Why Timelines Lie
A Canonical Assumption Audit
Timelines feel authoritative because they look orderly.
But order is not accuracy.
In this short Assumption Audit, Crime: Reconstructed examines why timelines—one of the most trusted artifacts in criminal investigations—so often mislead. Rather than treating chronology as a neutral record, this episode breaks down how timelines are constructed, how they degrade over time, and why agreement does not equal truth.
This is not a case reconstruction.
It is a foundational correction.
If you want to understand why timelines harden, how memory contamination works, and why premature certainty quietly derails investigations, this episode establishes the frame.
The full written reconstruction—where contradictions are mapped and assumptions are tested—lives on the Crime: Reconstructed Substack.
Audio explains the frame.
Writing is where the structure lives.
This episode is intentionally concise. Its purpose is to correct a single assumption that underlies many investigative failures.
