Episode Two of To Live And Die In LA Podcast: What Happened To Elaine Park

The return of season two of the popular true-crime podcast To Live and Die in LA is underway, and ten-time New York Times best-selling author and host Neil Strauss has a theory why the real time, week-to-week nature of podcasts can be more effective than other mediums to help solve missing persons cases — as he searches for answers to what happened to 20-year old, California woman Elaine Park. 

Strauss returns as host to uncover what happened to Elaine Park, a 20-year-old woman from Glendale, just north of Los Angeles, who went missing in 2017. On January 28, 2017, Park went to a movie with her ex-boyfriend and slept over at his Calabasas home. The next morning, surveillance footage shows her leaving his home, but Park hasn't been seen since. Park’s Honda Civic was discovered in Malibu five days later with the doors unlocked, the battery dead, and all of her personal belongings still in the car.

Almost five years later, with Park still missing and many unanswered questions remaining, Strauss is turning to the podcast to share details from his investigation and follow new leads in real time, with the hope of uncovering the truth as listeners who may know something share information.

 

Strauss told The AP in a recent article “...our goal in putting this podcast out is to get all the information out there so that anyone with information who knows anything can come forward,” says Strauss. “The podcast unfolds week to week...It’s interactive with tips coming in, people call, they get emotionally involved and attached.”

The newest episode is available, and you can listen here. Here is a quick recap of season two thus far:

• Neil collaborates with Incubus guitarist and songwriter, Michael Einziger, concert violinist Anne-Marie Simpson, and Strauss’ then-wife Ingrid De La O, who join investigator Jayden Brant to recount the day Elaine was last seen by her loved ones since her car was discovered in Malibu five days later
• A look into who Elaine is, through her own voice and social media, as well as through her closest friends
• Leads and theories are explored, including a very disturbing theory of an event taking place backstage at a high-profile hip-hop concert that has been shared by Elaine’s mother and the private investigator 
• The team takes a critical look at Elaine’s ex-boyfriends, including one who Elaine was last seen leaving his Calabasas home

 
The upcoming season, in partnership with Cadence13, an Audacy company, follows the critically acclaimed podcast’s 2019 debut in which Strauss, an award-winning journalist and Rolling Stone contributing editor, investigated and helped uncover the truth about the tragic death of aspiring Hollywood actress Adea Shabani. The Associated Press dubbed it “Podcast of the Year,” the series reached #1 on iTunes, and the show racked up more than 50 million downloads.

This season of “To Live and Die in LA” is both a sequel and a prequel to season one. The tragic disappearance of Elaine Park predates the disappearance of Adea Shabani by about one year. While Neil was investigating Adea’s disappearance and death, he was also investigating Park’s disappearance. Park’s case represents the origin story of “To Live and Die in LA,” painting a picture of how Neil first met season one investigator Jayden Brant, his journey into true crime, and the woman who first introduced Neil to Park’s case, his then-wife, Ingrid De La O.

Neil and Ingrid became obsessed with finding justice for Park, they have followed every detail of the case from 2017 until this point. With help from Incubus guitarist and songwriter Michael Einziger and his wife Ann Marie Simpson, a concert violinist, Strauss, Brant and De La O assemble to find answers, tracking down leads and uncovering revelations in real time. Throughout their journey, this unlikely group of citizen sleuths discover that several household names in Hollywood have unique connections with Elaine's case. As the case remains active with Neil working closely with law enforcement, every bit of information they collect becomes valuable.

“It’s my hope that the attention this podcast draws to the case helps bring forward information that will lead to Elaine’s whereabouts. This occurred last season, and the person who called in requested anonymity. That is something we have honored, and will continue to honor for anyone who knows anything that can help further this investigation and provide closure for Elaine’s loved ones,” said host Neil Strauss.

The first season of “To Live and Die in LA” was Strauss’s first foray into narrative podcasting, after more than a decade of going undercover in different communities and writing bestsellers based on his experiences, including The Truth, in addition to award-winning reporting for the New York Times and Rolling Stone.

Tenderfoot TV premium subscription offering TenderfootPlus+ is set to launch in the coming weeks as part of an exclusive collaboration with Apple podcasts subscriptions, where listeners can subscribe and enjoy ad-free listening options of “To Live and Die in LA.”

Although the podcast landscape is full of true-crime podcasts, "To Live and Die in LA” does offer listeners the addictive narrative storytelling of host Neil Strauss and the taut intensity of a mystery still unsolved.