Investigation Discovery Launches First-Ever Podcast as Companion to MIND OF A MURDERER

Beginning today, Investigation Discovery offers true crime fans a new way to experience original content, without a television set. Investigation Discovery's first-ever podcast, launching on Thursday, March 19, serves as a companion to the hit new riveting series THE MIND OF A MURDERER. Narrated by world renowned criminal psychologist and trial consultant, Dr. Michelle Ward, THE MIND OF A MURDERER PODCAST expands on Dr. Ward's exclusive and chilling interviews with real life HANNIBAL Lechter like cold-blooded murderers, getting to the psychological core of how and why people commit murders. The six-episode podcast is available for download on iTunes starting Thursday, March 19.

"Storytelling is the foundation that Investigation Discovery was built upon, and we are thrilled to now expand our expertise into the realm of podcasts," said Henry Schleiff, Group President of Investigation Discovery, American Heroes Channel, Destination America, Discovery Life Channel and Discovery Family Channel. "Eliminating the visual component from the original series presents a gripping and spine-tingling experience: listeners will be hooked on every Last Word of the killer's dark confession."

Each podcast episode delves deeper into Dr. Michelle Ward's one-on-one interviews as she guides listeners through her unique ability to push the limit and journey into the mind of a killer. Dr. Ward provides open and honest commentary about her experience from her drive to the prison facility to the moment she sits face-to-face with a ruthless murderer, on death row. In the first episode, Dr. Ward travels to a Texas penitentiary's DEATH ROW to speak with Tracy Beatty, an ex-con who savagely strangled and beat his own mother to death and then buried her in the backyard. Dr. Ward explores the psychology behind how a person could be driven to killing their own mother.

Additional Premieres Include:

CUT THROAT CRIMINAL Airs Thursday, March 26

Skilled thief Travis Runnels savagely slits his supervisor's throat while behind bars. Dr. Michelle Ward gets inside the mind of this DEATH ROW inmate to uncover if he was destined to kill or pushed to the breaking point, as he claims.

IVY LEAGUE KILLER Airs Thursday, April 9

Successful Wall Street lawyer Jason Bohn mercilessly strangles and beats his girlfriend to death in their New York City apartment. He claims he can't remember a thing but Dr. Michelle Ward comes face-to-face with this convicted killer to see just how much he really remembers.

HEAT OF THE NIGHT Airs Thursday, April 16

Following a heated argument over an alleged affair, Janene Patton kills her husband Troy with one shot to the head. She claims it was an accident, but Dr. Michelle Ward is determined to uncover what actually went wrong that night - and what Patton is hiding.

THE MIND OF A MURDERER PODCAST and television series are produced for Investigation Discovery by Atlas Media Corp. with Bruce David Klein and Lorri Leighton serving as executive producers. For Investigation Discovery, Liz Massie is executive producer, Sara Kozak is senior vice president of production, Kevin Bennett is general manager, and Henry Schleiff is Group President.

About Dr. Michelle Ward

Channeling her personal experience as a victim of a stalker for eight long years, Dr. Michelle Ward has made it her mission to probe psychopathic behavior. She also hosts the ID series, STALKED: Someone's Watching, which profiles emotional stories of stalking victims and delves into the twisted psychology of the people who relentlessly pursue them. Dr. Ward holds a B.A. from the University of Colorado and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Southern California (USC) with a dual emphasis in clinical neuroscience and behavioral genetics. Her interest and focus was the study of predatory criminals, and her current career actively puts her face-to-face with these unusual individuals.
Early in her career, Dr. Ward worked on studies that used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) on murderers and non-murderers to identify structural differences in the brains of these groups of people. To further understand the complicated and dangerous predatory individual, Dr. Ward assisted her colleagues at USC in launching The Southern California Twin Project, a research project set out to identify biological characteristics and environmental underpinnings of psychopathic behavior in people before adulthood. Dr. Ward and her colleagues were some of the first to investigate this phenomenon in children in order to understand if these biological abnormalities are in future predatory individuals. Dr. Ward has published numerous articles related to psychology and complex human behavior and has used her extensive background in psychology, genetics, and biology to become one of the first scientists to identify potential future predatory behaviors in a population of children. Today, she is widely sought after to assist in the criminal trials of some of the nation's most notorious offenders.

About Investigation Discovery

Investigation Discovery (ID) is the leading mystery-and-suspense network on television and America's favorite "guilty pleasure." From harrowing crimes and salacious scandals to the in-depth investigations and heart-breaking mysteries that result, ID challenges our everyday understanding of culture, society and the human condition. One of our nation's fastest growing cable networks, ID delivers the highest-quality programming to more than 86 million U.S. households and is available in both high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD). For more information, please visit InvestigationDiscovery.com, facebook.com/InvestigationDiscovery, or twitter.com/DiscoveryID. Investigation Discovery is part of Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the world's #1 pay-TV programmer reaching nearly 3 billion cumulative subscribers in 220 countries and territories.

Need more TV Theatre News in your life? Sign up for all the news on the Spring season, discounts & more...