Podcast
DEVIANT
Hosted by Cold Open Media · EN
From the award-winning creator of Down The Hill: The Delphi Murders, comes DEVIANT, a new true crime series that dives into the dark corners of what human beings are capable of. Host Dan Szematowicz tells good stories about bad people who do very bad things.
Some people are wired for good. Some are wired for bad. And some are wired... to be Deviant.
Follow the show wherever you listen and across socials @deviant.podcast (IG, TT, YT)
23episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Delphi Murders - Part 2: Crime Scene
Feb 1100:20:25Tap to summarizeOn February 14, 2017, searchers make a discovery in the woods near Delphi, Indiana that changes the town forever. Abigail Williams and Liberty German are found. What investigators encounter in those first moments triggers an immediate and massive response, including the Indiana State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. For years, almost nothing about this crime scene is made public. It becomes one of the most tightly guarded scenes in modern American law enforcement. Even experienced reporters with deep sourcing are left with little information. Why is so much held back? In Part Two of DEVIANT’s extended Delphi series, host Dan Szematowicz moves into the earliest hours of the investigation. We look at what police see, what stands out to them, and what early questions begin shaping the direction of the case. What makes investigators describe the scene as odd and strange? What decisions are made in those first critical hours? What possibilities are considered? And how do those first impressions influence everything that follows? Before turning fully to the evidence, we also pause to remember Abby and Libby as they were in life. Friends. Daughters. Kids with plans. This episode focuses on context, process, and the foundation of the investigation. The timeline matters. The details matter. What was known, and what was not known, matters. We continue step by step. We're not yet drawing conclusions or taking sides...just telling the story as it unfolds. JOIN OUR PATREON TO SEE EVIDENCE IN THIS CASE: www.deviantpodcast.com FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL: TikTok/Instagram - @deviant.podcast Copyright 2026 Cold Open Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Delphi Murders - Part 1: Gone
Feb 400:21:23Tap to summarizeOn February 13, 2017, two girls went for a walk near Delphi, Indiana. They never came home. Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, vanished from a popular hiking trail near the Monon High Bridge. The next day, they were found murdered. What followed was not a clean investigation or a tidy path to justice, but a six-year saga that would fracture a town, divide the public, and raise uncomfortable questions about policing, media, and truth itself. This is the first chapter in DEVIANT’s definitive series on the Delphi murders. In Part One, host Dan Szematowicz goes back to the beginning. The town. The trail. The timeline. The last known movements of Abby and Libby. The search. And the moment everything changes. This series does not pick sides or ask you to accept conclusions upfront. It lays out the facts, piece by piece, and lets the story speak for itself. Since Dan's original coverage from the podcast "Down The Hill: The Delphi Murders" ended in 2022, there has been an arrest, a trial, a conviction, and an explosion of new information and controversy. Some believe justice has been served. Others believe the truth is still out of reach, and that an innocent man sits behind bars. This series re-examines the entire case as it stands today, starting here, at the very beginning. If you think you know this story, you may want to listen anyway. If you don’t, you’ll soon understand why it refuses to let go. This is DEVIANT. We’re all wired differently. Some of us step outside every boundary. These are those stories. SEE THE EVIDENCE AND SUPPORT THE SHOW: http://deviantpodcast.com INSTAGRAM AND SOCIAL: @deviant.podcast Copyright 2026 Cold Open Media LLC All rights reserved Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →The Delphi Murders: Series Preview
Jan 2100:06:46Tap to summarizeIn February 2017, Abigail Williams and Liberty German went for a walk near Delphi, Indiana and never came home. What followed became one of the most haunting and divisive murder cases in modern American crime. An unusual crime scene. A video of the killer captured on a victim’s phone...the figure known as Bridge Guy. Years of speculation, accusations, and unanswered questions. In 2022, a local man, Richard Allen, was arrested. In 2024, he was convicted. And yet, for many, the case still feels unresolved. This February, DEVIANT host Dan Szematowicz takes a fresh, comprehensive look at the Delphi murders. Over the course of the month, this special event series will examine the case from the beginning, incorporating years