Six commutes into the woods of Georgia, and a husband who may never have existed
The October 2026 pick is The Woman in the Woods, the six-episode 48 Hours series hosted by Erin Moriarty that fits a commute at 23 to 30 minutes an episode.
For October, start The Woman in the Woods.
48 Hours released the six-episode series on September 16, and inside two weeks it reached No. 1 on the US Top New Shows chart Apple publishes, for the week ending September 27. 1 Three of the six episodes are out as of October 1, and the remaining three arrive on October 7, 14 and 21. 2
The premise fits in one sentence. A hunter found a woman's body in the woods of Georgia in December 2022, and the woman's friends and family had already been told that she died in a hospital. 2 The series follows the case from the body to the man she had married, and it was 48 Hours' first series built for video as well as audio. 3
The decision card
| Field | October pick |
|---|---|
| Series | The Woman in the Woods 2 |
| Team | Erin Moriarty, a 48 Hours correspondent, hosts. The series comes from the 48 Hours team at CBS News. 3 |
| Format | Six reported episodes on one case, with a video version released the same day as each audio episode. 3 |
| Release state | Running. Episodes 1 to 3 arrived on September 16, 23 and 30; episodes 4 to 6 follow on October 7, 14 and 21. 2 |
| Episode count | Six episodes. The series' own feed carries a two-minute trailer alongside them. 2 |
| Runtime | 23:54, 29:26 and 24:32 for the three released episodes. 2 |
| Central question | How did a woman whose friends had already buried her turn up unidentified in a Georgia wood, and who was the husband they had been told was dead too? 2 |
| Best for | Commuters who want one case told in order, in episodes that finish inside a single leg of the drive. |
| Listening platform | Every major podcast app, with video episodes on YouTube. 48 Hours Plus members get episodes early and without ads. 23 |
| This month's signal | No. 1 on the US Top New Shows chart Apple publishes, week ending September 27. 1 |
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What the six episodes ask
The three released episodes move from the body to the man, and each one hands the next a sharper question.
- "Dead Again" — released September 16, 23:54. Mindi Kassotis, a romantic by her friends' account, married Nick Kassotis, a handsome, well-educated Navy lawyer. Then came Mindi's frightened messages about threats tied to her husband's work, and the couple's disappearance. Her friends learned that she had died, and soon after that Nick had died too. 2
- "Who Is She?" — released September 23, 29:26. Law enforcement spends months trying to identify the woman in the woods. Investigator Jack Frost works the existing evidence for a possible suspect, and the episode reaches Mindi's parents for a fuller picture of the marriage. 2
- "Nick's Double Life" — released September 30, 24:32. Nick's first wife describes a contentious divorce and offers her own answer to why Nick went on the run. Frost sets out the evidence he says ties Nick to Mindi's killing, and a DNA match precedes an arrest. 2
Episodes 4, 5 and 6 land on October 7, 14 and 21, which gives a listener starting today three episodes to work with and a new one each week after that. 2
The commute test
The three released episodes run 23:54, 29:26 and 24:32, so one episode fits a one-way drive with several minutes to spare, and two episodes fill a round trip. The three released episodes come to about 78 minutes, and at that pace the full six-episode series should land near two and a half hours of listening. 2
The tradeoff is what the episodes ask of a driver. This is a killing and a family's long deception, reported through the people who lived inside both, and the series treats identification of a body as the puzzle at its centre. A commute spent on it is a commute spent paying attention. 2
How to start
- Open The Woman in the Woods on Apple Podcasts, which carries the series by itself. The main 48 Hours feed holds more than a thousand episodes, including decades of earlier broadcasts, and the series gets lost in it. 2
- Press play on "Dead Again". The trailer runs 2:56 for anyone who wants the premise before the first body. 2
- Take one episode per one-way drive, or two for a round trip. That schedule clears the three released episodes in a couple of days and leaves the October 7, 14 and 21 episodes arriving just as a listener runs out of the earlier ones. 2
The Woman in the Woods earns October on three facts: six episodes of roughly 25 minutes each, reporting that is still landing week by week, and the top of the US new-shows chart Apple publishes for the week ending September 27. 1
References
- 1Apple Podcasts – Top New Shows
yahoo.com
- 2The Woman in the Woods – Apple Podcasts
podcasts.apple.com
- 3CBS's '48 Hours' Moves Into Video Podcasting With New Show
hollywoodreporter.com
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