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Ellen Horne, who was the executive producer of the podcast Radiolab for over a decade, is launching a new investigative podcast, “Admissible: Shreds of Evidence,” hosted by reporter Tessa Kramer and co-produced by VPM (Central Virginia’s public media station) and iHeartPodcasts.
The series delves into the story of 13 men who were exonerated thanks to the discovery of biological evidence preserved by forensic scientist Mary Jane Burton and stashed away for decades in a Virginia records facility. Burton was hailed as a hero for saving the evidence, but when a former coworker disputes that narrative, a pattern of questionable practices and shadowy motives begins to arise.
“When we began investigating allegations of a cover-up within the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, it became clear to us that this story was much bigger than one forensic scientist,” Horne recalls; this project emerged from the reporting Kramer conducted for her master’s thesis at Columbia Journalism School (2018); Horne had served as an advisor. Kramer’s interest in the criminal legal system stemmed from her work on the CNN documentary series Death Row Stories.
“In so many stories about the criminal legal system, forensic science is one chapter in a bigger story – one scene in a police procedural or one episode in a true crime podcast,” said Kramer. “What I love about our first season of ‘Admissible’ is that the crime lab is the story. Through my reporting, I’ve learned so much about what actually happens in a forensic lab, and I hope that listeners – especially true crime lovers – will come away with new questions about evidence and proof.”
New episodes will be released weekly each Tuesday.