of newly released information, evidence that was not previously public, and insights gathered during and after the making of Down The Hill, including stories and information that very few know. Each episode introduces a new piece of the story, examining the evidence carefully, methodically, and without an agenda. Did Richard Allen kill Abby and Libby? If so, did he act alone? If not, who did? Were mistakes made by investigators or the courts? And when everything is laid out, what actually makes sense? New episodes release Wednesdays and Fridays throughout February, beginning February 4. A short primer episode arrives first, outlining the key events and milestones for those new to the case or in need of a refresher. This is not a recap. It is a full re-examination. When it concludes, the goal is simple: to understand what the evidence truly shows and why this case continues to divide so many people. Be sure to join DEVIANT's Patreon for pictures, documents, audio and more as the story unfolds at deviantpodcast.com Copyright 2026 Cold Open Media LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Hunter/Hunted: Christopher Dorner - Part 2
Dec 3100:24:01Tap to summarize(PART 2/2) The manhunt is on. In Part 2 of this DEVIANT series, host Dan Szematowicz picks up the story as Christopher Dorner disappears into the mountains of Southern California, triggering one of the largest and most intense police searches in state history. As authorities flood the Big Bear region, search hundreds of cabins, and warn residents to stay inside, Dorner resurfaces in a series of confrontations that prove he is still armed, mobile, and willing to engage law enforcement directly. What follows is a rapidly escalating chain of events that ends in a violence and fire. This episode examines the final hours of the manhunt, the shootout that leaves officers dead and wounded, and the decisions made by law enforcement as the situation spirals toward its conclusion. It also explores the aftermath, including the questions, controversies, and scrutiny that follow the end of the siege. Part 2 completes the story of the Christopher Dorner manhunt, focusing on what happened, how it unfolded, and the lasting impact it left behind. SUPPORT THE SHOW: http://www.deviantpodcast.com Visit DEVIANT's socials: http://www.instagram.com/deviant.podcast http://www.tiktok.com/@deviant.podcast Copyright 2025 Cold Open Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Hunter/Hunted: Christopher Dorner - Part 1
Dec 1800:23:52Tap to summarizeIn February 2013, a double murder in an Irvine parking garage sets off a chain of events that quickly spreads far beyond the city. What begins as a quiet, baffling crime soon escalates into a statewide emergency. In Part 1 of this two-part DEVIANT episode, host Dan Szematowicz tracks the story from the killings of Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence through the critical discoveries that identify Christopher Dorner as the suspect. As the investigation unfolds, law enforcement agencies across Southern California move into high alert, protective details are deployed, and Dorner resurfaces violently. This episode covers the first confirmed attacks on police, the widening manhunt, and the moment authorities realize they are dealing with a trained, mobile shooter who is actively engaging officers. Part 1 ends with Dorner vanishing again, leaving behind burned evidence in the mountains and forcing law enforcement into a massive, uncertain search. Part 2 continues with the Big Bear manhunt, Dorner’s reappearance, and the final confrontation. SUPPORT THE SHOW: http://www.deviantpodcast.com Visit DEVIANT's socials: http://www.instagram.com/deviant.podcast http://www.tiktok.com/@deviant.podcast Copyright 2025 Cold Open Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Encore: Witness to an Execution
Dec 1100:28:06Tap to summarizeThis encore presentation revisits one of the most unsettling stories ever featured on DEVIANT. It is a firsthand account of the execution of Gainesville Ripper Danny Rolling, as witnessed by veteran South Florida journalist Michael Mayo. Mayo covered two Florida executions in his 31-year career. What he saw, and what he did not expect to feel, stayed with him. In this conversation with DEVIANT host Dan Szematowicz, Mayo walks us through the days leading up to Rolling’s death: meeting the families of the victims, entering Florida’s death chamber, hearing the condemned man sing a self-written hymn moments before the chemicals flowed, and grappling with what executions mean for justice, closure, and the people left behind. It is a stark and unvarnished look at an experience few ever witness. It also raises hard questions about punishment, memory, and the weight of what the state asks us to carry. This is a rerelease of a previous DEVIANT episode. New episodes return next week. SUPPORT THE SHOW: http://www.deviantpodcast.com Visit DEVIANT's socials: http://www.instagram.com/deviant.podcast http://www.tiktok.com/@deviant.podcast Copyright 2025 Cold Open Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Murder Of Christy Mirack
