True Crime Experts

Howard Blum

Former New York Times Reporter & Author

Howard Blum is a former reporter for the New York Times where he was nominated for two Pulitzers for Investigative Reporting and is the author of several bestselling non-fiction books.

WHEN THE NIGHT COMES FALLING was an instant New York Times and Amazon bestseller, and is being made into a series by Village Roadshow Productions.

Howard lives in East Hampton.

Tony DeStefano

Journalist, Attorney & True Crime Author

Anthony “Tony” DeStefano is a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York City journalist and author who has covered crime and related topics for over 35 years.

He is the author of nine true crime books, including the most recent: BROADWAY BUTTERFLY: VIVIAN GORDON, THE JAZZ GANGSTER OF JAZZ AGE NEW YORK, in addition to THE DEADLY DON: VITO GENOVESE MAFIA BOSS and GOTTI’S BOYS: THE MAFIA CREW THAT KILLED FOR JOHN GOTTI, both published by Kensington Publishing. His other true crime books published by Kensington include TOP HOODLUM: FRANK COSTELLO, PRIME MINISTER OF THE MAFIA and LAST GODFATHER: JOSEPH THE MASSINO AND THE FALL OF THE BONANNO CRIME FAMILY.

Tony has covered a wide range of legal related subjects, specializing in organized crime, white collar crime and immigration. He published THE WAR ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING: U.S. POLICY ASSESSED through Rutgers University Press. In conducting research for the book, he traveled both to Europe and Central America.

Tony received a Bachelor of Science degree from Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY), a Master of Arts from Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI), and a Juris Doctor from New York Law School (New York, NY.)

Tony is an attorney and member of the New York State Bar and has appeared in a number of television documentaries about organized crime and true crime stories. 

Scott Duffey

FBI Supervisory Special Agent, retired

Scott Duffey is a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent who served at the agency’s Baltimore Division for 22 years and as a supervisory agent at its Wilmington, Delaware office. Duffey supervised the violent crime task force squad that investigated gang violence, bank and commercial robberies and juvenile sex trafficking. He also was a municipal police officer in Pennsylvania for six years.

A certified police instructor, Mr. Duffey has served as an instructor for the FBI, teaching interview and interrogation skills to law enforcement professionals worldwide. Duffey has received extensive training in the field of interviewing and interrogating with the FBI, Israeli Security Agency and the basic and advanced courses with the Reid technique. He continues to instruct municipal police officers of Pennsylvania’s southeast region as a certified instructor for the Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission (MPOETC) at the Montgomery County Police Academy.

He has extensive experience in investigation and supervision of complex white-collar, violent crime and sex trafficking cases. Mr. Duffey is currently a Director for the Wilmington University’s Criminal Justice Institute located at the Brandywine Campus, Wilmington, Delaware.

Mr. Duffey also provides on air crime analysis for the FOX, CNN, and News Nation networks.

Joseph Giacalone

Retired NYPD Sergeant SDS, Expert on Law Enforcement & Author

Joseph Giacalone is a retired NYPD Sergeant SDS, current adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, author, and media resource. Joe is a widely sought-after expert on everything involving law enforcement.

His textbook, THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE FUNCTION: A GUIDE FOR NEW INVESTIGATORS is in its 4th Edition and has been used throughout the country to train new detectives and supervisors. He is also under contract for a new textbook involving cold cases. Joe was also the former Commanding Officer of the NYPD’s Bronx Cold Case Squad.

Joe can be heard every Friday morning for The Crime Report on Suffolk County’s only talk radio station, 103.9 FM. Learn more at josephgiacalone.com

Laura Ingle

TRUE CRIME broadcast journalist & anchor 

Laura Ingle anchors NewsNation Live (Saturdays 10am-1pm ET and Sundays 11am-1pm ET), and serves as a senior correspondent for NewsNation where she covers breaking news, general assignment stories, and contributes to enterprise reporting on true crime cases.

Based in New York City, she joined the network as a freelance correspondent in September and became official in May 2024.

An award-winning veteran broadcast journalist, Ms. Ingle previously served as a senior correspondent at FOX News Channel from 2005–2023.

Most recently on NewsNation, Ms. Ingle contributed to an investigative series on the Long Island Serial Killer case where she hosted a five-part documentary, and seven-part podcast entitled, “Grim Tide: Hunting the Long Island Serial Killer.” Taking viewers through the rough bramble of Long Island’s Gilgo and Oak Beaches, Ms. Ingle also gained exclusive access at the Suffolk County Crime Lab to showcase the forensic technology being used to help track down a suspect in the decades-old crime.

