Our Origin Story

On a warm autumn day in early September 2015, Dr. John, a forensic psychologist, and Lauren, a journalist and news anchor, met and talked over the phone for the first time. Lauren described a gruesome murder during that first conversation, providing details about a case she was covering at the time. Adam Dees, a young adult, randomly picked a home to burglarize in Boise, Idaho. After entering the home, however, his plans changed, and he murdered the three people inside the home. It was tragic story and Lauren shared it with Dr. John that evening in September. She asked: What happened? How could someone enter a home intent upon robbery, but then resort to such a heinous crime before he exited the residence? This conversation set the stage for their eventual romance and marriage in July 2016. They discussed a brutal murder during their first conversation, and they have been discussing crime ever since. True love forged in the mysteries and enigmas of true crime.

After their marriage in July 2016, Dr. John and Lauren contemplated starting a true crime podcast. This dream was put aside when their son was born in 2017 and work became increasingly time consuming for both. Around the holidays in late 2019, however, a unique story broke about the Daybell case, which captured their interest for numerous reasons. For Dr. John, the exuberant JJ Vallow reminded him of his three-year-old son. For Lauren, the peculiar Mormon beliefs seemed surreal and worthy of further study and attention. When the pandemic struck by March 2020 and a national quarantine was implemented, Dr. John found himself essentially out of work because all jails and prisons banned visitors from entering their premises. With extra time and a significantly reduced workload, Dr. John and Lauren finally produced and initiated their first podcast on July 2, 2020 in impromptu fashion one evening after dinner at their dining room table- no scripts, no planning, no production crew, no guests. Just Dr. John and Lauren discussing crime over dinner much as they had during their first conversation in 2015. They choose the Daybell case because of the national attention it was receiving and because of its personal interest to them. Six months later Lauren started a YouTube Channel, Hidden True Crime, to showcase her journalistic talents alongside the podcast.

While life has become more hectic since the quarantine lifted during the summer of 2020, Dr. John and Lauren have continued to produce their podcast and YouTube channel with plans to expand into additional crimes and formats for future episodes. Our goal is to discuss and present crime and criminal psychology to a broad audience in both a psychological and investigative fashion. We have been humbled and grateful for the incredible and enthusiastic reception to our work- now receiving over a million downloads and views- and we always do our best to acknowledge our loyal listeners and to thank them for their support. We still imagine during every episode that each of our listeners are pulling up a seat to join us at our dinner table for an in-depth chat about crime and criminal psychology. We hope you join us on this unique journey into the darkest recesses of the human mind as we explore the human condition through the medium of crime in a way that is both accessible and profound.

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