In 2018, journalist Scott Johnson received a tip that someone was impersonating high-powered women in Hollywood. Using their identities, the scammer lured artists from across the entertainment industry to Indonesia on the promise of work. People thought it was their big break. Instead, hundreds of victims found themselves in increasingly strange scenarios with a shadowy figure known as the Hollywood Con Queen.

It sounds like a textbook con: steal someone’s identity, create a fake story and exploit people for cash. But as Scott reveals in this week’s episode of Crime Story, the scammer wasn’t motivated by money. It was about something much deeper.

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For 5 years, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bomber had been living on the lam in the woods. Locals sold shirts that read “Eric Rudolph: 1998 Hide and Seek champion.” Meanwhile, Eric ate salamanders, shot bears, and racked up the bill for one of the most costly manhunts in U.S. history. How did he do it? What were his motivations? And why was he able to pull off four separate bombings before police finally nabbed him?

Journalist Henry Schuster, author of Hunting Eric Rudolph, was there when that first bomb went off in Atlanta, and he joins us this week on Crime Story.

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In part two of our conversation, The Jinx creators Andrew Jarecki and Zac Stuart-Pontier reflect on what it was like watching Robert Durst take the stand, how his inner circle enabled his strange behaviour, and the impact of documenting a suspected killer for 20 years.

For ad-free listening to Crime Story, subscribe to CBC's True Crime channel on Apple Podcasts.