They’re partners in true crime. After sisters Yvette Gentile (she/her) and Rasha Pecoraro (she/her) revealed their family’s hand in The Black Dahlia case on their podcast Root of Evil, they realized true crime was their calling. And thus, Facing Evil was born.

Ahead of their big week at the Podcast Movement in Texas, we investigated why they wanted to share their family’s dark past, and what it’s like uncovering others’ secrets now.

When did you decide to share your family’s complicated history with the world?
RASHA: It was our mom’s lifelong dream to tell her story, and it came true with I Am The Night. Six weeks after we lost our mom to breast cancer, we ended up on set with Chris Pine, director Patty Jenkins, and her husband and showrunner Sam Sheridan. It was absolutely surreal, but it was also heartbreaking because she wasn’t there. While we were on set, TNT and Cadence13 approached us to do a companion podcast to the show. And mom… it’s almost like she knew what she was doing. She did audio recordings at a very young age that are now ours forever because she saved everything.
YVETTE: Tapes, journals… our mother documented every single journey of her life.

Your new podcast Facing Evil dives into other people’s pasts. How do you go about picking what to cover?
YVETTE: When we pick a case, what’s really important is finding the light in these dark stories. As we know, there’s not always going to be closure in these cases, but the light that we can find when we do the ending, known as the imua, is so important. We got thrown into this true crime world because of our family history, so if we’re going to do it, we have to show others how they can overcome, how they can heal, or how they can move forward.

What’s your key to healthy communication when diving into these heavy topics?
YVETTE: The beautiful thing is Rasha and I are best friends. When she was younger, she was a pain in the butt, but as she got older—
RASHA: Strike that from the record [laughing].
YVETTE: —she evolved and taught me so much. We don’t always agree on everything, but what we do agree to do is to listen to one another. And I think that is the biggest key.
RASHA: It’s so true. She’s always taught me to listen, especially because I’m the more sensitive and emotional one. And then when Yvette and I got thrust into this, we were in the depths of grief from losing the love of our lives. Yes, we’re best friends, but it was always me, mom, and Yvette. She drove us nuts and she wasn’t perfect, but she raised us to get through anything. We’ve been in 3 fights in our entire lives, and 2 of them happened right after our mom died.
YVETTE: When the depths of grief hits you, you just…
RASHA: Lash out. So we came up with a safe word. If either of us ever said that word, we both immediately have to stop fighting. We haven’t had to use it, but what’s our word, Yvette?
YVETTE: Are we going to tell everybody [laughing]? It’s Mickey Mouse.

Do you have a fav podcast (true crime or not)?
RASHA: I love We Can Do Hard Things. And I love Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. And then as far as true crime goes, I love Up and Vanished by Payne Lindsey.
YVETTE: For true crime, I love Up and Vanished as well, especially Season 3 when he talks about Ashley Loring. Oh, and HeavyRunner. I had no idea how many Native women go missing until I heard that. It was a major eye-opener for me. I also love the MLK Tapes.
RASHA: I know it sounds so cheesy, but I also listen to the kid podcast Ten News. It’s 10 minutes and it’s aimed at kids and their parents about anything and everything going on in the world, like Roe V. Wade or the war in Ukraine.