‘Maine-grown’ podcast shares stories and hopes to help solve cases

NEWPORT, Maine (WABI) - Crime podcasts are very popular around the country. But, what about one that covers cases in Maine?

In a quiet corner of Newport, there is a lot of digging going on.

But, not in the ground.

Through articles, photos, and other pieces of information.

Kristen Seavey is a Citizen Detective, and hosts the true crime podcast, “Murder, She Told,”

Seavey’s podcast tells the stories of cold cases and unsolved mysteries in Maine and around New England.

“I started it because I didn’t see Maine stories being told on bigger podcasts and at the beginning of the pandemic, I wanted something to work on. And I started looking into other cold cases and stuff that happened right in my backyard and I didn’t know a lot of them. So I wanted to help give them a platform, get their stories out there and hopefully get them solved with this case,” said Seavey.

But, she also helps investigate cases.

Currently, she’s working on a case with the Kittery Police Department, where they’ve had a case remained unsolved for 40 years.

Reeves Johnson, 31, went missing back in 1983.

He left work to return home one day and has not been seen or heard from since.

“In October of 2021, I got a Google alert for a case in Kittery. And it was Seacoast online put out an article of a missing person, and I was like, ‘I’ve never heard of this case before.’ So, we took a couple of days and we went down and we interviewed the family and looked through the case file and put up this special episode. About Reeves Johnson. And then from there, I think it kind of turned in from just producing an episode about it to like actually working with the detective on it and the family,” said Seavey.

Weeks after Johnson went missing, his parents staked out the post office where his P.O. Box was located and confronted a man taking mail from the box.

The mother was able to get a photo of the man, but when developed, they found his face was covered.

Since that day, new details have been slow to come.

Now working alongside with Johnson’s family, the Kittery community, and Kittery Police Detective Brian Cummer, Seavey hopes to get closer to the truth.

“The family just want to know what happened to their brother so he has his parents have unfortunately passed, but he has two surviving siblings, Sally and Hugh, and I just would love to get answers for them, you know, it’s been 40 years and they still don’t know what happened to their brother where he is, it’s just this big giant question mark,” Seavey said.

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