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In July 1917, white mobs killed dozens of Black residents in East St. Louis, burning neighborhoods and terrorizing families in one of the deadliest racial massacres in American history. The violence worked. This bonus episode explores how the East St. Louis massacre led directly to the systematic use of racially restrictive covenants across St. Louis - the same covenants J.D. and Ethyl Shelley would fight in court three decades later.

In 1945, a reverend, a realtor, a science teacher, and a white woman in a low-cut dress conspired to help a St. Louis couple buy a house. The couple had steady jobs, a down payment, and six children who needed a safe home. What they didn't have was permission — at least not according to a clause buried in the property's deed. Their attempt to move in triggered outrage from neighbors, a lawsuit, and a legal battle that climbed all the way to the United States Supreme Court, resulting in the landmark 1948 ruling in Shelley v. Kraemer. Crimes of the Centuries is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history. You can get early and ad-free episodes and more over at www.grabbagcollab.comOrder the Crimes of the Centuries book at your favorite bookstore or at www.centuriespod.com/book!Follow us on Instagram and other social media: @centuriespod

While working on this week’s episode on the Carrollton bus crash, Amber was reminded of a case she covered nearly 20 years ago — an unbelievably bittersweet story that followed another devastating highway crash. The Taylor University van accident of 2006 left a lasting mark on everyone who encountered it, including the reporters who told it.

In May 1988, a church bus returning to Kentucky was struck head-on by a wrong-way driver. Within seconds, it became an inferno. As families searched for answers, an unsettling truth emerged: The children had been trapped inside a bus never designed to protect them. The Carrollton bus tragedy is a story about how grief collided with corporate power, government delay tactics and America’s evolving reckoning with drunken driving.

Judge Charles W. Fricke might be best known for presiding over the Sleepy Lagoon trial, but that was just one day in a career that made him California's most prolific death penalty judge. This is the story of the man behind the gavel, and what macabre memento he kept on his bench while sentencing people to die.

In August 1942, 22-year-old Jose Diaz was found dying near a Los Angeles reservoir called Sleepy Lagoon. He'd been beaten and stabbed the night before he was set to report to the U.S. Army. His death became the excuse the LAPD needed to launch a massive crackdown on Mexican American youth—rounding up 600 people, trying 22 young men with questionable evidence and igniting racial tensions that exploded into the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943. But who really killed Jose Diaz? And why did a fashion choice become a crime?

Singing his way through the 1950s and early 1960s, appealing to audiences across a segregated music industry, churning out hits of dreamy quality like “You Send Me” and inspirational fortitude like “A Change Is Gonna Come,” Sam Cooke was more than an artist. He lived – and died – a legend. So how did he end up shot in a Los Angeles motel in 1964? In this episode, we’ll trace the tale: start to finish.

On Feb. 28, 2026, Amber and her longtime podcasting partner Amanda Rossmann performed a live recording of Crimes of the Centuries at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts. After the show, they answered audience members' questions during a lively Q&A.

In November 1958, duck hunters at Cowan Lake State Park stumbled upon a burned body so badly damaged it was nearly unrecognizable. It belonged to Louise Bergen, a 32-year-old Cincinnati mother whose disappearance had already set off whispers of secret relationships and divided loyalties. What followed became one of the most notorious murder cases in the city's history—featuring a shocking confession, a death sentence, and a prosecutor who refused to look at evidence that might have told a different story. (Note: This episode was recorded live at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, Ohio.) Additional note: A regular listener and relative of the prosecutor mentioned in this story, C. Watson Hover, reached out to correct my pronunciation of his surname. I said "hover," as in "hoverboard." The correct pronunciation is the word "over" with an H. Thank you, Lisa, for letting me know!  Crimes of the Centuries is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history. You can get early and ad-free episodes and more over at www.grabbagcollab.comOrder the Crimes of the Centuries book at your favorite bookstore or at www.centuriespod.com/book!

On September 11, 2001, I was walking the streets of a fake New York while the real one burned. I've never told this story because it never seemed special enough. After working on this week's main episode, I figured, hey, at least mine is true.

In the years after September 11, 2001, one survivor’s story rose above nearly all others. She said she had escaped from the South Tower, lost the man she loved on the 99th floor, and lived with injuries that would never fully heal. Her account became central to how the world understood survival, grief and resilience after the attacks. But when a reporter began asking routine questions ahead of an anniversary, the story quietly unraveled. Crimes of the Centuries is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history. You can get early and ad-free episodes and more over at www.grabbagcollab.comOrder the Crimes of the Centuries book at your favorite bookstore or at www.centuriespod.com/book!

After murdering three police officers, Harry Roberts became Britain's most wanted man in the fall of 1966. His face was on every TV screen, every newspaper cover and every police station wall. So how did he vanish for 96 days? The answer lay in skills he'd learned in the Malayan jungle.

In August 1966, three unarmed London police officers pulled over a suspicious car on Braybrook Street in Shepherd's Bush in West London. Within minutes, all three were dead—shot in cold blood by three career criminals who'd rather kill than go back to prison. The murders shocked Britain and sparked a months-long manhunt for Harry Roberts, who managed to evade capture while his face was plastered across every newspaper in the country.  Crimes of the Centuries is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history. You can get early and ad-free episodes and more over at www.grabbagcollab.comHave you read the Crimes of the Centuries book? Order today at www.centuriespod.com/book!

William F. Buckley declared Edgar Smith innocent with absolute certainty—and was spectacularly wrong. As someone who investigates potential wrongful convictions, I've learned to be more careful. Even in cases where I've pushed for overturned convictions, I won't declare someone definitively innocent. Why? Because unlike Buckley (and most prosecutors), I'm willing to admit I might be wrong.

In 1976, a woman survived a brutal kidnapping and stabbing in a San Diego parking lot. The man accused of the attack was Edgar Smith—once a cause célèbre, hailed as a wrongfully convicted intellectual. His release had been celebrated by writers, editors and influential public figures who believed they had corrected a grave injustice. What followed was not redemption but reckoning. "Crimes of the Centuries" is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history. You can get early and ad-free episodes and more over at www.grabbagcollab.comHave you read the Crimes of the Centuries book? Order today at www.centuriespod.com/book!