Plenty of Mainers have stories to tell, either as a hobby, or as a new, cutting-edge livelihood. In this bi-weekly series, Spectrum News Maine profiles local hosts who are expressing themselves through podcasting.
Like most Americans, the pandemic forced Kristen Seavey to make some changes in her life. For her, it meant moving from New York City back to her hometown of Newport.
What was supposed to be a temporary move has led Seavey down a possible new career path. In December 2020, she launched a podcast and joined a growing number of creative Mainers who tell audio stories.
“It’s crazy that it’s been over a year now. It goes by so fast,” she said.
Seavey launched “Murder, She Told,” a podcast focusing on true-crime stories in Maine and New England during the first year of the pandemic. Forty-two episodes later, Seavey says she’s surprised by how popular her podcast has become.
“I have thousands of listeners,” she said.
Seavey had moved to New York to pursue an acting career, but returned to the house she grew up in when the coronavirus shut everything down. Her boyfriend, Byron Willis, moved to Maine with her.
Seavey and Willis were playing it safe, planning to ride out the initial COVID shutdown for what they hoped was a short-term situation.
“I thought that we would be here for, like, the summer, and we’re still here,” she said.
Seavey worked for a while in marketing and event management, but when that work slowed due to the pandemic, she began looking for something else she could do.
Seavey developed a passion for crime stories as a kid watching the television program, “Unsolved Mysteries” and as an adult by appearing in episodes of programming on the Investigation Discovery network. She started to wonder if she could produce something similar to those programs.
“I’ve always been interested in crime and mysteries, and stuff like that,” she said.
Seavey’s first story, produced in two parts, focused on James Hicks, a serial killer who used to live in Newport (he was convicted and sent to prison on two counts of murder in 2000). In researching the case, Seavey found one victim lived across the street from where she grew up.
“That blew my mind,” she said.
Seavey, who enjoys the narrative format of storytelling that podcasts provide, is especially focused on unsolved cases. For her, the podcast is less about entertainment and more about trying to make a difference.
One of her influences was the podcast, “Your Own Backyard,” which examined the 1990s-era murder of a college student in California. That podcast eventually produced enough new information that police were able to arrest a suspect.
“Podcasts and media are solving cases,” she said.
“Murder, She Told” has featured several unsolved cases, including an episode Seavey produced on the unsolved murder of a childhood friend.
“There’s an answer there. They just need more information,” she said.
She also produced an episode last fall on Reeves K. Johnson III, 31, a Kittery resident who went missing in 1983. Seavey produced the episode after learning a local police detective had reopened the cold case. Like all her episodes about unsolved cases, she asks the public to reach out if they know or remember something.
“There are so many unsolved (cases), and people aren’t talking about it, and if they’re not talking about it, they’re not going to get solved,” she said.
Even decades later, Seavey said it’s not unusual to think people might come forward today who hadn’t years ago.
“Relationships change. (For example), you may have been protecting somebody in 1982, but now you’re divorced,” she said.
Seavey said she and Willis spend at least 60 hours on each 45-minute episode. Part of the work, she said, focuses on researching victims’ lives prior to the tragedy that befell them.
“I want to talk about people’s life, and not just the few minutes before their death,” she said.
Seavey said she doesn’t make a living off the podcast yet, but said she may be transitioning to a new career path with “Murder, She Told.” She will only do that, she said, when she is sure she can generate an income while maintaining the integrity of the storytelling she has come to love.
“I’m just happy that we’re connecting with people, and reaching people,” she said.
"Murder, She Told" is available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts.