Art often draws inspiration from life—but what happens when it’s your life?

What the Toronto Police found was even worse than they’d expected.

The creators of This is Spinal Tap, the most influential mockumentary ever made, have been paid almost nothing. Now they are suing for $400 million.

Thomas Hargrove is building software to identify trends in unsolved murders that can detect serial killers that police never knew existed.

“Today it’s a mosquito. Tomorrow God only knows what is going to happen.”

A novel interrogation technique is transforming the art of detective work: Shut up and let the suspect do the talking.

Scenes from a class conflict playing out between millionaires and billionaires on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Your local police department probably has a $400,00 device that listens in on cellphones. Soon your neighbor will be able to buy the same thing for $1,500.

The ripple effect of a single MTA mechanical failure.

How an eccentric industrialist bought Atlantic City’s shuttered Revel casino at a firesale price with a goal to turn it into a “life-extension facility.”

He went from a viral pop hit to an arrest for conspiracy to murder charges in just under six months. Was Bobby Shmurda “too real” for his label?

After robbing two video stores with a friend, Rene Lima-Marin was sentenced to almost 100 years in prison. Then, due to a clerical error, he was released 88 years too early.

On the life and death of Avonte Oquendo, a 14-year-old autistic boy who disappeared in October after walking out of his New York City school.

Previously: Robert Kolker on the Longform Podcast.

The case of Gilberto Valle, “The Cannibal Cop,” and the line between criminal thoughts and action.

The story of Melissa Barthelemy, a prostitute killed in a string of murders on Long Island in December 2010.

How a high-stakes poker game that started at Tobey Maguire’s house became part of a $100 million gambling and money-laundering operation orchestrated by the Russian mob.

How an informant helped authorities nab a notorious anti-abortion activist.

Aaron Greene and Morgan Gliedman were young and in love and pregnant and partial to heroin and living in a Village apartment with a lot of heavy weaponry lying about. Then they were arrested, and their stories started to change.

Why so many smart kids are cheating on tests.

The case of the murdered real-estate legend and her enraged assistant.

The complicated case of Brigitte Harris, who, after years of abuse, accidentally killed her father by cutting off his penis.

One day Nejdra Nance realized the woman she had called Mom for 23 years may have been at the center of one of the most harrowing kidnappings in decades—hers.

What happened to Wesley Autrey after he jumped in front of a New York City subway train to save a man’s life.

Five prostitutes disappear. Bodies turn up on a Long Island beach. On the women lost, and the families left behind.

In 1991, Frank Sterling confessed to a crime he didn’t commit. His story highlights a common – and controversial – method of police interrogation.