
The Secret History of the Rape Kit
A True Crime Story
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $15.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Claire Danes
-
By:
-
Pagan Kennedy
About this listen
Marty Goddard dreamed up a new crime-solving tool—a kit that could help rape survivors fight for justice. This thrilling investigation tells the story of the troubled, heroic woman who kicked off a feminist revolution in forensics, and then vanished into obscurity.
"Astonishing . . . Marty Goddard takes her rightful place as a visionary thanks to Kennedy’s relentless investigation.”—Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises
"The Secret History of the Rape Kit is stunning: part thriller, part feminist reclamation, part personal journey, fully a page-turner. How did we not know about Marty Goddard?"—Peggy Orenstein author of Girls & Sex and Boys & Sex
In 1972, Martha "Marty" Goddard volunteered at a crisis hotline, counseling girls who had been molested by their fathers, their teachers, their uncles. Soon, Marty was on a mission to answer a question: Why were so many sexual predators getting away with these crimes? By the end of the decade, she had launched a campaign pushing hospitals and police departments to collect evidence of sexual assault and treat survivors with dignity. She designed a new kind of forensics tool—the rape kit—and new practices around evidence collection that spread across the country. Yet even as Marty fought for women's rights, she allowed a man to take credit for her work.
When journalist Pagan Kennedy went looking for this forgotten pioneer, she discovered that even Marty Goddard's closest friends had lost track of her. As Pagan followed a trail of clues to solve the mystery of Marty, she also delved into the problematic history of forensics in America. The Secret History of the Rape Kit chronicles one journalist's mission to understand a crucial innovation in forensics and the woman who championed it. As Pagan Kennedy hunts for answers, she reflects on her own experiences with sexual assault and her own desire for justice.
©2023 Pagan Kennedy (P)2023 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Saving Five
- A Memoir of Hope
- By: Amanda Nguyen
- Narrated by: Sura Siu
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brave and imaginative memoir by the Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amanda Nguyen, detailing her healing journey and groundbreaking activism in the aftermath of her rape at Harvard.
-
-
Beautifully written!
- By Amazon Customer on 03-05-25
By: Amanda Nguyen
-
Careless People
- A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
- By: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Narrated by: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.
-
-
Only a few hours in
- By Cody Konior on 03-24-25
-
Somewhere Toward Freedom
- By: Bennett Parten
- Narrated by: Jonathan Beville
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historian Bennett Parten provides a groundbreaking account of Sherman’s March to the Sea—the critical Civil War campaign that destroyed the Confederacy—told for the first time from the perspective of the tens of thousands of enslaved people who fled to the Union lines and transformed Sherman’s march into the biggest liberation event in American history.
-
-
Compelling history, well told!
- By Nina Lovel on 02-26-25
By: Bennett Parten
-
The Mother Next Door
- Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy
- By: Andrea Dunlop, Mike Weber
- Narrated by: Andrea Dunlop
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No bond is more sacred than the one between a mother and child. And no figure is more sympathetic than a mother whose child faces a life-threatening illness. But what if the mother is the reason for the illness? What if the sympathy is the point? With help from some of the top MBP experts in the world, Dunlop and Weber uncover the complex maze of psychological, systemic, and cultural issues that compound MBP and offer solutions for how we might find our way out.
-
-
Well researched and gripping.
- By R. on 04-16-25
By: Andrea Dunlop, and others
-
Cabin
- Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman
- By: Patrick Hutchison
- Narrated by: Patrick Hutchison
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wit’s End isn’t just a state of mind. It’s the name of a gravel road, the address of a rundown, off-the-grid cabin, 120 shabby square feet of fixer-upper Patrick Hutchison purchased on a whim in the mossy woods of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. To say Hutchison didn’t know what he was getting into is no more an exaggeration than to say he’s a man with nearly zero carpentry skills. Well, used to be. You can learn a lot over six years of renovations. CABIN is the story of those renovations, but it's also a love story; of a place, of possibilities, and of the process of construction.
