Gillian Pensavalle sits in her Manhattan apartment, preparing to watch a documentary for the third time. Her color-coded Google Doc is open, yellow highlights ready for names and dates, green for quotes. It’s a meticulous process that can take four to six hours per episode, but for the co-host and creator of True Crime Obsessed, this attention to detail has helped build a show with over 200 million downloads.
True Crime Obsessed regularly features on the Apple Podcasts Top 200 and has maintained its position for nearly nine years. The show recaps true crime documentaries with levity, rage and calls for justice.
Pensavalle’s journey to podcasting began with reading books like Helter Skelter and Zodiac at a young age. The born-and-raised New Yorker started in radio as a teenager and spent years as an actor, voiceover artist and on-camera host. But it was The Hamilcast: A Hamilton Podcast she launched in January 2016, that opened the door to her current career.
“It’s been absolutely amazing to be able to make a career out of being myself,” Pensavalle says.
The origin of True Crime Obsessed involved false starts. After Patrick Hinds, who was hosting Theatre People at the time, reached out via Twitter offering friendship in the podcast industry, the two began meeting for happy hours. Their conversations consistently turned to true crime theories and recent documentaries. When they decided to work together, their first plan was ambitious: solve the Zodiac case. Gillian Pensavalle went to the library to research, designed graphics using symbols from the famous Zodiac letters, and prepared to launch.
They never recorded a single second.
“We realized very quickly that we were not the people to do this, but we still wanted to work together,” Pensavalle says.
Their next attempt involved a three-part format with current events, media dissection and interviews. Only the 20-minute segment discussing the documentary The Imposter showed any spark. They scrapped the approach and recorded a new pilot focused solely on The Imposter, watching it separately and planning nothing in advance.
“Patrick would ask me questions about the cinematography and certain choices the director made, and I would say things like, ‘ugh whatever, can you believe this family is actually falling for this scam?!'” Pensavalle says. “I wanted to talk about this like we were talking about it at happy hour. That was so much more fun.”
That spontaneity became the show’s foundation. True Crime Obsessed launched regular episodes in May 2017. The way the show has grown from Hinds quietly pulling back from the mic to stop himself from laughing to moments where he’s actually falling out of his chair has built a sense of easy, natural fun that listeners compare to hanging out with friends. That authenticity proved commercially successful. The podcast’s Patreon feed, launched in January 2018, quickly grew to become a top creator on the platform with over 32,000 monthly subscribers, ranking in the top 20 among more than 375,000 creators.
The show expanded from publishing 46 episodes per year to producing at least 125 episodes annually, including Patreon and other bonus content, making it one of the most prolific podcasts in the world.
The Process Behind True Crime Obsessed
Yet behind that conversational ease lies extensive preparation. Gillian Pensavalle is responsible for finding, vetting and scheduling documentaries.
“When I sit down to watch a documentary, I take my notes in Google Docs and I’m super organized about it,” Pensavalle says. She has developed a system over eight years with color-coding and formatting that makes telling the story clear to listeners.
Research forms a major component in her process. Pensavalle has spent significant time researching how to pronounce names, searching YouTube for others discussing cases or for interviews where people introduce themselves.
“My search history is wild, but I consider it a major part of the job,” Pensavalle says.
On recording days, Pensavalle watches everything they will record and follows along with previously taken notes, adding or editing as needed. She conducts extra research and checks for case updates on the day of recording to get the most current information possible.
The show’s approach focuses on frustration with corrupt cops, inept lawyers and unsupportive friends.
“In the beginning, it was very hard to find documentaries about BIPOC stories or cases covering marginalized communities,” Pensavalle says. “That has changed a little bit, and I’ve made it my mission to make sure that we cover these stories the best we can, when we can.”
Navigating Trauma and Building Connection
This work carries emotional weight. As a survivor of rape, sexual violence, assault, bullying, stalking and harassment, Pensavalle finds navigating these stories difficult at times. She is also triggered by animal abuse.
