All Episodes Discussion

[12catcrazy]

I have to agree that I thought the figure in the hoodie was a woman.  I agree with JudyObscure on this one.  And I also hope that the ex-wife is eventually arrested and convicted, but I wouldn't bet the rent on it.  

Watched a Dateline last night about a woman doctor in Pittsburgh who was murdered by cyanide.  What a shame that was - she had such a promising future and was apparently a really excellent doctor.  I had to just shake my head at her husband's lawyers.   The husband purchased cyanide through his job (university lab), his fingerprint was on the bottle, the police found his laptop with searches about cyanide poisoning in humans.... blah, blah, blah, and his lawyers kept saying that he was such an incredibly intelligent man and he couldn't possibly do something so stupid and obvious.  I was there screaming at the tv - OCCAMS RAZOR, and if it walks like a duck....   and apparently the jury thought the same.   Mr. ph.D Super Genius was found guilty pretty quickly.  And I wonder how those lawyers can sleep at night....

[mythoughtis]

3 hours ago, 12catcrazy said:

I have to agree that I thought the figure in the hoodie was a woman.  I agree with JudyObscure on this one.  And I also hope that the ex-wife is eventually arrested and convicted, but I wouldn't bet the rent on it.  

Watched a Dateline last night about a woman doctor in Pittsburgh who was murdered by cyanide.  What a shame that was - she had such a promising future and was apparently a really excellent doctor.  I had to just shake my head at her husband's lawyers.   The husband purchased cyanide through his job (university lab), his fingerprint was on the bottle, the police found his laptop with searches about cyanide poisoning in humans.... blah, blah, blah, and his lawyers kept saying that he was such an incredibly intelligent man and he couldn't possibly do something so stupid and obvious.  I was there screaming at the tv - OCCAMS RAZOR, and if it walks like a duck....   and apparently the jury thought the same.   Mr. ph.D Super Genius was found guilty pretty quickly.  And I wonder how those lawyers can sleep at night....

About the doctor - It seemed pretty obvious to me right from the beginning. She was fine at work as seen on camera, and back in the ER in dire straights a couple hours later.  She was in her early 40s, on fertility treatments. Her husband was 20 years older than her, they had 1 child together and there were two grown children from his first marriage.  I got the reason wrong ( I thought he probably didn’t want more children) but it was actually misplaced jealousy about a colleague. 

Edited August 6, 2018 by mythoughtis

[sinycalone]

Last night's episode:  Prairie Confidential

The convicted murderer and accomplice were truly despicable -- and soulless.

One of my first questions:  why did Cynthia (Cyndi) marry a man convicted of domestic abuse and tossed out of the Army?  And start a family asap?  My answer:  two people drawn to each other by their mutual lack of conscious or empathy for others.

Shame Angila (yes, that's the correct spelling) probably could not leave the Minot area after divorcing Richie -- no doubt due to the custody issues.

Reading articles on line, I saw comments from Richie's mother that made it clear she was an enabler all of his life.

[sainte-chapelle]

9 hours ago, sinycalone said:

Last night's episode:  Prairie Confidential

The convicted murderer and accomplice were truly despicable -- and soulless.

One of my first questions:  why did Cynthia (Cyndi) marry a man convicted of domestic abuse and tossed out of the Army?  And start a family asap?  My answer:  two people drawn to each other by their mutual lack of conscious or empathy for others.

Shame Angila (yes, that's the correct spelling) probably could not leave the Minot area after divorcing Richie -- no doubt due to the custody issues.

Reading articles on line, I saw comments from Richie's mother that made it clear she was an enabler all of his life.

Soulless little psychopath, the audiotape was chilling. Matt had a criminal past so good for him for turning her in, he likely doesn't trust the police and it must have been difficult.

[sinycalone]

2 hours ago, sainte-chapelle said:

Soulless little psychopath, the audiotape was chilling. Matt had a criminal past so good for him for turning her in, he likely doesn't trust the police and it must have been difficult.

I admired Matt...he really had turned his life around...and was recently engaged.  He could have just ignored those nagging doubts...and even her comment via text about the gun.  Instead, he did the right thing.  If he hadn't, Cyndi not only would escaped with no punishment -- she would have kept Angila's two kids to raise....and how scary is that?

