This Isn't Just a Podcast. It's an ongoing Investigation.
i’m emilio
I grew up in Wilmington, Illinois — a town small enough that when something terrible happens, everyone feels it. In the summer of 2004, something terrible happened. Riley Fox was three years old when she was taken and murdered. I knew her family. To the rest of the world, her case was a headline. To us, it was the ground giving way.
That case never left me. True crime wasn't a genre I discovered on a streaming app — it arrived in my own backyard and never moved out. It's why I don't just cover stories. I live in the files. I obsess over timelines, failed systems, and the jagged questions that don't have clean, comfortable answers.
I launched You're Next in 2022, and I make it the same way I started: alone. I research every case, write every script, record every episode, and produce every second of this show myself. No network. No staff. Just me, the records, and a refusal to look away.
After 27 standalone episodes — including a return to Wilmington to tell Riley's story — the show is evolving. Instead of a case a week, I'm spending entire seasons submerged in a single story: one case, examined until it gives up what it's been holding. It's built for the late-night researchers and the restless — the people who need the why as much as the who.
You're Next has worn a few faces over the years — I've had co-hosts, and I'm grateful for where we started — but today it's mine alone. I research every case, write every script, record every episode, and produce every second myself. No staff. No shortcuts. Just me, the records, and a refusal to look away.
Eyes open, back to the wall.
Why This
Show Exists
Most true crime is a blur — a fast-paced cycle of headlines and adrenaline that resets every seven days. They give you the facts, then they move on. Most people don’t stop to breathe in the dust of the archive.
You’re Next is built for the long haul.
We don't skim. We submerge. Every season is dedicated to a single case, tracked from the first siren to the final gavel. We live in the crime scene photos, the botched leads, and the heavy silence of the evidence locker until the story is told in full. We don’t hide behind 'we may never know.'
We don't just walk away when things get complicated. We stay until the story is as clear as the evidence allows — whether that leads to a courtroom or a cold trail. This show exists because some cases shouldn't be a footnote in a weekly lineup. They deserve the truth, and the truth takes time.
One Case. All Season.
Seasonal, Case-Based Format
Each season of You're Next is dedicated entirely to one case. We don't jump between stories. We go deep, stay there, and don't move on until we've turned over every stone.
Research You Can Follow
Every episode links to the Research Files — a curated collection of sources, documents, and references so you can read the evidence yourself. We cite everything. Nothing is stated without a source.
We Reach a Verdict
At the end of every season, we don't fade out. We lay out the evidence, weigh it honestly, and deliver a verdict. You can agree or disagree — but we're not leaving without an answer.
part of red
thread media
You're Next is a Red Thread Media production — and Red Thread Media is me. I created RTM when I took full ownership of the show, because this work deserved real infrastructure: rigorous sourcing, deliberate production, and a standard I wasn't willing to negotiate. Right now, RTM is home to one show. That's by design. Every season gets everything I have before anything new gets built.
How We Handle the Work
We cite our sources.
Every factual claim made in an episode is attributed. The Research Files for each episode list every source we used, so you're never just taking our word for it.
We protect the living.
When it comes to unverified information about living people — suspects, witnesses, persons of interest — we do not publish or speculate without independent verification. Tips and unverified claims are routed through appropriate third-party channels before we ever consider mentioning them on the show.
We center the victims.
This show exists because real people were harmed. Their names, their stories, and their dignity come first. We don't sensationalize their suffering for content.
We call it AS we see it — and we say so.
Our verdicts are our analysis, not fact. We're clear about the difference between established evidence and our interpretation of it. You're always welcome to disagree.
Season 1: The Disappearance of Adam Walsh
July 27, 1981. Hollywood, Florida. Six-year-old Adam Walsh was taken from a Sears department store and never came home. His case changed American child safety law forever — but did the right man take the fall? Season 1 goes back to the beginning.
[COMING 7.21.26]