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Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps

Crossing the Line with M. William Phelps

By: M. William Phelps
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About this listen

Crossing the Line is a true crime podcast revealing cases of the missing and murdered, told start-to-finish each week. Using the campfire storytelling style that made Paper Ghosts a #1 hit on the charts, host M. William Phelps connects deeply with families touched by violent crime - he understands them, because he is one of them. Having gone through the murder of his own pregnant sister-in-law, Phelps brings not only his personal experience, but also 20-plus years of investigative journalism into the worlds of these stories. Follow and subscribe to Crossing the Line for a weekly dose of murder, mayhem and madness. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2023 M. William Phelps True Crime
Episodes
  • EP157 - Part 1 - The Fort Worth 3: An Iconic True Crime Missing Persons Mystery
    Feb 4 2026

    In December 1974, three kids take off for a local Fort Worth, Texas, Army-Navy store and mall and fail to return. Known as the "Fort Worth 3," this missing person case is one of the oldest and most mysterious on record. I speak to several victim family members and try to sort out fact from fiction in this Crossing the Line special trilogy of episodes.

    For exclusive content, sign up for your free Patreon account here.

    Leave a five-star review of this show, please. ;-)

    Visit www.crossingtheline.biz to contact investigative journalist and host M. William Phelps, get more information about the show, updates to cases, and more.

    And don't forget to subscribe to Phelps's #1 Apple Podcast hit PAPER GHOSTS, now in its 5th season, "The Texas Teen Murders," wherever you get your favorite shows.

    M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 46 nonfiction books and winner of the Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Phelps has written for numerous publications1, including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant. Diversifying his talents, Phelps consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter and has executive produced and starred in over 350 hours of true crime television. All of which gives him a confluence of expertise and experience to bring to true crime fanatics.

    Phelps grew up in East Hartford, Connecticut, and now splits his time between Tolland County and N. Stonington, CT. In July 2017, he published his definitive, 10-year project about Happy Face Killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, DANGEROUS GROUND: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.

    **For mental health assistance or to get help, please visit the National Alliance on Mental Health NAMI website or call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), text "HelpLine" to 62640, or email helpline@nami.org**

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    33 mins
  • SHORT CUTS - EP12 - Norman Prater: Missing for 52 Years—A True Crime Mystery (Solved)
    Jan 31 2026

    It's January 14th, 1973. And the parents of 16-year-old Norman Prater call into the Dallas Police to report their son missing. Fifty-two years later, the answer comes with some remarkable police work, a little luck, and it is not what anyone could have ever expected.

    Welcome to a bonus feature here on the Crossing the Line feed. I come across all sorts of stories while researching books, TV series, and my iHeartMedia podcast, Paper Ghosts, in addition to the ideas you send me. A lot of them grab hold of me emotionally—especially the victims' stories and the ordeal their families go through. A good number of the cases, for myriad reasons, don't fit into the model for a more complete CTL episode. So I wanted to create a sub platform to showcase some of those stories, as well.

    That said, thank you for supporting Crossing the Line, which has allowed me to produce this new expansion of the brand … Once or twice per month, maybe more, I'll present a 15 to 20 minute episode, covering murder and missing person cases, and other interesting crimes I think you'll want to hear about—but maybe more importantly, cases that give us a deeper understanding of the crimes and scumbags who commit them.

    Sign up for your free Patreon account here.

    Visit www.crossingtheline.biz to contact investigative journalist and host M. William Phelps, get more information about the show, updates to cases, and more.

    And don't forget to subscribe to Phelps's #1 hit podcast PAPER GHOSTS, now in its fourth season, wherever you get your favorite shows.

    M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 46 nonfiction books and winner of the Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Phelps has written for numerous publications1, including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant. Diversifying his talents, Phelps consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter and has executive produced and starred in over 350 hours of true crime television. All of which gives him a confluence of expertise and experience to bring to true crime fanatics.

    Phelps grew up in East Hartford, Connecticut, and now splits his time between Tolland County and N. Stonington, CT. In July 2017, he published his definitive, 10-year project about Happy Face Killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, DANGEROUS GROUND: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.

    **For mental health assistance or to get help, please visit the National Alliance on Mental Health NAMI website or call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), text "HelpLine" to 62640, or email helpline@nami.org**

    Show More Show Less
    16 mins
  • EP156 - Killer Grandma: The True Crime Community Comes Through
    Jan 28 2026

    A woman heads to a Florida beach to scatter her late husband's ashes. She meets a woman and strikes up a friendship. But then … no one can find her. Meanwhile, investigators 1200 miles north are looking into the murder of a local man—having no idea the two cases are connected.

    For exclusive content, sign up for your free Patreon account here.

    Leave a five-star review of this show, please. ;-)

    Visit www.crossingtheline.biz to contact investigative journalist and host M. William Phelps, get more information about the show, updates to cases, and more.

    And don't forget to subscribe to Phelps's #1 Apple Podcast hit PAPER GHOSTS, now in its 5th season, "The Texas Teen Murders," wherever you get your favorite shows.

    M. William Phelps is the New York Times best-selling author of 46 nonfiction books and winner of the Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Phelps has written for numerous publications1, including the Providence Journal, Connecticut Magazine and Hartford Courant. Diversifying his talents, Phelps consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series Dexter and has executive produced and starred in over 350 hours of true crime television. All of which gives him a confluence of expertise and experience to bring to true crime fanatics.

    Phelps grew up in East Hartford, Connecticut, and now splits his time between Tolland County and N. Stonington, CT. In July 2017, he published his definitive, 10-year project about Happy Face Killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, DANGEROUS GROUND: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.

    **For mental health assistance or to get help, please visit the National Alliance on Mental Health NAMI website or call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), text "HelpLine" to 62640, or email helpline@nami.org**

    Show More Show Less
    28 mins
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