Fact vs. speculation: How true crime podcasters approach the Kyron Horman case

In the digital age, true crime content has exploded in popularity

across podcasts

, social media and streaming platforms. But with this growth comes a troubling trend: The blurring of verified facts and speculative theories.

On a recent episode of

Beat Check with The Oregonian

, guests Emily Reeder and Ashley Desanno from the

Books with Your Besties

podcast discussed this challenge while reflecting on

their coverage

of the case of

Kyron Horman

, the 7-year-old Portland boy who

went missing in 2010

“I think our biggest concern is putting anything out there that anyone would say, ‘That’s not true,’” explained Reeder, who brings academic credentials to the table with a Ph.D. in experimental psychology.

Generative AI was used to summarize a recent episode of the

Beat Check podcast

. This story was reviewed and edited by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

“We are so deeply influenced by our social environment,” Reeder said, “by our community, by the way that we take in information and media.”

Reeder admitted how difficult it can be “to identify what the facts are from the case” when “there are so many different articles that contradict each other.”

This struggle for accuracy stands in contrast to the certainty often projected in online forums or in more sensational approaches to stories of true crime.

Desanno said she has developed a skeptical approach through her friendship with Reeder and years of consuming true crime content.

“It is not in my nature to be that way,” she said. “It is in my nature to really confidently think, well, clearly this person did it and this is what happened.”

But she says she’s learned that “the more I’m able to look at it from all different angles and the more I’m able to sometimes play devil’s advocate and ask harder questions,” the more confident she feels in their conclusions.

The podcasters said they refuse to present speculation as fact, despite the temptation to include compelling details.

This caution stems partly from witnessing the problematic nature of internet sleuthing.

“One of the other things that was really shocking to us is how many assertions there are on places like Reddit or WebSleuths.com, these sites where people go on TikTok and Instagram Reels that people say with so much certainty something about the case that we can’t find verified anywhere,” Reeder said.

The podcast also tackled the psychological complexity of criminal cases, with Reeder challenging common assumptions about how people “should” behave in traumatic situations.

“We don’t know how we would behave in any given situation,” she emphasized, noting that there’s a tendency to interpret behaviors through a narrow lens of guilt or innocence.

Even widely accepted investigative tools like polygraph tests, aren’t foolproof.

Reeder explained that even a 96% accuracy rate means “if you have a 100 people in a room, you’re going to misclassify four of them,” potentially leading investigators down the wrong path.

For the Books with Your Besties hosts, responsible true crime storytelling centers on honoring victims through accurate representation.

This means resisting the temptation to “go down those rabbit holes because you do see something that you want to be true,” Desanno said.

Listen to the full episode here:

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