Ronan Farrow Investigates Arizona Woman in Murder Plot Podcast

Investigative journalist Ronan Farrow is turning his attention to CeCe Doane, a former pageant queen currently living in suburban Phoenix, in a new podcast project that blends true crime investigation with character study and analysis of modern disinformation.

Doane initially came to Farrow's attention when she accused a prominent politician of sexual assault. However, she is also the subject of cold case investigations related to allegations that she plotted the deaths of two of her husbands—accusations that form the core of Farrow's new podcast series titled "Not a Very Good Murderer."

Farrow has described the ambitious project as operating on multiple levels simultaneously. "It's a series of true crime mysteries where I stumble into these cold cases and have to crack them," he explained. Beyond the investigative journalism elements, however, Farrow positioned the work as "a character portrait of a really difficult, complicated person who is problematic in some ways and lovable in other ways."

The podcast also serves a broader analytical purpose. Farrow characterized it as "something of an anatomy of a certain kind of voter imbibing a certain kind of disinformation"—suggesting the series will examine how false or misleading narratives take root and spread, using Doane's story as a lens through which to understand these phenomena.

This project represents another significant undertaking for Farrow, whose previous investigative work has garnered international attention and awards. His reporting on sexual misconduct allegations has shaped public discourse and resulted in high-profile investigations and legal consequences for powerful figures.

The decision to center a podcast on Doane—combining cold case investigation, personality analysis, and examination of how misinformation operates in specific communities—demonstrates Farrow's evolution as a storyteller. Rather than simply presenting facts about unresolved murders, the series appears designed to explore the ecosystem surrounding such cases: how they're understood locally, how narratives form and persist, and how individuals at the center of such stories are perceived and misperceived.

For international audiences, the project highlights tensions common to many democratic societies: the gap between official investigations and public belief, the role of media in shaping understanding of unresolved cases, and the way conspiracy-adjacent narratives can take hold in particular communities.

The podcast format allows Farrow to develop these themes across multiple episodes, building a more nuanced portrait than traditional investigative journalism might permit. Listeners will encounter not just the facts of the cold cases, but Doane herself—her perspective, her choices, and her place within a larger ecosystem of belief and misinformation.

As the series unfolds, it will likely contribute to ongoing public conversation about how we understand unsolved crimes, evaluate credibility across competing narratives, and recognize the human complexity that often exists beneath sensational headlines.

Sources:

https://abc30.com/post/ronan-farrow-discusses-swatch-of-secret-emails-matt-lauer-in-new-book/5636188/

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ronan-farrow-influence-kill-story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLEVeZ6mB8g

https://news.wttw.com/2025/04/01/ronan-farrow-journalism-diplomacy-and-new-project-not-very-good-murderer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySPMzdmV69Y