This site is dedicated to the award-winning and highly impactful investigative reporting I did over more than two decades. As of 2026, I left journalism to become a licensed private investigator. I lead the Civil Investigations Unit at The Mittelstadt Firm, a decades-old investigations firm that has worked on many of the country’s most high-profile cases. I’m bringing the same agility, relentlessness and creativity to private investigations as I did in my Peabody-winning journalism career. I’ve investigated police misconduct and mistreatment of military families. My superpower — a genuine curiosity supported by real empathy — is getting people to tell me things they haven’t or wouldn’t tell anyone else. As with journalism, my approach to investigations is strictly ethical and law-abiding.
I can be reached at The Mittelstadt Firm at 404-252-5322 or LinkedIn.
For 14 years, I reported complex stories for CNN. I turned long-range stories and investigations with the network's investigative team including “Destroyed,” which revealed police nationwide were routinely destroying untested rape kits in unsolved cases without victims’ knowledge. I proved that rape kits were trashed in hundreds of cases in which prosecutions could have been brought but without the evidence to bolster cases. I also analyzed more than 1,000 full rape and child sex abuse cases and found a pattern of sloppy, incomplete and biased police work. When “Destroyed” was published, law enforcement agencies made investigative reforms, a new law in Georgia was enacted to prevent rape kit destruction and leaders nationwide called for change.
In 2021, I left CNN to write, report and host narrative non-fiction investigative podcasts.
My 2023 podcast "Body Brokers" explores the little-known but highly lucrative world of buying and selling body parts. My 2022 podcast "Suspect, season II" charted for more than a week at #1. "Suspect" tells the story of a 12-year-old girl who disappeared from her home in 1984 and a self-professed true-crime fan whose obsession with the case may be more than it seems.
My stories have appeared in U.S. and international outlets, including the Miami Herald, CNN, Wondery-Amazon, Sony Music Entertainment, Campside Media, the Oxford American, Salon, Newsweek, Agence France Presse and the German publication Die Tageszeitung. I’ve reported from Berlin and Macedonia while on fellowship with the International Center for Journalists.
Awards
2018
Atlanta Press Club: Best Investigative Story Award for “Destroyed”
2019
Emmy nomination for outstanding graphic design and art direction for “Destroyed”
2019
Eppy for Best Investigative/Enterprise Feature on a website for “Destroyed”
2019
End Violence Against Women International Media Excellence Award for “Destroyed”
2019
Pictures of the Year International (POY), Documentary Project of the Year, Second Place for “Destroyed”
2010
Peabody Award for coverage of the Gulf Oil Spill
2008
Peabody Award for coverage of the US Presidential Election
2015
American Academy of Religion award for best in-depth news writing for a story about missionaries
I explained why police destroyed rape kits and I answered callers’ questions
On the UK’s top investigative journalism podcast I walked listeners through the backstory of reporting “Destroyed”
Responding to my investigation “Destroyed,” Georgia outlawed rape kit destruction. I discussed that and more on the state’s NPR affiliate.
I chatted about all the obstacles to reporting “Destroyed” with popular pod host Andrew Vontz.