NEW YORK (NYTIMES) – Late in January, Ms Ashley Flowers, 33, producer of greater than a dozen true crime podcasts, was racing between her dwelling and her workplace in Indianapolis, getting ready for the arrival of two infants.
The primary, her daughter Josie, was born on Jan 28. The second, due this week, is a brand new podcast she is internet hosting known as The Deck.
Like her hit present Crime Junkie, The Deck delves into true tales about murders and lacking individuals. However for the brand new present, quite than drawing on crime tales within the information and strategies from listeners, Ms Flowers and her crew have sought out instances represented in playing cards that regulation enforcement companies print with the images of victims, then distribute in prisons within the hopes of turning up new leads.
“These playing cards are sort of an company’s final Hail Mary move in making an attempt to get very chilly instances solved,” Ms Flowers mentioned final week in a digital manufacturing assembly she carried out from her workplace at Audiochuck, the true crime media firm she runs.
She is aware of that it is very important give her listeners the sense that their communities are represented in her reveals. That’s the reason she challenged Ms Emily Mieure, the lead reporter for The Deck, to discover a deck from each state within the nation.
When Ms Flowers and her finest buddy from childhood, Ms Brit Prawat, began Crime Junkie in 2017, the true crime style was already a crowded one.
However the hosts minimize the chit-chat that could be a hallmark of different common podcasts in its class, similar to My Favourite Homicide. A spokesman for Apple mentioned Crime Junkie is commonly the highest podcast throughout all classes.
Ms Flowers and Ms Prawat reside in Indiana, exterior the key podcasting hubs of New York and Los Angeles.
“One of many issues I really like about podcasts is that anyone with no identify from Indiana might come into this area and make a reputation,” Ms Flowers mentioned.
She grew up studying Nancy Drew novels and watching Matlock, however she didn’t plan on devoting her life to unsolved mysteries or pursuing a profession in media. She labored her means by school and started a job search after commencement by Googling firms which have dog-friendly workplaces.
Whereas she was working in enterprise growth at a software program start-up in 2017, Ms Prawat beneficial her the primary season of Serial, which investigated a 15-year-old homicide case.
That sequence impressed her to make a podcast with Ms Prawat, in regards to the type of particular person “who turns into fascinated with a case” to the purpose of obsession.
She determined the primary episode can be a couple of native Indiana girl who had gone lacking and created Audiochuck (named for her beloved mutt, Chuck).
After a yr, the present had a loyal, rising viewers. So she give up her day job and started to construct her firm’s portfolio, which now contains Anatomy Of Homicide, CounterClock, Park Predators and O.C. Swingers, which Apple mentioned was one among its platform’s hottest new reveals of 2021.
In Indianapolis, the place Audiochuck employs a employees of 18, the corporate has prevented the exorbitant working prices. “I need to create an area within the Midwest that inventive individuals can come to and have a job at top-of-the-line podcasting firms within the nation,” Ms Flowers mentioned.