Épisodes

  • The Vanished Librarian: A Small-Town Cold Case Reopened on the Page

    The Vanished Librarian: A Small-Town Cold Case Reopened on the Page
    Nov 20 2025
    When a beloved small-town librarian locked up one evening and was never seen again, the case quickly went cold. No body. No confession. Just a parking lot, a ring of keys, and a community haunted by unanswered questions. In this episode, Samnang and James sit down with Kevin, a true crime author who has spent years combing through dusty files, forgotten clippings, and fading memories to piece together what might have happened that night. Through cinematic narration and panel-style discussion, we trace the librarian’s final known hours, examine investigative missteps, and unpack the psychology of a victim who seemed to live an ordinary life—until she didn’t. Listeners will hear how Kevin balances storytelling with ethics, how modern investigative tools could reframe the case today, and what it means for a town to carry a ghost for generations. This is not just a whodunit—it’s a why-it-still-hurts.
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    24 min
  • Echoes from Cell 14: The Teacher, the Teen, and a Town Divided

    Echoes from Cell 14: The Teacher, the Teen, and a Town Divided
    Nov 21 2025
    When a high school senior was found dead after a late autumn football game, fear gripped a tight-knit town. Within a year, a popular history teacher was convicted of her murder—on a largely circumstantial case that seemed to give everyone closure. Decades later, Kevin, a true crime author, begins to tug at threads that never quite fit: missing timelines, pressured witnesses, buried reports, and a defendant who has never stopped claiming his innocence from Cell 14. In this episode, Samnang, James, and Kevin unpack how a community’s need for answers can collide with the slow, careful work of justice. Through cinematic narration and panel discussion, they explore investigative blind spots, the psychology of tunnel vision, and what “reasonable doubt” really looks like outside a courtroom. Listeners will confront the uneasy question: if the wrong person is in prison, what does justice look like now—for the victim, the town, and the truth itself?
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    28 min
  • Writing the Unsolved: How a True Crime Author Rebuilds a Cold Case From Fragments

    Writing the Unsolved: How a True Crime Author Rebuilds a Cold Case From Fragments
    Nov 22 2025
    Most true crime listeners know the final story—the polished narrative that threads victims, suspects, and clues into a compelling arc. But how does that story actually come together without crossing ethical lines or exploiting real pain? In this episode, Samnang and James sit down with Kevin, a true crime author, to dissect his process on a lesser-known cold case he’s currently researching—without naming the case or the town. Through cinematic narration and candid panel discussion, they walk listeners through each stage: identifying a case worth revisiting, earning the trust of families, navigating law enforcement records, and deciding what details never make it to the page. Along the way, they unpack how to balance suspense with sensitivity, how investigative dead ends shape the final story, and why “what we can’t verify” is just as important as what we can. This episode turns the investigative lens on true crime itself, giving listeners tools to be more informed, ethical consumers of the genre they love.
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    27 min
  • The Case That Belongs to Everyone: How Communities Quietly Keep Cold Cases Alive

    The Case That Belongs to Everyone: How Communities Quietly Keep Cold Cases Alive
    Nov 23 2025
    Most cold case stories center on detectives, lawyers, or journalists—but what about the ordinary people who refuse to forget? In this episode, Rise Stories turns the microphone toward the overlooked backbone of many long-running investigations: the community. Samnang and James are joined by true crime author Kevin to unpack a composite, anonymized cold case built from several real investigations he’s studied. Through cinematic narration, they walk listeners into a small town where a decades-old disappearance still shapes how people shop, walk home, and talk about trust. Then, in a panel discussion, they explore how clerks who remember faces, neighbors who track routines, and listeners who organize files from their living rooms can contribute ethically and effectively. The team breaks down the line between “helpful tipster” and “harmful vigilante,” examines how online forums can both aid and derail cases, and offers a practical, victim-centered framework for anyone who wants to support justice without causing new harm.
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    25 min
  • The Men Who Vanished at Dusk: Missing Fathers, Silent Files, and the Gaps in Our Justice Map

