Following the widespread popularity of his true-crime podcast “Crimetown,” film editor and Narrowsburg native Zac Stuart-Pontier is preparing for a new project: “The RFK Tapes,” an investigation through the history and unanswered questions about the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy. Using contemporary tape recordings alongside modern interviews, Stuart-Pontier, the son of River Reporter publisher Laurie Stuart and Glenn Pontier, emphasizes that the new podcast will be a journey of discovery—and although he describes himself as a skeptic of any conspiracies, the conclusions are far from foregone.

“On the one hand, it’s very, very simple,” says Stuart-Pontier. “There were 77 people in the pantry [where Kennedy was shot]—everybody saw Sirhan Sirhan pull out a gun and start shooting... On the other hand, he doesn’t remember doing it. His gun [held] only eight bullets. Kennedy is shot three times, and there are five victims—so that’s eight right there. So any other bullets found in the pantry would prove that there was a second gun firing in the pantry that night. And there are pictures of four bullet holes—FBI photographs, LAPD photographs, circled and labeled… So that’s compelling! Just on its face right there: is it open and shut, or is it not?

“I think, in 10 episodes, which is what it’s going to turn out to be, we’re going to present both sides… Usually people [who] are trying to prove a conspiracy only show you one side… and they’re taking all of the information that helps their point, and they’re disregarding [everything else]—and I like to present all the information: the information that’s ‘good’ for Sirhan Sirhan, and the information that’s ‘bad’ for Sirhan Sirhan.”

The genesis of the project began with local author Bill Klaber, whom Stuart-Pontier credits as the real star of “The RFK Tapes.” Klaber’s original audio documentary—from which the podcast gets its title—first aired on WJFF in 1993, and struck a serious chord with Stuart-Pontier in his youth. “It’s a very Narrowsburg connection for me,” he says. “ [Klaber] played these old archival tapes that were striking, they were so real—maybe the first time I even heard documentary tape, as opposed to listening to something that’s fake... Real detectives talking to real witnesses about what they saw about this horrific event... that practically happens on tape. [Kennedy is killed] minutes after finishing his speech, and as soon as he’s shot in the pantry of the Ambassador Hotel, all the news people turn both their cameras and their audio recordings back on, and there are these absolutely chilling tapes of people saying ‘Get the gun! Get the gun!’ …The nature of Bill’s piece is that there’s something else going on. We aren’t told the whole story. And that’s a pretty big thought—forget about believing it or not believing it for a second. I think that probably struck me too.”

The search for the truth has already borne fruit in a wealth of never-before-heard material—and Stuart-Pontier is looking forward to the challenges presented by this specific medium. “We’ve just been on the hunt... It’s a story that people don’t really know; it hasn’t really been told before, and I think podcasts are the perfect medium for it because it is audio-only, and so much of the original source material is audio… What I love about podcasts is [they’re] a very intimate experience, because often you have headphones on, you’re often listening by yourself—you’re transported to that place. There’s something powerful about audio storytelling.”

“The RFK Tapes” podcast will premiere on Tuesday, June 5, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination. For more information, visit rfktapes.com.