Jonathan Hirsch | True Crime 🎙️

Kouri Richins finally spoke yesterday — and the internet has been dissecting every second of it. She addressed her sons directly. Maintained her innocence. Cried. The judge sentenced her to life without parole — on what would have been Eric's 44th birthday. Theatrical. Fake. Or...sympathetic? Watch our full breakdown with @truecrimewithannie at the link in our bio. #KouriRichins #Sentencing #TrueCrime #BreakingNews #Reaction

The Kouri Richins sentencing hearing happened today in Utah. A dramatic day of victim impact statements, and perhaps the most dramatic, Kouri addressing the court herself. A VERY SPECIAL episode of @thebingecrimescene drops tomorrow covering this case, and am thrilled to announce we’re gonna be joined by Annie Elise to break down the whole case and all the courtroom theatrics that went on today. You won’t wanna miss it 🫆#kouririchins #truecrime

A dramatic end to an unbelievable trial. For nearly an hour, Kouri Richins addressed her sons directly. She vowed to fight her conviction, and begged them to have faith in her plea of innocence. The judge laid out the options presented to the court amd chose life without Parole. We have a BIG EPISODE coming to you tomorrow covering all aspects of this case with A VERY SPECIAL GUEST. Subscribe to @thebingecrimescene now and we’ll gonna break the whole story down for you tomorrow!

A HUGE THANK YOU! To our partners at @applepodcasts for featuring @thebingecrimescene bringing you in-depth stories behind the world’s most unforgettable crimes each and every week. We’ve got big things planned for this week, so stayed tuned. If you’re just finding us, catch up on the fascinating cases we’ve explored thus far.

Remembering Nique Leili today. A mother of three who was murdered by her husband in Georgia in 2011, and the subject of my podcast “Watching You”. She wanted happiness and safety for her daughters even when her home could not provide those things. When things reached a fever pitch between her husband and her daughter Alex, she quietly encouraged her daughter to move in with her dad…a decision that feels prescient knowing what happened. This clip features, Alex recalling that moment in vivid detail. It’s a poignant memory that has stuck with me months after the release of the show and often times find myself thinking about. Holding space for her memory today, a mother who fought for her children even when she couldn’t fight for herself.

The Fake Stalker — Anaheim, California, 2016. A 29-year-old grad student named Michelle Hadley was arrested in Orange County and charged with stalking, criminal threats, attempted rape, and assault. The charges added up to a potential life sentence. Her ex-fiancé Ian Diaz was a Deputy U.S. Marshal. His new wife Angela was a lawyer pregnant with twins. For months, someone had been sending Angela threatening emails. Posting rape fantasy ads on Craigslist with their address. And one June night, Angela stumbled out of the garage saying a stranger had just attacked her. Michelle had motive. She and Ian had bought the condo together. She’d paid the down payment. She was still on the title. When detectives traced the IP addresses behind the threatening emails — the call was coming from inside the house. The emails were being sent from inside Angela’s own condo. That’s when investigators turned the lens around. Angela Diaz wasn’t a lawyer. She’d never passed the bar. The twin pregnancy was fabricated — the ultrasounds were $7.50 on Etsy. Security footage showed no one entered the garage the night of the attack. Angela had bruised herself, torn her own clothes, and let an innocent woman sit in jail for it. She was sentenced to 5 years. In 2023, federal investigators convicted Ian Diaz of perjury, cyberstalking, obstruction, and conspiracy. He got 10 years in federal prison — twice as long as his wife. Michelle got the condo. A federal agent and his wife built a fake case against an innocent woman, and an entire police department ran with it for months. Have we done enough to reckon with how easily people in power are believed — and how rarely they’re held accountable when they’re wrong? @bycoopermoll and I get into the story of The Fake Stalker this week on @thebingecrimescene #truecrime #scam #truecrimestory

