A new true crime podcast from Texas Monthly is coming tomorrow. https://t.co/lg7DnwOWOo

— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) June 19, 2023

Just saw Texas Monthly is about to start a new true crime podcast. Sounds like it could be good. I really enjoyed the last one they did and hope this one is just as good.

What was the last one?

It's called "Tom Brown's Body" by Skip Hollandsworth. It's overall pretty good.

TexjbA&M said:

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It's called "Tom Brown's Body" by Skip Hollandsworth. It's overall pretty good.

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TBB was one of my favorite true crime podcasts over the last few years. Interesting but frustrating story that is especially good at capturing the feel of a small Texas town. Hollandsworth is a legend in Texas journalism and has a great voice for narration.

man, ive been trying to ween myself off of true crime pod series for the last few months, but TBB was so good Im going to have to listen to this one.

I'm listening to Tom Brown's Body now. Interesting case so far.

Thanks for the recommendation.

Listened to the two episodes they released today. I kinda like how they opened it, immediately letting the audience know kinda how or at least that it is solved, then jumping back to the beginning. As a listener it lets you off the hook in terms of trying to solve the mystery in your head and just lets you listen to the story. I enjoyed the first 2 episodes. Stephenville seems about like I'd expect it to in the late 80's.

I wish they numbered the episodes. I can't figure out which episode is the first one.

In Spotify their labeled. Eps 1. Susan Eps 2. Michael.

Listened to the first two eps today as well.

I grew up in and around Stephenville and would have been in Jr High when this happened. I have no recollection of the case. I didn't remember it being big news but I'm interested and will be following this one.

Looking forward to this. Tom Brown's body was so good

Finished it up. Overall it was OK, nothing to write home about. A solid true crime story.

TexjbA&M said:

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It's called "Tom Brown's Body" by Skip Hollandsworth. It's overall pretty good.

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Started Tom Brown's Body this morning and couldn't turn it off - great podcast recommendation! Thanks!

Noblemen06 said:

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TexjbA&M said:

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It's called "Tom Brown's Body" by Skip Hollandsworth. It's overall pretty good.

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Started Tom Brown's Body this morning and couldn't turn it off - great podcast recommendation! Thanks!

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Ditto. Binged it in one day.

For the life of me, I can't figure out who to believe or even what *probably* happened. I'm pretty sure I don't take anything that Philip Klein says at face value, though.

Another good Texas crime / mystery podcast is Under Cover of Knight about a mysterious death in East Texas.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/under-cover-of-knight/id1676146930?i=1000622118513

LeonardSkinner said:

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Noblemen06 said:

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TexjbA&M said:

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It's called "Tom Brown's Body" by Skip Hollandsworth. It's overall pretty good.

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Started Tom Brown's Body this morning and couldn't turn it off - great podcast recommendation! Thanks!

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Ditto. Binged it in one day.

For the life of me, I can't figure out who to believe or even what *probably* happened. I'm pretty sure I don't take anything that Philip Klein says at face value, though.

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It seems pretty obvious that Tom Brown killed himself, and Klein took advantage of a grieving mother and likely helped the mother plant evidence (at least the phone) to try to keep the case alive. The mother asking for the phone's passcode days after his death to a friend's mother tells you all you need to know. There are only two options, as Tom's mom claims a deputy asked her to find the passcode, and the Sheriff's office denies this ever happening. Either the mom or the Sheriff's office originally found the phone. The Sheriff's office has no reason to lie about not ever having Tom's phone unless you believe the absurd theories by Klein that the Sheriff killed him, and they have a lot to lose by hiding the fact that they had his phone. This seems like a no-brainer that the mother had and planted the phone prior to the search party put together by the PI she hired.

Tom played a "last song" with his friends (as kids who commit suicide tend to do), had an emotional goodbye with one of his friends, and then killed himself.

Klein basically comes off as someone who wants to be the "Dog the Bounty Hunter" of missing people.

Yeah, it seems about 80% obvious that Tom Brown killed himself. The other 20% includes stuff like, why were his backpack, car, and body so far apart from each other? If it was a suicide, and someone knew it/covered it up, I'm surprised they haven't just broken down and admitted it by now.

TexjbA&M said:

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Finished it up. Overall it was OK, nothing to write home about. A solid true crime story.

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This. It was enjoyable, but not as good as Tom Brown's Body

My biggest question is how did his body wind up 10+ miles from his vehicle?

Walking that far in the dead of night, with no flash light (maybe cell phone flashlight), and through the woods is a difficult task that would likely take hours. My only thought is that maybe the mom took the body and placed it there to cover up the suicide, but it's hard for me to believe that a mother could leave her child's body in the woods for animals to dispose of.

Agree with others that TBB is one of my favorite true crime podcasts.

Stephenville (IMO) is not as good likely because there is no mystery involved. That being said, I still liked it. The storytelling is good, and the narration is well done as well. It gives a good picture of a small(ish) Texas town in the '80's. The retelling of the rape was hard to listen to.

Overall It's a good listen.

It wouldn't have been the dead of night, he would've been doing that walk on Thanksgiving morning, given he presumably parked his car around 5:30am.

Important to note that Tom frequently joked with friends about killing himself, was even offered therapy for his mental health issues, which he declined which were not mentioned in the podcast. Other things they didn't mention in the podcast is that the mom, Klein, or his brother deleted his Facebook account before authorities could review it. Along with them planting the phone, and the absurd finger pointing Klein did, it would seem that the family and Klein tampered with evidence several times throughout the investigation in clear attempts to obfuscate what happened to Tom. I don't find it out of the realm of possibility that if they are going to those lengths to screw with the investigation, it is not as hard to accept they could have planted the body, too. Especially for a mother that had a history of suicide in her family which she was terribly ashamed of. But I think more likely he made up his mind that he was going to kill himself, and decided to take a long walk to the area where is grandfather killed himself (which he was informed of the exact location just months prior to his disappearance).

I think all the other physical evidence issues can easily be explained by Klein and the mother planting evidence, and there are several pieces of circumstantial evidence that point to this.

While it's not obvious, I agree w/ you it seems pretty clear it was a suicide.

I believe Klein was just a run of the mill charlatan and can't be believed an any way shape or form.

As someone from Canadian who knew the older brother more than Tom but certainly had met Tom, I'd generally concur. I know the sheriffs family better than Toms family. Was he perfect, no. But it's a joke for Klein to suggest the sheriff killed him.

So then why on earth would the sheriffs office have any incentive to cover anything up. A suicide isn't their fault and would be an easy case closed.

It was no secret his family had a history of mental illness and suicide. I haven't actually listened to the podcast but I know I've seen other media portraying him as a football star and Mr popular. Was he nice kid that was generally liked, I believe he was. But he was not Mr popular football star who the girls wanted to date or anything like that.

The Texas Monthly writer seemed pretty neutral. If A said something about B, then he went to B and asked about it, and vice versa.

I felt like Tom was portrayed fairly, neither deified nor denigrated.

I liked this one, but liked the TBB better. This series really highlights how lack of communication and ineptitude can keep a case unsolved.

I just started "Under the cover of Knight"