Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

True crime meets forensic science: New podcast investigates some of the oldest cold cases in North Carolina

24/06/2022

Episodes one and two of CBC's new What Remains Podcast came out on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. One new episode will drop each week after this. The series shares the story of the people behind cold cases who are passionate about connecting unidentified remains to the missing and murdered:

By Amanda Lamb, WRAL reporter

If you grew up in the 1980s, you probably remember the missing children's photos on milk cartons. For most of us, that was our first introduction to the world of missing people. The idea was started by a nonprofit called the National Child Safety Council, and by the mid-eighties, hundreds of dairies were taking part in the Missing Children Milk Carton Program. I remember seeing those sad photos and thinking, Why can't they find her?

Of course, back then, no one could have imagined a world where everything would eventually be shared on a computer, or even a phone, through the magic of the internet. Today, this is where you can find information about missing children and adults, on hundreds of websites. And while there is still a lot of attention paid to the cases of people who are missing, there's another side to this crisis; there are thousands of cases of unidentified remains in our country that no one seems to be able to match with the cases of missing and murdered people.

The bones in the boxes There are human bones in boxes at every state medical examiner's office in the country - just sitting there, forgotten, dusty, the epitome of what we think of as cold cases. So, we started thinking about what it would take to identify all these remains. That's what this podcast is about - what those bones represent - to the families, to the investigators, to the forensic scientists, and what they intend to do about them.

Frankly, it seems hard to believe in this day and age that we don't have some kind of formal scientific process that can help us simply match a dead person with a missing person. But there's a lot more to it than you might imagine. It's not that people don't care, it's just that in a world where violent crime happens every single day, identifying decades' old remains just isn't a priority. It takes a lot of perseverance to see these cases through, and most of all, it takes time and money.

The team committed to solving the oldest cold cases What I learned from interviewing people, researching and writing this podcast, is that despite all this, there is this niche group of people who are working to make it happen. They employ science, the latest technology and forensic genealogy. It can be a long and tedious process, but they are patient, so patient. Their motives are often twofold - they care deeply about helping families come to some kind of resolution, and they hope there's a chance they can find justice for the murder victims. It doesn't always work out that way, but in the end, most families just want to know what happened to their loved ones after years of not knowing.

True crime meets forensic science I have covered crime as a local television reporter for three decades. I thought I knew everything there was to know about investigating murder cases.

Boy, was I wrong.

Covering this topic took me down so many fascinating rabbit holes that I will never forget, and I'm pretty sure you won't either. From the anthropologist who has a wall full of potential murder weapons in her lab and metal tables full of unidentified skeletons, to family members and detectives who will go to any lengths to learn the stories behind the discarded bones, to the scientists who study decomposition on a body farm, What Remains is a journey into a world most of us can't imagine, don't want to imagine, but is an unfortunate reality for thousands of families.

Follow What Remains in your podcast player so you don't miss an episode.

Thanks to WRAL-TV's Amanda Lamb & WRAL.com for this Capcom story, graphic & video.
LINK: https://capitolbroadcasting.com/2022/06/24/true-crime-meets-forensic-s...
See more stories from cbc

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

09/10/2026

Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026

September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026 New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

23/09/2026

Study: Renewals for Streaming Shows Continue to Decline

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/09/2026

Study: More Than 4 in 10 U.S. Adults Own or Are Interested in Smart Glasses

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/09/2026

Television Critics Association Revises Bylaws to Address AI

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/09/2026

eX Celebrates Completion of Holland Mich. FTTP Network

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/09/2026

Gray Media Renews Ohio Valley Conference Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

23/09/2026

QuickLink StudioPro Powers Next Generation Student Media...

Westminster Schools, a K through 12 school in Atlanta, Georgia with approximately 2,000 students, has transformed its student broadcast and digital storytelling...

23/09/2026

UK Pavilion Brings Leading British Technology to CABSAT a...

The 2026 edition of CABSAT and SATExpo may have a new home and dates in the diary, but it still retains a strong presence from UK companies in the GREAT Britain...

23/09/2026

Glensound marks 60 years with new audio developments at C...

Glensound will return to CABSAT with new developments in professional monitoring and Dante interfacing, alongside its established commentary, esports and parlia...

22/09/2026

Young Journalist Award 2026: Meet the Final 12

From Malaysia to Mexico and from DR Congo to Ukraine, this year's 12 finalists for the 2026 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year award tell extra...

22/09/2026

ESPN, Precision Lasers Light Up NHL Player Media Tour in Las Vegas

The annual preseason content-gathering event brought 36 NHL players to Las Vegas, where ESPN used 2.5 kilowatts of laser power and a motion-control camera syste...

22/09/2026

Neumann Introduces KK 104 A and KK 105 A Wireless Capsule Heads

Neumann has introduced the KK 104 A (cardioid) and KK 105 A (supercardioid) wireless capsule heads, succeeding the KK 204 and KK 205. The new capsules are compa...

22/09/2026

NFL and TMRW Sports Announce Pro Flag Showcase During Super Bowl LXI Week

The NFL and TMRW Sports have announced a new annual Pro Flag Showcase to be held during Super Bowl LXI week in Los Angeles. The event will feature top flag foot...

22/09/2026

Washington State University Unveils New Daktronics Video Board and Audio System at Gesa Field

Washington State University has unveiled a new end zone video display and audio ...

22/09/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Disney's Dave Johnson on ESPN's New 4K HDR Distribution Pipeline and What It Means for Super Bowl LXI and Beyond

Disney's SVP of Live Operations and Engineering details the technology behin...

