Guns Don’t Kill People, Scumbags Do: The Rock Road Massacre
Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps
Release Date: 03/19/2025
The Black Dahlia Murder SOLVED – Elizabeth Short
Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps
Not much needs to be said about this iconic true crime case to introduce it. Phelps gives the Black Dahlia murder of Elizabeth “Beth” Short the Crossing the Line treatment—with one shocking twist! A man who says he’s solved the case and has connected Short’s murder to a second homicide some 1600 miles away, in Kansas City. Check out Eli Frankel's book, , for more information about Black Dahlia's killer, a book Jeff Guinn, New York Times bestselling author of Manson and The Road to Jonestown, someone I greatly respect, calls, "Exhaustively researched, deftly...
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'Love Her to Death:' Tara Breckenridge & the 1990’s Serial Killer Frenzy in Houston
Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps
Tara Breckenridge is working as a waitress at a popular men’s club in downtown Houston when she goes missing one night after work. With a host of serial killers active in the region, and a litany of missing and murdered females, is Tara’s case part of the bigger picture, or, a one-off committed by someone she knows? If you have any information about any of the cases in this episode, please call the Houston Police Department at 713.247.8111 Sign up for your free Patreon account , where I’ll be streaming “live,” sending out newsletters, dropping an exclusive limited series...
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SHORT CUTS: In Cold Blood: Reggie Folks and Koby Minor
Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps
A man is shot dead inside his vehicle in the middle of the street. He is an up-and-coming professional wrestler with big dreams and big love for friends and family. The case is perplexing to law enforcement, who catch their man almost immediately, and yet his justification for the murder is most baffling. Welcome to a bonus feature here on the Crossing the Line feed. I come across all sorts of stories while researching books, TV series, and my iHeartMedia podcast, Paper Ghosts, in addition to the ideas you send me. A lot of them grab hold of me emotionally—especially the victims'...
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Fatal Encounter: Dr. Margo Prade
Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps
A well-loved doctor, Margo Prade, is found murdered inside her van in the parking lot of her office one morning. Her ex-husband, an Akron, Ohio, Police Department Captain, is questioned and provides an alibi, pleading with his colleagues to find her killer. So who killed this mother of two just as she was close to getting her life back on track after a contentious divorce? Sign up for your free Patreon account , where I’ll be streaming “live,” sending out newsletters, dropping an exclusive limited series podcast later in 2025, and posting other content you won’t get anywhere...
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Murder in Amish Country: Rebekah Byler and Shawn Cranston
Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps
A young, pregnant Amish woman in upstate Pennsylvania, Rebekah Byler, is home one morning alone with her two toddlers. When her husband returns to the house near noon, he walks into a brutal scene—yet his two young boys are left unharmed. Is he telling the truth? Or is it a ruse to throw off investigators? Sign up for your free Patreon account , where I’ll be streaming “live,” sending out newsletters, dropping an exclusive limited series podcast later in 2025, and posting other content you won’t get anywhere else. Visit to contact investigative journalist and host...
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The Doctor, the Lawyer, the Drug Dealer, the Murder: Susan Winters and Greg Dennis
Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps
Everything in your life seems to be on a perfect pace. Successful career. Long term marriage. Two beautiful daughters. So why would Susan Winters, without any warning or indication, kill herself with a poison not generally associated with suicide? Law enforcement wondered the same thing—and reopened a closed death investigation, revealing the dark secrets behind a seemingly idyllic life. Sign up for your free Patreon account , where I’ll be streaming “live,” sending out newsletters, dropping an exclusive limited series podcast later in 2025, and posting other content you won’t...
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The TRUE Crime is How Stupid This Murderer Is: Kathy Fortner
Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps
A family is on vacation, snapping photos at the Colorado National Monument when they stumble across the remains of a middle-age woman. Meanwhile, a woman 15 miles away is reported missing by her live-in boyfriend. Are the two cases connected? And how does Walmart and a package of hot dogs play into this case? Sign up for your free Patreon account , where I’ll be streaming “live,” sending out newsletters, dropping an exclusive limited series podcast later in 2025, and posting other content you won’t get anywhere else. Visit to contact investigative journalist and host...
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A Sister Searches For Her Missing Sibling: The 'True Crime' of Susan Marable's Disappearance
Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps
Susan Marable fell into hard times during the late 1980's. After a series of life-changing, tragic events, she moves from Aberdeen to Yakima, Washington, where her life spirals—and soon, Susan's family stops hearing from her. Robyn Peery, Susan’s sister, has spent her entire adult life searching for answers in her sister's disappearance--with no help from Yakima law enforcement. Sign up for your free Patreon account , where I’ll be streaming “live,” posting exclusive content you won't get anywhere else, and dropping an exclusive limited series podcast later in 2025. ...
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SHORT CUTS: Devil of the Ozarks: Ashley Bush, ‘Lucy Barrows,’ Jamie and Amber Waterman
Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps
A young expecting mother, Ashley Bush, meets a new friend, Lucy Barrows, on Facebook. Lucy promises Ashley a job interview. After dropping her off, Ashley's fiancé, Joshua Willis, claims he never hears from her again. Welcome to a bonus feature here on the Crossing the Line feed. I come across all sorts of stories while researching books, TV series, and my iHeartMedia podcast, Paper Ghosts, in addition to the ideas you send me. A lot of them grab hold of me emotionally—especially the victims' stories and the ordeal their families go through. A good number of the cases, for myriad...
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The Craziest True Crime Missing Persons Mystery You've Ever Heard: Cheryl “Sherri” Miller and Pamella Jackson
Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps
Sherri Miller and Pam Jackson, both 17 years old, are on their way to a keg party in the woods one night, driving down a lonely South Dakota road, following behind a car full of boys. Suddenly, the boys claim, they look behind and realize the girls and their vehicle have vanished. What happens over the next 40 years before the case is solved is stuff you hear about only in the movies. Sign up for your free Patreon account , where I’ll be streaming “live,” sending out newsletters, dropping an exclusive limited series podcast later in 2025, and posting other content you won’t get...
info_outlineRobert Haggart meets Garnetta Post in 1981—and her life is never the same again. Soon after marrying Haggart, Garnetta realizes the guy is lazy, vulgar, and abusive. And within six months of the marriage, the true nature of just how violent this guy is presents itself—and the outcome is one of Michigan’s most violent and deadly crimes ever.
Sign up for your free Patreon account here, where I’ll be streaming “live,” sending out newsletters, dropping an exclusive limited series podcast later in 2025, and posting other content you won’t get anywhere else.
Visit www.crossingtheline.biz to contact investigative journalist and host M. William Phelps, get more information about the show, updates to cases, and more.
Email: [email protected]
And don't forget to subscribe to Phelps's #1 hit podcast PAPER GHOSTS, now in its fourth season, wherever you get your favorite shows.
M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 46 nonfiction books and winner of the Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Phelps has written for numerous publications1, including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant. Diversifying his talents, Phelps consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter and has executive produced and starred in over 350 hours of true crime television. All of which gives him a confluence of expertise and experience to bring to true crime fanatics.
Phelps grew up in East Hartford, Connecticut, and now splits his time between Tolland County and N. Stonington, CT. In July 2017, he published his definitive, 10-year project about Happy Face Killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, DANGEROUS GROUND: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.
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