Suspect

4,398

Suspect is an investigative series about mislaid justice and the kinds of weighty decisions that detectives, lawyers, and jurors make every day - decisions that, once made, are almost impossible to reverse.

Season 2: Vanished in the Snow chronicles the disappearance of 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews. For three and a half decades, her disappearance was a mystery – a riddle neither authorities nor her family members could solve. The residents of her cloistered Colorado hometown had scoured every inch of prairie. The President of the United States appealed to journalists to help. Jonelle’s smiling face was printed on milk cartons nationwide. Still, every lead had fizzled. Every person of interest had turned out to be a dead end. Then, in 2019, Jonelle’s remains were unearthed near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. With the discovery came troubling new questions: a man obsessed with the case also be her abductor and murderer? Had the truth been hiding in plain sight the entire time?
Follow Suspect Season 2: Vanished in the Snow on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery+ in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery App
Season 1 features a whodunit-style search for a holiday party killer. An apartment complex hosts a big Halloween party with themed rooms and costumed partygoers. By the end of the night one of the party’s hosts is murdered. And the partygoers are the main suspects in the eyes of the police: was it the guy in the devil mask, the guy dressed as Jesus, the bank robber, the construction worker? As a complex investigation winds its way through forensic evidence, witness testimony, DNA, and even a psychic, the police zero in on one suspect in particular -- but why?

Recent Episodes

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Recent Reviews

Shaycr16

Another

Hi! I really liked your shows! I hope you are developing another one right now. I listened to an episode of Vanished and I much prefer the way you guys construct and deliver the podcast. You are much more down to earth and come across as really caring about what you are reporting and speaking about.
Lacyladean

Bias is ridiculous (season 1)

First few episodes had me hooked. The speaker’s bias and condescending lectures became intolerable to the point I did not finish the 7th episode. Made excuses for any evidence or suspicious behavior of the suspect and accusations of racially charged bias against anyone who considered the evidence against him valid. It’s as though this speaker himself works for the defense team. Very unfortunate.
tigkkhsbnmd

The game was really

The first time in a year I was a bit skeptical of a place to eat at a hotel in my hotel and the
yishshis

The only way I

The first one I have had a great day today I was just thinking of going and I got a little worried that you
Johnny424

fall from grace

season one was done well, season two is a joke, i quit listening after the first episode, get rid of the lady and bring back the original guy from season one
LorenzoR.I

Well Done

I’m a mail carrier for the postal service, and I have had listened to hundreds of true crime podcasts in order to pass my eight hour. I want to just pass along my opinion of your podcast not only was it well done it’s so clear how much work you and your talented team put into your work. So thank you for your passion.
ducky island

The ads…

Great stories and reporting, it’s just a shame that I’m listening to ads half the time. Can’t even make it through half of the second season.
Duncanomics

Great binge

My meal prep flew by binging this. Great pace, storytelling, music, editing, and voice.
Footypj

Amateur Journalism

The host offers too many opinions outside of her expertise and splains things the way she thinks they should be. There’s a story here somewhere but the host makes it yet another opinion journalism piece.
AbbieMae3

Can’t listen to all of them

It’s super annoying how I could listen to the first five episodes for free without a subscription and now I can’t even finish the series and listen to episodes 6 or 7 without subscribing to Wondery and paying a fee. Very frustrating. I liked the series up until now rhay I’ll never know how it ends I guess.
Chef Pallino

Nice story, editors left a lot of truth on the editing floor

Beautifully produced, too bad it was done by cleverly sanitizing the characters and leaving out huge truths about their witnesses that are known racists in their neighborhood with a long history of domestic and public violence.
Ali974

Liberal Bias

It’s a great true crime story. However, your liberal bias and incessant insertion of anything racial you could find lessened the fair and balanced need of the podcast.
Smollett454

Hmmm

Seems to always have an excuse for some. You can just tell the story and let people decide without introducing your own guilty thoughts. Good stories but too much bias on the part of the story tellers.
tthaberstroh

Season 2 Ignores Weak Evidence

Season 1 was great, but season 2 barely analyzes alternative possibilities and suspects, given how weak and circumstantial the evidence is. The host clearly was biased toward telling the story from the victim’s family’s point of view. Given season 1’s focus on the trauma inflicted by a false conviction based on weak evidence, it felt like whiplash to hear the season 2 host’s celebration of a conviction based on weak evidence. Do better.
Duenejixjensjsikfofoelsnjsie

Unadulterated pap.

