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Last Seen

43 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 months ago - ★★★★★ - 3.5K ratings

From the fallout of a tragic homicide in Boston’s Haitian community, to the search for a real life Willy Wonka in Cambridge, WBUR’s 'Last Seen' podcast is back with a third season of all new mysteries from public radio storytellers about surprising people, places and things that have all gone ... missing.

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Episodes

Introducing ‘The Gun Machine’, a podcast about how America was forged by the gun industry

October 06, 2023 06:00 - 3 minutes - 2.74 MB

Produced by WBUR, Boston’s NPR, in partnership with The Trace, The Gun Machine looks into the past to bring you a story that most Americans never learned in history class: how early partnerships between mad scientist gunsmiths and a fledgling U.S. government created the gun industry in the Northeast, and how that industry has been partners with the government ever since. Host Alain Stephens examines how this 250-year relationship underpins all Americans’ interactions with guns — including...

'Violation,' Part 1: Two sons, lost

March 23, 2023 15:23 - 34 minutes - 32 MB

Why did Jacob Wideman murder Eric Kane? In 1986, the two 16-year-olds were rooming together on a summer camp trip to the Grand Canyon when Jacob fatally — and inexplicably — stabbed Eric. That night, Jacob went on the run, absconding with the camp’s rented Oldsmobile and thousands of dollars in traveler’s checks. Before long, he turned himself in and eventually confessed to the killing — although he couldn’t explain what drove him to do it. It would take years of therapy and medical tr...

Last Seen introduces Violation, a new podcast about who pulls the levers of power in the justice system

March 15, 2023 20:41 - 3 minutes - 3.3 MB

We thought Last Seen fans would want to hear this trailer for a new podcast from WBUR. Violation tells the story of two families bound together by an unthinkable crime. It explores America's opaque parole system and asks: How much time in prison is enough? Who gets to decide? And, when someone commits a terrible crime, what does redemption look like? Listen to the trailer and if you like what you hear, head over to the Violation feed wherever you get your podcasts and hit subscribe so you'...

A family's peace | Part III

December 27, 2022 22:00 - 28 minutes - 26 MB

On a sunny Saturday in 2016, Benine Timothee left her house to visit a friend who lived close by and never returned. She had lived in the United States for only three months when she was shot and killed outside a corner store in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. No arrests have been made, and there are no suspects in the case. This is the third and final episode of our three-part series, A Family's Peace, reported by independent investigative journalist Shannon Dooling. Benine's homicide ...

A family's peace | Part II

December 20, 2022 22:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MB

On a sunny Saturday in 2016, Benine Timothee left her house to visit a friend who lived close by and never returned. She had lived in the United States for only three months when she was shot and killed outside a corner store in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. No arrests have been made, and there are no suspects in the case. This is the second episode of our three-part series, A Family's Peace, reported by independent investigative journalist Shannon Dooling. In part two, we learn just ...

A family's peace | Part I

December 13, 2022 22:00 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MB

On a sunny Saturday in 2016, Benine Timothee left her house to visit a friend who lived close by and never returned. She had lived in the United States for only three months when she was shot and killed outside a corner store in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. No arrests have been made, and there are no suspects in the case. For six years, her family and others have been haunted by the question — what really happened to their mother, wife, and friend on that October afternoon in 2016? In...

The Guilty Plate

December 06, 2022 22:00 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MB

This week, we're bringing you another food-related mystery - this time from our friendly neighbors to the north, Vermont Public and Brave Little State producer Josh Crane. If you go out to eat right now, you’re likely to run into restaurants that are struggling because they’re missing a crucial ingredient: staff. In this episode, Josh sets out to solve the mystery of the COVID-era restaurant industry exodus, by telling the story of one Vermont diner, The Guilty Plate.  The full version of ...

