Fascinating story, but could have been done in less episodes with less repetition.

Se😴e

Cannot subscribe to any platform that supports traitors.

I loved this podcast. I love the whole premise of a school winning a scholarship to help prepare the students for todays world so they choose true crime. Brilliant! So yes, they needed a whole episode to explain who awarded the scholarship. I feel the students and Alex did an exceptional job by conquering the objectives they set forth in each phase. How dare anyone criticize the victim for talking in a way they feel didn’t fit with their idea of a perfect podcast. People need to step back and allow others to be real. Also I read some reviews slamming the students, again BACK OFF! They did fantastic jobs, how dare anyone criticize them, they did more to impact others in a positive way than the people writing the bad reviews about them and they are only in high school. So check yourself before you want to start criticizing others.

Jumping on this podcast feed a little late after Karen and Georgia mentioned it in MFM awhile ago - but oh man is it worth every second. The podcast is so well made and it makes me so excited to hear about the great work all the high schoolers did honoring the victims and trying to bring them justice. Thanks to everyone involved in this work!

Started off strong but Alex just likes to hear himself talk I think. And the interview with the survivor was hard to listen to. There should have been a trauma expert on hand. She sounded like she was reliving it all and was so scared the whole time. Very irresponsible just to get some ratings. Also I agree very repetitive. Could have been 4 episodes and done.

The story is fascinating but the execution of this show is really echhhhhh. All these spontaneous discussing the girls are so scripted. Do teenagers all talk like adults on documentaries?? He really loves the dog who catches the car line. Its interesting but I struggled to get half way thru. It’s an interesting story just not told that way. Where’s more of the investigation than the girls telling us how all impacted them??

Absolutely love the interview with his daughter, Tom and the Heartbreakers are the best, when they discuss losing Tom I still tear up a bit

I love this so much, the teacher, the principal, to have this idea and make this happen - absolutely amazing…. These students are amazing, and this podcast is very intriguing - binge worthy for sure

This podcast is great. The true crime aspects are interesting but the insight into the teacher and teenagers that invested so much of themselves into the investigation was fascinating.

Started strong and interesting. It was just extremely repetitive. At one point in episode 10, they mention that his brother might be involved, and instead of discussing that, that do a full episode about some education institute no one cares about. The episodes with the victim were impossible to listen to. Like…maybe prep her so she doesn’t sound manic and incomprehensible? But I do know Jared Effler and Brandon Elkins personally, and the portrayals of them were spot on. Great job on that.

This entire season could have been reduced to 4 episodes total. Every single episode wastes a ton of time recounting information that had already been covered numerous times. This is a good story that deserves to be told, but they’ve dragged it out so much that I’ve completely lost interest.

Was extremely excited about this podcast, but was sadly let down. Episodes were drawn out, the same info is rehashed over and over again. It is mediocre. I loved the premise, but the execution was definitely lacking.

Cool idea for students, seems like a good podcast after most of ep 1, but I can’t continue to listen to it. The bells ringing to mark transitions are far louder than the rest of the audio. I quickly reach for my volume, but it is too late. It is so annoying that it isn’t worth continuing. I don’t mind classroom bells, and think it is a cute idea, but volume is way off.

The early episodes centered on the students and their roles were great. Too much repeated info for a 30 minute podcast. Had to stop listening when they interviewed the victim. They should have allowed her time to prepare instead of catching her off guard. Constant ads for Alto also made it unlistenable.

Started out okay, but ended up being a commercial for the education institute. Not edited or organized very well. This story could’ve been told so much better.

This podcast cast should come with a disclaimer - much too long and repetitive. It circles around and has a hard time getting to the point. And apparently an unpopular opinion, but what are high school kids doing researching a SERIAL KILLER? Really now.

Heard about this podcast on Truth & Justice and I had to binge the season! Great job.

Really liked it in the beginning, but after a few episodes it became a tedious slog and had to give up. These creators apparently don’t have an editor on staff and it shows! You don’t re-air entire conversations, that’s not really storytelling! Such an interesting concept to have students investigate a cold case, but really this should have been done in 3 episodes.

This podcast is fascinating! It is crazy how this case was worked and solved.

Who’s not interested in True Crime! Who’s not interested in student engagement! This is a clunky advertorial for XQ, a tech entity which is interested in “rethinking” (ie, monetizing) public education. Ultimately, the producers can’t hide that it’s a commercial. Also, the MC/narrator has a choppy, unpolished delivery and doesn’t belong on a mic.

It’s missing something. It’s ok, but not great. Fairly boring tbh. So many podcasts so much better than this.

This is the worst podcast from a major company I’ve ever heard. It’s a semi-interesting story that could have been entirely told quite well in a half-hour podcast, but nothing in this needed to be more than one episode. It's hugely repetitive. The host adds nothing except tell you what you're about to hear someone else say. The sound and editing are awful. So bad.

Alex Campbell deserves an award!!! What a wonderful teacher! He found a way to engage students in ways they will never forget. Thank you to all the students who gave their time. Jeff, you always have the best podcasts to listen to. Congratulations on another amazing podcast!!!

The interviews with the victim were so hard to listen to. I know she can’t help it but she sounded like she was running around while trying to answer Alex’s questions. Would have been way better to interview her in person to insure the best audio quality. Also don’t know why KT studios people are even involved as they add nothing to the story besides their names.

While I appreciate the survivor story. It was very hard to follow because of how passionate she was to finally talk to someone. This is one of the most important parts to the murders but the way they portrayed it instead of summarizing and putting parts together made me want to skip her whole part.

