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STRANGELAND from audiochuck is an investigative series that examines cases in immigrant neighborhoods. Season 2: Murder is Maple Shade is hosted by investigative journalist Ben Adair and award-winning journalist with more than 30 years experience across three continents, Tinku Ray. Maple Shade, New Jersey is a quaint suburb where the motto is, “Nice Town, Friendly People.” But on the evening of March 23, 2017, an Indian tech worker, Sasikala Narra, and her six-year-old son, Anish, were found brutally murdered in their apartment. Police questioned the husband and father, Hanumantha, but his alibi checked out. Six years later, the case is still unsolved, and authorities won’t discuss it. So, we’re investigating for ourselves and discovering new leads, potential motives, and questionable behavior by local authorities. Will there ever be justice for Sasikala and Anish? Strangeland is produced by Western Sound.
Episodes
| Date | Title | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/16/23 | Updates + Alphabet Boys | Tips on the Narra case have been pouring in. Ben gives an update and s...hares your next podcast binge: Alphabet Boys. more | Transcribed |
| 3/10/23 | NEW SHOW: The Deck Investigates | Darlene Hulse was forcibly taken from her home in Argos, Indiana on Au...gust 17, 1984. Her two oldest daughters witnessed the attack but they didn’t recognize the man who took their mother. Though Darlene’s body would be found a day later, just six miles from her home, her killer has evaded law enforcement for almost four decades and her case has remained cold…until now. more | Transcribed |
| 3/2/23 | Ep 14 of 14: Six Years Later | Throughout our year-long investigation, Hanu has ignored our repeated ...attempts to contact him. So, in the Season Finale of Strangeland, we knock on his door to talk face-to-face. more | Transcribed |
| 3/2/23 | Ep 13 of 14: The Witness | A traumatized eyewitness walks us through his memory of March 23, 2017... - from Sasi and Anish’s arrival home that afternoon to Hanu’s puzzling behavior upon discovering the bodies. The Witness shares all ... including, a brand new lead. The biggest one yet. more | Transcribed |
| 3/2/23 | Ep 12 of 14: The Payoff | There were some dramatic lifestyle change following the murders, along...side a strange donation to a Maple Shade charity. We investigate that, plus the ongoing legal battle for Sasi’s estate. There’s more than a million dollars at stake. more | Transcribed |
| 3/2/23 | Ep 11 of 14: The Friend | There was a third person at the Narra’s apartment the night of the m...urders - a woman whose odd behavior triggers some red flags. Could this alleged “family friend” be the same woman Sasi mentioned in her letter? We track her across the Philadelphia suburbs to ask her some crucial questions. more | Transcribed |
| 2/23/23 | Ep 10 of 14: The Mystery Woman | After months of searching, we find the mystery woman from the 911 call.... She does a sit-down interview and reveals some shocking details about the crime scene. more | |
| 2/23/23 | Ep 9 of 14: The Commute | Hanu and Sasi both worked for Cognizant - a Global IT company known fo...r providing U.S. visas to Indian employees. But these immigration papers come with a major catch. more | |
| 2/16/23 | Ep 8 of 14: The Mail Slot | A former neighbor of the Narras gives a first-hand account of the fami...ly’s troubling dynamics. But, he says, it was Hanu’s behavior in the days following the murders that was even more concerning. more | |
| 2/16/23 | Ep 7 of 14: The Letter | We discover a letter that Sasi wrote to her brother, Venu, a few years... before her death. more | |
| 2/9/23 | Ep 6 of 14: The Homeland | The bodies of Sasikala and Anish Narra were shipped back to India for ...last rites amid an inter-family drama between Hanu’s and Sasi’s families. more | |
| 2/9/23 | Ep 5 of 14: The Drop Off | Murdered son Anish Narra was beloved by those who knew him. | |
| 2/2/23 | Ep 4 of 14: The Inner Circle | The Narra murders divide the sizable Indian community in South Jersey.... Hanu’s closest confidants at the powerful Telugu Association of North America (TANA) keep strangely silent while other Indian cultural groups readily assist investigators in drumming up new leads. Is TANA trying to protect someone? more | |
