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The Case of Dennis Maher
📻 Episode #557
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Jan 15, 2026
About This Episode
On November 16, 1983, a 28-year-old woman was attacked and sexually assaulted by an unknown male as she was walking home from work in Lowell, MA. The following evening, a 23-year-old woman was attacked less than one hundred yards away from the site of the first assault. Even though no biological evidence could link him…
The Case
On November 16, 1983, a 28-year-old woman was attacked and sexually assaulted by an unknown male as she was walking home from work in Lowell, MA. The following evening, a 23-year-old woman was attacked less than one hundred yards away from the site of the first assault. Even though no biological evidence could link him to any of the crimes, Dennis Maher, who was a sergeant in the United States Army at the time, was arrested and charged with both attacks, as well as an unsolved rape from the previous summer. He was convicted based on eyewitness misidentifications made by the victims, all of whom identified him in photographic lineups. Dennis Maher is joined by attorney Alex Spiro and New England Innocence Project Director of Communications Hannah Riley.
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:06:38“Speaker 7: back to that. Like why they're making you walk home Speaker 7: and this is in Uh it's cold outside, It's it's November. Speaker 7: It's November. Yeah, walking home? Okay, Well that's that's a Speaker 7: little surreal. Then you've just spent the night in jail Speaker 7: for the first time in your life, so I'm sure”
00:25:35“Speaker 7: that this guy had tried as a prosecutor, right. Speaker 6: See. I believe it was his first case as a prosecutor. Speaker 1: Right, which is another factor, right, Alex, I mean as Speaker 1: the first case. Speaker 3: Even in the criminal realm. Speaker 2: I think for this to be your first case as”
00:45:26“Speaker 6: May has gone home Thursday. What I didn't know is Speaker 6: that before I got there, he went and apologized to Speaker 6: my parents and my brothers, which was my brother is Speaker 6: still angry. And that's when I went home. Speaker 7: Alex, it's hard to say anything after hearing that story,”
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← #556 Franky Carrillo #558 Antoine Day →
Also on the podcast: #15 Dennis Maher · #97 Jimmy Dennis · #232 Dennis and Lee Horton