technology

CBC Podcasts' award-winning true crime series Uncover has released a new episode, 'The Expert Witness', exploring the growing role of artificial intelligence in criminal justice systems — arriving at a moment when the debate over AI and crime is accelerating worldwide.

In November 1985, a boy kicking over a barrel in Bear Brook State Park, New Hampshire, uncovered the remains of two victims—beginning one of America's most haunting unsolved cases. Thirty-two years later, genetic genealogy identified the killer: Terry Peder Rasmussen, a man who had evaded justice under at least five aliases.

U.S. federal prosecutors charged four members of China's People's Liberation Army on February 10, 2020, with orchestrating one of the largest data breaches in history. The defendants allegedly exploited a vulnerability in Equifax's systems to steal sensitive information from approximately 145 million Americans over a two-month period in 2017.

Pascal Payet, a French criminal convicted of murder during a 1997 security van robbery, made international headlines by engineering three separate helicopter escapes from prison between 2001 and 2007. Known by the alias 'Kalashnikov Pat,' Payet's audacious aerial breakouts—each lasting mere minutes—exposed vulnerabilities in European prison security and made him one of the continent's most wanted fugitives.

On July 18, 1989, actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot and killed outside her West Hollywood apartment by obsessed fan Robert John Bardo. The 21-year-old's murder sparked a national conversation about stalking and resulted in groundbreaking legal protections that would reshape how law enforcement handles threats.

Michael Jackson was acquitted in 2005 after a high-profile trial in Santa Maria, California, where he faced charges of molesting a 13-year-old boy named Gavin Arvizo. The case centered on allegations that Jackson used his Neverland Ranch to groom children, but the jury found him not guilty on all counts.

Oscar Pistorius, the celebrated South African sprinter known as the Blade Runner, shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp four times through a locked bathroom door on Valentine's Day 2013. After a lengthy legal battle spanning years, he was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to over 13 years in prison.

Richard Lee McNair, a former U.S. Air Force sergeant convicted of murder, escaped from custody three times between 1988 and 2006 using increasingly sophisticated methods—from lip balm to an ingeniously constructed escape pod—evading recapture for months each time.

Freddie Lee Trone was sentenced to 31 years and 4 months to life in prison on September 23, 2024, after being convicted of orchestrating the murder of Philadelphia rapper PnB Rock. The killing occurred during a robbery at Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles on September 12, 2022, when Trone's 17-year-old son fatally shot the artist.

In 2014, entertainment giant Sony was hit by one of the largest cyberattacks ever carried out against a private company, with around 100 terabytes of data stolen. The attack was attributed to North Korea and seen as an attempt to suppress a film's release.

Joshua James Corbett, a 42-year-old man convicted of stalking and breaking into actress Sandra Bullock's West Los Angeles home in 2014, died of self-inflicted injuries on May 2, 2018, following a standoff with LAPD's SWAT team at his residence in La Crescenta, California.

On February 9, 1864, Colonel Thomas E. Rose of the 77th Pennsylvania Infantry led one of the Civil War's most audacious prison escapes from Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. Working in secret for 17 days, Rose and fellow officers dug a narrow 50-60 foot tunnel from the dungeon-like basement to freedom—an feat so remarkable that 109 men followed them out.

Chinese triad organizations have established an extensive criminal network that reaches far beyond Asia. Sun Yee On, Wo Shing Wo and the 14K Triad are among the largest players behind international drug trafficking, human trafficking and large-scale money laundering.

Alfred George Hinds, born in London in 1917, became one of Britain's most notorious escapees after his conviction for the 1953 Maple Jewelry Store robbery. Claiming innocence, he engineered three audacious prison escapes and ultimately won a libel case that vindicated his claims.

On July 10, 1973, 16-year-old John Paul Getty III was abducted from Rome's Piazza Farnese by members of the 'Ndrangheta, a Calabrian crime syndicate targeting one of the world's wealthiest families. What followed was a five-month ordeal marked by torture, disfigurement, and a negotiated ransom that would shake the Getty family.