Stolen (podcast)

The podcast is hosted by journalist Connie Walker, who previously hosted Missing and Murdered.[1] In 2019, Connie Walker left CBC to work at Gimlet Media.[2] The Search for Jermain is an eight episode season.[3] There is a bonus episode containing updates related to the case in addition to the standard eight episodes.[4] The podcast debuted on March 1, 2021.[5] While Walker's previous reporting focused on missing persons cases in Canada The Search for Jermain focused on a case in the United States.[6] The podcast investigates the missing persons case of Jermain Charlo, a 23-year-old woman who has been missing since 2018.[7] This missing persons case received very little media attention.[8] Walker heard about the case from Lauren Small Rodriguez who works with human trafficking survivors in Missoula.[9] In the first episode of the season, Walker interviews Vicki Velarde, Charlo's grandmother.[10] In the second episode, Walker discusses the sex trafficking of indigenous women.[11] Walker explores the history of the area and discusses how settlers forced Charlo's ancestors out of the Bitterroot Valley and into the Flathead Indian Reservation.[12]

The series is exclusively on Spotify.[13] Walker's father was in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and during his time as an officer he had pulled over a priest that had abused him as a child.[14] When he recognized who it was he beat up the priest.[15] Walker learned about this story from a social media post that her brother made shortly after unmarked graves were found at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in 2021.[16] After learning about the incident, Walker decided to try and find the priest.[17] The season contains a number of interviews with Walker's relatives.[18] The season discusses Canadian residential schools in general and the intergenerational trauma that was caused by them.[19] However, the podcast specifically focues on St. Michael's Indian Residential School where Walker's father was a student.[20]