‘Should Be Alive’ investigates the tragic murder of 17-year-old trans teenager Nikki Kuhnhausen
“Should Be Alive” is a new true crime podcast sharing the tragic story of 17-year-old Nikki Kuhnhausen. When she disappeared in June of 2019, to friends, family, and investigators, it seemed like she had literally dropped off the face of the Earth. And as the days turned to weeks, the odds that the missing transgender teenage girl would turn up alive dropped lower and lower. “Should Be Alive” investigates the disappearance and death of Nikki Kuhnhausen while spotlighting the growing epidemic of violence against the trans community.
“Should Be Alive” is a new, 6-part podcast from KGW and VAULT Studios. Award-winning journalist and host of podcasts like “The Yellow Car” and “Urge to Kill” Ashley Korslien hosts this new true crime podcast. Episodes of “Should Be Alive” are around 45 minutes long and new episodes are released on Wednesdays.
With the help of Detective Dave Jensen, Korslien presents us with the timeline of events following Nikki’s disappearance on June 6, 2019. She speaks with close friends of Nikki as well as Nikki’s mother, Lisa Woods, about when they realized the 17-year-old had vanished.
It wasn’t until June 10 that Lisa Woods called the Vancouver police to report her daughter as missing, and it would be a few more days before Detective Jensen uncovered Nikki’s last-known whereabouts. It was the early morning hours June 6, 2019 — friends of Nikki said that she left their apartment to rendezvous with someone the teenager met on Snapchat.
While search teams were organized throughout Vancouver, Washington to search for Nikki, her friends, families, and activists who had become aware of the case know that the odds were stacked against the teenager. Nikki, as a trans woman, faced the same abysmal odds that other trans women do and was unlikely to be found alive.
Listeners who have enjoyed other true crime podcasts like “Locked Inside,” “Hell & Gone,” and “Tom Brown’s Body” will find this podcast to fit right into their queue.
“Should Be Alive” takes us step-by-step through the investigation in Nikki’s murder and shows us how the case was built against her murderer. While Nikki’s story is nothing short of tragic, her murder inspired a movement that led to the Nikki Kuhnhausen Act — which outlaws the legal strategy known as the LGBTQ+ panic defense — to be signed into law. Hear her full story in this new podcast, “Should Be Alive.”
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