True Crime Campfire

11/29/2025

Patreon angels, your new Love After Lockup reaction is up! This is a fun one—enjoy!

Get more from True Crime Campfire on Patreon

11/29/2025

Want to have a virtual coffee date with Katie and me, AND benefit a great cause at the same time?? Katie and I are one of the experiences you can bid on in the TENET Holiday Auction! Proceeds benefit TENET, a wonderful early-music vocal ensemble. You can bid on all kinds of other great stuff too—gorgeous artwork, a custom pet portrait, tickets to concerts, and more!

Auction ends Dec. 1. Check it out here, and we look forward to hanging out with the winning bidder!

Join in the bidding to support our concerts!

11/28/2025

The thing about serial killers is that it seems so obvious to us after the fact, right? Their behavior is so outrageous and so antisocial that we’re always left wondering why no one noticed. Eli Stutzman’s strange behavior was written off by everyone that knew him. He was quiet and odd, but being raised Amish, who could blame him? To the Amish, his time spent with the Englisch gave him some strange habits. No one really blinked when he stabbed himself in order to get himself out of a sticky situation. No one wondered about why he lied constantly. And perhaps if they did, Eli’s son and at least 4 other people would still be alive. This is part 2 of Left Where God Could Find Him: Amish Serial Killer Eli Stutzman.

Heads up that there is some discussion of child abuse and child sexual abuse in this episode. We do not go into deep detail.

11/27/2025

We’re thankful for you! Hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving. 🥧🍰

11/25/2025

We had the best week ever on the CrimeWave cruise! Hope you all can come next time. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRdV2nCElj7/?igsh=MWV5cnltNGU1d2c4NQ==

11/21/2025

Comedian Simon Amstell said, “If you are somebody who is going to at some point be revealed as not like everyone else, then to be in an insular community is a problem.” Here Amstell was discussing how it felt growing up gay and going to a religious school. Insular religious communities shut themselves off from the world in order to keep their views unchanged by the outside. It’s extremely effective. The Amish are one such community. Most of their followers aren’t allowed to use electricity or have indoor plumbing. They view modern conveniences as threatening to their religious beliefs, which are at the center of their lives. Today’s case is about an Amish man who never quite fit in with his brethren. His sexuality, his disposition, and his work ethic all flew in the face of what his community believed. And maybe that’s why he fought so hard to prevent anyone from finding out who he really was, even resorting to murder. Left Where God Could Find Him: Amish Serial Killer Eli Stutzman Part 1 is out now.

NOTE: We had some microphone issues on Katie's end this week--we apologize if the sound isn't as good as usual.

11/14/2025

Last week, we did our first-ever live show on the Crimewave true crime cruise! We covered three cases, a sort of "sampler platter" to give new listeners an idea of what kind of stories we usually tell on TCC. Case 1 is the bizarre story of a parody website that ended up bringing dozens of would-be killers to justice. Case 2 is the murder of chef Dan Brophy by his mystery-novelist wife. Case 3 is the true story of Stede Bonnet, bumbling pirate wannabe and possible boyfriend of the dread pirate Blackbeard. Thank you so much to IRL Events for the opportunity to perform live--it was a blast! Thanks too to Royal Caribbean for hosting us all.

Note: There were some visual aids that went along with these cases, so sometimes you'll hear the crowd laughing at those.

Patreon supporters will also have access to the half-hour Q and A session we hosted after the live show.

11/04/2025

Reunited! Having a blast on the Crimewave cruise! No crimes to solve yet, but we’ll report back.

10/31/2025

We tell a lot of wild stories about crimes that happened right here in the States—but it’s worth noting that our cousins across the pond are misbehaving just as badly. Y’know, same crimes, different accent. Today we’ve chosen two cases that each mirror so many of the ones we’ve covered from here: A woman consumed by her toxic obsession for the man she wanted to marry, and a man more interested in playing soldier and spy than he was in building himself a real life. Case 1: Jane Andrews, the murder of Thomas Cressman. Case 2, fantasist Michael Newitt.

Crown Fools: Two Notorious Cases from the UK

Art is Bleeding British Flag by Sansoart

10/31/2025

We tell a lot of wild stories about crimes that happened right here in the States—but it’s worth noting that our cousins across the pond are misbehaving just as badly. Y’know, same crimes, different accent. Today we’ve chosen two cases that each mirror so many of the ones we’ve covered from here: A woman consumed by her toxic obsession for the man she wanted to marry, and a man more interested in playing soldier and spy than he was in building himself a real life. Case 1: Jane Andrews, the murder of Thomas Cressman. Case 2, fantasist Michael Newitt.

Crown Fools: Two Notorious Cases from the UK

Art is Bleeding British Flag by Sansoart

10/24/2025

It’s hardly a revelation that physical attraction can cloud judgment. It’s one of the oldest traps in human nature—that spark of chemistry that overrides caution, turning common sense into background noise. For most people, the fallout is little more than a red face or a broken heart. But every so often, that same impulse leads someone much farther—into danger. Because behind the charm, the warmth, and the allure, there are those who hide something far darker: a heart devoid of empathy, and intentions that are anything but loving. When desire blinds you to the truth, the price can be more than heartbreak — it can be fatal.

“Sleeping With the Enemy” is out now. Listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Art by Gail Potocki (b 1961)

10/24/2025

It’s hardly a revelation that physical attraction can cloud judgment. It’s one of the oldest traps in human nature—that spark of chemistry that overrides caution, turning common sense into background noise. For most people, the fallout is little more than a red face or a broken heart. But every so often, that same impulse leads someone much farther—into danger. Because behind the charm, the warmth, and the allure, there are those who hide something far darker: a heart devoid of empathy, and intentions that are anything but loving. When desire blinds you to the truth, the price can be more than heartbreak — it can be fatal.

“Sleeping With the Enemy” is out now. Listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Art by Gail Potocki (b 1961)