-
-
Excellent read
- By Tom on 02-13-25
-
Fosse
- By: Sam Wasson
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 21 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The only person ever to win Oscar, Emmy, and Tony awards in the same year, Bob Fosse revolutionized nearly every facet of American entertainment. His signature style would influence generations of performing artists. Yet in spite of Fosse’s innumerable—including Cabaret, Pippin, All That Jazz, and Chicago, one of the longest-running Broadway musicals ever—his offstage life was shadowed by deep wounds and insatiable appetites.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Helen on 11-06-24
By: Sam Wasson
-
Saving Five
- A Memoir of Hope
- By: Amanda Nguyen
- Narrated by: Sura Siu
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brave and imaginative memoir by the Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amanda Nguyen, detailing her healing journey and groundbreaking activism in the aftermath of her rape at Harvard.
-
-
Beautifully written!
- By Amazon Customer on 03-05-25
By: Amanda Nguyen
-
Careless People
- A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
- By: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Narrated by: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.
-
-
Only a few hours in
- By Cody Konior on 03-24-25
-
Somewhere Toward Freedom
- By: Bennett Parten
- Narrated by: Jonathan Beville
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historian Bennett Parten provides a groundbreaking account of Sherman’s March to the Sea—the critical Civil War campaign that destroyed the Confederacy—told for the first time from the perspective of the tens of thousands of enslaved people who fled to the Union lines and transformed Sherman’s march into the biggest liberation event in American history.
-
-
Compelling history, well told!
- By Nina Lovel on 02-26-25
By: Bennett Parten
-
The Mother Next Door
- Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy
- By: Andrea Dunlop, Mike Weber
- Narrated by: Andrea Dunlop
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No bond is more sacred than the one between a mother and child. And no figure is more sympathetic than a mother whose child faces a life-threatening illness. But what if the mother is the reason for the illness? What if the sympathy is the point? With help from some of the top MBP experts in the world, Dunlop and Weber uncover the complex maze of psychological, systemic, and cultural issues that compound MBP and offer solutions for how we might find our way out.
-
-
Well researched and gripping.
- By R. on 04-16-25
By: Andrea Dunlop, and others
-
Cabin
- Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman
- By: Patrick Hutchison
- Narrated by: Patrick Hutchison
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wit’s End isn’t just a state of mind. It’s the name of a gravel road, the address of a rundown, off-the-grid cabin, 120 shabby square feet of fixer-upper Patrick Hutchison purchased on a whim in the mossy woods of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. To say Hutchison didn’t know what he was getting into is no more an exaggeration than to say he’s a man with nearly zero carpentry skills. Well, used to be. You can learn a lot over six years of renovations. CABIN is the story of those renovations, but it's also a love story; of a place, of possibilities, and of the process of construction.
-
-
Excellent read
- By Tom on 02-13-25
-
Fosse
- By: Sam Wasson
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 21 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The only person ever to win Oscar, Emmy, and Tony awards in the same year, Bob Fosse revolutionized nearly every facet of American entertainment. His signature style would influence generations of performing artists. Yet in spite of Fosse’s innumerable—including Cabaret, Pippin, All That Jazz, and Chicago, one of the longest-running Broadway musicals ever—his offstage life was shadowed by deep wounds and insatiable appetites.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Helen on 11-06-24
By: Sam Wasson
-
Aflame
- Learning from Silence
- By: Pico Iyer
- Narrated by: Pico Iyer
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pico Iyer has made more than one hundred retreats over the past three decades to a small Benedictine hermitage high above the sea in Big Sur, California. He’s not a Christian—or a member of any religious group—but his life has been transformed by these periods of time spent in silence. That silence reminds him of what is essential and awakens a joy that nothing can efface. It’s not just freedom from distraction and noise and rush: it’s a reminder of some deeper truths he misplaced along the way. In Aflame, Iyer connects with inner stillness and joy in his many seasons at the monastery.
-
-
The title is misleading. The book doesn't explore "silence" but only talks about being on tge periphery of monasteries.
