Lise Olsen

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281-454-1933

Lise Olsen is a Houston-based senior reporter and editor at the Texas Observer. Lise has investigated many twisted Texas tales, including crooked judges, an unjust execution, massive environmental disasters, myriad cases of corporate and public corruption, and unsolved serial killings. Her reports in three states over 20 years contributed to the prosecutions of a former congressman and a federal judge, inspired laws and reforms, helped solve cold cases, restored names to unidentified murder victims, and freed dozens of wrongfully-held prisoners. Her work is featured in CNN's “The Wrong Man” (2015) about the innocence claims of executed offender Ruben Cantu and the six-part A&E series on the victims of a 1970s serial killer, The Eleven, (2017). She is the author of Code of Silence: Sexual Misconduct by Federal Judges, the Secret System that Protects Them and the Women who Blew the Whistle.

Articles by Lise Olsen

Newspapers encased in chains with a lock

Investigative Reporting Is Under Attack in the Americas. We Need More Action.

U.S. journalists are publicly asking the Biden administration to actively support freedom of the press.

Three metal cages under spreading trees each contain the remains of a human body, barely visible now due to decomposition and grass growing up, around and through the remains.

Learning from the Dead

The resident donors at Texas' famed Body Ranch offer many lessons about life—and untimely death.

Mar 03, 2023

Remembering a Social Justice Lawyer Extraordinaire

Attorney Jeff Blackburn, a crusader for the innocent, fought injustices across Texas in his improbable, utterly original, and often profane life.

A closeup of a needle loaded with a vaccine, held in the hand of a medical professional wearing blue gloves. In the background, they are applying an alcohol swab to a grey-haired person who will receive the vaccine in their shoulder. There's increasing hesitancy where once there was widespread acceptance of vaccines in Texas.

The Shot Boosters

Vaccines are under attack in Texas, and public health experts warn we'll pay a price in more outbreaks and deaths from preventable diseases.

Children hanging out

Lost Children—A Texas Tragedy

A riveting new book about foster care and adoption exposes just how the state lost six kids to out-of-state mothers who murdered them.

The facade of a shop in a row of shops, with a sign reading "bookshop" in clear block letters. Books and an Open sign are displayed in the window. Texas bookstores, and books about Texas, thrived in 2022.

Last Dance with Ann Richards: Best Texas Books of 2022

How Galvestonians used to dance until they dropped (for fun), a former figure skater turned journalist, and other Lone Star State stories.

Lauren Anderson

Plumshuga: The Rise of Lauren Anderson

New play tells a poetic version of the long road to recovery of Houston’s first Black prima ballerina.

Tony Diaz, a Chicano man with short dark hair and wearing a dark shirt, speaks into a microphone at a protest against book bans at the Alamo.

Houston’s ‘Librotraficante’ Calls on Chicanos to Combat Censorship

In his unusual new book, “The Tip of the Pyramid,” Tony Diaz preaches the need for “cultural accelerators” to combat right-wing reaction.

Elmer Wayne Henley, a bald white man, is seen resting his head on his hand as he speaks into a telephone handset during a prison interview.

Notorious Houston Serial Killer Requests Compassionate Release

Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr is currently serving six life sentences for participating in a murder, rape, and torture ring when he was a teenager.

Kirk Johnson, a white man with short hair and a close-cropped beard, poses in a black and white photo. he's wearing a button-down and standing in front of an ivy covered wall.

‘The Fishermen and the Dragon’ Uncovers Racist Conflict in Galveston Bay History

A new nonfiction book reveals dark details of a clash between white and Vietnamese shrimpers, corporate polluters, and the KKK in Texas.