[walnutqueen]

Bitch thought she could take an Alford plea and get 10 years, but the judge was having none of that.  Life in prison, without parole.  Justly deserved, I might add.

[Coffeewinewater]

I'm curious why Cindy had custody of Angila's children? The whole thing was disturbing,  but the custody had me confused . Matt should be proud of himself. 

Edited August 15, 2018 by Coffeewinewater

[sinycalone]

9 minutes ago, Coffeewinewater said:

I'm curious why Cindy had custody of Angila's children? The whole thing was disturbing,  but the custody had me confused . Matt should be proud of himself. 

I was confused by that, too.  I gather she was given custody (temporary, I'm assuming) because Angila had no family in the area, her fiance was not the father of either of the kids, and one was the biological child of Richie and the other I believe he had adopted.  Evidently, because of her husband's link to the children, she was awarded custody almost by default.  

[sinycalone]

Here's an article about Cynthia's filing an appeal re her sentence:

http://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2018/06/wilder-is-appealing-sentence-of-life-without-parole/

Here's an excerpt:

Quote

 Cynthia Wilder had backtracked on what she told her old lover and testified at her sentencing hearing that she did not actually know her husband was going to kill Angila Wilder that day and that she had lied about a lot of things when she talked to her old lover. She had wanted to resume a relationship with that man.

So.... bragging about what she would have done had she actually been there to kill Angila was meant to make herself more appealing to Matt. 

[12catcrazy]

So Matt was an "old lover"?  Not surprised - I thought there was more to that story than that they were just drinking buddies.   And from watching Dateline I'm amazed about how many sociopathic people are out there, and woe to you if you are unlucky enough to marry one! 

[ButterQueen]

On 8/5/2018 at 8:27 AM, teebax said:

I like her and never understood the scorn she gets here. I like all the Dateline correspondents. 

I like Andrea too.

[cooksdelight]

I wonder why the guy who killed the two kids kept that recording device around? And didn’t call police right away? 

Oh... because he’s guilty as hell!

[ButterQueen]

On 7/28/2018 at 1:36 PM, PepperMonkey said:

Help me out here.... WHY are we revisiting the MacNeill murder case again? Is there new information? Didn't I just see something on either Dateline or 48 Hours about this recently?? Is this that re-run? It is re-run season, after all, but we just had a good new episode about the young man who was beat up and killed by the racist asshole, well it was new for me anyway, so I was hoping for some new or new-ish stuff this summer...

I swear, though, I did just see this again recently and it seems like Michelle's murder has been a long time ago, now. Tell you what.... there was some new info that I didn't know in the episode I saw recently. I'm probably all alone here but I didn't know about all the threats to his daughter. I honestly think that's the first time I saw that. And didn't their brother commit suicide? Or did I imagine that?

At any rate, I'm glad that jerk finally had the common decency to kill himself. Too bad he couldn't screw up the courage to off himself before he took the life of the mother of his children.

I watch it every time they air it.  I didn’t notice until this last showing that he killed himself.  Happy to hear that.

[Whimsy]

I’ve seen this case before. I forgot how close this town was to some of my family. This was one messed up case. Those kids were awful, but they deserved jail, not death. That guy was batshit crazy. He laid a trap and waited for those kids to come back so he could murder them. Those tapes were chilling. I wonder if the sister knew how bad Brother was. Sounds like he was a bully and all-around shit. 

[walnutqueen]

13 minutes ago, Whimsy said:

I’ve seen this case before. I forgot how close this town was to some of my family. This was one messed up case. Those kids were awful, but they deserved jail, not death. That guy was batshit crazy. He laid a trap and waited for those kids to come back so he could murder them. Those tapes were chilling. I wonder if the sister knew how bad Brother was. Sounds like he was a bully and all-around shit. 

It never fails to amaze me just how many people were "on his side".  Did they not hear the tape?!?  I shudder to think this dickswab may have gotten away with a double murder had the tape not existed.