“There have been times when I’ve told a deeply personal or triggering story on the pod but then the next day, ask our editor to please take it out,” Pensavalle says. But she receives numerous messages from people thanking her for talking about her experiences with trauma, ADHD and other personal topics. Listeners feel close to her because of her authenticity.
“My therapist keeps reminding me I can’t save everyone,” Pensavalle says. “I can’t rescue every animal. I can’t fix everything. So, I let it out on the microphone and I spread awareness how I can , donate constantly, and try my best to do really, really good work.”
That vulnerability has helped build what Hinds describes as an incredibly engaged community. The Facebook group has 52,000 members, a Discord channel has 2,000 members, and a monthly book club includes 600 members.
For Pensavalle, the personal impact resonates deeply. People who reach out say she helps them feel less alone, and she tells them they do the same for her.
But podcasting’s intimate nature creates challenges. “Podcasting is such an intimate medium, and when you combine that with the cases we cover and the things we talk about, the conversations resonate with our listeners in a very real way. We also have a very big backlog, so there is so much content for people to listen to. They spend a lot of time with us,” Pensavalle says.
She loves interacting with listeners but when exchanges become inappropriate or cross a boundary, Pensavalle steps away. Despite these moments, Pensavalle maintains an excellent relationship with listeners overall.
Shaping the Genre
True Crime Obsessed has positioned itself within a broader shift in storytelling away from the salacious and toward victim-focused compassion. Hinds emphasizes that the most important consideration when telling a true crime story is always the victim.
“Is the story being told in a way that honors the victim and that is respectful of the victim?” Hinds says. “That’s step one.”
The second criterion involves whether the audience can learn something from the story’s telling. The podcast actively seeks underreported stories concerning marginalized people.
Hinds has learned that more care needs to be given to people who participate in documentaries, whether survivors or loved ones of murder victims.
“I think it is incumbent upon the documentary and the interviewer to take great care when interviewing someone in those situations,” Hinds says, suggesting crews should have mental health professionals on set. He points to Murder Has Two Faces with Robin Roberts as an example of this trend beginning.
The podcast measures success not just through downloads but through relationships. The newly launched YouTube channel has over 156,000 subscribers and grows by several thousand each week.
“It’s always incredibly special when a listener tells us that we helped them get through a difficult time,” Hinds says. “The death of a parent, a breakup, a job loss. At the end of the day, we’re trying to create something that makes a difference.”
The Road Ahead for Gillian Pensavalle
Beyond podcasting, Gillian Pensavalle has a rich creative life rooted in performance and production. With her husband, Michael Paul Smith, she co-created, produced, and starred in The Residuals, a comedy web series drawn from their own experiences auditioning for commercials in New York. She also serves as executive producer on Ted and Michael Read Sketches into Microphones, her husband’s sketch comedy podcast.
Also, The Hamilcast, which she launched in January 2016, has released weekly episodes for nearly 10 years. In January 2026, Pensavalle will end The Hamilcast after 10 years and 500 episodes. Weekly episodes will stop, though the feed will remain available.
“It’s been a labor of love and a total passion project. I’ve made amazing friends and it has truly changed my life, but this feels like the right time to step back from it,” Pensavalle says.
With The Hamilcast ending, Pensavalle looks forward to new opportunities. True Crime Obsessed continues expanding its YouTube channel and planning how to celebrate its 10-year milestone. Pensavalle is particularly passionate about AdvocacyCon, a convention bringing together experts, nonprofit organizations, families of the missing and murdered, and individuals advocating for justice.
The podcast that began with folding chairs and tray tables in a tiny apartment has evolved into a platform with hundreds of episodes, tens of thousands of community members and millions of downloads. But at its core remains what made that first Imposter episode work: two friends talking like they are at happy hour, bringing authenticity to conversations about documentaries.
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