True Crime 2026

Special Guest

Barbara Butcher

Television personality, author & former Death Investigator, Medical Examiner’s Office, New York City

Barbara Butcher, MPH, is one of the nation’s leading experts in medicolegal death investigation and the former Chief of Staff and Director of the Forensic Sciences Training Program at the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Over her 23-year tenure, she investigated more than 5,500 death scenes (680 of which were homicides), led major disaster responses including the 9/11 World Trade Center recovery, and directed the creation of the federally funded Forensic Sciences Training Program to promote national standards for death investigation.

An internationally recognized consultant, Barbara has advised the World Health Organization, assisted in global disaster responses, and lectured widely on mass fatalities and forensic science.

She is the author of WHAT THE DEAD KNOW (Simon & Schuster, 2023), featured in Netflix’s Homicide New York, and the host of Oxygen’s true-crime series The Death Investigator with Barbara Butcher. Watch the trailer.

Learn more at www.barbarabutcherofficial.com

Featured True Crime Experts

Brad Beeler

Retired Secret Service Special Agent, Polygraph Examiner & Author

Brad Beeler is a retired Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service, where he served for 25 years in both protective and investigative roles. For the last eight years of his career, he was assigned to the National Center for Credibility Assessment at Fort Jackson, where he trained federal criminal investigators and intelligence officers in the art of eliciting information, serving as the course manager for Interview and Interrogation Techniques.

A 17-year veteran polygraph examiner, Brad conducted more criminal polygraphs than anyone in Secret Service history—many involving homicide investigations and crimes against children.

He is the author of TELL ME EVERYTHING: A SECRET SERVICE AGENT’S BLUEPRINT FOR BUILDING TRUST, UNCOVERING TRUTHS, AND MASTERING EVERY CONVERSATION, which distills his decades of experience into practical strategies for enhancing communication, building trust, and uncovering truth in high-stakes situations.

Joseph Giacalone

Former Commanding Officer of the NYPD’s Bronx Cold Case Squad, recipient of the NYPD Medal for Valor and host of the popular podcast “True Crime with the Sarge”

Joseph Giacalone, Hamptons Whodunit’s True Crime Consultant and host of Coffee & Crime, is a retired NYPD Sergeant SDS, current adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, author, and media resource. Joe is a widely sought-after expert on everything involving law enforcement.

His textbook, THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE FUNCTION: A GUIDE FOR NEW INVESTIGATORS, is in its 4th edition and has been used throughout the country to train new detectives and supervisors. He is also under contract for a new textbook involving cold cases.

Joe can be heard every Friday morning for The Crime Report on Suffolk County’s only talk radio station, 103.9 FM. Learn more at josephgiacalone.com

Chuck Hogan

bestselling novelist, screenwriter, and television producer

Chuck Hogan is a New York Times bestselling novelist, screenwriter, and television producer. His best-known novel THE TOWN was awarded the Hammett Prize for "literary excellence in the field of crime writing," and was adapted into the hit feature film starring Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, and Jon Hamm.

His most recent novel, GANGLAND, was selected as one of the New York Times's Ten Best Crime Novels of the year and nominated for the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for Best Novel.

His first work of non-fiction, THE CARPOOL DETECTIVES, was published in 2025.

With Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, he was the co-creator and executive producer of THE STRAIN which ran for four seasons on FX Networks, as well as co-author of the bestselling novel trilogy.

His feature adaptation of 13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI starred John Krasinski.

His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, and ESPN The Magazine, and his short fiction has twice been anthologized in THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES.

Robert Genna

Forensic Analyst and Consultant

Robert Genna served at the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory from 1977 to 2021, as a forensic analyst for 25 years before becoming the laboratory’s director. During his tenure, he helped lead one of the nation’s few full-service, internationally accredited forensic laboratories—where analysts routinely responded to major crime scenes, including homicides, sexual abuse cases, fatal crashes, and hit-and-run incidents.

Mr. Genna has conducted trace evidence analysis in areas such as paint and glass fragments, and shoe and tire track impression evidence. He has responded to and processed several hundred homicide scenes, and motor vehicle crashes, throughout Suffolk County working for the Crime Laboratory.

Mr. Genna has also provided expert testimony in forensic analysis, crime scene reconstruction, crash reconstruction, and police-involved shooting investigations in courtrooms across New York, New Jersey, Florida, Virginia, Michigan, and Connecticut.

His expertise has also been recognized internationally where he lectured at the University of Rome on forensic science practices. He was also invited to Barbados for several weeks to instruct local police on proper crime scene investigation techniques.

Mr. Genna has lectured at Suffolk County Community College and Farmingdale State College. He has also given presentation to the many forensic organizations where he maintains his membership.

