Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps

By: M. William Phelps
  • Summary

  • Crossing the Line is a true crime podcast revealing cases of the missing and murdered, told start-to-finish each week. Using the campfire storytelling style that made Paper Ghosts a #1 hit on the charts, host M. William Phelps connects deeply with families touched by violent crime - he understands them, because he is one of them. Having gone through the murder of his own pregnant sister-in-law, Phelps brings not only his personal experience, but also 20-plus years of investigative journalism into the worlds of these stories. Follow and subscribe to Crossing the Line for a weekly dose of murder, mayhem and madness. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    2023 M. William Phelps
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Episodes
  • Ted Bundy & the Cigarette Butt: The Rita Curran Cold Case
    Apr 23 2025

    A local schoolteacher is found murdered by her bed, inside the Burlington, Vermont, apartment she shares with three others. Investigators are stumped—for over five decades. Then a cigarette butts leads to a break and an infamous serial killer, Ted Bundy—as a resolution seems possible.

    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.

    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.

    **For mental health assistance or to get help, please visit the National Alliance on Mental Health NAMI website or call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), text "HelpLine" to 62640, or email helpline@nami.org**

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    36 mins
  • Held Captive: Tanya Kach/Nikki Allen, and Thomas Hose
    Apr 21 2025

    A child runs away from home and into the arms of a sociopath--a real scumbag. Her ordeal is shaped by a culture of judging and blaming victims. A case that defines a journey of loss, abuse, and hope, but also how victim-shaming in true crime has not changed in 20 years.

    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.

    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 to me. A lot of them grab hold of me emotionally—especially the victims stories and the ordeal their families go through. My empathetic nature is to want to cover them all. Yet a good number of the cases, for myriad reasons, don’t fit into the model for a more complete CTL episode. So I wanted to create a sub platform to showcase some those stories, as well.

    That said, thank you for supporting Crossing the Line, which has allowed me to produce this expansion of the brand … Once or twice per month, maybe more, I’ll present a 15-to-20-minute episode, covering murder and missing person cases, and other interesting crimes I think you’ll want to hear about—but maybe more importantly, cases that give us a deeper understanding of the crimes and the people who commit them.

    Visit www.crossingtheline.biz to contact investigative journalist and host M. William Phelps, get more information about the show, updates to cases, and more.

    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.

    **For mental health assistance or to get help, please visit the National Alliance on Mental Health NAMI website or call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), text "HelpLine" to 62640, or email helpline@nami.org**

    Show more Show less
    21 mins
  • The Education of a Serial Killer: Charles Davis and Roseann Sturtz
    Apr 16 2025

    A Baltimore woman fails to show up for work. Her family is concerned and reports her missing. Meanwhile, a slew of other women in the same county are found dead, one after the other. A police officer’s son living in Reno, Nevada, is brought in and asked questions about a stolen credit card. Fifty years later, the answers everyone has been waiting for finally come.

    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.

    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.

    **For mental health assistance or to get help, please visit the National Alliance on Mental Health NAMI website or call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), text "HelpLine" to 62640, or email helpline@nami.org**

    Show more Show less
    30 mins
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What listeners say about Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps

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Would Love More Content

Love the show. Wish you posted more than once a week. I've caught up on everything I can find, really great stuff.

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BINGE-WORTHY!!!

Phelps “KILLS” it in a way only a talented crime writer can. I was so excited to stumble onto this podcast. They get right down to it, lots of pertinent info, masterful story-telling…. Exactly what you’d expect from this writer. Love it!

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Very well done

I always enjoy what William Phelps puts together. Glad he has a weekly podcast now.

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Solid investigative reporting

I appreciate that M. William Phelps deli vers an interesting, well researched story every time. I want to hear the facts not just have popular opinion reiterated. I also want a podcast that is easy to listen to. I get annoyed with constant laughing and giggling and I get bored with monotone lecture type delivery. I can't wait for each new episode from any of Mr. Phelps podcasts. I've recommended his podcasts many times and the feedback is always great.

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A Perfect Podcast

Love this series. Phelps dug deep into the case of Karen Read, who murdered John O'Keefe, and the crazy people supporting a murderer and trying to subvert justice.

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Welcome back!!!

So excited CTL is back. This is one podcast I really enjoy and trust. It’s not sensational and is respectful of the victims.

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True investigative journalism

I have not heard investigative journalism as real as this podcast. The facts of tragic cases are presented while keeping the victims and their families at the heart of each episode.

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Phelps is great.

I listen to a lot of true crime and two low key authors I love are M. William Phelps and James Renner.

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Everything you ever wanted to know about

True Crime. Phelps tells all with no holds barred. I like that he never sugar coats subject matter.

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keep up the great work!!

please do more reporting we need more true crime stories. can't wait for more. keep up the great work!!

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