The insane true story of 'Dirty John' is your next podcast obsession

Love. Family. Betrayal. The L.A. Times and Wondery's Dirty John has it all, pieced together in a riveting six-part podcast series. It's the twisted story of Debra Newell Stewart, a divorceé in Los Angeles who meets the too-good-to-be-true John Meehan on a dating site. They hit it off and things move at warp speed, but something is amiss from the start.

Told based on accounts from Debra and her family and friends, Dirty John is a wild ride – and it's completely unmissable.

Almost immediately after they started dating, Debra and John moved in together, and her daughters mistrusted him right away. In the absorbing first chapter of the story, which you can read on the L.A. Times website, her eldest daughter, Jacquelyn, calls him a creep and tells her mother to kick him out when he's basically living with her.

Jacquelyn’s reaction didn’t shock Debra, since her taste in men often exasperated her children. She thought they’d find something bad to say about anyone she dated. Her friends sometimes joked about her being a “bad picker.” Where other people saw red flags, she saw a parade.

Within five weeks of dating, they got a place together (she paid and his name wasn't on the lease), and after two months of the relationship they tied the knot in Las Vegas.

What's captivating about Dirty John is how Debra's story creates unease; you know from the start that there's more going on than meets the eye (how else would this be a podcast?), but getting to the heart of that mystery takes time and builds tension. Think of the addictive Serial narrative, but with something far more likely to happen to you. Parts of it probably have.

Dirty John is now available on all major podcasting platforms with all episodes ready for download.