- By Placeholder on 01-26-25
By: Pico Iyer
-
A Devil in the Valley
- By: Paul Holes, Peter McDonnell
- Narrated by: Jim Clemente, Paul Holes
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1994, an aspiring young cold-case investigator in California’s East Bay, Paul Holes, puts aside trying to solve the Golden State Killer case as he waits for science to catch up. Paul returns to an old file cabinet at the back of the forensic lab to look for another cold case he can work—something with DNA. He finds one. The 1978 murder of a married mother who went for a morning jog in a nearby park. The original investigators believed that a serial killer named Phillip Hughes was responsible; they just couldn’t prove it.
-
-
Excellent!!!
- By Nick on 08-05-21
By: Paul Holes, and others
-
Everything Is Tuberculosis
- The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
- By: John Green
- Narrated by: John Green
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, preventable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year. In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story.
-
-
An unsanitized glimpse into inequality
- By Amazon Customer on 03-23-25
By: John Green
-
Where Are Your Boys Tonight?
- The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008
- By: Chris Payne
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead, Chris Abell
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Music journalist Chris Payne experienced emo's mainstream takeover from sweaty crowds and mosh pits growing up in New Jersey. In Where Are Your Boys Tonight? he offers an authoritative, impassioned, and occasionally absurd account told through interviews with more than 150 people, from the scene's biggest bands, producers, and managers to the teenage fans who helped redefine American music culture.
-
-
I REALLY Wanted to Like This
- By Fuzz414 on 08-18-23
By: Chris Payne
-
I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying
- A Memoir
- By: Youngmi Mayer
- Narrated by: Youngmi Mayer
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying, Youngmi jokes through the retelling of her childhood as an offbeat biracial kid in Saipan, a place next to a place that Americans might know. She jokes through her difficult adolescence where she must parent her own parents: a mother who married her husband because he looked like white Jesus (and the singer of The Bee Gees). And with humor and irreverence and full-throated openness, she jokes even while sharing the story of what her family went through during the last century of colonialism and war in Korea.
-
-
Unexpected and fresh
- By Mandy on 04-10-25
By: Youngmi Mayer
-
Original Sins
- The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism
- By: Eve L. Ewing
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Eve L. Ewing
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why don’t our schools work? Eve L. Ewing tackles this question from a new angle: What if they’re actually doing what they were built to do? She argues that instead of being the great equalizer, America’s classrooms were designed to do the opposite: to maintain the nation’s inequalities. It’s a task at which they excel.
-
-
Required reading.
- By james aceino on 04-11-25
By: Eve L. Ewing
-
Connie
- A Memoir
- By: Connie Chung
- Narrated by: Connie Chung
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Connie Chung is a pioneer. In 1969 at the age of 23, this once-shy daughter of Chinese parents took her first job at a local TV station in her hometown of Washington, D.C. and soon thereafter began working at CBS news as a correspondent. Profoundly influenced by her family’s cultural traditions, yet growing up completely Americanized in the United States, Chung describes her career as an Asian woman in a white male-centered world.
-
-
Superb.
- By Sondra W. Walters on 02-02-25
By: Connie Chung
-
Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old
- Thoughts on Aging as a Woman
- By: Brooke Shields, Rachel Bertsche - contributor
- Narrated by: Brooke Shields
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brooke Shields has spent a lifetime in the public eye. Growing up as a child actor and model, her every feature was scrutinized, her every decision judged. Today Brooke faces a different kind of scrutiny: that of being a “woman of a certain age.” And yet, for Brooke, the passage of time has brought freedom. At fifty-nine, she feels more comfortable in her skin, more empowered and confident than she did decades ago in those famous Calvin Kleins. Now, in Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old, she’s changing the narrative about women and aging.
-
-
I was torn on this one
- By Catamaran on 01-18-25
By: Brooke Shields, and others
-
We Will Be Jaguars
- A Memoir of My People
- By: Mitch Anderson, Nemonte Nenquimo
- Narrated by: Christine Ann-Roche
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest, Nemonte Nenquimo had a singular upbringing. She was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. She played barefoot in the forest until she was a teenager and left to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. But after Nemonte’s ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture, she listened. Nemonte returned to the forest and traditional ways of life and became one of the most forceful voices in climate change activism.