22/09/2026

Cosm Promotes Mazen Alawar to SVP of Marketing, Alexis Scalice to VP of Cosm Studios

Cosm has announced two senior promotions. Mazen Alawar has been promoted to SVP,...

22/09/2026

Mississippi State University Extends Camera Relationship with KOKUSAI DENKI

Mississippi State University's University Television Center has purchased four KOKUSAI DENKI SK-UHD7000-S2 cameras since 2024, with plans to add two more, a...

22/09/2026

Net Insight Appoints Christine Kjellvard as Interim CFO

Net Insight has announced that Christine Kjellvard will assume the role of interim Chief Financial Officer on November 1, 2026. Kjellvard has previously held in...

22/09/2026

Net Insight Launches Zyntai TimeNode Access PTP Grandmaster for Edge Sites

Net Insight has announced Zyntai TimeNode Access, a compact PTP Grandmaster designed for distributed edge sites. The product carries secure, precise time across...

22/09/2026

The Weight Explores the High Cost of Freedom in the Depression Era

Sam Hazeldine, Austin Amelio, Padraic McKinley, Julia Jones, and Ethan Hawke attend the premiere of The Weight at The Ray Theatre on January 26, 2026, in Park...

22/09/2026

Avalanche Tones introduce Noise Suite

Second high-gain tone plug-in released Following on from their debut release, Chainsaw Suite, Avalanche Tones have announced the launch of their second plug...

22/09/2026

LW6 wireless headphones from Lewitt Audio

Uncompressed audio with below 6ms of latency Lewitt's have just introduced their first pair of headphones which, despite being aimed primarily at studio...

22/09/2026

Neumann launch the KK 104 A & KK 105 A

Two new capsule heads for Sennheiser wireless systems Neumann have announced the upcoming launch of the KK 104 A and KK 105 A, a pair of new premium condens...

22/09/2026

Apogee Plugins Are Moving to Plugin Alliance

Apogee Plugins Are Moving to Plugin Alliance We're excited to share an important update about the future of Apogee plugins. Apogee plugins are moving to Pl...

22/09/2026

SipRadius honored with a Technology And Engineering Emmy...

Parkland, Florida, US, September 22, 2026: SipRadius, widely recognized for making content processing and connectivity secure and seamless, has been honored wit...

22/09/2026

VanityFilter 3.1.5 adds project files and adjustable protection around lips, brows and ears

VanityFilter 3.1.5 adds project files and adjustable protection around lips, bro...

22/09/2026

Chile's TV+ Modernizes Broadcast Operations with Blackmagic Design

Chile's TV Modernizes Broadcast Operations with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton September 22, 2026 0 Comments URSA Broadcast G2 brings versatility...

22/09/2026

OWC Shares Sneak Peek at Amazon Prime Big Deal Days Pricing

OWC Shares Sneak Peek at Amazon Prime Big Deal Days Pricing Brie Clayton September 22, 2026 0 Comments Image courtesy of Deposit Photos Business and ...

22/09/2026

Berklee's First Homecoming Block Party Brings Alumni Home for Global Music Festival

Berklee's First Homecoming Block Party Brings Alumni Home for Global Music F...

22/09/2026

New TVU Pocket Offers Broadcast Features In Phone-Sized Unit

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Operative Launches Unified Platform for Advertising and Broadcast Management

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Element Launches New TiVo-Powered Smart TVs in the U.S.

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

NOAA Taps Tomorrow.io for Improved U.S. Weather Forecasts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Gray Media Promotes Tim Maloney to GM and Director of Sales at WBKO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Reports: Paramount Reaches Settlement with State AGs in Antitrust Suit

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

New Research Lays Out Streaming Services Best Defense Against Churn

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Sinclair Expands The National News Desk

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Paramount Settles Antitrust Lawsuit over WBD Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

U.S. Broadband Industry Investment Hits $92.6 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

At AI Day Singapore, NVIDIA and Partners Showcase AI Advancements Across Southeast Asia

NVIDIA AI Day Singapore, which takes place Sept. 22-23 at the Raffles City Conve...

22/09/2026

Sky commissions Tupac murder trial documentary from Passion Pictures & Propagate Content

From Academy Award-winning Passion Pictures and BAFTA-winning director Marian Mo...

22/09/2026

Wi-Fi, phones and power lines: understanding EMF exposure

Whether it be from the sun or from our phones and other devices, we are all exposed to electromagnetic radiation in some shape or form. With the dramatic growth...

22/09/2026

Comscore's latest AI Intelligence Report Shows Competition Intensifying as Claude and Gemini Gain Ground on ChatGPT

Comscore's latest AI Intelligence Report Shows Competition Intensifying as C...

22/09/2026

The Factory-X Project Sets Standards for Data Sovereignty in Industry

The Factory-X Project Sets Standards for Data Sovereignty in Industry Arvato Systems Brings Digital Sovereignty to Industrial Practice Factory-X Successfully...

22/09/2026

Apple opens Apple Music Hall, a\u00A0state-of-the-art live music venue in London - PRESS RELEASE - Posted on 21 September 2026

LONDON Apple today announced the opening of Apple Music Hall, a brand-new state-...

22/09/2026

Young creativity across the island of Ireland takes centre stage as sixth RT This is Art! competition launches

RT , Creative Ireland and Shared Island Initiative ask young artists to respon...

22/09/2026

NVIDIA Isaac ROS 5.0 Advances Agentic, Open Source Robotics Development

To build and deploy sophisticated robotics applications that can perceive, reason and act in dynamic environments, developers need new physical AI models and to...