About This Episode
What is this episode about?
The episode "The Murders of Mary Phagan and Leo Frank" covers the killing of thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan, a former worker at the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, Georgia. In the early morning hours of April 27, 1913, a night watchman discovered her body in a basement room of the factory. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled, with a strip of fabric from her own coat still around her neck, and two cryptic notes were found near her body.
Because of where Mary was found, investigators believed the killer knew the factory's layout and was likely a current or former employee. Suspicion quickly fell on two men: night watchman Newt Lee and twenty-nine-year-old factory superintendent Leo Frank. Lee was eventually ruled out, leaving Frank as the sole suspect. The episode examines how Frank's arrest, prosecution, and failed appeals were shaped as much by anti-Jewish prejudice as by the actual evidence against him, and how, two years after Phagan's death and Frank's conviction, the citizens of Atlanta carried out an act of extrajudicial violence that left a lasting stain on the state's history. The Murders at the center of this case remain one of the most studied miscarriages of justice in American legal history.
Hosts and release
The host of this show is Unknown. This is episode 827, running 76 minutes, released on September 17, 2026. Listeners can find flere episoder af showet for additional cases covered by the podcast.
