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ESL Podcast 974 – Talking About Old Crimes

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1

GLOSSARY

cold case – a criminal investigation that has not been solved and will no longer
be actively investigated until more information becomes available
* The police officer received a mysterious call with details about a cold case.

unsolved crime – an instance of someone breaking the law but never being
punished for it because investigators cannot determine who did it
* Their daughter’s murder is referred to as an unsolved crime, but they’ve never
given up hope that the criminal will be found.

decade – a period of 10 years
* Wow, Lorraine and Benny been married for three decades!

to reconstruct – to put something together again, either a physical object or an
idea
* City planners are trying to reconstruct the original train routes from 50 years
ago to help determine the new train routes.

once and for all – a phrase used to show that something will happen definitely
and not need additional attempts
* Just tell me the truth once and for all. Are you the person who stole my lunch?

trail – a series of clues that lead someone in a particular direction, especially
toward solving a problem
* Researchers are on the trail toward finding a cure for AIDS.

lead – a clue; a piece of information that provides some idea about what
happened or who did something
* The police are encouraging people to call if they have any leads about the
robbery.

witness testimony – statements made by people who saw something happen
and were present during a situation or crime
* The accident happened in daylight in the middle of Times Square, so they’ll
definitely be able enough witness testimony.

scientific method – the accepted process of conducting investigations, using a
defined and generally used system
* If they had been following the scientific method, they would have had a control
group that didn’t receive the treatment.

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ESL Podcast 974 – Talking About Old Crimes

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2

statute of limitations – the maximum period of time after an event when legal
action can be taken
* What is the statute of limitations on assult in cases where the victim was a
child?

murder – the crime of killing a person
* The mayor has promised to reduce the number of murders in the city by 20%.

to crack – to solve a mystery or complete a difficult investigation that has been
too challenging for other people
* Scientists have been trying to crack the secrets of the universe.

crack – very sharp; astute; very smart and good at what one is doing
* Pierre is a crack shot with that gun and can hit the middle of the target every
time.

investigative method – a process for conducting research, especially to solve a
crime
* Basic investigative methods include photographing the location of all objects
before moving anything at a crime scene.

keen eye for detail – the ability to notice many small things that other people
might not notice
* Interior designers have a keen eye for detail and color.

deathbed confession – a statement that one makes while dying, admitting to
something bad or wrong that one did earlier in life
* Grandpa Henry made a deathbed confession that shocked his wife, but she
never told anyone what it was.

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ESL Podcast 974 – Talking About Old Crimes

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3

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. What does Paul mean when he asks, “Isn’t the trail cold?”
a) He doesn’t think any new information is available.
b) He doesn’t think people are interested in the crimes anymore.
c) He thinks the investigators found the wrong criminal.

2. Which of these things would not be useful when solving a crime?
a) Scientific methods.
b) Statue of limitations.
c) Investigative methods.

______________


WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

cold case
The phrase “cold case,” in this podcast, means a criminal investigation that has
not been solved and will no longer be actively investigated until more information
becomes available: “Periodically, the bureau assigns an investigator to review
cold cases before filing them away.” The phrase “basket case” is an informal
phrase that refers to a person who is crazy: “Spending too much time alone can
turn anyone into a basket case.” The words “uppercase” and “lowercase”
describe capital and non-capital words: “I hate it when people write in uppercase
(LIKE THIS) because it seems like they’re shouting.” Finally, a “pencil case” is a
small box or pouch used to carry pencils, pens, and erasers: “Each student has
to bring a folder, paper, and a pencil case on the first day of school.”

trail
In this podcast, the word “trail” means a series of clues that lead someone in a
particular direction, especially toward solving a problem: “Investigating financial
crimes must be exciting when you’re following the trail of corruption.” When
talking about nature, a “trail” is a path in a natural area or through a park or
forest: “We walked along a four-mile trail to get to the lake.” The phrase “trail mix”
refers to a snack food made from nuts, dried fruit, and often small pieces of
chocolate, often eaten while hiking: “The simplest trail mix is just raisins and
peanuts.” Finally, when talking about politics, a “campaign trail” is all the places
someone visits to try to get people to vote for one while attempting to win an
election: “The senator’s campaign trail includes every town in the state with more
than 20,000 residents.”

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ESL Podcast 974 – Talking About Old Crimes

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4

CULTURE NOTE

Interesting Methods Used to Solve Cold Cases

In general, the older a crime is, the more difficult it becomes to solve, because
witnesses become “forgetful” (not able to remember something well) or “pass
away” (die) and “evidence” (proof; objects that show what happened) “rots”
(decomposes; becomes ruined) over time. However people have “turned to”
(begun to use) “innovative” (new) methods to solve cold cases.

