True Crime

Examined: The Backfire Effect

by Pushkin Industries

Explicit True CrimeSociety & CultureDocumentary

Today: #77 in True Crime, Ireland on our combined chart.

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Chart positions today · Ireland

True Crime

#77

#78#99 Pulse 16

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Ranking history · Ireland

True Crime

Latest daily rankings: Oct 21. New rankings will appear after the next update.

Position on the True Crime, Ireland combined chart over the last 7 days. Toggle platforms to compare their positions. Lower rank numbers are better.

View as table

Date	Combined Rank	Apple Podcasts	Castbox
Oct 21	#77	#78	#99
Oct 20	#104	#100	—
Oct 19	#181	#181	—
Oct 18	#165	#164	—
Oct 17	#138	#138	—
Oct 16	#115	#115	—

Latest episodes

Episode 7: The Guilty Party

October 19, 2026 · 40 min

For Temujin Kensu to have a chance at leaving prison, his legal team would have to convince courts that another person killed Scott Macklem. There are theories pointing to at least three suspects. Can any new evidence emerge after so many…
Episode 6: The Women

October 12, 2026 · 42 min

Note: This episode contains descriptions of rape and sexual assault. With his state and federal appeals almost exhausted, Temujin Kensu turns to the work of private investigators like Herb Welser, who’ve managed to uncover new evidence in…
Episode 5: Time Barred

October 5, 2026 · 40 min

The trial of Temujin Kensu had happened quickly, just six months from arrest to verdict. What came next was unbearably slow. And with every year that passed, his odds of getting out of prison would go down. But then, one judge decided to…
Episode 4: The Alibi

September 28, 2026 · 34 min

At trial, Temujin Kensu’s defense is simple — he was across the state when the crime occurred. In court, he brings multiple witnesses to testify that they saw him in the Upper Peninsula, more than 400 miles from Port Huron. But then…
Episode 3: The Ninja

September 21, 2026 · 35 min

In November 1986, Robert Cleland was the head prosecutor in St. Clair County, Michigan. The morning after Cleland lost a statewide race for Attorney General, Scott Macklem was murdered. Cleland decided to prosecute the case himself…

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Episode 2: The Hypnotist

September 14, 2026 · 43 min

Temujin Kensu spent much of his youth wandering, mainly in his home state of Michigan. In 1986 he and his then-fiancée moved to a cabin outside Port Huron, where he briefly dated someone else. A few weeks later, he and his fiancée moved…
Episode 1: The Good Cop

September 14, 2026 · 32 min

On the morning of November 5th, 1986, students at a community college in Port Huron, Michigan, heard the sound of what many thought was a car backfiring. It was a gunshot, and it killed a student named Scott Macklem. The murder would leave…
Trailer: The Backfire Effect

September 8, 2026 · 3 min

In 1986, a man named Scott Macklem was killed in broad daylight. Eight days later, a suspect was arrested. But now, almost 40 years later, reporter Josie Duffy Rice is re-examining this case. Has the wrong man been in prison this whole…
Lost Hills is Becoming Examined

September 4, 2026 · 2 min

Lost Hills has been quiet for a bit, so we've decided to do something different: turn this feed into a home for a new kind of story, told fresh each season. Starting this fall, this feed becomes Examined — a show about overlooked cases…
Episode 4: Outlaw Country | Valley of Shadows

February 2, 2026 · 47 min

As Detective Brandenburg follows leads in the Aujay case, he finds himself with an unlikely ally. A young buck narcotics detective named Darren Hager, who’s trying to dismantle a meth syndicate run by a local biker gang. Hager discovers…
Episode 3: Tweaker Talk | Valley of Shadows

January 26, 2026 · 47 min

At the time of Jon Aujay’s disappearance, California is under siege by a meth epidemic and the Antelope Valley is the epicenter. So when investigators receive tips that Aujay was killed after stumbling upon a meth lab, it seems like a…
Episode 2: An Unreasonable Act | Valley of Shadows

January 19, 2026 · 41 min

Find episode 1 of Valley of Shadows on the Valley of Shadows show page. After deputy Jon Aujay disappears, the sheriff’s department claims he was suicidal — pointing to marital troubles and erratic behavior in the weeks before he…

Full episode archive on Apple Podcasts →

About the show

About Examined: Overlooked cases that never got the real investigation they deserved. Each season features deeply reported stories about crime, punishment, and the people inside the criminal legal system. Nearly 40 years ago, in the parking lot of a community college in Port Huron, Michigan, a 20-year-old student named Scott Macklem was shot dead in broad daylight. His murder shocked the community. It made no sense. The police quickly found their suspect. There was only one problem: the man said he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. And he could prove it. In Examined: The Backfire Effect, journalist Josie Duffy Rice talks with eyewitnesses, investigators and local reporters to unravel a shocking story of judicial apathy and expedience — a story that leaves no one off the hook.