The Fake Stalker case, 2016. A pregnant lawyer was being terrorized by her husband’s deranged ex-fiancée. Almost none of that sentence was true. The ludicrousness of this week’s crime is outmatched only by the injustice that it caused its victim. This week on @thebingecrimescene , @bycoopermoll and I dig into the case of the “Fake Stalker”. #truecrime #scam #truecrimecommunity

The Han Twins — Irvine, California, 1996. The unbelievable true crime story of how one woman twin attempted to murder her identical twin. Sunny and Gina Hahn were born the same day. Co-valedictorians of the same high school. By age 22 — Gina had hired two teenage boys to murder her identical twin sister with a 22 caliber pistol and a homemade silencer. The plot failed. Gina went to prison for 26 years to life. Twenty years later — when she came up for parole — the person who wrote a letter asking for her release was Sunny. The sister she had tried to kill. Could you forgive your identical twin for trying to have you murdered? Or is there something about that bond the rest of us will never understand? This week on @thebingecrimescene @bycoopermoll and I dig into the story of The Han Twins.

Two identical twin sisters — Sunny and Gina Hahn — born the same day, raised by the same parents, co-valedictorians of the same high school. By all accounts, the future of their Korean immigrant family. Sunny earned a full scholarship to Stanford. Gina enlisted in the Air Force. And then — at almost exactly the same time — both of their lives fell apart. Sunny dropped out. Gina got discharged. By November of 1996, Gina was broke. She had attempted suicide. She had nowhere to go. Sunny — the only person left who hadn’t given up on her — took her in. It lasted three weeks. When Sunny finally kicked her sister out, she told her never to call her again. And that’s when Gina started planning to kill her. She recruited two teenage boys, fifteen and sixteen years old, and offered them money to commit the murder. She bought a 22 caliber pistol. She bought duct tape. She bought Pine-Sol and garbage bags to clean up afterward. And she brought a potato, which she planned to use as a homemade silencer. On the afternoon of November 6th, 1996, the boys posed as magazine salesmen and forced their way inside. They put a gun to the roommate’s head. They tied both women up in the bathtub. And then they realized something nobody had planned for: they didn’t actually know which twin was which. In the chaos, the roommate broke free, ran to a neighbor’s apartment, and called 911. When police arrived, they found Gina sitting in the parking lot in a blue Mustang. When the officer asked her name, she gave him Sunny’s. Because they were identical twins. At trial, Sunny took the stand and told the jury she didn’t believe her sister had actually wanted her dead. Gina was convicted anyway. 26 years to life. And when she came up for parole in 2014, the person who wrote a letter to the board asking for her release —was Sunny. The sister she had tried to kill. There is something between identical twins that the rest of us will never understand. Can the person closest to you in the world try to destroy you, and somehow still be the only person you know well enough to forgive? This week on @thebingecrimescene , we dig into the story of The Evil Twin

This month on The Binge, a story that could only happen in Hollywood. A rockstar hairstylist is found murdered in his Woodland Hills home. Who would’ve wanted him dead? Cut, Color, Kill tells the tragic and unbelievable story of the murder of Fabio Sementilli. Hosted by @thisisjonathanhirsch and produced by @novelpodcasts You can listen to all episodes add-free all at one by subscribing to The Binge on @applepodcasts or by going to getthebinge.com

Things she packed for the murder: – Duct tape – Pine-Sol – Garbage bags – One (1) potato This week on @thebingecrimescene @bycoopermoll and I get into the story of “The Evil Twin”.

Brian Wells died on live television with a bomb around his neck after robbing a bank. For years the story painted Brian as a petty criminal who got what was coming to him. Then in 2018 Netflix released Evil Genius. And a woman named Jessica Hoopsick came forward and said she was paid $5,000 to find someone gullible enough to walk into that bank. She chose Brian — her regular client, her friend. He had no idea the bomb was real. The official version of a case is almost never the complete version. It’s just the version that was provable in court. Going back to find what got left behind — that’s the work. Hear our conversation this week on Crime Scene. Link in bio.