Someone Knows Something

Someone Knows Something is a true crime podcast that reexamines cold cases. The host of the show is David Ridgen, an award-winning investigative filmmaker. His many documentaries focus on civil rights and cold cases.

For every season of the podcast, Ridgen focuses on one case. The stories he selects involve regular people who lead normal lives before everything goes wrong. There's Angel Carlick, who disappeared days after receiving her high school diploma. Donald Izzett Jr. vanished while he was driving across the country. Kerrie Brown was only 16 at the time of her murder. Five-year-old Adrien McNaughton wandered into the woods and never came back.

Piece by piece, Ridgen retraces the steps of each investigation until it goes cold. Then he interviews the concerned parties in an attempt to glean new information. More often than not, his strategy is successful. The podcast host can sometimes find new leads to follow and new people to talk to. Throughout each inquiry, Ridgen carefully recounts the victim's family's stories.

Some stories in Someone Knows Something alter the course of history. Ridgen investigated the murders of Henry Dee and Charles Moore in 1964. Ridgen and Moore's brother Thomas revisited the case and found new evidence. It caused the state of Mississippi to reopen the case and in the end to convict the boys' killer.

To investigate the murder of Dr. Slepian, Ridgen teamed up with journalist Amanda Robb. They established a connection between a string of murders of which Slepian's was one. Underground right-wing extremists were coordinating to assassinate abortion providers.

Lovers of long-form true crime podcasts may enjoy Someone Knows Something. It is clear that Ridgen works out of a desire to right injustice. He approaches each case with the knowledge that the victims' absence leaves a gaping hole in their loved ones' hearts.