Hush
Oregon Public Broadcasting
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About This Podcast
Hush is an investigative podcast from OPB, uncovering the buried truth about critical stories in the Pacific Northwest.
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Recent Episodes
S2E8 Episode 8: The Allure of an Answer
The Zuber family continues to tend to a memorial every day for their daughter, just a few hundred feet from their front door. On the other side of their home is the cemetery where Sarah is buried.…
S2E7 Episode 7: Cornered
When Jennifer Massey became mayor of Columbia County’s largest town, she moved from being one of the leading critics of people in power to now being a person in power. But that move was not simple.…
S2E6 Episode 6: Persons Unknown
If the three parties that tell a true crime story – the police, the community and the media – are failing to find answers for what happened to Sarah Zuber, can robust journalism find out what really…
S2E5 Episode 5: The Good Old Boys Club
If the third group that tells a true crime story is the media, Columbia County is lacking in this department. The local newspaper is on its last legs and closes after more than 140 years of…
S2E4 Episode 4: Boogeyman
Typically, true crime stories tell tales of women killed by the men in their lives. And in the early days of the Zuber investigation, close attention was paid to the two men in Sarah Zuber’s life:…
S2E3 Episode 3: We All Fam
In an absence of information about the Zuber case, and in reaction to issues around law enforcement in Columbia County, Jennifer Massey - a citizen sleuth and wife of a St Helens Police officer –…
S2E2 Episode 2: Don’t Speak Ill of the Dead
OPB Journalists Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas are reluctant to engage in an investigation that slips into true crime pitfalls. The pair attend True Crime 101 at Oregon State University and speak to…
S2E1 Episode 1: The Last to See Her Alive
In March 2019, in the wooded hills above the rural river town of Rainier, Oregon, 18-year-old Sarah Zuber was found dead 400 feet from her front door. Six years later, her family still has no clue…
S2 Hush: Season 2 Trailer
Hush is an investigative podcast from OPB, uncovering the buried truth about critical stories in the Pacific Northwest. In season 2, Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas investigate the 2019 death of Sarah…
S1 ‘Hush’ bonus episode: Jesse Johnson was wrongfully convicted. Now, he’s suing
On September 5th, 2023, Jesse Johnson walked out of jail a free man. He’d spent a quarter century incarcerated, including 17 years on death row, for a crime he always insisted he didn’t commit: the…
S1E9 Episode 9: State of Denial
Jesse Johnson is free, but what has changed in Oregon? Experts who have closely examined the state’s racist history say very little. A close look at a murder on a train in the 1940s, a lynching in…
Hush presents: Lost Patients
Today we're sharing the first episode of 'Lost Patients,' a deeply reported podcast from KUOW and the Seattle Times examining our complicated system for treating people with severe mental illness – a…
S1E8 Episode 8: A History of Violence
If Jesse Johnson did not kill Harriet Thompson, then who did? It’s a question police and prosecutors rarely - if ever - considered. We take a deep look at three men who all had connections to…
S1E7 Episode 7: The Nature of Certain Lies
To this day, Det. Mike Quakenbush believes Jesse Johnson is guilty of murder. Even when confronted with significant evidence pointing away from Johnson, Quakenbush said there is no doubt. But what…
S1E6 Episode 6: Two Strangers
Police and prosecutors have always insisted they thoroughly investigated Harriet Thompson’s murder, but some people who did not appear at Jesse Johnson’s trial have insisted for 25 years that they…
S1E5 Episode 5: One Little Drop
The late 1990s and early 2000s were a time of rapidly evolving forensic science. Jurors at Jesse Johnson’s trial heard a lot about how forensic scientists at the Salem Police and Oregon State Police…
S1E4 Episode 4: Patti
Patricia Hubbard lived across the street from Harriet Thompson in 1998, and was the kind of neighbor who doesn’t miss much. She said the white house on Shamrock Drive was known as a “party house.”…
S1E3 Episode 3: The SAINTS of Salem
Salem police in the 1990s began to crack down on drug users. At times, their efforts turned deadly, and regularly targeted people of color in the mostly white city. Fatal police shootings led to the…
S1E2 Episode 2: Shorty
After spending six years awaiting trial, a jury in Salem convicted Jesse Johnson in 2004. Prosecutors relied on an alleged confession to the murder of Harriet Thompson that Johnson made to a fellow…
S1E1 Episode 1: Jesse
On March 20,1998, police in Salem, Oregon, discovered the body of a 28-year-old Harriet Thompson inside her apartment. Within a week, they arrested Jesse Johnson for murder. Johnson drifted west…
Frequently Asked Questions
Hush has published 21 episodes since August 2024, covering topics in Documentary, History.
Hush is currently dormant with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 42m.
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