During her tenure in broadcast journalism, she has covered numerous true crime cases, including the disappearance of van-life blogger Gabby Petito, the high-profile investigation into the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, a Connecticut mother of five, and the case of Bryan Kohberger who was arrested for the murders of four college students in Moscow, Idaho in 2022.

Ms. Ingle was one of the first reporters to broadcast from the Monroe County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania after Mr. Kohberger was detained. Notably, she conducted an exclusive sit-down interview with Petito’s four parents and secured an exclusive one-on-one interview with Dulos’ estranged husband Fotis Dulos where she asked him face-to-face if he had anything to do with the disappearance. Her interview later became part of a documentary entitled, “Murder in Connecticut: The Jennifer Dulos Story.”

In 2005, Ms. Ingle earned an Edward R. Murrow award for her reporting on the Scott Peterson trial. Additionally, she hosted a 20-year anniversary special on the case entitled, “Reporter’s Notebook: The Scott Peterson Case.”

Other high-profile criminal trials she has covered include the Michael Jackson child molestation case, the Connecticut Home Invasion double murder trial, the David Westerfield trial in San Diego, California, and the San Francisco dog mauling case.

Prior to her work on national television, Ms. Ingle was an investigative reporter, covering high-profile stories for NewsRadio KFBK-AM in her hometown of Sacramento, California.

Previously she worked at KFI-AM 640 in Los Angeles, California where she earned four Golden Mike Awards from the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California. 

Hugh King

Town Crier & Historian for East Hampton Town

Hugh King is the Town Crier and Historian for East Hampton Town and has been studying local history since the 1980’s.

His goal is to make people aware of East Hampton’s history, beyond the moniker “the Hamptons.” He believes it is important that all its citizens know about the village’s past to help plan for the future.

The favorite part of his job of enlightening others is learning from his own research.

Hugh is the Village Historian and Historic Site Director in charge of Home Sweet Home Museum, the most distinguished salt-box home in East Hampton, as well as the three Village Windmills, Hook, Gardiner and Pantigo.

As Village Historian, he answers inquiries concerning Village history, arranges and conducts open-air historical tours, and shares Village history at Board of Trustee meetings. As Historic Site Director, he conducts walk-throughs of Home Sweet Home and arranges guides for the Hook Mill.

Prior to working for the Village, Hugh was a teacher for 33 years, and from 1963-1999, he was an actor in local theater productions.

From 2000-2014, he worked alongside his wife, the respected historian Loretta Orion, who tended the Home Sweet Home gardens. The historic gardens reflect styles and plant species found in the United States and Europe that date back from medieval times to the nineteenth century. 

Mayor Jerry Larsen

Former East Hampton Village Police Department Chief

A lifelong resident of East Hampton, Mayor Jerry Larsen has dedicated his entire career to serving the East Hampton Village community. Motivated by his childhood dream of becoming a police officer, Mayor Larsen served as a member of the East Hampton Village Police Department for 34 years, 14 of which were as Chief of Police.

He is the former president of the Suffolk County Police Association, a county-wide organization that encompasses 2,500 local departments. Beyond his policing experience, Larsen was appointed to serve as Department Head of Emergency Services for East Hampton Village and is a member of the Village’s Kiwanis Club, which hosts and promotes local service opportunities and family events.

Mayor Larsen is a past board director at the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce, and LTV Studios. He was the former President and Coach of East Hampton Little League. 

Mayor Larsen and his wife Lisa own ProTec Security, a local business that provides home security systems. His experience as both a public servant and a Village business owner offers him a nuanced perspective that, coupled with the skills he acquired as Village Police Chief, puts him in a unique position to tackle the issues affecting the residents of East Hampton Village.

Mayor Larsen is one of the co-founders of Hamptons Whodunit, and has six children who grew up in East Hampton.

Cary London 

Trial Attorney & Civil Rights Lawyer

Cary London is a partner at the law firm of Shulman & Hill, PLLC, and Chair of their Civil Rights Division. He has previously worked for the NYPD, Bronx District Attorney’s Office, Brooklyn Defender Services, and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Richard Lee Price. 

He has handled over 10,000 civil rights and criminal cases from inception to verdict, and is considered a premier trial attorney who is one of the last “True Believers” in the civil rights context. Mr. London is a graduate of the University of Virginia and New York Law School. 

