When True Crime Becomes A Place You Can Visit
True crime is usually something we consume at a distance, through headlines, documentaries, podcasts. But what happens when those stories are tied to real places you can stand in front of?
In this bonus episode, I’m joined by Adam Paul Levine, the founder of Graveline Tours, a Los Angeles–based company that takes people through the city’s most infamous crime scenes in restored vintage funeral limousines.
On its surface, true crime tourism can feel unsettling. But Adam and I quickly find ourselves asking the same questions: why are we drawn to these stories in the first place? What responsibility do storytellers have to victims and their families? And where is the line between education, empathy, and exploitation?
Much of our conversation centers on the Menendez brothers case, from the media’s fixation on sexuality and spectacle, to the cultural moment that shaped the trials, to the ripple effects of the O.J. Simpson case on their fate. We talk about how narratives are built, distorted, and remembered and how those narratives still carry real consequences today.
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