Pulitzer And Peabody Award-Winning Podcast STOLEN Season 3 Debuts

 There are essentially three types of true-crime podcasts. First, the podcast that exposes a criminal injustice where innocent people are either charged or convicted of a crime that they did not commit. Second, the podcast that exposes the violence and cruelty endemic in our society with tales of horribly violent and sadistic crimes.

 Third, there is the true-crime podcast that exposes a social injustice that goes ignored by society. “Stolen: The Search for Jermain,” was that third type of true-crime podcast. The podcast -- released in the Spring of 2021 -- and was critically acclaimed and well-received by large numbers of listeners.

“Stolen: The Search for Jermain” focused on the case of a missing Indigenous woman, Jermain Charlo, in Montana, who was out one evening at a bar in Missoula and never made it home. Over the course of eight episodes, Walker is on the ground in real time tracking down leads through the dense mountains of the Flathead Reservation, all while examining what it means to be an Indigenous woman in America, as Jermain was.

Stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the U.S. have long gone uncovered by mainstream media, and Walker hopes to change that. For added perspective, the statistics on violence against Indigenous women in the U.S. are alarming — according to the Indian Law Resource Center: 

• More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence
• More than 1 in 2 have experienced sexual violence 
• On some reservations, Indigenous women are murdered at more than ten times the national average

 In the podcast, Walker exposed a human-rights crisis and shares the personal tragedy of Jermain Charlo. During the podcast's eight episodes, Walker exposed the utter lack of awareness about the ongoing and rampant violence against indigenous women, the law enforcement failures and the legal hurdles endemic to any prosecution.

Then, in the Spring of 2022, “Stolen: Surviving St. Michaels,” was released. This time, host Connie Walker unearths how her own family’s story fits into one of Canada’s darkest chapters: the residential school system. The traumatic legacy of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools came to light in both U.S. and Canada national media in 2022 when the remains of 215 children were uncovered on the grounds of Canada’s Kamloops Indian Residential School.

 Now, journalist Connie Walker’s Pulitzer and Peabody Award-Winning Podcast Stolen will return for Season 3, Stolen: Trouble in Sweetwater on Tuesday, March 5 with episodes airing weekly on Spotify.

You can listen HERE.

Violence. Retaliation. Disappearances. The Navajo Nation is 27,000 square miles of remote terrain with just over 200 tribal police officers. This season on Stolen, Connie Walker’s investigation into the cases of two missing women leads her on a search for justice in a place where people say you can get away with murder.

Stolen: Trouble in Sweetwater will premiere on the heels of the series’ critically acclaimed second season, Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s. Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s made history in 2023 when it became the first podcast to win both a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award in the same year. The series was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in the Audio Reporting category, as well as a 2023 Peabody Award in the Podcast and Radio category.

Stolen is hosted by Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist Connie Walker, whose work has exposed the crisis of violence in Indigenous communities and the devastating impacts of intergenerational trauma stemming from Indian Residential Schools in Canada and the U.S. 

Walker, who is Cree from Okanese First Nation in Canada, has made it her life’s work as a journalist to tell the stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women. “Stolen: The Search for Jermain,” marks not only her first story with Gimlet Media but also the first U.S. case of a missing Indigenous woman that she’s investigated. 

 

Reporting for Stolen: Trouble in Sweetwater was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s (IWMF) Fund for Indigenous Journalists reporting on issues related to Missing & Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) with a concentration on women, girls, Two-Spirit, and transgender people.

 

 

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