-
-
A story that needed telling
- By just asking for some common sense on 01-17-25
By: Mitch Anderson, and others
-
Cleavage
- Men, Women, and the Space Between Us
- By: Jennifer Finney Boylan
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman, Jennifer Finney Boylan
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is the difference between men and women? Jennifer Finney Boylan, bestselling author of She’s Not There and co-author of Mad Honey with Jodi Picoult, examines the divisions—as well as the common ground—between the genders, and reflects on her own experiences, both difficult and joyful, as a transgender American.
-
-
Someday there may be no gender
- By stacey a shapiro on 03-26-25
-
How We Fight for Our Lives
- By: Saeed Jones
- Narrated by: Saeed Jones
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From award-winning poet Saeed Jones, How We Fight for Our Lives is a stunning coming-of-age memoir written at the crossroads of sex, race, and power. Blending poetry and prose, Jones has developed a style that is equal parts sensual, beautiful, and powerful - a voice that’s by turns a river, a blues, and a nightscape set ablaze. How We Fight for Our Lives is a one-of-a-kind memoir and an audiobook that cements Saeed Jones as an essential writer for our time.
-
-
This guy can write (and read)
- By Reader X on 11-12-19
By: Saeed Jones
-
The Book of Murder
- A Prosecutor's Journey Through Love and Death
- By: Matt Murphy
- Narrated by: Matt Murphy
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Examining murder from an insider’s perspective, Matt Murphy—a former senior deputy district attorney and current ABC News legal analyst—discusses cases from his career, how they strained his personal life, and how he found peace seeking justice for victims and their families. Part taxonomy of murder, part prosecutor’s handbook, and part personal memoir, The Book of Murder goes through a dozen cases and his recollections of his 26 years in the Orange County DA’s office (17 in the Homicide Unit).
-
-
Great book
- By Last Lemming on 10-04-24
By: Matt Murphy
Critic reviews
"Pagan Kennedy’s book is astonishing in every way that matters. The Secret History of the Rape Kit is the story of hidden genius and the centuries-long fight for women to simply be recognized and heard. Marty Goddard as a footnote in history takes her rightful place as a visionary thanks to Kennedy’s relentless investigation. This book is gripping, vulnerable, assured and way overdue.”—Rachel Louise Snyder, author of Women We Buried, Women We Burned and No Visible Bruises
“In The Secret History of the Rape Kit, Pagan Kennedy deftly weaves genres to create an absolutely compelling book that melds true crime, memoir, biography, social history and a personal, impassioned quest. I raced through it, gripped from start to finish.”—Kate Moore, New York Times bestselling author of The Radium Girls and The Woman They Could Not Silence
"The Secret History of the Rape Kit is stunning: part thriller, part feminist reclamation, part personal journey, fully a page-turner. How did we not know about Marty Goddard? How have we not recognized her crucial role in establishing rape as an actual crime? I finished this book angry and inspired, but mostly grateful to both Marty Goddard and Pagan Kennedy for their brave and brilliant work."—Peggy Orenstein author of Girls & Sex and Boys & Sex
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Mental Health & Murder
- Understanding the Darkness That Consumed My Sister
- By: Joe Hastings
- Narrated by: Patrick Shannon
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With those chilling words, the author’s world was shattered. What began as an unimaginable tragedy unraveled into a devastating story of mental illness, family bonds, and the fragile line between love and fear. In this gripping true crime memoir, the author takes listeners inside the courtroom where shocking revelations exposed the depth of his sister’s mental unraveling. Through raw and unflinching honesty, he reflects on the haunting events that led to that fateful day and the lasting impact on those left behind.
