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Break in the Case
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© 2026 The City of New York
Description
Season 4, "Stories from the Emergency Service Unit," introduces the most highly-trained officers in the NYPD. Learn why ESU are known as the buffs of the police department and how they prepare both mentally and physically for the most stressful jobs. The season also features a white-knuckle narrative by the officers who stopped a suicide bomb plot from taking place on Brooklyn’s subways in 1997.
Break in the Case is a true crime podcast from the New York City Police Department. Each episode features officers – in their own voices –as they revisit cases to offer invaluable insights and colorful recollections. The unique, long-form stories portray the work of the women and men of the NYPD and their interactions with the people and communities they serve.
This podcast is supported by the independent nonprofit New
York City Police Foundation, and is written and produced by Jill Bauerle and Kenzie De Laine II. The podcast’s narrator, retired Detective Sergeant Wally Zeins, served at the NYPD from 1973 to 2003.
32 Episodes
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1Welcome to Season One of Break in the Case: True Stories by NYPD Detectives. Starting October 29, 2019.
A gruesome discovery by a road crew in Washington Heights sends the 34th Precinct Detective Squad on a hunt for a little girl's identity.
Two years into the investigation, detectives are no closer to knowing Baby Hope's real name.
For two decades, detectives struggled with the Baby Hope case. One day, a tip was called in that changed everything.
For 22 years, detectives searched for the true name of the little girl they called "Baby Hope." Once they found it, it was eight days before they were face to face with her killer.
After hours of interrogation, the truth about what happened to Baby Hope is revealed.
Police find the severed body parts of a woman in South Brooklyn, and struggle to identify her. UPDATE: In 2022, the NYPD used familial DNA to identify the victim as Jennifer McAllister, from Gravesend, Brooklyn.
Welcome back to Season 2 of Break in the Case! Listen as we follow the world’s greatest detectives to crime scenes—some which you may know, some which you certainly don’t. Episodes begin on September 9th and appear every other Thursday.
Just before midnight, on September 11, 2001, a man was gunned down on a street in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. His name was Henryk Siwiak. Despite the best efforts of a police department spread thin by a large-scale terrorist attack, the killer was never apprehended, and the case remains open to this day.
The dark web comprises a fraction of the internet. But illegal activity there is increasing. Threatening savings. Damaging peace of mind. In this episode, we’ll meet a detective who fights crime on the dark side, and find out how he moved from online to real life to nab a credit card fraudster.
It’s a race against the clock as detectives in the 6th Precinct investigate a series of assault and robbery cases with elderly victims. Here’s how they collared the man that was behind the crime spree.
In 2003, the Emergency Service Unit met their match when they discovered a 250-pound Bengal tiger in a man’s Harlem apartment. This is the story of Ming the Harlem Tiger, and the officers who responded.
In the early hours of December 11, 2012, Shalema Gaskin was on her way to visit her daughter at Brookdale Hospital in Brownsville, Brooklyn. It was four blocks away from her home, but she never made it there. She was found behind the hospital with a gunshot wound to the back of the neck. A couple of days later, Steven Evans was killed a mile away with the same gun. To this day, no tips have been called in for either case. Detectives are asking for the public’s help to solve this case.
The night of August 26, 2006, a driver went on a six-hour shooting spree that left one person dead, four injured, and a trail of shattered glass and bullet-scarred vehicles across Queens. He shot at pedestrians and cars, and showed a preference for the color red in his targets. The Queens detectives, bosses, and cops who were working that night tell the harrowing story.
Season 2 concludes with the second and last episode of the Queens Sniper story. In Part 2, a suspect is in custody, and the case is upgraded to a homicide. The real work begins for the detectives and the Queens prosecutor as they collect evidence and build a counter-narrative to a potential insanity defense.
Anna Sorokin, also known as Anna Delvey, came to New York City from Germany in 2014 and quickly became a fixture in the downtown social scene. She claimed to be an heiress with a vast fortune. But she wasn’t quite what she said she was. In August 2017, she was indicted on an array of financial and fraud-based crimes, including Attempted Grand Larceny. In this special episode, the NYPD detective who led the investigation into Sorokin explains her crimes. What did she do, and how did she do it?
Season 3 of Break in the Case goes behind the scenes of one of New York City's notorious cases from the 90s, The New York Zodiac Copycat. Look for new episodes every Tuesday beginning April 25, 2023.
It’s the summer of 1990, and crime in New York City is at an all-time high. Daily headlines bring fresh stories of random violence and stranger-on-stranger crime. Then, one day in June, someone calling himself “Zodiac” writes a disturbing letter to the New York Post. He claims to have killed three people in Brooklyn according to their astrological signs, and he promises to kill nine more. When the shootings check out, the NYPD forms a Zodiac Task Force. Retired Lieutenant Michael Ciravolo and retired New York Post reporter Anne Murray recount their involvement in the early days of the investigation.
At Zodiac Task Force headquarters in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, tips pour in from across the city. Even the psychics get in on the action. After one of the victims dies from his wounds in the hospital, the case becomes a homicide.
In August, 1994, a new letter from the Zodiac lands on the front page of the New York Post. The Zodiac claims to have shot five more victims in 1992 and 1993, in the same geographic area as his first three shootings. A second Zodiac Task Force is formed. Detective Sergeant Joseph Herbert from the 75 Detective Squad focuses on the hard evidence: fingerprints, ballistics, and the Zodiac's letters.
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I can't wait, guys. been awhile since your last podcast
I have to beg to differ that this gentleman was the "only homicide in NYC that day" 2,606 other people were murdered that day in NYC. Henryk was the only non-terrorist homicide, but not the only homicide.
Is there not any more new episodes? I am really disappointed, this was an excellent podcast!
This is a fantastic podcast! Hooked!
love this podcast! when are more episodes coming out??
This was terrific. I can't wait for another story!