Criminology - Introducing THE FIRST 48, a new A&E and Crime House podcast!

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

For homicide detectives, their chance of solving a murder is cut in half if they don't get a lead within the first 48 hours. Adapted from the hit A&E true crime series The First 48, Crime House Studios brings you the podcast that drops you inside that critical window: the interrogations, the dead ends, and the breakthroughs that crack a case wide open. Each week, we revisit a landmark investigation from the franchise, pairing its signature investigative depth with immersive, long-form storytelling built for your ears. Real detectives. Real cases. Real stakes. New episodes every Thursday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Crime House Studios, A&E Global Media, and ITV America. Listen here: https://pod.link/6786011424

Hi, listeners, if you're enjoying criminology, then we have something special to share that we think you'll love. It's a new podcast adaptation of A&E's famous true crime series, The First 48. Each week, the First 48 will take you inside the critical first 48 hours of a homicide case, the interrogations, the dead ends, and the breakthroughs that crack a case wide open. Real detectives, real cases, real stakes. I've got an episode of the show for you to listen to now. If you like what you hear and want more, make sure to follow the first 48 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. There's also a link to the show in this episode's description.

On August 29, 2020, 32-year-old Mark Clifford Lake was shot dead at his encampment in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Following his death, homicide detective Jason White takes charge of the investigation. So far, he's learned from one witness, a man named Rowdy Peterson, that two men shot Mark. Rowdy knows the two men live somewhere nearby, but he's not sure where. But the witness says that Mark's wife, Georgette, does. Detective White sits down to talk to her, hoping that she'll tell him everything she knows. Routy cares a lot about you and he cares a lot about your husband

he tells me that you know them pretty well I need to know who these guys are I don't know who the other guy was where he came from who he looked like a little miniature knockoff version of AJ I guess where do they live a ladder bird

okay but you know who AJ is and AJ was there Period. Okay. Do you know any more to his name? No. He just came up from California. Does he have any tattoos? A grim reaper on his shoulder. Thankfully, Georgette provided Detective White with three pieces of valuable information.

One of the suspects is named A.J. He has a tattoo of the Grim Reaper on his shoulder, and he lives off a street called Latimer P. place. He passes this information along to Sergeant Nathan Schilling. Search our database for A.J. Latimer. It'll search all our reports and field interviews, and maybe we'll get lucky where someone mentions his nickname. This holds some promise. Andres J. Martinez. So we will find him in Traces. And there we are. And he lists the address in East Latimer Place. So he just got arrested like three weeks ago and times to be homeless.

37-year-old Andres J. Martinez grew up in Riverside County, California. He has no prior convictions. Based on what the investigators have learned so far, Sergeant Schillington, thinks this may be the AJ Gorgette is referring to. He wants to see if she recognizes him. Sergeant Schilling brings this information to Detective White, who's still in the interrogation room with Georgette. Detective White shows her a photo of Andres Martinez. Is that him? Yes. Check the shoulder. Okay, so this is the guy that's got the Grim Reaper tattoo on his shoulder?

Yeah. The individual you referred to as AJ. Uh-huh. We have literally only known him. About maybe a week and a half. He's supposed to go get stuff from any store that we choose, anything we want, he's supposed to be able to do it. Was he getting dope in exchange for bringing you guys stuff?

Yeah. But he would never show up with the stuff. He would just show up himself. Everything's in the car, everything's in the garage. And they end up arguing, Bickering. There's a kid ambush that maybe took from AJ, made him walk home. What did he take? A can't ambush? It's a bike.

She says that AJ was supposed to pay Mark for drugs that he'd been fronted. But when AJ failed to come through, Mark took his bike. Is that why AJ came back, probably pissed off? Probably. My husband was going to make him in through his pockets. and leave his bike. Does your husband have a knife? He has a knife that slides in and out,

but I think he left it at the tank when we left. I had my knife on me. What kind of knife do you have? I have a switchblade type knife. It's black and silver. Mm-hmm. All right, so let's talk about the second guy. Describe him for me.

Like, like, a five-five. He didn't happen to notice any tattoos on that guy? Yeah. Did you get a decent look at him? I know. But you definitely got a good look at AJ. Usually someone puts a gun in my face, which I remember what they were looking like. If you didn't catch that, she said, usually if someone pulls a gun in my face, I try to remember what the F they were looking like.

All right, sit tight. Thank you. Although they still have to identify the second suspect, Detective White has enough to get a warrant for AJ's arrest. But he and Sergeant Schilling aren't sure where to find him. According to a recent incident report, AJ's address on Latimer Place is vacant. AJ shows to be homeless in our database.

So I was trying to figure out his address on Latimer. On the 10th, a call went in of a burglary at the location. The tenants moved out. So that address is probably not going to be good anymore. We'll find him. Three hours in, the case takes a turn. Thanks for listening to this episode of The First 48. To hear more, follow the First 48 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music,

or wherever you listen to podcasts. There's also a link to the show in this episode's description. Thank you.