Serial Sleuths

• Author: Jason Tashea
• Pages: 16-17

dThe Docket

EDITED BY KEVIN DAVIS / KEVIN.DAVIS@AMERICANBAR.ORG

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SARA WADFORD/SHUTTERSTOCK

16 || ABA JOURNAL JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019

Serial Sleuths

Amid legal concerns, California police release true-crime

podcast in hopes the public can help fi nd a fugitive

By Jason Tashea

California million-

aire Peter Chadw ick—

free on $1.5 million

bail while awaiting

trial for the murder of

his wife—failed to show up for a cour t

hearing in January 2015.

Police learned his phone had

been turned o . They discovered

Chadwick wit hdrew millions from his

bank accounts a nd maxed out cash

advances on his cred it cards. Inside

his $2.5 million home, Newpor t

Beach police found books about how

to change identities and live o the

grid. Chadw ick’s whereabouts remain

unknown .

With no new leads in the ca se in

years, the Newpor t Beach Police

Department tried somet hing new—

producing a podcast in hopes of

engaging the public in its search for

one of the country’s most-wanted

fugitives .

Over two weeks in Sept ember 2018,

the department posted Countdown

to Capture, a podca st in six 15-min-

ute episodes. The novel approach

details the murder allega tions against

Chadwic k.

In announcing the podcas t’s

release, Newpor t Beach Police Chief

Jon Lewis said that Cha dwick had the

fi nancial means to fl ee from authori-

ties and hide. He wanted Chadw ick’s

photo spread a round the globe.

“We want everyone to be looking

for Peter Chadwick,” he said at the

time.

While riding the popula rity of other

true-cri me podcasts such as Serial,

which covered the murder convic-

tion of Adnan Syed and led to a po st-

conviction appeal in Ma ryland, it’s

a novel medium for a police depart-

ment. Because it’s unchart ered ter-

ritory, some experts bel ieve the

approach could create legal is sues for

National

Pulse