For more information on Mr. London’s practice, please visit shulman-hill.com 

Sheryl “Mac” McCollum

Founder, Cold Case Investigative Research Institute (CCIRI)

Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an three time nominated Emmy Award winning CSI from CBS46’s CSI Atlanta, National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame Inductee, Director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute (CCIRI), a writer for CrimeOnLine, Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and a working CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department. 

Sheryl holds a master’s degree in Criminal Justice with an emphasis on Policing. She is the co-author of the textbook, COLD CASE: PATHWAYS TO JUSTICE. She is a contributing writer for CRIME online, a crime-fighting website founded by Nancy Grace, television personality and former. 

Sheryl “Mac” McCollum has worked with criminals like famed Mafia hit man Frank Cullotta, Johnny Lee Cleary, the ex Imperial Wizard of the KKK, the Flint River Killer, Alcatraz Inmate #1355 Robert Schibline and Jimmy Hoffa’s driver, The Weasel, to gain intel on how to solve certain cold cases. She has also worked side by side with notable family members such as Lana Wood, Beth Holloway, Sue Savio, Lois Duncan, Donna Pettis and Susan Levy. She not only admires them but has genuinely befriended them all. For almost forty years, Sheryl has used her training and experience in criminal justice to solve some of the country’s most difficult cases.

McCollum’s law-enforcement career began in 1982 at the Rape Crisis Center at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. From there, she was director of the Metro Atlanta Cold Case Crime Analysis Squad. During the 1996 Olympic Games, she was the coordinator for the Crisis Response Team that planned and trained for four years and responded to the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, providing victim services.

McCollum in 2004 founded Cold Case Investigative Research Institute (CCIRI), which unites researchers, practitioners, students and the criminal justice community to work collectively to advance research, training and techniques in solving cold cases. CCIRI is a nationwide volunteer network that assists victims’ families and law enforcement by working on unsolved homicides, missing persons and kidnapping cases. So far, more than 8,000 students and 600 experts have volunteered their time and talents. 

She added her own branded acronym for law enforcement. Among the famous, ABA (all points bulletin), BOLO (be on the lookout), Sheryl added the A-WIC (anyone with information contact)! 

Sheryl has reviewed, consulted and worked on thousands of criminal cases across the USA and has appeared on Dateline, Nancy Grace, Dr. Oz, CSI Atlanta, Fox Nation, and Discovery ID.  

Some of her most famous cases include: The Boston Strangler, Natalie Wood, Kathleen Savio (Drew Peterson), Don Lewis (Tiger King), Natalee Holloway, the Missing and Murdered Children (Wayne Williams) and Tu Pac Shakur. 

Some of Sheryl’s accolades include The President’s Innovation Award, an Emmy for CSI Atlanta: True Crime Special, a Department of Justice Award for the 1996 Olympic Games Crisis Response, a Metro Atlanta Crime Commission Award, and she was inducted into the Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame with a 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Sheryl is a native Atlantan and graduate of Woodward Academy where she met her husband, and Georgia State University. She is most proud of her marriage to Walt who was her high school sweetheart and their two accomplished college age children, Huck and Caroline. Sheryl has four sisters who all volunteer for the CCIRI.

She hosts Zone 7, a weekly cold case podcast.

Joseph Scott Morgan, M.F.S., F-ABMDI

Podcast Host, Death Investigator & Author

Joseph Scott Morgan, M.F.S., F-ABMDI, is the Distinguished Scholar of Applied Forensics at Jacksonville State University where he holds the faculty rank of Associate Professor of Applied Forensics. Morgan holds a Master of Forensic Sciences degree from National University and is a Board-Certified Fellow of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators.

In 1985, Joseph Scott Morgan began working for the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office in New Orleans. During his tenure as the Senior Investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner in Atlanta, Georgia, Morgan helped establish the national training guidelines for Medicolegal Death Investigators. To this day, Joseph Scott Morgan remains one of less than 200 people nationwide to attain “Fellow” status through the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators.

Morgan is considered one of the leading experts on the Coroner System in the United States. He has a particular research interest in the areas of:

• Estimation of time since death

• Injury assessment on the scenes of deaths

• Mass fatality investigations

• Training curricula and development for state coroner systems

• Notification of next of kin methodologies

• Impact of notification of next of kin on practitioners

• Forensic practice in rural settings

Joseph Scott Morgan has appeared, for the past two years, on both Headline News and CNN as the on-air forensics expert. 

