, and short-form analysis:
• YouTube: @Unmarked_Podcast
• Instagram: @unmarked_podcast
• TikTok: @unmarkedpodcast
• Patreon: /Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast
For readers interested in primary-source work on the Manson case, see Buddy’s book, Charles Manson: The Last Words: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7
UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.