Watered down serial without any of the themes or intelligent writing.
Harpoon 95

Loved Season One - Did Not Love Season Two

I really loved Season One of Suspect and was so looking forward to more. Unfortunately, season Two was really weak. The narrator was not very convincing as a narrator, the writing was weak, and the story felt like it was struggling for drama. I’ll be back for Season Three hoping for better.
Werley (Whirley)

Good but

I I think the narrator inserted a bit too much of his own biases, but otherwise good
Dori8910

Well Done

I thought Ashly did a great job doing a deep dive into the Jonelle Matthews story. Lots of details I haven’t heard before from other sources. I like the way she personalized it and made the story very understandable and real even though Steven Panke is the most unbelievable, horrible creepy person ever.
Joce3375

Awesome

Loved season 1 and I loved season 2 even more. Really well done.
radiounited

S2 weak analysis

The evidence seemed so weak, felt it deserved A LOT more scrutiny. Of course you should respect victim’s families but this felt like it needed less advocating more journalism with respect to actual, real evidence.
Ebrenner03

Terrific

Season 1 was terrific and opened my eyes to how race plays an unintended part in criminal investigations. I really thought that the police minimized Cameron’s possible involvement in the murder. The podcast was well researched and very interesting. Sad that the police did not find the real killer. The dna aspect was also really interesting. I have heard of trace dna -wow. That was really interesting.
GO MINNESOTA WILD!!!

Decent podcast

Enjoyed Season 1’s story. Season 2 I can’t believe someone can get convicted 30 years later on such weak evidence. Guys a jerk to be sure, but I don’t know how any 12 person jury could say the evidence was beyond a reasonable doubt.
zinnowinno

Season 2

Really not an interesting case.
Juliefaye1

Deceptive

At least tell me up front that I can’t hear the whole series without a subscription.
purpleplatapus

People need to chill

Lol at the people getting worked up about having to pay for episodes- like almost every other podcast they are released for free within a week, gotta be patient
britmact

s1 was good but s2 is stupid

just finished s2 can’t believe their massive advertising budget was for THAT
BabbelOnAndOn

Babbel ad

“Let’s face it: our high school language class was not a high point of our academic career?” Why not?! As a high school world languages teacher, I find this comment highly offensive. Did you have a high point in your high school career? Most students like classes because they like their teachers. I’m sorry you didn’t have a good teacher and have come to this universal generalization but the wording on the Babbel sound bite ad is offensive and demeaning to language teachers. Do better for your child’s sake. Good for you for valuing the value of being bilingual but for goodness sake, please change the wording on this sponsored sound bite.
Adrielynn

Season 2… not so much

Season 1 was great (sounds like now a bunch of racists are trying to downplay it 🙄 Season 2… not so much. I finished but it was difficult to stay engaged with the story. I believe it was the storytelling & narration. You could tell the narrator has gotten personally invoked with the victims’ family. Which may have affected her ability to convey the story. Also, the victim wasn’t quite personalized enough to grow an attachment to the case. So that may have also been the issue. I truly don’t know if they got the right man because the case wasn’t super convincing. Everybody (including narrator) just hated the suspect.
LibbyLoveGreen

Read after finished listening- Sad state of things!!!!

My heart broke in the last episode when he was crying, obviously suffering from that feeling of impending doom which accompanies PTS and is endured by so many because of their experiences with incarceration. Then I was like- no. His fear is real. That stuff will come up when they run him and he will have to deal with that for his entire life. He is right to be afraid. It’s so wrong and such a sad state of things in our country when I man is afraid to get back on his feet after serving 10 years for something he didn’t do- and now he is just stuck. I feel so much for this man. Good job telling the story.
tiacsnah

Illogical

It just seems like the narrator of season 1 (and those who agree with his point of view) assigned significance to Emanuel’s race for no good reason. It seems like the reason that investigators treated Emanuel differently from Cameron was that Emanuel had a prior criminal record that included rape. It doesn’t make sense to assume it was because of his race. But that’s what season 1 is about. The purpose is to convince you that this person was treated unfairly from the start because of his race, and it failed to convince me of that.
jimbob1211

Not Worth the Time

Incredibly hard to listen to. Host is way too focused on the color of skin and not the facts of the case. He even refers to the main suspect as “unlucky” when referencing his prior rape conviction. This nothing more than propaganda at its finest
AnthonyTrask3

Dishonoring to the true victim in this case and desperate to find racism where they may be none

I am so disturbed by season 1 of this podcast. It seems as if season 1 completely dismisses the past victims and crimes of Fair- in particular, the rape of a 15 year-old girl, attempting to blame the arrest and convoctions of this man’s crimes on the color of his skin! One baffling part of this season is when the host tries to make it seem preposterous that Fair could possibly be a pimp, only to go on to share that he was “sharing and posting” ads on MySpace for a known sex worker- meeting the very definitions of a pimp! The entire season tries to make the case that Fairs arrest for Jinaga’s murder was based completely on the fact that he was black, when in reality, it was based on a large amount of evidence, mostly that of Fair’s DNA being found on the neck of a woman who was strangled, on his extensive criminal history, and the (imo) the fact that he hid in apartment during the police’s investigation of the complex following the murder. The case against Fair does indeed (if the portrayal of this podcast is accurate) seem to leave room for reasonable doubt, especially because there is some strong evidence against Jinaga’s neighbor Jack, so I understand why Fair was found to be “not guilty” in a court of law, but no evidence was ever present in the podcast to back up claim after claim, after claim that Fair was a suspect due to the fact he is black. Overall, this podcast dishonors the memory, murder, and injustice of the victim in this story, Jinaga, by making a the prime suspect in her killing (a criminal with an extensive record) into the victim.
Poory Littlefinger

Review

Literally could have been 3 podcasts long. Unfortunate story with long, drawn out dialogue.
whiplash-girlchild

Good but I’m frustrated.

