If the kidnapping was the Crime of the Century, then the trial that followed was the Trial of the Century. At the center of it all stands the accused—a man who insists on the stand that he is innocent. Nearly a hundred years later, we ask: Could he have been telling the truth?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The investigation closes in on a German immigrant carpenter from the Bronx. When a chunk of the ransom money is discovered at his home, investigators think they’ve found a “smoking gun.” But is the evidence as airtight as it seems? Or is it a sign of a wider conspiracy that was never fully exposed?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charles Lindbergh is not just the father of a kidnapped child—he is the most celebrated man on Earth, and increasingly the one shaping how the investigation unfolds. But behind the heroic image is a more complicated figure: both controlling and naive, and willing to overrule the police entrusted with finding his son. Does Lindbergh’s strange behavior hold any clues to the mystery?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One night in March 1932, the infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh is taken from his nursery. A warped window, a ladder, and a ransom note mark the beginning of a case that will grip the world and launch a hundred conspiracy theories. Ninety-four years later, we return to the scene of the crime to ask: What really happened that night?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veteran reporter Joe Nocera investigates a 94-year-old crime that deserves a second look: the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr.

Little Lindy was the infant son of the most famous man in the world at the time, an aviator who had achieved impossible feats. Unsurprisingly, the case was a media sensation in 1932, especially when German immigrant Bruno Hauptmann was tried and executed for the crime. Hauptmann professed his innocence to the end; could he have been telling the truth? Joe embeds with a community of sleuths who think so, believing the authorities convicted the wrong guy and fighting for the DNA to be tested to prove it.

This is a series that asks: Was this case America’s first great conspiracy?

Subscriber here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A startling legal twist changes the case’s outcome, possibly forever. As we reflect on Samantha Woll’s legacy—especially that of a bridge builder between opposing views, her loved ones undertake the hard work of healing as they continue to fight for justice.

---

Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press to binge the full series today, and with reduced ads. Click here to subscribe.

----

Host: Frannie Block

Producer: Poppy Damon

Executive Editor: Emily Yoffe

---

Contact us at: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The prosecution believes the case is airtight, but when the defendant takes the stand, the case takes a turn. With alternate suspects introduced, the jury must decide what they believe really happened to Samantha Woll.

---

Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press to binge the full series today, and with reduced ads. Click ⁠here⁠ to subscribe.

----

Host: Frannie Block

Producer: Poppy Damon

Executive Editor: Emily Yoffe

---

Contact us at: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Samantha Woll’s ex-boyfriend calls 911 in a panic. He tells the police he thinks he might have killed her. When they bring him in for questioning, he explains he was having a drug-induced temporary break.

---

Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press to binge the full series today, and with reduced ads. Click here to subscribe.

----

Host: Frannie Block

Producer: Poppy Damon

Executive Editor: Emily Yoffe

---

Contact us at: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A man seen breaking into cars near the crime scene is arrested, and he lies to police about what he’s been up to. But does that make him a killer? As the case builds against him, his defense team uncovers a piece of evidence that could change everything.

---

Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press to binge the full series today, and with reduced ads. Click here to subscribe

----

Host: Frannie Block

Producer: Poppy Damon

Executive Editor: Emily Yoffe

---

Contact us at: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Samantha Woll, 40, was a beloved Detroit Jewish community leader with her life ahead of her. Tragically, she is found stabbed to death outside her home exactly two weeks after the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. Investigators follow a mysterious figure caught on camera: Is this truly a hate crime, or something else?

---

Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press to binge the full series today, and with reduced ads. Click here to subscribe

----

Host: Frannie Block

Producer: Poppy Damon

Executive Editor: Emily Yoffe

---

Contact us at: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On October 21, 2023, beloved Detroit community leader Samantha Woll was found brutally stabbed to death outside her home—two weeks to the day after the October 7 attacks on Israel. It looks like an open-and-shut case—a hate crime. But swiftly the police rule that out. Instead they eventually find themselves with two unrelated suspects. When they charge one with murder, the case takes a turn that raises questions about antisemitism, race, and justice in America.

Hosted by The Free Press’s Frannie Block, this podcast series will be available October 21st 2025. It features exclusive interviews and explores the remarkable, too-short life of Samantha, and the impact she had. And Spiral tells the bizarre twists and turns of one of Detroit’s most haunting recent crimes.

----

Email us at [email protected]

----

Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press to binge the full series today, and with reduced ads. Click here to subscribe

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices