Why Can't We Talk About Amanda's Mom?

In November 1993, a veteran discovers the body of a woman on a dirt road near Interstate-10 in Mobile, Alabama. She’s nude, drained of blood, and decapitated. But despite the horrific nature of the murder, it garners little sympathy in the press and detectives fail to close the case. Over the course of 8 episodes, host Sarah Cailean recounts her three-year investigation into this unsolved and perplexing murder that seems to leave more questions than answers. With the full support of the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, she revisits the original investigation, digs up new evidence, and interviews new suspects - recording every step of the way. Cailean hopes to rectify the mistakes of the past and bring some answers to a family still struggling to make sense of what happened – and uncover just why it has been so hard to talk about.

Sarah revisits the original 1993 investigation into the murder of Renee Bergeron and pretty quickly realizes that the detectives stumbled from the outset. Sarah tries to account for what - and who - they failed to understand in their original investigation. 

Interstate-10 is known as the serial killer’s highway among criminologists. Given the brutal nature of her injuries and the fact that she was found dead on a service road running parallel to the highway, Sarah investigates the possibility that a serial killer might be responsible for Renée's death.

As Sarah tries to further understand the life Renée led in Mobile, she learns of a close friend of hers named David. But she doesn’t know if he is dead or alive. So, she decides to see if she can find him and talk to him. What she discovers sends her investigation hurtling in a new direction.

When the Sheriff’s Office first processed the dead body found along Interstate-10, they identified her as Maria Martinez - not Renée Bergeron. This was not a simple clerical mistake. Turns out, Renée lived much of her life under the alter ego Maria. So who exactly is Maria? And why did Renée use her name?

Is a distressing 1993 tip made about Renée's murder merely the result of a drunk talker… or something far more sinister? Drunk talkers are dime a dozen when it comes to murder cases, but this tip looks a lot more promising to Sarah than others she’s come across. 

Sarah’s investigation has turned up two different theories of the case, and with that, two very different suspects. So, now, she’s left asking: could either of them be the culprit?

In any cold case, three theories circulate among the public: the victim was a snitch; there was human trafficking; or the police did it. As Sarah’s investigation heats up, she is left wondering whether all three theories might have played some role in this case…