abuse of power

In Her Defence: Breach of Trust is a seven-episode investigative podcast from The Globe and Mail, launching September 8, 2026, covering the case of Regina police officer Sgt. Robert Semenchuck.

Netflix documentary about Martha Mitchell, the cabinet wife who publicly exposed the Watergate scandal and was systematically gaslit and discredited by the Nixon administration.

Paramount+ has released the docuseries 'Devotion: Obedience Or Betrayal', examining a religious sect in New Zealand that allegedly exercised deep psychological control and abuse over its members — the latest entry in true crime's growing obsession with cult culture.

German politician Walter Lübcke was shot dead on his terrace in Wolfhagen-Istha on June 2, 2019. The murder, committed by neo-Nazi Stephan Ernst, marked Germany's first far-right political assassination since World War II.

Beate Zschäpe was the sole surviving member of the National Socialist Underground (NSU), a neo-Nazi terrorist cell responsible for murdering ten people across Germany between 2000 and 2007. Her trial became the longest and most significant far-right terrorism case in modern German history.

Between 1940 and 1941, Paul Ogorzow terrorized wartime Berlin by attacking women on the city's S-Bahn railway system. The Nazi Party member killed at least eight women before his capture and execution.

Rudolf Pleil confessed to murdering at least nine women in the chaos of post-war Germany between 1946 and 1947. Operating along the border zones between East and West Germany, he preyed on refugees fleeing Soviet occupation.

German television star Walter Sedlmayr was brutally murdered in his Munich apartment in July 1990. The killing of Bavaria's most famous folk actor shocked Germany and remained unsolved for months until two half-brothers were convicted.

Joachim Kroll terrorized Germany's Ruhr Valley from 1955 to 1976, murdering at least 14 people. His arrest came only after a neighbor discovered human remains clogging the building's shared toilet.

A popular true crime podcast has featured the case of Nancy Metayer Bowen, a 38-year-old Florida vice mayor found dead in her home in April 2026. The episode, which aired internationally, examines her death as a domestic violence homicide and the subsequent arrest of her husband.

Marius Borg Høiby, the adult son of Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit, has been charged with 38 criminal offenses spanning rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, and weapons violations. The case, which began with his arrest in August 2024, is now proceeding through Oslo courts in a seven-week trial that commenced in February 2026.

ABC Audio and 20/20 have partnered to launch 'The Hand in the Window,' a six-part podcast series exploring the 2016 capture of serial killer Shawn Grate in rural Ashland, Ohio. Hosted by veteran journalist John Quiñones, the limited series premiered November 4, 2025, and traces how a desperate 911 call led investigators to uncover multiple homicides across the state.

Brendan Banfield, a former IRS special agent from Virginia, was convicted on February 3, 2026, of murdering his wife Christine and a stranger named Joseph Ryan in a scheme allegedly motivated by his affair with the family's live-in au pair.

A Danish podcast series examines the case of Britta Nielsen, a 65-year-old former employee of Denmark's National Board of Social Services who embezzled 117 million Danish kroner over 25 years. Released in February 2021, the podcast explores one of Denmark's most serious economic crimes—a stark contrast to the Nordic nation's reputation as the world's least corrupt country.

Henry Lee Lucas confessed to around 600 murders between 1983 and 1985, but investigators later determined most were fabrications. The case exposed dangerous interrogation practices that allowed a convicted killer to manipulate law enforcement across multiple states.

The United Kingdom is experiencing an unprecedented surge in fraud crime, with 2.09 million confirmed cases reported in the first six months of 2025. The crisis reveals vulnerabilities in digital banking systems that extend far beyond British shores, prompting international law enforcement to reassess fraud prevention strategies.

A childcare worker in Denmark is on trial for involuntary manslaughter following the death of a child at a daycare facility. Prosecutors argue that gross negligence or dereliction of duty caused the boy's death. A verdict is expected on February 4, 2026.

More than 40,000 sets of human remains lie unidentified in evidence rooms across the United States, a crisis the Department of Justice has called a 'silent mass disaster.' Despite advanced forensic technology, most cases remain unsolved due to fragmented databases and jurisdictional gaps.

Netflix released Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 on August 3, 2022, a three-part documentary examining how a music festival at a defunct Air Force base in Rome, New York descended into violence, sexual assault, and arson.

On February 8, 1983, a routine plumbing job in North London uncovered human remains that would lead to one of Britain's most disturbing serial murder cases. The discovery of Dennis Nilsen — and his confessed 15 victims — revealed critical gaps in how European police tracked predatory killers operating within urban anonymity.