For example, in 1979 a woman named Susan Schwarz was murdered near
Seattle, Washington, but there was no “clear” (easily understood) evidence and
the murder was considered a cold case for more than 30 years. But then some
“detectives” (investigators who work for the police) distributed “playing cards”
(sets of 52 cards with different shapes and numbers, used to play games) to
“prisoners” (people who are kept in jail). The cards had the names, photographs,
and other information about the “victims” (the people who are hurt by crimes) in
cold cases, as well as the promise of a “reward” (money given in return for
something) for any “tips” (clues; leads) that would help police solve the crime. A
prisoner saw a card with Susan’s information and told the detectives who had
committed the crime.

Another interesting way to solve cold cases is to use the Doe Network, a website
that uses “crowdsourcing” (using the Internet to have many people working
together on a task) to gather details about cold cases. When enough people
participate, the resulting clues can help detectives “piece together” (put things
together in a certain way to make connections and provide meaning) the details
of the crime. The U.S. Department of Justice has recognized the Doe Network for
its efforts, specifically because the information on that site has been
“instrumental” (very important and useful) in solving 66 cold cases.

______________

Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – a; 2 – b

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ESL Podcast 974 – Talking About Old Crimes

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5

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 974 – Talking
About Old Crimes.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 974. I’m your host, Dr.
Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in
beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Our website is ESLPod.com. Go there and become a member of ESL Podcast
and download a Learning Guide for this episode.

This episode is a dialogue between Paul and Della about vocabulary related to
crimes, especially old crimes. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Paul: What are you watching?

Della: I’m watching a really good show about cold cases. They take unsolved
crimes from decades ago and reconstruct them, trying to solve them once and for
all.

Paul: But after all this time, isn’t the trail cold? How do they solve the crimes with
no new leads?

Della: They go over the witness testimony and use scientific methods that didn’t
exist many years ago.

Paul: Isn’t there a statute of limitations for most crimes?

Della: Yes, but not for murder.

Paul: I really doubt a TV show can solve crimes that the police couldn’t crack.
Are any crimes really ever solved on the show?

Della: Yes, of course.

Paul: How? Through crack investigative methods or a keen eye for detail?

Della: Deathbed confessions.

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ESL Podcast 974 – Talking About Old Crimes

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6

Paul: Ah.

[end of dialogue]

Paul begins our dialogue by asking Della, “What are you watching?” Presumably
– we can guess, that is, that Della is watching television. Della says, “I’m
watching a really good show about cold cases.” A “cold case” is a criminal
investigation that has not been solved and is not, at this time, trying to be solved
by the police department. The police may investigate a crime for many months,
sometimes even many years, and then they say, “Okay, there’s no sense trying
to find out who did this because we haven’t been able to find out so far.” This
crime then becomes a “cold case” – a cold investigation. It’s “cold” because it’s
so old. Maybe that’s why I feel cold more often now than I used to.

Well, Della is watching a television show about crime, about cold cases. She
says, “They take unsolved crimes from decades ago and reconstruct them.” “To
solve (solve) a crime” is to figure out who is responsible for the crime – who
“committed” the crime, we would say. “To solve a crime” is to find the person who
is guilty of the crime. An “unsolved case” or an “unsolved crime” is one where the
police have not figured out who the guilty person is. “Cold cases” are always
unsolved crimes. Della says these that are being discussed on the television
show are “from decades ago.”

A “decade” (decade) is a period of 10 years. So, “several decades ago” would
mean 20, 30, 40, maybe even 50 years ago – a long time ago. “To reconstruct”
something is to build it again. “To construct” is to build something, to assemble
something. “To reconstruct” would be to take something that has perhaps fallen
apart and build it again. However, here the verb really means to try to figure out
everything that happened that is related to the crime. “To reconstruct a crime”
would be to try to figure out exactly who committed the crime and all the different
circumstances surrounding the crime.

The television show tries to solve these unsolved crimes “once and for all.” “Once
and for all” is a phrase meaning that once you do it, you won’t have to do it again.
It’s the last time you’ll have to look at this issue or try to do this thing. It will be
completed. It will be finished.

Paul says, “But after all this time, isn’t the trail cold?” A “trail” (trail), in this case,
leads to a series of clues that are used to try to solve a crime. A “clue” (clue) is
evidence that indicates the answer to a problem or the solution to a problem.
Paul is saying that the trail is cold on these cold cases, meaning it’s very difficult
to try to follow the clues to figure out where the evidence is leading you.

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ESL Podcast 974 – Talking About Old Crimes

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He says, “How do they solve the crimes with no new leads?” A “lead” (lead) is the
same as a clue. It’s a piece of information that gives you some idea about what
happened, that helps you solve the mystery or the crime. Della says, “They go
over the witness testimony and use scientific methods that didn’t exist many
years ago.” A “witness” (witness) is someone who sees something, often
something that is criminal or something that has gone wrong.