By: Joe Hastings
-
Man, 35, Charged in Double Slaying
- The Domino Effect of Addiction
- By: Shelly Meyer-Holland
- Narrated by: Shelly Meyer-Holland
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Meyer family of Beaver Dam Wisconsin were not your run of the mill group of kin folk. Being the daughter of the infamous Ruth and Russell Meyer back in the 60’s was a roller coaster of fun times and tragic events. As children, we had the best times with dad. Fishing, skating, him bringing home a monkey, wrestling a bear, and finding humor in everyday functions such as farting. I have fond memories of him. My dad was a hilarious and lovable character. But when he was drinking, he became extremely violent.
-
-
Author is so wise
- By feline friend on 02-25-25
-
Groomed
- By: Sonia Orchard
- Narrated by: Eva Seymour
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sonia Orchard was in her forties when she told a therapist about the boyfriend she had when she was fifteen. Sure, he had been a decade older than her, but it was consensual ... wasn't it? To her surprise, Sonia broke down in tears, then began to shake uncontrollably–an unmistakable expression of trauma that lasted for days. She was clearly not okay, but could the relationship she'd thought was love really have been abuse? Had she been groomed?
By: Sonia Orchard
-
Obsessed
- A Survivor's Quest to Find the Lost Boys of New England
- By: David McGrath
- Narrated by: Dean Michaels
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tranquil towns of New England during the 1970s, a sinister mystery unfolded when several boys vanished without a trace, and the community’s peace was shattered. One boy’s body was found years later, but what happened to the others remained a mystery. In 2013, author David McGrath, a former host on the Law Enforcement Today Network and an investigator with a relentless drive for justice, watched a documentary about the missing boys.
By: David McGrath
-
Wild Animal
- The Murder of Dylan Redwine - The Murder Trial of Mark Redwine
- By: Kimberli Roessing-Anderson
- Narrated by: Daniel Conley
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The murder of Dylan Redwine in 2012 captivated Colorado. The case transitioned from a missing persons case to a murder. Dylan's father was eventually arrested and tried for the killing. The trial of Mark Redwine garnered local and national attention. "Wild Animal" covers the story. The book contains interviews and the trial transcripts. This is an interesting listen for anyone interested in family law gone wrong. "Wild Animal" leaves the listener wondering how any father could murder his son.
-
-
Promote this reader
- By Brian J Colsant on 03-14-25
-
The Sinners All Bow
- Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a cold winter day in 1832, Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead in a quiet farmyard in a small New England town. When her troubled past and a secret correspondence with charismatic Methodist minister Reverend Ephraim Avery was uncovered, more questions emerged. Was Sarah’s death a suicide...or something much darker? Determined to uncover the real story, Victorian writer Catharine Read Arnold Williams threw herself into the investigation as the trial was unfolding and wrote what many claim to be the first American true-crime narrative, Fall River.
-
-
Another Great Book by This Author
- By Christine on 04-14-25
-
Mental Health & Murder
- Understanding the Darkness That Consumed My Sister
- By: Joe Hastings
- Narrated by: Patrick Shannon
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With those chilling words, the author’s world was shattered. What began as an unimaginable tragedy unraveled into a devastating story of mental illness, family bonds, and the fragile line between love and fear. In this gripping true crime memoir, the author takes listeners inside the courtroom where shocking revelations exposed the depth of his sister’s mental unraveling. Through raw and unflinching honesty, he reflects on the haunting events that led to that fateful day and the lasting impact on those left behind.
By: Joe Hastings
-
Man, 35, Charged in Double Slaying
- The Domino Effect of Addiction
- By: Shelly Meyer-Holland
- Narrated by: Shelly Meyer-Holland
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Meyer family of Beaver Dam Wisconsin were not your run of the mill group of kin folk. Being the daughter of the infamous Ruth and Russell Meyer back in the 60’s was a roller coaster of fun times and tragic events. As children, we had the best times with dad. Fishing, skating, him bringing home a monkey, wrestling a bear, and finding humor in everyday functions such as farting. I have fond memories of him. My dad was a hilarious and lovable character. But when he was drinking, he became extremely violent.
