To make print news media more current, the LA Times has started using podcasts to tell the stories of some of its more intriguing cases. One of these, Dirty John, has become something of a sensation on the podcast circuit.
Pulitzer-nominated journalist Christopher Goffard spins the tale of a love story gone wrong between interior designer Debra Newell and anaesthetist John Meehan who is, like most online partners, not at all he seems.
The story starts with an autopsy report detailing 13 stab wounds, with the killing blow striking the victim in the eye. No more of that part of the story is told until the final episode in part six called Terra. The listener is instead swept to the beginning of the relationship and left feeling uneasy trying to guess who the hapless victim is going to be.
Dirty John is in no way the next Serial, but is most definitely a "goody". Unlike Sara Koenig's journey to discover who killed Hae Min Lee, there is no real mystery in Dirty John. It's merely a story in which the end becomes clearer.