Today, Mr. Genna continues to serve as a forensic consultant, specializing in crash and crime scene reconstruction and police-involved shooting investigations. Outside of his forensic work, he enjoys spending time on the golf course, finding the same focus and precision on the greens that defined his career in the lab.

Hugh King

Town Crier & Historian, East Hampton Town

Hugh King is the Town Crier and Historian for East Hampton Town and has been studying local history since the 1980’s. His goal is to make people aware of East Hampton’s history, beyond the moniker “the Hamptons.” He believes it is important that all its citizens know about the village’s past to help plan for the future. The favorite part of his job of enlightening others is learning from his own research.

Hugh is the Village Historian and Historic Site Director in charge of Home Sweet Home Museum, the most distinguished salt-box home in East Hampton, as well as the three Village Windmills, Hook, Gardiner and Pantigo.

As Village Historian, he answers inquiries concerning Village history, arranges and conducts open-air historical tours, and shares Village history at Board of Trustee meetings. As Historic Site Director, he conducts walkthroughs of Home Sweet Home and arranges guides for the Hook Mill.

Prior to working for the Village, Hugh was a teacher for 33 years, and from 1963-1999, he was an actor in local theater productions. From 2000-2014, he worked alongside his wife, the respected historian Loretta Orion, who tended the Home Sweet Home gardens. The historic gardens reflect styles and plant species found in the United States and Europe that date back from medieval times to the nineteenth century.

Sheryl “Mac” McCollum

CSI, podcast host, author, forensics expert & cold case investigator

Back by popular demand, Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is a three-time nominated Emmy Award winning CSI from CSI Atlanta, National Law Enforcement Officer Hall of Fame Inductee, Director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a writer for CrimeOnLine, a forensic and crime scene expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, host of award winning podcast Zone 7, and a working CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department.

Sheryl’s first book, SWANS DON’T SWIM IN A SEWER, is about a serial killer whose daughter is viciously murdered, the case goes cold, and he turns to Sheryl for help. It will be published in 2026.

Sheryl is also the Director of the Wildlife CSI Academy and the US Ambassador for the Wildlife Forensic Academy in South Africa.

This year Sheryl will be hosting TWO of her famous Wine & Crime dinner events: Two different cold cases = twice the fun. She’ll also be conducting a hands-on forensic competition, so you can examine a crime scene with her during the day and solve a cold case with her at night. This is your opportunity to work alongside one of the top experts in the field and learn from the best.

Joseph Scott Morgan, M.F.S., F-ABMDI

Podcast Host, Death Investigator & Author

Joseph Scott Morgan, M.F.S., F-ABMDI, is host of the successful true crime podcast, Body Bags. He is the Distinguished Scholar of Applied Forensics at Jacksonville State University where he holds the faculty rank of Associate Professor of Applied Forensics. Morgan holds a Master of Forensic Sciences degree from National University and is a Board-Certified Fellow of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators.

In 1985, Joseph Scott Morgan began working for the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office in New Orleans. During his tenure as the Senior Investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner in Atlanta, Georgia, Morgan helped establish the national training guidelines for Medicolegal Death Investigators. To this day, Joseph Scott Morgan remains one of less than 200 people nationwide to attain “Fellow” status through the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators.

Joseph Scott Morgan appears on both Headline News and CNN as the on-air forensics expert.

In 2013, Morgan was named “Georgia Author of the Year” for his memoir entitled BLOOD BENEATH MY FEET: THE JOURNEY OF A SOUTHERN DEATH INVESTIGATOR.

Joe Mullins

Forensic Artist & Adjunct Professor of Forensic Sculpture, New York Academy of Art

Joe Mullins is a forensic artist since 1999 with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He has helped identify and trace long-term missing children, approximate unknown skeletal remains, and reconstruct faces and soft tissue, paving the way for law enforcement to solve their investigations. A Washington-based forensic imaging specialist, Mullins does workshops and demonstrations of his work across the globe, inspiring and training future forensic artists.

Mullins trained as a graphic designer and fine artist before becoming a forensic imaging specialist. He studied at Savannah College of Art & Design, James Madison University and attended The FBI Academy for his forensic skills training.

Mullins also works with talented students to help solve crimes or answer questions for families with missing relatives as an Adjunct Professor at the New York Academy of Art where he teaches a unique Forensic Sculpture course. Joe is a certified Forensic Artist by the International Association for Identification. For a decade, he has been teaching a Facial Reconstruction class to graduate students in Mason’s Forensic Science Program. In the spring of 2022, he started teaching a forensic figure sculpting class at George Mason’s School of Art.