Bitter Academia

In this episode, we’ll cover crimes to keep an ear on, including an update to the Kada Scott case. We’ll also hear two interviews – one about an app that could leave children vulnerable to sexual exploitation and another with longtime DJ Mary Lucia, who wrote the book “What Doesn’t Kill Me Makes Me Weirder and Harder to Relate To” about her experience with a stalker.

This week, we’re focusing on two crimes: the shooting of National Guard members last week in Washington, D.C. and the ongoing case of Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of late UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

This week, we’re talking about evidence. Fingerprints, Ring doorbell camera footage, witness testimony, DNA, all those clues that eventually lead investigators to perpetrators – and alleged perpetrators of crimes. Finding the evidence and using it to piece together how crimes were committed is complicated in and of itself. Things get even more complicated in the courtroom, where prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and jurors pore over it. And administrative issues like DNA testing backlogs can snarl the process. We’ll cover several cases today where we can see how evidence, or the lack of evidence, has played a role in the search for justice. We’ll also focus on one type of evidence in particular -- DNA evidence – and efforts to improve how it’s collected and how it’s tested.

This week, we’re covering stories that touch on red flags of abuse that are overlooked. In one case, alleged warning signs may have been glossed over due to a family connection. In another, a faith community reportedly allowed a system of abuse to go unchecked.

Today, we’re taking a look at teens who kill, in particular teen mass shooters. Since teen assailants Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed their fellow Columbine High School students in 1999, these criminals have faced increased public attention. According to the Violence Prevention Project at Hamline University, shooters between the ages of 11 and 19 have conducted 19 mass shootings in the US since 1966, killing 162 people and injuring 145. This episode will address four of these shooters: Payton Gendron, Salvador Ramos, Colt Gray and Ethan Crumbley, and the devastation they have left behind.