-
-
Author is so wise
- By feline friend on 02-25-25
-
Groomed
- By: Sonia Orchard
- Narrated by: Eva Seymour
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sonia Orchard was in her forties when she told a therapist about the boyfriend she had when she was fifteen. Sure, he had been a decade older than her, but it was consensual ... wasn't it? To her surprise, Sonia broke down in tears, then began to shake uncontrollably–an unmistakable expression of trauma that lasted for days. She was clearly not okay, but could the relationship she'd thought was love really have been abuse? Had she been groomed?
By: Sonia Orchard
-
Obsessed
- A Survivor's Quest to Find the Lost Boys of New England
- By: David McGrath
- Narrated by: Dean Michaels
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tranquil towns of New England during the 1970s, a sinister mystery unfolded when several boys vanished without a trace, and the community’s peace was shattered. One boy’s body was found years later, but what happened to the others remained a mystery. In 2013, author David McGrath, a former host on the Law Enforcement Today Network and an investigator with a relentless drive for justice, watched a documentary about the missing boys.
By: David McGrath
-
Wild Animal
- The Murder of Dylan Redwine - The Murder Trial of Mark Redwine
- By: Kimberli Roessing-Anderson
- Narrated by: Daniel Conley
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The murder of Dylan Redwine in 2012 captivated Colorado. The case transitioned from a missing persons case to a murder. Dylan's father was eventually arrested and tried for the killing. The trial of Mark Redwine garnered local and national attention. "Wild Animal" covers the story. The book contains interviews and the trial transcripts. This is an interesting listen for anyone interested in family law gone wrong. "Wild Animal" leaves the listener wondering how any father could murder his son.
-
-
Promote this reader
- By Brian J Colsant on 03-14-25
-
The Sinners All Bow
- Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a cold winter day in 1832, Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead in a quiet farmyard in a small New England town. When her troubled past and a secret correspondence with charismatic Methodist minister Reverend Ephraim Avery was uncovered, more questions emerged. Was Sarah’s death a suicide...or something much darker? Determined to uncover the real story, Victorian writer Catharine Read Arnold Williams threw herself into the investigation as the trial was unfolding and wrote what many claim to be the first American true-crime narrative, Fall River.
-
-
Another Great Book by This Author
- By Christine on 04-14-25
-
Blood and the Badge
- The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation
- By: Michael Cannell
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No episode in NYPD history surpasses the depravities of Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, two decorated detectives who covertly acted as mafia informants and paid assassins in the Scorsese world of 1980s Brooklyn. For more than ten years, Eppolito and Caracappa moonlighted as the mob's early warning alert system, leaking names of mobsters secretly cooperating with the government and crippling investigations by sharing details of surveillance, phone taps, and impending arrests. The Lucchese boss called the two detectives his crystal ball: Whatever detectives knew, the mafia soon learned.
-
-
amazing stories
- By robert l. on 04-02-25
By: Michael Cannell
-
You Have Unleashed a Storm
- New York City's Descent into Chaos During America's Most Explosive Era of Radical Violence
- By: David Viola
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York City in the 1960s was the beating heart of the United States, a global metropolis thriving on its abundance and diversity. But in a short time, "Gotham" went through an extraordinary transition. The postwar golden years gave way to a frantic era of social, political, racial, and economic turmoil. Groups with their own distinct ideological aims gained a presence in the city. And with this frenzied new era came a new wave of violence.
By: David Viola
-
Sleeping With The Devil
- A Shocking True Crime Story of the Most Hated Woman in Britain
- By: Rod Kackley
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
She slept with the devil. She killed with the devil. She never stopped loving the devil. July 1963: All of England is rocking to the music of Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, and Elvis. It’s also the month when Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, two of England’s most prolific serial killers, would claim their first victim. He was a child they buried in the muddy, swampy moors near Manchester. Sleeping With The Devil: A Shocking True Crime Story of the Most Hated Woman in Britain is the tale of two bloody years in the 1960s. It was a time when British parents hugged their children a little tighter to ...
-
-
Disturbing!!
