Briana Whitney
True Crime Arizona Host
Briana Whitney is the Host and driving force behind the blockbuster series "True Crime Arizona". Within just a few years Briana took a reporter position and love for cold case trials to, conceiving and developing, along with her Arizona Family team, a juggernaut Series, Specials, and a Podcast that garners millions of views and continues to expand across the nation and beyond. Briana won an Edward R. Murrow award in 2025 Best News Documentary for her extraordinary work on "Spy Killer: The Girls in the Desert."
She joined Arizona's Family in February 2018 and fell in love with the city and the state's desert life exploring all the amazing nature in State 48! Briana reaches back decades for the oldest of cold case crimes as well as delving into the latest crimes that are happening in real time. Her methodology, research and poignant interviewing skills have unveiled fascinating tales that make clear why we all are fascinated by having the unexplainable, explained. The beauty of Briana is she's just like us. She's curious! And we have the luxury of following her as she embarks on telling the story of how these crimes came to be and how they got away with it, until they didn't!
Briana’s reporting in Phoenix has won her seven Emmy awards. Most notably, Briana helped break the story of Hacienda Healthcare where a woman in an incapacitated state was raped and gave birth, with nobody at the facility knowing she was pregnant. She continued to follow that story for over a year and uncovered other abuse cases, other malpractice, and her reporting led to a mass exodus of leadership positions and part of the facility to close.
Briana also spent months following a Glendale firefighter’s cancer claim denial. She continued to ask the City questions about why the claim was denied when his type of cancer was covered under state law. Briana’s reporting led to the City overturning the denial, and the firefighter getting the help he needs for the rest of his life.
In the fall of 2019, Briana created a series on CBS 5 called True Crime Arizona, where she takes a deep dive into both unsolved and solved cases in Arizona, uncovering new evidence, exploring new theories, and talking to those involved in criminal investigations. The series has been so popular on TV that it expanded into the True Crime Podcast and now has morphed into YouTube's "True Crime AZ".
During her time in South Texas, Briana reported on several national stories. Some of the most memorable was the 2015 Wimberley floods, reporting for eight hours off the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Harvey in August of 2017, and reporting from the church shooting in Sutherland Springs in November of 2017.
Her reporting in Texas won her two Associated Press awards, and an Emmy nomination for a half-hour special she wrote, produced, and hosted on the issue of child pornography.
