About Karyn Spencer

SPENCER, KARYN is an investigative reporter with the Omaha World-Herald who uses narrative storytelling techniques on long-term projects. Her projects have included how Nebraska's antiquated death-investigation system lets people get away with murder; how a con man stole millions while sidestepping serious punishment; and how the state foster-care system failed a toddler, who was shaken to death by her mother. Spencer was one of the paper's lead writers when a mentally ill young man killed eight people and himself at an Omaha mall in December 2007. She currently is covering mental health issues in the wake of the mall slayings. She previously was the police reporter for the Omaha newspaper and a local government reporter at The Forum of Fargo. On the side, she recently flipped a house for the first time and wrote a houseblog, www.littleitalygem.blogspot.com. She also writes scripts for short online videos about a man who has incurable lung cancer but never smoked.