Matthew McGough + Rick Jackson: Black Tunnel White Magic

Wicked Words - A True Crime Talk Show with Kate Winkler Dawson

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

True Crime

4.8 • 7.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1990, a UCLA student was found murdered in a tunnel in LA. Detective Rick Jackson and his partner were assigned to the complicated case. Who had a motive to stab Ronald Baker? Was the pentagram pendant around his neck a clue? Author Matthew McGough and Detective Rick Jackson tell the story in their book, Black Tunnel White Magic: A Murder, a Detective’s Obsession, and ’90s Los Angeles at the Brink.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is exactly right.
0:07.4	Everyone thinks they've never joined a cult.
0:09.7	But the truth is, it happens to smart, grounded everyday people like us.
0:14.3	I'm Lola Blanc.
0:15.3	And I'm Megan Elizabeth.
0:16.8	We host Trust Me, a podcast about cults, extreme belief, and manipulation.
0:20.7	And now, Trust Me, has a new home on the Exactly Right podcast network, alongside shows like My Favorite Murder and Buried Bones.
0:27.2	New episodes of Trust Me, premiered July 30th on Exactly Right.
0:30.7	Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
0:36.6	This story contains adult content and language.
0:39.8	Listener discretion is advised.
0:49.2	One of the things that Rick and his partner are informed up early on
0:53.1	is that the night that the
0:54.1	murder occurred was actually the same as the summer solstice.
1:03.0	I'm Kate Winkler Dawson, a nonfiction author and journalism professor in Austin, Texas.
1:08.6	I'm also the co-hosts of podcast, Buried Bones on Exactly Right,
1:12.5	and throughout my career, research for my many audio and book projects has taken me around the
1:18.8	world. On Wicked Words, I sit down with the people I've met along the way, amazing writers,
1:24.7	journalists, filmmakers, and podcasters who have investigated and reported
1:29.0	on notorious true crime cases. This is about the choices writers make, both good and bad,
1:35.5	and it's a deep dive into the unpublished details behind their stories. In 1990, a UCLA student
1:44.0	was found murdered in a tunnel in L.A.
	...

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