Chinese pie

November 29, 2022 22:00 - 32 minutes - 29.6 MB

Mashed potatoes, corn and ground beef. These aren't the ingredients for shepherd's pie, but for Chinese pie, a traditional and very famous French Canadian dish. WBUR producer Amanda Beland, grew up eating Chinese pie, or pâté chinois, with her French Canadian family. But the pie's origins have always been a culinary mystery. In this episode of Last Seen, Amanda talks to historians and culinary experts to reveal where pâté chinois comes from, and how it might have gotten that name. Tell us...

Confectioner's Row

November 22, 2022 22:00 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MB

For years, WBUR senior arts and culture reporter Andrea Shea drove by an old, mysterious factory in Cambridge, Mass. To her surprise, it turned to be the last vestige of a 20th century candy hub called Confectioner's Row. Manufacturing jobs dried up, and only one factory, Cambridge Brands, remains. In this episode of Last Seen, Andrea walks us through the history of Confectioner's Row and meets face-to-face with the CEO of Cambridge Brands — who is touted as a real life Willy Wonka. Tell u...

Berried treasure

November 14, 2022 22:00 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MB

WBUR senior arts reporter Amelia Mason is on the hunt to solve a mystery that has been haunting her for years: why are black raspberries so hard to find? The answer takes us through grocery stores, farms, foraging expeditions, and Amelia's own childhood backyard. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Trailer: 'Last Seen,' Season 3

November 09, 2022 22:35 - 1 minute - 1.45 MB

The third season of Last Seen, coming November 2022, is a collection of personal and political mysteries from public radio storytellers that you won't want to miss. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Tell Us What You Think of Last Seen

April 29, 2022 20:00 - 1 minute - 1.79 MB

Season 2 of Last Seen just wrapped, which means it's time for a listener survey! The second season of this show was one big experiment. We brought you an anthology of ten new mysteries - from the esoteric to the straight forward - told by a variety of storytellers, in a variety of styles, about all kinds of people, places and things that have gone missing. And we're so curious to find out what YOU - our loyal listeners - thought about it! It would mean so much to us if you'd take just a *...

Episode 10: Searching for a Miracle

March 29, 2022 10:00 - 55 minutes - 50.6 MB

On his way to Hollywood, a young Black man named Winston Willis stopped in Cleveland in 1959 to shoot a little pool and walked away $35,000 richer. He used his winnings to open over two dozen businesses on Cleveland's East Side, a vibrant area that locals referred to as "Inner City Disneyland." For a time, Willis was a multi-millionaire, the largest employer of Black people in the Midwest, and a bold business mogul with a big reputation. Nowadays, there's no trace of the "Miracle on 105th S...

Episode 9: Bad Actor

March 22, 2022 10:00 - 40 minutes - 37.3 MB

People will tell you Richard Bento is a good actor — on and off the stage. Over the past decade, he's been a pillar of the New England community theater scene - acting in and directing countless productions, and fostering the love of theater in other thespians. But lately, he's been at the center of some real life dramas swirling behind the scenes,  involving accusations of fraud, embezzlement, and other kinds of scams. After disappearing from one local theater for a time, he's been known t...

Episode 8: The Emotional Lives of Everyday Objects

March 15, 2022 10:00 - 29 minutes - 27.2 MB

Many prized possessions and artifacts imbued with sentimental value go missing, unintentionally. But, what about when we choose to renounce the items that mean the most to us -- like that mixtape your old girlfriend made, right before she broke up with you? The Nirvana baseball cap you wore to a Kurt Cobain memorial? Or the Sorel boots your father-in-law gave you, right before he died? Join arts and culture journalist Allyson McCabe (Lost Notes, Short Cuts) as she weaves together personal s...

Episode 7: A Most Unusual Houseguest

March 08, 2022 11:00 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MB

When artist Alison Byrnes opened a package she had mailed to herself two years earlier, she was expecting to find a sealed box of her prints - but that's not what was inside. The United States Postal Service had made a rather serious mistake. Instead of artist prints, USPS delivered a little blue urn -- containing the ashes of a total stranger.  Attempts at finding the family of the deceased failed, and the cremated remains of Jennings L. Heffelfinger sat abandoned and forgotten, year afte...