In 2013, Morgan was named “Georgia Author of the Year” for his memoir entitled BLOOD BENEATH MY FEET: THE JOURNEY OF A SOUTHERN DEATH INVESTIGATOR.

Joseph also has a successful Podcast called Body Bags.

Nicholas Petraco

Forensic Expert & Consultant, art fraud investigator

Mr. Nicholas Petraco was employed as a sworn officer for NYPD from 1968 until his retirement in 1990, where he worked as a police trainee, police officer, and detective. During his tenure with the NYPD, he was assigned to the Firearms Control Board, the 19th Patrol Precinct and the Detective Bureau’s Scientific Research Division (SRD) as a Detective/Criminalist.

While assigned to the SRD Petraco was responsible for laboratory and crime scene casework, training personnel, and testifying as an expert witness in legal proceedings. Mr. Petraco has both work experience and subject matter expertise in Laboratory Analysis of all types of materials encountered as physical evidence at scenes of crimes, Crime Scene Investigation & Reconstruction, Firearms and Tool Mark Analysis, Pattern Analysis, Post Blast Investigation, Materials Analysis as well as Chemical, Biological, and Art Fraud Cases. Mr. Petraco has testified hundreds of times in all types of civil and criminal hearings, procedures, and trials. Upon his retirement Mr. Petraco established his forensic science consultancy business and art fraud investigation.

In 2007, the CUNY Committee on Staff and Administration appointed Mr. Petraco as an Assistant Professor. He was recently promoted to the rank of Full Professor. Professor Petraco has been teaching and doing research in forensic science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, since the early 1980’s.

Professor Petraco has authored and coauthored five forensic textbooks including COLOR ATLAS AND MANUAL OF MICROSCOPY FOR CHEMIST, CRIMINALIST, AND CONSERVATORS, twenty book chapters and three CDs on an array of forensic disciplines and over one hundred peer-reviewed papers and literature contributions in noted sciences and forensic science journals and textbooks.                    

From 1999-2016, Professor Petraco was employed by the NYPD’s Detective Bureau’s Forensic Investigation Division as a Forensic Consultant/Technical Leader/Supervisor for Criminalistics responsible for casework, technical casework review, going to scene of crimes, writing SOPs for the examination of most categories of forensic evidence and testifying as an expert witness. In addition, Professor Petraco was charged with the writing of forensic evidence training programs as well as the training of new and senior laboratory and crime scene unit personnel.

Professor Petraco has worked on thousands of forensic investigations including homicides, suicides, accidental deaths, arson, explosion, terrorist attacks, assault, burglary and robbery, insurance fraud; kidnaping, sex crimes, child abuse; as well as art fraud, stolen art identification, art authentication, and historical preservation cases. 

Professor Petraco specializes in laboratory analysis of forensic evidence, trace evidence, art authentication as well as Crime Scene Investigation, and Crime Scene and Event Reconstruction.

Professor Petraco hold a B.S. in Analytical Chemistry, an M.S. in forensic science, an undergraduate major in secondary education, and eighty plus credits in undergraduate art and art history coursework. 

He is a Fellow of the New York Microscopical Society, a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Science, a Diplomat of the American Board of Criminalistic, and a recipient of the Dr. Edmond Locard Award for excellence in work and research in Trace Evidence, and Dr. Paul L. Kirk award for excellence in work and research in criminalistics.

Jacob Rolls

Trial consultant & Lawyer

Jacob Rolls, Esq. is a Trial Consultant and Lawyer based in Austin, Texas and Brooklyn, New York.

From 2005-2023, he was in the trenches, fighting for his clients as a Public Defender in New York. He’s litigated hundreds of cases ranging from disorderly conduct to homicide. When he hasn’t been on trial himself, he’s either been preparing for it or helping attorneys of all experience levels prepare and try their cases.

He’s also been conducting jury simulation research for courtroom clients since the early-1990’s. His decades of combined experience make him uniquely suited to help clients prepare for the combat of trial. 

Casey Sherman

Honorary True Crime Chair & AUTHOR

Casey Sherman is a renowned investigative journalist and a New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe & USA Today #1 Best-selling Author of 18 books including BLOOD IN THE WATER, THE FINEST HOURS (now a major Walt Disney Studio motion picture starring Chris Pine & Casey Affleck), and PATRIOTS DAY (now an acclaimed motion picture from CBS Films starring Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Bacon).