    The Men Who Vanished at Dusk: Missing Fathers, Silent Files, and the Gaps in Our Justice Map
    Nov 24 2025
    Most missing-person stories that reach national attention center on children, students, or high-profile victims. But across small towns and working-class suburbs, another pattern hides in plain sight: fathers who clock out, run one last errand at dusk, and vanish between the parking lot and the front door. In this episode, Rise Stories weaves together a composite case built from several real investigations: a mechanic, a warehouse supervisor, and a night-shift cook who all disappeared on ordinary evenings years apart. Alona pulls listeners into the final known hours of “Daniel,” our anonymized composite dad, while Samnang, James, and true crime author Kevin break down why cases like his so often stall. They examine missing-adult biases, assumptions about men who “walk away,” flawed early response protocols, and the families left to fight for attention. Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of how risk, routine, and class shape which cases get urgency—and how careful, ethical attention can help keep these men from being erased twice.
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    27 min
  • The Mothers Who Never Made It Home: Vanished Women, Quiet Patterns, and the Cases That Went Cold Twice

    The Mothers Who Never Made It Home: Vanished Women, Quiet Patterns, and the Cases That Went Cold Twice
    Nov 25 2025
    Most missing-woman stories that dominate headlines center on a narrow image: young, single, and photogenic. But scattered across suburbs and small towns are other disappearances that rarely break beyond local news: mothers who juggle jobs, childcare, and errands—until one unremarkable drive, one grocery run, or one late shift becomes the last time anyone sees them. In this episode, Rise Stories builds a single anonymized composite case—“Marisa”—from several real investigations involving missing mothers. Alona walks listeners through Marisa’s final 24 hours, while Samnang, James, and Kevin unpack why her case lost momentum: assumptions about adult women “starting over,” custody disputes clouding judgment, and the quiet stigma applied to stressed or struggling moms. Rather than hunt a specific suspect, the panel dissects investigative gaps, media framing, and how class, race, and caregiving roles shape urgency. Listeners will leave with a deeper understanding of how some mothers are effectively erased twice—first by disappearance, then by neglect—and what ethical attention and advocacy can still do for real families like Marisa’s.
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    25 min
  • The Silent Sister: A Nurse, a Night Shift, and a Vanishing Witness

    The Silent Sister: A Nurse, a Night Shift, and a Vanishing Witness
    Nov 26 2025
    On paper, she was the steady one: a night-shift nurse, a quiet “big sister” figure at a small community hospital, the person coworkers called when life fell apart. Then, one foggy weeknight, she clocked out, crossed a dim parking lot—and vanished between the security camera’s last frame and the road home. In this episode, Rise Stories reconstructs “Elena,” a carefully anonymized composite built from several real unsolved disappearances of healthcare workers. Alona walks listeners through Elena’s final shift and the secrets she might have carried: workplace misconduct she quietly challenged, a patient death that never sat right, a threat shrugged off. Samnang, James, and Kevin unpack how power dynamics inside institutions can shape which missing-persons cases get real traction, why “ideal victims” aren’t always who we think, and how fear of liability can warp the story that reaches the public. Listeners will come away with a deeper understanding of how professional status, whistleblowing, and silence intersect when someone like Elena disappears—and what ethical advocacy can still do for real families behind her composite story.
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    26 min
  • Voices From the File: When Victim Advocates Challenge the Official Story

    Voices From the File: When Victim Advocates Challenge the Official Story
    Nov 27 2025
    Most true crime stories are told through detectives, lawyers, or journalists. But what about the people who sit at kitchen tables years later, helping families reread the same thin case file and ask, “What did we miss?” In this episode, Rise Stories follows “Renee,” a composite victim advocate built from multiple real-world advocates who quietly challenge cold-case complacency. Through cinematic narration, Alona takes listeners inside Renee’s first meeting with a family whose daughter’s disappearance stalled decades ago. As Samnang, James, and Kevin unpack the case, they reveal how advocates question assumptions without attacking investigators, spot overlooked patterns in reports, and help families prepare for difficult conversations with law enforcement and media. Rather than naming suspects, the panel examines how advocacy can reopen lines of communication, push for modern forensic reviews, and keep a victim’s humanity at the center. Listeners will gain a rare, empathetic look at the bridge between grieving families and a system that too often answers with silence.
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    27 min