| 2/2/23 | Ep 3 of 14: The Husband | Following the murders, Sasi’s husband Hanu was taken in for question...ing. But investigators soon let him go, saying his alibi holds up. more | |
| 2/2/23 | Ep 2 of 14: The Divide | Maple Shade is a modern-day Mayberry, but in the Fox Meadow apartments..., it’s a different story. more | |
| 2/2/23 | Ep 1 of 14: Nice Town, Friendly People | Hanumantha Narra arrives home from work to find the lifeless bodies of... his wife and son. more | |
| 1/26/23 | Season 2: Murder in Maple Shade | Maple Shade, New Jersey is a quaint suburb; its slogan is “Nice Town..., Friendly People.” But on the evening of March 23, 2017, an Indian tech worker, Sasikala Narra, and her six-year-old son, Anish, were found brutally murdered in their apartment. more | |
| 11/8/21 | Ep 10 of 10: The Results | The results of the new DNA tests are in, with big implications for Rob...in Cho, Byung Song, and the victims of this crime. So, the question is, will justice be served and how? more | |
| 11/8/21 | Ep 9 of 10: The DNA | Ben and Sharon visit the lab that did the DNA testing that led to Robi...n Cho’s conviction. While touring the facility, they learn of DNA from the crime scene that’s never been tested. more | |
| 11/8/21 | Ep 8 of 10: Holes in the Case (Part 2) | It’s courtroom 101: the prosecution’s trying to make a case, the d...efense is trying to get their client off, and it’s the jury’s job to figure out the truth. But how much of the science that’s presented at court is actually scientific? Ben and Sharon look closely at specific pieces of evidence presented at trial and find out that some of the bedrock assumptions about evidence and crimes… could be wrong. more | |
| 11/8/21 | Ep 7 of 10: Holes in the Case (Part 1) | As part of Strangeland’s reinvestigation, Ben and Sharon have been k...eeping a list that goes way beyond culture clashes and misunderstandings. It shows that the prosecution’s already-tenuous motive for Cho is even less solid than they thought. At the same time, Cho’s behavior doesn’t do him any favors. more | |
| 11/8/21 | Ep 6 of 10: We Affirm | After almost eight weeks of trial and deliberations, there’s a verdi...ct. However, though the jury has reached a decision, they don’t seem very confident when it comes to sentencing Robin Cho. more | |
| 11/8/21 | Ep 5 of 10: The Trial | The man dubbed “The Koreatown Killer” heads to trial, and the pros...ecution presents its case — with no witnesses, no weapon, and no concrete motive. The jury must decide if one piece of evidence is enough to send Robin Cho to Death Row. more | |
| 11/8/21 | Ep 4 of 10: The Case Against Robin Cho (Part 2) | LAPD investigators pounce on Cho, interrogating him twice in the same ...day. After hours of getting nowhere, emotions boil over in the interrogation room. The cops eventually arrest him for murder… but they may have missed their chance to make the case. more | |
| 11/8/21 | Ep 3 of 10: The Case Against Robin Cho (Part 1) | LAPD detectives take their first crack at their new suspect. However, ...things just aren’t adding up for the cops — or for Robin Cho. Afterward, Cho leads the police on a wild ride across Los Angeles and exhibits some very suspicious behavior. more | |
| 11/8/21 | Ep 2 of 10: Who is Robin Cho? | Who is this new suspect that the LAPD has pegged for the brutal Koreat...own triple murder? A modest family man from the South Korean countryside who has some dark secrets — over two-and-a-half million of them. Do they add up to a motive for murder? more | |
| 11/8/21 | Ep 1 of 10: The Miracle Mile Massacre | On May 5, 2003, Chi Hyon Song, a 30-year-old mother, along with her tw...o-year-old son, and their 56-year-old nanny Eun Sik Min, were all slain, execution-style, in their modest apartment in Koreatown. LAPD detectives first suspected Song’s husband, but his alibi was air tight. With no other suspects, the case goes cold. That is, until 2008, when a law enforcement DNA database turned up a new connection to the case. more | |
| 10/15/21 | Season 1: The Koreatown Murders | STRANGELAND is a new series from audiochuck that is reexamining cases ...in immigrant neighborhoods. These investigations go where the police couldn’t to uncover the real story behind a headline crime. more |