Dec 300:23:22Tap to summarizeIn December 1992, 25-year-old teacher Christy Mirack is attacked in her East Lampeter, PA apartment just minutes before she’s supposed to leave for work. Investigators find signs of a violent struggle and a full DNA profile from her killer, but there's no match. For more than twenty-five years, the case sits in limbo as state and national databases expand with no hits. In this episode, host Dan Szematowicz follows the investigation from the original crime scene, through decades of unanswered questions, to the breakthrough that finally identified her killer: a discarded water bottle, a strand of chewed gum, and a new forensic tool that didn’t exist in 1992. And even after a guilty plea and a life sentence, one question still has no answer...why? SUPPORT THE SHOW: http://www.deviantpodcast.com Visit DEVIANT's socials: http://www.instagram.com/deviant.podcast http://www.tiktok.com/@deviant.podcast SOURCES: Lancaster County District Attorney Press Releases Pennsylvania Supreme Court Order (2025) Pennsylvania State Police DNA Match (via DA statements) LancasterOnline / LNP Coverage Associated Press ABC27 / WGAL / CBS21 Reports WHYY / NPR Pennsylvania Court Records: Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas Copyright 2025 Cold Open Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Dark Corners: "Supreme Gentlemen"
Nov 2600:33:53Tap to summarize(PART 2/2) ENCORE PRESENTATION In April of 2018, Alek Minassian sits in a Toronto police station after using a van to kill eleven people. Now, investigators are trying to figure out who he is, and why he did this. Minassian is happy to talk about it all. What he spins is a tale years in the making, winding himself into the very fabric of what he calls the beta uprising...the incel revolution. Who are the incels? What do they want? How much of a threat are they today? DEVIANT host Dan Szematowicz explores all these questions, and concludes the story of the the 2018 Toronto Van Attack. JOIN OUR PATREON: http://www.deviantpodcast.com Visit DEVIANT's socials: http://www.instagram.com/deviant.podcast http://www.tiktok.com/@deviant.podcast Copyright 2025 Cold Open Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Dark Corners: Blood in Toronto
Nov 2500:32:30Tap to summarize(Part 1/2 ) ENCORE PRESENTATION In the spring of 2018, a beautiful Toronto day is broken by a man in a white rental van. He picks a busy part of town...a place where many people will be out and about. He pulls onto the sidewalk, and hits the accelerator. Ten minutes later, he's murdered 11 people. Police immediately arrest 25-year-old Alec Manassian. He claims to have a cause: the "incel revolution." In this multipart story from DEVIANT, host Dan Szematowicz explores this dark day, and the killer who claims allegiance to a bizarre online community. JOIN OUR PATREON: http://www.deviantpodcast.com Visit DEVIANT's socials: http://www.instagram.com/deviant.podcast http://www.tiktok.com/@deviant.podcast Copyright 2025 Cold Open Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Springfield Three
Nov 1800:34:45Tap to summarizeOn June 7th, 1992, Sherrill Levitt, her daughter Suzie Streeter, and Suzie’s friend Stacy McCall disappear from a quiet home in Springfield, MO without leaving a trace. Their cars, keys, purses, and personal belongings stay behind. The women don’t. In this episode, DEVIANT host Dan Szematowicz walks through the final hours before they’re last seen… the empty house that made no sense… the contaminated crime scene… the massive grid searches… the false leads… and the men whose names rose to the top of the suspect list. And we follow the most enduring person of interest whose past, alibis, and statements have kept him in the center of the case for more than thirty years, even as investigators have never been able to tie him to the crime. Decades later, the mystery remains one of the most haunting unsolved cases in America. Three women. One house. No answers. If you have information about the disappearance of Sherrill Levitt, Suzie Streeter, or Stacy McCall, contact the Springfield Police Department or your local law enforcement agency. Follow @deviant.podcast on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for true-crime storytelling every week. SOURCES Springfield News-Leader — “Three Missing Women: Ten Years Later” (Robert Keyes) Springfield Police Department public statements and case summaries America’s Most Wanted (1992 broadcast coverage) The Charley Project — Case files for Levitt, Streeter & McCall Associated Press reporting on the investigation and Robert Craig Cox Copyright 2025 Cold Open Media LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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