This is so good idk what these people mean in the rating section lol Good work keep it up

Impressed by the students and their deep respect for the humanity of these women (sadly, this seemed to be lacking in their teacher who demonstrated a disconnectedness, disrespect, and salaciousness toward the cases and the women). It was an interesting story about the abilities of young people and I give the teacher credit for uplifting and entrusting them. I wish there had been more focus on the actual investigations and findings (it took several episodes to figure out how the connected the alleged killer to the surviving victim and it was still vague), but it was a sweet story about determined youth and how much a community coming together can accomplish.

Love that the students are being recognized for their hard work Teenagers can do hard things!

The story is worthy of an episodic podcast, but the production/editing are abysmal and make it hard to listen to. Jeff Shane’s delivery is flat and tedious. And the ads are incessant. If I had a do-over I’d skip.

Good concept. Terrible execution. Incredibly boring

I have been inspired to keep looking at cold cases, particularly because of these high schoolers and their teacher! Finding answers is possible through small and unusual ways. Keep digging!

Such a great story!! I wish we had more teachers this invested in their students. And image telling your kids/grandkids in 20-30 years “I helped catch a serial killer”. AMAZING!!

I’m amazed at the quality of the work each student put into this project. I’m so proud of this teacher and wish we had more. The impact of this research, isn’t over, it’s just the beginning. The students should be proud of their progress and continue to share their work. Thank you, for the hard work and dedication!

This story has much up be said for it, just wish it had been told by someone else. Production quality is poor; minimal amount of content drawn out over way too many episodes, story sequence out of order, etc Inspiring teacher and incredible kids, though.

Great story - love the creativity in their education, love the students’ determination. You just never know what will capture a kid and put them on their path. This is the kind of opportunity that does it. But the production - whoa nelly. Different speakers have different volumes, ads are crazy loud. I tried to listen during a long drive and spent so much time fiddling with the volume it became a distraction. I think more coherent, robust narration would help here, too. I loved the premise and hearing about the learning environment but probably wouldn’t recommend this one to friends.

The first few episodes were interesting and enjoyable (except for the poor audio mixing). After the first few episodes the material presented is redundant or unnecessarily drawn out and exaggerated.

Popppp

Stop assaulting listeners with LOUDER AD BREAKS than the actual podcast audio. Isn’t I heart a huge company with tons of money? I know someone gets paid to balance these levels out, good grief.

The story is very fascinating, however, it’s very drawn out and includes parts that seem very unnecessary to report on.

Excellent podcast. Hearing the survivor was absolutely inspiring and broke my heart that she was treated so disrespectfully by the judge. Would love to give her a hug and tell her how sorry I am for all she went through and how grateful I am for her bravery. Students, educators and podcasters all do excellent work. Highly recommend!

Love the story. Love the students, the teacher, love it all EXCEPT the GOTDAMN ads. 34min episode and 14 of those are all the same ads in a loop.

Love these determination of these high school students and their teacher and so I give them the five stars. However the portions of the episodes with the survivor Linda recounting her attack are very hard to listen to. She’s choppy, scattered and breathless most of the time. I do feel for her as she survived something incredibly traumatic but producers/creators could have edited these parts better or had a narrator retelling parts of her story.

Hooked immediately!

An inspiration.

Cannot recommend enough.

First- the kids. The kids are the stars. They are smart and intuitive and tenacious. The teacher should also be applauded for creating functional learning opportunities and engaging these kids in their community. The (really really)bad - the lazy police work done back in the day. I don’t know what it is going to take to ever get law enforcement to take women, missing women, abused women, women in need of assistance seriously. Shame on the TBI for saying there is no proof of these crimes being connected. THE KIDS DID THE WORK FOR YOU. The reason I docked it a star- the production quality. The sound quality is really far below I think what this should be considering the producer behind jt. There is an entire interview with the teacher that is clearly sound clips strung together and you can hear the hard edits before and after the teacher starts speaking. Work like this is so important (especially as police and law enforcement agencies continue to sit on their butts instead of working for the safety of their constituents) it would be nice to hear a more professional presentation of the kid’s incredible work.

These students should be extremely proud of themselves. Their part in aiding this case deserves all the spotlight. They have truly earned it. They should feel so good about their work. They should appreciate the amazing teacher they have. If not for him, they wouldn’t have been able to do such a thing. The encouragement and support he gives them is truly inspiring. The admiration he has for his students is felt through his words. He is truly an outstanding teacher.

Loved the content, but the production could’ve been better. Please ask your guests to sit down and take a breath, because her call was really hard to listen to. Reminding me of listening to a meth head tell a story.

I’m sure I’m not alone being appalled by the behavior of the grown adults in the TBI who seem to be threatened by these high school kids who are helping to shine a light on cases that they barely touched until the kids brought it to the media’s attention. and then all they did was pat themselves on the back and not even mention the kids. So many cases don’t get solved because there are too many egos in the mix. Shame on them. These kids did more work in a few years than they did in 30 - the fact that they didn’t acknowledge those kids is just despicable. Hopefully the kids know that everyone else sees them and know who the true heroes are in this story. Hopefully the kids can use their FBI connection and go above TBI to get these cases tied to the Bible belt strangler closed. He crossed state lines so it should be fbi. The TBI is just refusing to look into the connections the girls discovered because they don’t want the girls to get the credit. Are these the people that you want solving your cases Tennessee? Small men who think more about themselves than the victims? I hope one day those kids far out rank those idiots. SMH Also, to the people complaining about the one survivor breathing so hard - she was strangled so badly that the blood vessels in her eyes burst. It makes sense that her PTSD would cause her to have difficulty catching her breath. How nice for you that you don’t have to listen to that. Maybe people understand victimization better if they listen to how it really affects a person. I was strangled and raped and I know exactly what she’s going through unfortunately. for the people who think this and other positive reviews are fake? 😂😂 Maybe ask yourself why you hated it so much?