Regular listeners of this show will be familiar with the podcast series, The Last Ride, which we’ve been airing in serial since the first episode released in early April. It uses extensive reporting done over two decades to tell the story of two young men of color who disappeared in Naples — both of whom were last seen with the same Collier County Sheriff’s deputy, Steven Calkins, who is now retired. Deputy Calkins was fired for giving inconsistent statements about the cases, but was never formally accused of any wrongdoing in their disappearances.
The Last Ride was produced by USA Today Network Florida in partnership with WGCU Public Media, and it’s the first-ever podcast distributed by the NPR Network that was created entirely without editorial oversight. As of this morning it has been downloaded more than 1.2 million times by people all around the world.
We aired the final installment yesterday so today we sit down with three of the four-member team who reported on this story, and worked together to produce it, to talk about that process and whether The Last Ride has brought forth any new information that might illuminate just what happened to Filipe Santos and Terrance Williams.
As Janine says at the end of the episodes, if you’re interested in taking a look at the public records about this case the Collier County Sheriff’s Office has them on their website — or you can find direct links to them at naplesnews.com/lastride.
GUESTS:
Janine Zeitlin is a journalist for USA Today Network Florida and is producer, writer and reporter of The Last Ride.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore is a photojournalist with The News-Press and audio editor and co-producer of The Last Ride.
Melanie Payne is manager of enterprise & investigative content for ABC-Action News WFTS in Tampa, and is one of the reporters behind The Last Ride.
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