- By Amanda on 03-28-25
By: Rod Kackley
-
Inventology
- How We Dream Up Things That Change the World
- By: Pagan Kennedy
- Narrated by: Randye Kaye
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A father cleans up after his toddler and imagines a cup that won't spill. An engineer watches people using walkie-talkies and has an idea. A doctor figures out how to deliver patients to the operating room before they die. By studying inventions like these - the sippy cup, the cell phone, and an ingenious hospital bed - we can learn how people imagine their way around "impossible" problems to discover groundbreaking answers.
-
-
Barticle
- By Andrew Clark on 03-14-17
By: Pagan Kennedy
-
Save Our Souls
- The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder
- By: Matthew Pearl
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On December 10, 1887, a shark fishing boat disappeared. On board the doomed vessel were the Walkers—the ship’s captain Frederick, his wife Elizabeth, their three teenage sons, and their dog—along with the ship’s crew. The family had spotted a promising fishing location when a terrible storm arose, splitting their vessel in two and leaving those onboard adrift on the perilous sea. When the castaways awoke the next morning, they discovered they had been washed ashore—on an island inhabited by a large but ragged and emaciated man who introduced himself as Hans.
-
-
Awful
- By aleris on 02-11-25
By: Matthew Pearl
-
The Long Road to Justice
- Unraveling Alex Murdaugh's Tangled Web
- By: Amie Williams, Shana Hirsch
- Narrated by: Kassidy O'Connell
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Long Road to Justice: Unraveling Alex Murdaugh's Tangled Web, juror 864, Amie Williams offers a first-hand account of her experiences in the jury box, chronicling the many revelations contained in one of the most sensational criminal cases in South Carolina. Analyzing the trial's most compelling moments including key evidence and witness testimony, Williams offers listeners a better understanding of not only the trial itself but also the sacrifices that come with serving on a jury on a high-profile case.
-
-
i enjoy anything Murdaugh Murders
- By Douglas McDaniel on 04-01-25
By: Amie Williams, and others
-
You'll Never Believe Me
- A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I Should Only Tell My Therapist
- By: Kari Ferrell
- Narrated by: Kari Ferrell
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before Anna Delvey, before the Tinder Swindler, there was Kari Ferrell. Adopted at a young age by a Mormon family in Utah, Kari struggled with questions of self-worth and identity as one of the few Asian Americans in her insulated community, leading her to run with the “bad crowd” in an effort to fit in. Soon, stealing from superstores turned into picking up men (and picking their pockets), and before she knew it, Kari had graduated from petty theft to Utah’s most wanted list. Though Kari was able to escape the Southwest, she couldn’t outrun her new moniker: the Hipster Grifter.
-
-
Very interested and perfect the way she didn’t do too long in one area
- By Amazon Customer on 03-31-25
By: Kari Ferrell
-
Killer Story
- The Truth Behind True Crime Television
- By: Claire St. Amant
- Narrated by: Claire St. Amant
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Follow a journalist and TV producer from 48 Hours and 60 Minutes as she carves out a career in the ruthless, knives-out world of true crime television . . . one killer story at a time.
-
-
I hope it’s not her only book
- By Rebulon on 02-19-25
By: Claire St. Amant
-
Cardiac Cowboys
- The Heroic Invention of Heart Surgery
- By: Gerald Imber MD
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A decade after World War II, there was still no such thing as open-heart surgery, and yet half a million Americans were dying from heart disease every year. After the first daring operation in 1954 and through the next three decades, five heroic surgeons braved the scorn of their peers, withstood fierce desperation, and faced possible death in order to devise procedures that would save overwhelming numbers of those doomed children and provide hope for a new life to all manner of heart-failing individuals.
By: Gerald Imber MD
-
The Killing Fields of East New York
- The First Subprime Mortgage Scandal, a White-Collar Crime Spree, and the Collapse of an American Neighborhood
- By: Stacy Horn
- Narrated by: EJ Lavery
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a warm summer evening in 1991, seventeen-year-old Julia Parker was murdered in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. An area known for an exorbitant level of violence and crime, East New York had come to be known as the Killing Fields. In the six months after Julia Parker’s death, 62 more people were murdered in the same area. In the early 1990s, murder rates in the neighborhood climbed to the highest in NYPD history. East New York was dying. But how did this once thriving, diverse, family neighborhood fall into such ruin?
