For better or worse, true crime is a form of entertainment for most people — a podcast you can turn on while deep cleaning the house or while you veg out on the couch. For at least one TikTok user, however, it can also be incredibly informative; Emmi reckons a true-crime podcast helped her realize her ex was a serial killer.


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In a recent video, Emmi told the story of how she came to the conclusion (she’s “90 percent sure”) that her ex was a serial killer thanks to a particular podcast that had an episode about a man who had an awful lot in common with her ex, including home state and when he moved to Ohio, as well as his height and his appearance, which sounded “exactly how [her] ex looks.”


They then mentioned his first name, which was also her ex’s first name, and while part of her thought it could all just be a coincidence, she also considered the fact that her ex was the one who got her into true crime, “because he was so fascinated with the minds of serial killers.”


Commenters were quick to demand more information. One woman wrote, “I need the full tea ma’am this isn’t Costco I need more than a sample,” while others ventured their own guesses, with several commenters landing on Shawn Grate, who committed multiple murders in the 2000s and evaded capture for several years.



In a follow-up video, Emmi talked about how toxic the relationship was, and how she would cry her eyes out every night as a result. “I was young, and I was really stupid, and he was dark and mysterious and I thought I could fix him,” she explained.


One question people had was how she wasn’t able to confirm her ex’s identity considering the podcast probably identified him using his full name, as would news articles online. Her explanation for this was that he’d given her a fake name, allegedly in an effort to distance himself from his traumatic childhood.


At no point does she share the name of the podcast or confirm the ex’s identity, so as with any wild story on TikTok that’s shared with zero corroborating evidence, take this one with a massive grain of salt.