About this episode

The episode explores the complex case surrounding the murder of Joan Wertkin, who was reported missing shortly before her body was discovered burning in a parking lot.

On a rainy night in late May 1989, a fire was spotted in a Westport, Connecticut parking lot. Within minutes, first responders realized the impossible: a body was burning in the open. Not long after and just a few miles away, a husband called police to report his wife missing. Her name was Joan Wertkin. From the outside, she was living an enviable life in one of Connecticut’s most idyllic towns. But as investigators traced her final hours, the case turned into something far more complicated – a tight timeline, a fraying relationship, a car left where it shouldn’t have been, and questions that still echo for her family.

Topics covered

• murder
• true crime
• investigation
• missing person
• fire incident

Keywords

• Joan Wertkin
• murder
• Westport
• Connecticut
• true crime
• investigation
• missing person
• fire

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Westport, Connecticut

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