Episode 6: A Hole in the Silence

March 01, 2022 11:00 - 46 minutes - 42.1 MB

Spain has one of the highest number of forced disappearances in the world, second only to Cambodia. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and General Francisco Franco's dictatorship, fascist troops killed tens of thousands of people and threw them into mass graves. For decades, few people knew this — and no one in Spain talked about it. But in the year 2000, a man in the middle of an identity crisis began digging into his family's past, searching for a grandfather who had gone missing in...

Episode 5: Belly Up

February 22, 2022 15:24 - 38 minutes - 35.2 MB

When three friends went on a rum-fueled rampage one night deep in the Nevada desert, they never expected the trouble they would find themselves in a week later. The men broke into a remote unit of Death Valley National Park known as Devil's Hole — a mysterious flooded cave that happens to be home to the one of the rarest fish on Earth, and one that's critically endangered too. This episode, based on Paige Blankenbuehler's High Country News feature, is a bite-size crime story starring an ob...

Episode 4: Africa’s Lost Year of Hope

February 14, 2022 18:21 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MB

In 1960, dubbed "The Year Of Africa", a pair of bold leaders fanned the flames of hope for a brighter future in the Belgian colony of Congo. But by the following year, that hope had been dashed by outside forces. Using traditional griot storytelling, writer Brenton Zola transports us to a turning point in Congo's path to independence, and remembers the future that almost was. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 3: The Lost World

February 08, 2022 14:00 - 35 minutes - 32.9 MB

Every school kid learns that there are exactly eight planets in our solar system. But what if we told you there might be a ninth? A world that may be six times the size of Earth and take 12,000 years to orbit the Sun. The only thing is, while some scientists are convinced Planet Nine exists, no one has seen it. Yet. Science journalist and WBUR producer Dean Russell (Endless Thread) traces the lives of two astronomers, separated by a century, bound by their thirst for finding that missing pl...

Episode 2: Out of Time

January 31, 2022 18:21 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MB

Freeports are the most expensive and secretive warehouses in the world, which now hide some of the world’s cultural treasures from the public eye. Join Ben Brock Johnson as he traces the path of one lost Modigliani painting, "Seated Man with a Cane," and attempts to catch a glimpse inside these high-tech storage dungeons. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 1: Murph

January 31, 2022 18:21 - 36 minutes - 33.8 MB

In 1964, Jack Murphy, or "Murph the Surf," pulled off the biggest jewel heist in New York City history only to be caught 48 hours later. Amory Sivertson traces the enigmatic life of this folk hero and examines why men like him continue to be idolized. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Trailer: 'Last Seen,' Season 2

January 19, 2022 07:30 - 1 minute - 1.2 MB

The new season, coming out Feb. 1, has 10 new true-crime mysteries that you don’t want to miss. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Coming in February: Things that have gone missing

November 04, 2021 15:12 - 2 minutes - 2.31 MB

WBUR’s popular true-crime podcast returns, with mysterious tales about people, places, ashes, planets, endangered species, feelings and much more. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Coming in January: Things that have gone missing

November 04, 2021 15:12 - 2 minutes - 2.31 MB

WBUR’s popular true-crime podcast returns, with mysterious tales about people, places, ashes, planets, endangered species, feelings and much more.

Last Seen Presents: Anything For Selena

October 29, 2020 18:35 - 4 minutes - 4.45 MB

Listen to the trailer for "Anything For Selena," a new podcast from WBUR and Futuro Studios coming in January 2021. Subscribe now so you don't miss it! About The Show: On March 31, 1995, nine-year-old Maria Garcia came home to find her mother glued to the TV, tears rolling down her rosy cheeks. The phone kept ringing. Relatives in Mexico and the States wanted to know if Maria’s family was watching, too. American networks and Mexican programming aired the same top story. Selena Quintanilla,...

