TheColdCases.com Podcast | True Crime & Cold Cases

Lidia Jean Kott & Chinatown Sting | True Crime

Dustin Terry | True Crime Journalist Season 1 Episode 38

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 10:10

Send us Fan Mail

Journalist and podcast host Lidia Jean Kott joins TheColdCases.com Podcast to take us inside The Chinatown Sting—an investigative series that follows an undercover operation, a web of heroin shipments hidden in everyday objects, and the people caught in the middle. In this conversation, Kott lays out how the story first landed on her desk, what it took to earn trust inside a close-knit community, and the ethical calls behind putting survivors, defendants, and prosecutors on the record.

We talk reporting process and the decisions that shaped the narrative arc. Along the way, Kott reflects on the larger forces surrounding the case: immigration, exclusion, community pressure, and the imperfect machinery of American justice. If you care about rigorous, humane storytelling in the true-crime space, this episode is a master class.

Support the show

Every Unsolved Case Deserves a Voice.

Somewhere right now, a family is waiting for answers. Not the famous cases that dominate true crime podcasts or fill network television specials — but the other cases. The ones that slipped through the cracks of media attention. The ones where a name was forgotten before it ever had a chance to be remembered.

That's exactly why TheColdCases.com exists.

We are building the most comprehensive repository of lesser-known cold cases the internet has ever seen — a dedicated, searchable archive where forgotten victims finally get a permanent home. Where their names, their faces, and their stories are preserved with the dignity and urgency they deserve. Where investigators, journalists, amateur sleuths, and compassionate strangers can connect the dots that time tried to bury.

But we can't do this alone.

This work takes time, research, resources, and an unwavering community of people who refuse to let the forgotten stay forgotten. Every case we document is hours of careful, respectful work. Every profile published is a renewed chance for justice.

You are the missing piece.

By subscribing at TheColdCases.com/subscribe, you become part of a movement — one that believes every victim matters, regardless of whether a camera was ever pointed in their direction. Your support helps us research more cases, reach more families, and keep these stories alive until answers...