The YouTube gumshoe

When a young primary school teacher is found dead in her kitchen with multiple stab wounds, the police launch an investigation into what happened. The Medical Examiner’s Office declare her death a homicide, but a week later the police rule it a suicide. For true crime YouTuber Gavin, this becomes a case he can’t put down. After Gavin's story, producer Poppy Damon and true crime expert Rachel Monroe discuss the ethics of home sleuths, and whether their work should be considered entertainment, journalism or policing.

Home Sleuth brings you true crime stories from citizen investigators taking justice into their own hands. An unidentified murder victim, a schoolteacher’s suicide, the brutal dismembering of animals. The police have investigated these cases, but our sleuths aren’t content with the answers. They begin their own search for justice. Over five episodes, we hear the gripping story of the role that home sleuths play in investigating crimes and mysteries, from the original internet sleuth in the 1990s through to present-day true crime YouTubers. In most true crime podcasts, a presenter tells you where the story is going. This time, we break the mould. The sleuths present their own stories. After each episode, true crime expert Rachel Monroe dissects the case and looks deep inside the search for truth. Why do ordinary people dedicate themselves to these investigations? Is it ethical? What does it say about our obsession with true crime? Home Sleuth is a Furrowed Brow production for BBC Sounds. Created and produced by Alice Fiennes and Poppy Damon

Associate producer - Brenna Daldorph

Sound Design by John Scott

Fact-checking by Arthur Gompertz

Editorial consultation and additional sound design by Nick Van Der Kolk at Wingdog Audio

Commissioned by Luke Eldridge and Nicky Birch for BBC Sounds