-
-
Clear description of a muddy subject
- By Amy D. on 02-24-25
By: Stacy Horn
-
Angel of Death
- Uncover The Darkness of Nightmare Nurse, Jane Toppan
- By: Ryan Green
- Narrated by: Steve White
- Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1895, elderly patients were quietly dying one by one, yet no one sounded the alarm – until an entirely family passed away. All had been in the care of nurse Jane Toppan and suspicions hit the roof. Dilated pupils, feverish bodies, and erratic rambling left doctors baffled, but these weren’t the signs of illness. They were the marks of something far more sinister. Toppan manipulated her patients' dosages, watching them drift between life and death. For her, each fatal dose was not a crime, but a twisted act of mercy—a dark salvation from suffering.
-
-
Medicine and murder...
- By txdoc on 01-13-25
By: Ryan Green
-
Hidden Histories with Nova Reid
- By: Nova Reid
- Narrated by: Nova Reid
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nova Reid, author of The Good Ally, delves into the untold stories of extraordinary, unsung Black women who created and shaped pivotal moments in world history, British culture and society. Through powerful storytelling, personal insights and new research, Nova delves into the lives of pioneers, journalists and rule-breakers who made vital contributions to civil rights, yet have been mythologised, are unknown or erased from history.
-
-
An Informative and Personal Series
- By jennifer siomacco on 04-17-25
By: Nova Reid
What listeners say about The Secret History of the Rape Kit
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- User
- 03-15-25
A Crucial Book
Few could write a book as difficult with the elan of Kennedy. Please read this incredible work.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Star1020
- 04-05-25
Love hidden history
This book is amazing, history that is hidden and stuff that still happens with women in society
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Steve K.
- 01-22-25
The Hidden Story of the Rape Kit and It’s Creator is Finally Told
I really liked this book for many reasons. The story of Marty Goddard was compelling and dramatic. The author successfully shows how Marty created the rape kit and despite unimaginable hurdles succeeded in getting law enforcement to adopt it.
Pagan Kennedy also tells a broader and complex story of how violence against women had received little attention even up to today.
And finally, the narrator, Claire Danes, does a impressive job telling this wonderfully researched story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alysia Abbott
- 01-17-25
What an incredible story
This is a brilliant book (insightful, suspenseful, eye-opening) and Clare Danes was a marvelous reader.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M. Ganapol
- 01-20-25
Long Overdue …
… to have this story told. Well done. So sad that Marty’s later years appear to have been scarred by alcoholism.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Xavier M
- 02-04-25
Sad truth and it’s needs attention
I was shocked to learn about the history and more importantly the pain that not just Marty and others in this recount have suffered but how a system ignores sexual battery, rape and violence against women. And understanding it’s systematic is what makes it more heartbreaking. A must read!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JustAnotherOpinion
- 03-01-25
Remarkable history
This was a fascinating story about the creation of the rape kit, including the history it was steeped in, and the driven, complicated woman who made it happen. Fascinating, heartbreaking, inspiring, eye-opening, maddening, important story. The narrator was perfect in that she kept it serious but not lifeless. Highly recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ottilie44
- 02-10-25
Fascinating
This narrative is factual and done with grear respect. I will read again, i hope you enjoy it as much as i did the first time thru. Bottom line > it all depends because we are unique and individual
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gregory J. Baldwin
- 01-19-25
A forgotten woman who changed the world
The story of Marty Goddard, a Chicago activist who conceived of and brought into wide spread use the sexual assistant evidence kit, changing the long history of sexual assault and rape. Ms Kennedy is a compelling story teller, sharing her own private history of abuse and painting a compelling case for how the development of forensic evidence put a major sent in an ongoing history of rape and sexual assault. A book about the development forensic evidence kits, is also a forensic uncovering of a remarkable woman, Marty Goddard,
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lissa
- 02-10-25
So interesting!
Loved this book. What a great history and presented in such a thoughtful manner for readers.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!