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.
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