In 1928, the LAPD reunited a grieving mother with a boy they claimed was her missing son, then committed her to a psychiatric ward when she insisted he was an imposter. This episode unpacks the Wineville chicken coop murders, examining how institutional desperation let a serial killer hide in plain sight while a corrupt police department tormented Christine Collins to protect its image.

We trace the disappearance of nine-year-old Walter Collins, the flawed retaliation theory, and the arrival of a boy who turned out to be a 12-year-old runaway chasing a trip to Hollywood. We then move 50 miles away to Gordon Stewart Northcott’s isolated ranch, the captive nephew Sanford Clark, and the discovery of human remains. We follow the trials, Sarah Northcott’s chaotic legal claims, and Northcott’s final cruel game with Christine.

• How Captain J.J. Jones used a Code 12 hold to silence Christine Collins
• The Whittier State School and why prosecutors treated Sanford as a victim, not an accomplice
• The lynch mob, the 27-day trial, and Northcott’s 1930 execution
• The lingering uncertainty over whether Northcott killed Walter
• How Wineville renamed itself to erase the stigma yet markers remain