In the nearly 20 years that Susan Randall’s been working as a private investigator, she’s seen Vermont’s most disadvantaged people struggling to have life’s most basic amenities. Sometimes her job is to interview people addicted to crack, to help determine whether they’re suitable parents. Sometimes her job is to examine blood spatter at gruesome crime scenes. She recently helped defend a client who murdered a DCF worker in broad daylight.
Content Note:
Descriptions of violent crimes
Susan has seen how humanity’s worst instincts become possible where cyclical poverty, incarceration, and drug addiction wreak havoc on communities.
There’s a necessary split screen in Susan’s mind. One screen shows a home life: dropping her kids off at lacrosse, helping them with school projects. And another screen shows a work life: prison visitation rooms, run-down trailer parks, the color-shifted skin of a corpse.
Producer Erica Heilman interviewed Susan over the course of three years. Erica is a private investigator herself, and Susan was her mentor. The two talk about the mechanics of the legal system, poverty and how to survive a job that takes such an emotional toll.
Producer: Erica Heilman of Rumble Strip
Editor: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot
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HBM031: The Roman Slug Death Orgy
HBM030: Crickets, Cadavars, and Conventional Wisdom
HBM029: Do Crickets Sing Hymns?
HBM028: Jonathan's Cadaver Paintings
HBM027: Balancing Act
HBM026: John Comes Down The Birth Canal
HBM025: The Sasquatch of Pumpkintown VS Motley Crue Jon Bon Jovi
HBM024: The Friendliest Town In Texas
HBM023: The Near Destruction of Rey Jaguar [Extended Cut]
HBM022: The Holy Ghost Fixes David's Brain
HBM021: Potential Energy
HBM000: Hello There
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