One evening last fall, Rachel McKibbens got a text from her younger brother, Peter. It read: “I’ve been too distraught to tell you, but Dad passed away today at 2:42 p.m.” She had no idea her father had even been sick. When she called Peter, he told her that their father had been dying at home for weeks. They both had contracted Covid.
Peter and their father had lived together a long time and were both unvaccinated; during the pandemic, they had come to fear vaccines.
Peter didn’t get their father to a hospital, didn’t call 911, didn’t tell Rachel what was happening until it was too late. On the call, she talked Peter into going to the hospital. But Peter checked out of the hospital against medical advice two days later while lying to Rachel that he was getting better. Before she could see him, Peter died, too. He was a healthy 44-year-old. Rachel was floored by how much she didn’t know about her father and brother’s last couple of months. What was her brother thinking while their father slowly died in front of him? What was he doing? Then Rachel made a discovery. She found a record of Peter’s last weeks and found out exactly what happened.
From Serial Productions and The New York Times comes We Were Three: A story of lies, family, America and what Covid revealed, as well as what it destroyed.
Behind the Series
Your Host
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About the Music
Sophie Allison is a 25-year-old artist based in Nashville who releases critically acclaimed music under the moniker Soccer Mommy. Earlier this year, Allison released her third record, “Sometimes, Forever,” which was produced by Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never, who also scored “Uncut Gems” and produced the Weeknd’s “Dawn FM.” Allison and her band, who have previously supported acts like Kacey Musgraves, Phoebe Bridgers, Paramore, Vampire Weekend and more, are on an international tour for the remainder of 2022.
Matt McGinley is a musician based in New York, known for his work with the band Gym Class Heroes and as a contributing music producer for “This American Life.” Matt has composed music for many Serial Productions shows, including “S-Town” and “Nice White Parents.”
Reported by Nancy Updike
Produced by Jenelle Pifer and Nancy Updike
Edited by Julie Snyder
Edited with help from Neil Drumming, Ira Glass, Jen Guerra, Chana Joffe-Walt and Sarah Koenig
Editing consulting by Kiese Laymon, Ivan Oransky and Sayre Quevedo
Fact-checking and research by Ben Phelan
Sound design and music supervision by Michael Comite
Supervising producer Ndeye Thioubou
Original score by Sophie Allison of Soccer Mommy
Additional original music by Matt McGinley
Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Anthony Almojera, Eslah Attar, Rana Awdish, Trevor Bedford, Taison Bell, Jordan Cohen, Kelly Doe, Danielle Elliot, Jeremy Faust, Lindsay Fischler, Jason Fujikuni, Tara Godvin, Dana Green, Desiree Ibekwe, Rachel Bender Ignacio, Lauren Jackson, Nina Lassam, Jeffrey Miranda, Anisha Muni, Megan Shepherd, Kristen Panthagani, Jason Salemi, Mark Shapiro, Julia Simon, Al-Amyn Sumar, Tim Trumble, Kimmy Tsai and Susan Wessling.