Sherman led an historic re-investigation of the Boston Strangler case, which he chronicled in his book, SEARCH FOR THE STRANGLER.

Sherman’s 2023 true crime bestseller HELLTOWN is now in development as a limited television series for Amazon Studio. Sherman will serve as Executive Producer on the project, which is slated to star Oscar Isaac (“Dune”), with director Edward Berger (Netflix – “All is Quiet on the Western Front”), and produced by Team Downey (Robert Downey, Jr. & Susan Downey - HBO’s “Perry Mason”).

Sherman’s A MURDER IN HOLLYWOOD was a 2024 USA TODAY #1 true crime best-seller and finalist for Book of the Year honors at the annual Clue Awards.

His other bestselling books include James Patterson’s THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN LENNON which spent more than 23 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list, 12: THE INSIDE STORY OF TOM BRADY’S FIGHT FOR REDEMPTION, and HUNTING WHITEY: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE CAPTURE & KILLING OF AMERICA’S MOST WANTED CRIME BOSS, which he adapted into a sold-out stage play starring Neal McDonough (“Yellowstone,” “Tulsa King”).

Sherman has appeared on more than 200 television and radio programs and is a contributing writer for TIME Magazine, Esquire, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Boston Magazine and the Boston Herald.

Martin H. Tankleff

Special Counsel

wrongfully convicted and exonerated after 17 years

Martin H. Tankleff is Special Counsel at Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea & LoTurco, a boutique litigation firm with locations in Garden City, Huntington, and Manhattan.

Marty Tankleff is the current Peter P. Mullen Distinguished Visiting Professor at Georgetown University (previous recipients include Ron Klaine, Seth Waxman, Paul Clement, Maureen Mahoney, and others) and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law Center. At Georgetown, Marty teaches a class alongside his childhood friend, Professor Marc M. Howard, called Making an Exoneree. It is an undergraduate class where students reinvestigate potential wrongful conviction cases. In the past six years, Marty and Marc have walked seven innocent men out of prison.

In 2023, Marc and Marty expanded their class to Princeton University and Georgetown Law Center. Through the work at Georgetown, Marty and Marc are either co-counsel or advisory team members on cases in several different states.

At Barket Epstein, Mr. Tankleff focuses on wrongful convictions, prisoner and civil rights while working hand in hand with other members of the firm on criminal defense, civil matters, and related legal matters.

Marty’s zealous advocacy stems from his own personal experience. On June 28, 1990, he was wrongfully convicted for the murder of his parents, Seymour and Arlene, two years earlier. At the time of his arrest, Mr. Tankleff was a 17-year-old student, embarking on his senior year of high school. In the blink of an eye, his life changed. He was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 25 years to life.

In 2003, Mr. Tankleff filed an appeal with new evidence from almost two dozen witnesses. Represented by Bruce Barket, Stephen Braga, Jennifer O’Connor, Brent Gurney, Barry Pollack, Dawn Murphy-Johnson, Roberto Gonzalez, Sheila Kadaguther, Micah Meyers, Courtney Gilligan-Saleski, Mark Pomerantz, Warren Feldman, Scott Splittgerber, and many others, his conviction was overturned.

On December 27, 2007, Marty was released after nearly 17½ years in prison. He is a nationally recognized exoneree and is on the National Registry of Exonerees.

In 2020, he was admitted to the New York State Bar and has since obtained favorable results on behalf of many clients.

Jim Thomson

True Crime Author

James Whitfield Thomson (aka Jim Thomson) is the author of the true crime memoir A BETTER ENDING: A BROTHER’S TWENTY-YEAR QUEST TO UNCOVER THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS SISTER’S DEATH (Avid Reader Press). The book has gotten a lot of buzz in the media, and an excerpt was published in the March-April issue of Psychology Today.

Jim’s short stories have appeared in various literary journals, and his novel, LIES YOU WANTED TO HEAR, has received wide acclaim and was chosen as the pick of the month by Redbook magazine.

Jim grew up on the North Side of Pittsburgh and attended Harvard College on a scholarship. He served as the navigator of a Navy supply ship in the South China Sea during the Vietnam War, then earned a Ph.D. in American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, writing his dissertation on the detective novelist Raymond Chandler.

Following a brief stint teaching literature in academia, he had a successful career in business. Jim and his wife live outside of Boston, and spend their summer and fall months at their house in the Amagansett Dunes. They have five far-flung children and eleven grandchildren.