S6 Ep1: Brief Against Death: The Murder of Victoria Zielinski

In 1957, Edgar Smith was sentenced to death for the murder of a teenage girl in New Jersey. From his prison cell, he began writing letters, essays and arguments build a case not in court, but on the page. One of those letters landed on the desk of William F. Buckley Jr. Others found their way into elite literary circles. Soon, a condemned man had powerful allies, a book deal and a growing audience convinced the system had gotten it wrong. " Crimes of the Centuries " is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history. You can get early and ad-free episodes and more over at

You can listen to S6 Ep1: Brief Against Death: The Murder of Victoria Zielinski online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

S6 Ep1: Brief Against Death: The Murder of Victoria Zielinski is an episode from Crimes of the Centuries.

This episode is 50:15 long.

This episode was published on Feb 23, 2026.

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