Great podcast but got all the way to episode 6 before I knew that I’d be forced to pay to go on. If people really cared about solving unsolved crimes they wouldn’t paywall them. Unconscionable. Unsolved mysteries aired for free and solved so many cases. Each true crime podcast I hear where they charge you to know the story are vultures.
RA989

Garbage

Listened to five episodes of season 2 and then they force you to buy the last episode?! Lol. Forget it. Wasn’t THAT great of a story.
bmello21

Incredibly Disappointing Bait & Switch

I started with Season 2 b/c I was interested in the case and had really been enjoying it. What a huge let down to get to the very last episode and not be able to listen without purchasing a Wondery Subscription. My 1 star rating is not for the podcast itself but for whoever had the bright idea to pull this ‘bait & switch’ on the listener…it will make me skeptical about listening to any other Wondery podcast moving forward.
Kkell42ey

I have to pay for the last episode!?

This is a great podcast. Until you get to the final episode where they force you to pay for their podcast subscription otherwise you can’t listen to the episode.
nappyhairnmakeup

Jeff is awful.

Jeff is a terrible person and a idiot.
Sheseesseas

Sub needed for last episode

Really?? Wondery get it together. This is some gimmicky move.
Penguins2416

Finding a way to bring race into everything

Stopped at season one episode 4 when “the only black male” became the central talking point 🤦🏻‍♀️ the host dives into this guys criminal history and in my opinion uses his own biases to excuse all his “minor missteps” including his conviction of raping a 15 year old. Completely unneeded and a massive slap in the face to that girl and her family.
johnfivethousand

?

How is the neighbor not who tries to go to Canada not on trial?
Npglko

Extremely biased.

I really tried to listen but after getting to the episode in season 1 where the host almost completely dismissed the fact that the suspect was convicted of rape of a minor as credible reason for him being a suspect, along with the rest of his rap sheet bc… racism? A little disturbing of how the host disregarded the 15 yo victim. Hosts tell the entire story through their own biases. Season 2 was a little better so I gave it one extra star.
NappyDresser

Justice Delayed

I like to call the cop and DA incompetence in the Fair case: BiasCrapFit! Happens every day. Two systems of Justice for All. Great job on Fair Case! Fair should get a pile of money! DA belongs in Prison!$ Case in point for professional Jurors! Find the killer now laggards! Disgusting!
DeeGram

This is a white guilt podcast.

This podcast was never about justice from Arpena. Its justice for Emanuel. Not to say he’s guilty or innocent because you get virtually no court information, testimony or evidence testimony. You get “Cameron was looking at his feet” and a whole lot of the justice system is systematically racist and white people have it better than people like Emanuel.
RadiantGinger

Great listen 👍

Loved this podcast. Both seasons so far are great! Don’t let these racist reviews tell you otherwise. Even those accused of a crime or that have committed crimes in the past are still worthy of airtime and their stories being told. I loved hearing both sides to these cases and the hosts are easy to listen to. Thank you! Hope there are more seasons coming. Wonder has the best journalists right in your ear.
Woodjr

Pretty meh

You can’t help being biased liberal hack. Bless you. 2episodes and Im done you’re not that good.
MorganPeacock

They are clearly missing this is audio and visual

These stories are sooo darn drawn out! Most of what you are listening to is ppl getting ready to tell the dang story! I think they are forgetting this is a podcast and not a TV show. Im trying to listen to the stories but they are giving us play by play as someone is walking in a building or finding their mics. So much time wasted listening to this and other small talk! We want to hear the story not all the extra ish! Terrible podcast to listen to! It might be better if it was visual.
jewels12

Really wanted to like, but…

Never listened to season 1, but season 2 seemed like a very interesting story. However, after the first 4 episodes, it does not hold my attention. I find myself having to rewind a lot to relisten. I’m not sure if it’s her tone of voice or storytelling style, but it’s just not a compelling listen for me. I don’t think I’ll end up finishing the season.
sjrdly mh lu

Hate that a subscription is now required

I love the podcasts Wondery produces but unfortunately I won’t pay a subscription fee to listen. This is now the 3rd podcast that I have had to stop mid- listing due to this new change. :/
Crud muffin

Season 2 , political

Apparently this nations founding document (constitution) is far right extremist beliefs, just report on the facts , Why get political??