You could also have a witness, however, to – for example – your marriage. In the
United States, in most places, if you get married, you have to sign an official
government document, and there needs to be at least two people who witness
you sign the document who say, “Yes, this person signed the document.” That’s
also, of course, something that can go wrong – that is to say, getting married. But
normally, a “witness” is someone who sees a crime or sees something bad
happen.

“Testimony” (testimony) is a statement or statements that someone makes about
what happened, about what they know about a certain topic. “Witness testimony”
would be information that was provided by witnesses to some crime, about what
they saw or what they heard or what they know.

Della also says the television show uses “scientific methods.” “Scientific
methods” would be techniques, or ways of doing something, that would help you
figure out who committed the crime – using, perhaps, some special analysis.
Perhaps chemicals or some sort of laboratory analysis that would help you figure
out who the criminal was. A lot of times, especially nowadays, there is DNA
evidence, genetic evidence that is left at the place where the crime was
committed – what we call the “scene (scene) of the crime.” Sometimes those
kinds of methods can be used to solve old criminal cases as well.

Paul says, “Isn’t there a statute of limitations for most crimes?” A “statute”
(statute) is the same as a law. “Statute of limitations” refers to a law that says
that if you are not caught for a crime – if the police do not catch you for crime
after a certain number of years – then you cannot be arrested. So, if you do
something wrong that isn’t very serious, and the police don’t find out about it until
many years later, usually they can’t do anything about it because the statute of
limitations says the police have only so many years to find people guilty of these
kinds of crimes.

“Murder,” however – when you kill someone – typically does not have any statute
of limitations placed on it. That is, it doesn’t matter how long ago it was, the
police can still arrest you and put you in prison. That’s what Della says here –

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ESL Podcast 974 – Talking About Old Crimes

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8

that for murder there is not a statute of limitations. Paul says, “I really doubt a TV
show can solve crimes that the police couldn’t crack.” Paul doesn’t think the TV
shows can figure out who the criminal was if the police couldn’t figure it out. The
verb “to crack” (crack) means to solve a difficult problem – especially, to solve a
crime.

Paul then asked Della, “Are any crimes really ever solved on the show?” Della
says, “Yes, of course.” Paul asks, “How? “Through crack investigative methods
or a keen eye to detail?” “Investigative methods” would be ways that you try to
get information about something – in this case, about who committed the crime.
“Crack” (crack) here is used as an adjective. Just a second ago, we used it as a
verb meaning to solve a crime.

As an adjective, “crack” can mean very sharp, very smart, very good at what you
are doing. “I am a crack basketball player.” I can play basketball better than
anyone else in my house – better than my wife, that is. That is one possible way
of using “crack” as an adjective. “Crack investigative methods” would be very
intelligent or smart ways of investigating a crime. “A keen eye for detail” means
the ability to notice small things that other people perhaps would not notice. “A
keen eye for detail” is the ability to see things that others cannot see.

Paul is asking if these are the ways that the television show solves crimes.
However, Della says that that’s not how they solve the crimes when they do
solve crimes. They do it, according to Della, by using “deathbed confessions.” A
“confession” is a statement admitting that you did something wrong. Sometimes,
when the police catch a person who committed the crime, the person will just
confess. They will say, “Okay, yes, I did it.” “Confession” comes from the verb “to
confess” (confess).

A “deathbed confession” is when you admit to doing something wrong as you are
dying. Your “deathbed” is literally the place, the bed, where you are lying as you
are dying, and right before you die, you say, “Oh, yes. I murdered this person,” or
“I did this terrible thing many years ago.” Of course, it doesn’t take any
investigative work by the police if someone confesses to a crime, and Della is
saying here that this television show doesn’t really solve any crimes unless
someone has confessed to them.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.

[start of dialogue]

Paul: What are you watching?

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ESL Podcast 974 – Talking About Old Crimes

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9

Della: I’m watching a really good show about cold cases. They take unsolved
crimes from decades ago and reconstruct them, trying to solve them once and for
all.

Paul: But after all this time, isn’t the trail cold? How do they solve the crimes with
no new leads?

Della: They go over the witness testimony and use scientific methods that didn’t
exist many years ago.

Paul: Isn’t there a statute of limitations for most crimes?

Della: Yes, but not for murder.

Paul: I really doubt a TV show can solve crimes that the police couldn’t crack.
Are any crimes really ever solved on the show?

Della: Yes, of course.

Paul: How? Through crack investigative methods or a keen eye for detail?

Della: Deathbed confessions.

Paul: Ah.

[end of dialogue]

I’d like to thank our crack scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Tse, for her hard work.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come
back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast was written and produced by Dr. Lucy
Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational
Development.