Last Seen Presents: 'Madness'

July 08, 2020 20:31 - 20 minutes - 18.6 MB

"Madness" is a new investigative series from our fellow WBUR podcast, Endless Thread. Told in 5 parts, "Madness" unravels the shocking history of CIA-funded mind-control experiments. In the first episode, Endless Thread presents powerful accounts of abuse at a psychiatric hospital in Montreal, and introduces the renowned doctor who conducted these disturbing experiments on his unwitting patients. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Last Seen Presents: A Place Of Respite

November 04, 2019 17:07 - 14 minutes - 13.6 MB

Last Seen's sister podcast, Kind World, recently produced a special series featuring stories of kindness and compassion at the U.S.-Mexico border. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Last Seen Presents: The Amber Room

July 30, 2019 19:00 - 30 minutes - 27.8 MB

Last Seen fans, here's a story about one of the greatest missing treasures of all-time, The Amber Room, from our friends at WBUR's Endless Thread podcast. The Amber Room was a treasure of kings and an architectural marvel before being stolen by Nazis and lost to history. So…what happened? It all depends on who you ask. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Last Seen Presents: 'Infectious', Part 1

May 28, 2019 20:06 - 38 minutes - 35.1 MB

"Infectious: The Strange Past and Surprising Present of Vaccines — and Anti-Vaxxers" explores the weird, winding story of scientific innovation, medical disasters and online virality that radicalized new parents and created a movement that threatens to send us back to the disease-ridden dark ages. Subscribe to Endless Thread wherever you get your podcasts. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Last Seen Presents: Kind World

April 22, 2019 17:30 - 11 minutes - 10.4 MB

Last Seen wants to tell you about another great podcast: Kind World Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Last Seen Presents Endless Thread

December 07, 2018 15:02 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MB

We’re back in your feed to share a project we think you’ll love. There will be more from Last Seen in the new year. Until then, we wanted to share another mystery with you: an episode of the great WBUR podcast, Endless Thread. This story focuses on a young man who was last seen… in 1995. If you like it, subscribe to Endless Thread wherever you get your podcasts. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 10: 'Last Seen' Live

November 19, 2018 05:05 - 1 hour - 55.7 MB

A behind-the-scenes conversation about how we investigated the most sensational unsolved art heist in history. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 9: 'The Big Dig'

November 12, 2018 05:01 - 38 minutes - 35 MB

We follow a mobster's tip to excavate a lot in Orlando. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 8: 'Flimflammer'

November 05, 2018 05:01 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MB

After a parallel heist gone wrong, did Brian McDevitt succeed at the Gardner Museum? Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 7: 'I Was The One'

October 29, 2018 04:01 - 36 minutes - 33.7 MB

Was the world's greatest art thief the inspiration, or actually the mastermind, of the Gardner heist? Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 6: 'Befriend And Betray'

October 22, 2018 04:01 - 32 minutes - 29.4 MB

This is a story about how to plot an art recovery, and then blow it entirely. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 5: 'The Bobbys'

October 15, 2018 04:01 - 33 minutes - 30.2 MB

We trace the art's possible path from Boston to Connecticut to Philadelphia. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 4: 'Two Bad Men'

October 08, 2018 04:05 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MB

Were George Reissfelder and David Turner involved in the Gardner heist? Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 3: 'Not A Bunch Of Jamokes'

October 01, 2018 04:01 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MB

Was the heist planned in the belly of Boston's criminal underworld operating out of a Dorchester auto body shop? Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 2: 'Inside Job?'

September 24, 2018 04:05 - 33 minutes - 30.6 MB

On the night of the heist, security guard Rick Abath made the critical mistake of letting the thieves into the museum. In this episode, we ask if it was indeed a mistake. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Episode 1: '81 Minutes'

September 14, 2018 20:14 - 35 minutes - 32.2 MB

In 1990, two thieves stole 13 irreplaceable artworks from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. We take a closer look at what happened that night. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.

Introducing 'Last Seen'

July 16, 2018 16:42 - 3 minutes - 2.94 MB

A look into the largest unsolved art heist in history: the theft of 13 irreplaceable artworks from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. "Last Seen" begins Sept. 17. Tell us what you think of Last Seen! Please fill out our short survey.