[Whimsy]

1 hour ago, walnutqueen said:

It never fails to amaze me just how many people were "on his side".  Did they not hear the tape?!?  I shudder to think this dickswab may have gotten away with a double murder had the tape not existed.

I agree. His neighbors who still defend him... did they not hear the tapes??  If that were me and I had taken him in, etc, I would’ve been grateful to still be alive after all of that!

[cooksdelight]

LOL, that was what got him convicted, his own stupidity at keeping that tape recorder. 

[sinycalone]

I'd seen this case before...maybe not on Dateline...and each time I am amazed:

1.  People defended him even after the tape was introduced into the trial.

2.  The kids' family seemed to ignore any fault on the part of those kids.  Agreed:  murdering them was not justified in any way.  But when you learn your brother/son/cousingfriends were known bullies and eventually burglars/thieves....don't act like the whole thing never happened and they were perfect.

Edited August 18, 2018 by sinycalone

[cooksdelight]

5 hours ago, sinycalone said:

I'd seen this case before...maybe not on Dateline...and each time I am amazed:

1.  People defended him even after the tape was introduced into the trial.

2.  The kids' family seemed to ignore any fault on the part of those kids.  Agreed:  murdering them was not justified in any way.  But when you learn your brother/son/cousingfriends were known bullies and eventually burglars/thieves....don't act like the whole thing never happened and they were perfect.

Their families or friends should have never gone on TV, period. Stay in the background. No way you can defend them breaking into people’s homes and make them out to be the “good guys.”

[sinycalone]

9 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

Their families or friends should have never gone on TV, period. Stay in the background. No way you can defend them breaking into people’s homes and make them out to be the “good guys.”

Yes...a thousand times.

[tobeannounced]

I was totally confused by the timeline of last night's Dateline on the murder of Skim X founder Christopher Northam Sr.'s murder. Apparently this happened back in 2011, so it was obviously a very old rerun, but it turned up as new on my DVR. That seems to happening a lot lately! Anyway, I had heard of this case in the past, and it was actually recently covered on another ID show, but I only had half an ear on it because I knew that the son had been arrested for the murder.

I wish I had paid more attention to the son's creepy ex-wife. Averill. She could not be any more of a sociopath. Good Lord, she was really struggling to control her inappropriate facial expressions, and she is a horrible liar. Her mom and Keith actually knew the truth though - as long as the money was flowing, Averill was along for the ride. Whether hubby killed his dad or not didn't matter. I really wonder if she put him up to it. And I wonder if she ended up marrying the new boyfriend they showed at the end. He should have run far and fast! Hopefully she has no life insurance on him.

[sinycalone]

Last night's episode (8/24/18) - Smoke and Mirrors

Another young woman, with a promising future, loving family and boyfriend, murdered because she dared to want to move on with her life....without a former boyfriend.  

Yes, he was smooth, shrewd, and clever (at times).....but what a psychopath.  He had no conscience.....and had a history of threatening behavior (and actual violence periodically).  Hard to believe many did not see through him...until it was too late.

[EtheltoTillie]

We'd seen that episode before. Still not understanding why NBC promotes these as new. 

Edited August 26, 2018 by GussieK

[cooksdelight]

I know, they suck me in and I realize it’s a rerun and I could have been watching something else.

[sinycalone]

Last night (8/25/18), they definitely showed a re-run about the young woman murdered (brutally) in Fort Worth.  But is was listed as as repeat.  The episode on 8/24/18 (girl murdered in Chicago) was new to me.

[bubbls]

On 8/19/2018 at 9:09 AM, tobeannounced said:

I was totally confused by the timeline of last night's Dateline on the murder of Skim X founder Christopher Northam Sr.'s murder. Apparently this happened back in 2011, so it was obviously a very old rerun, but it turned up as new on my DVR. That seems to happening a lot lately! Anyway, I had heard of this case in the past, and it was actually recently covered on another ID show, but I only had half an ear on it because I knew that the son had been arrested for the murder.

I wish I had paid more attention to the son's creepy ex-wife. Averill. She could not be any more of a sociopath. Good Lord, she was really struggling to control her inappropriate facial expressions, and she is a horrible liar. Her mom and Keith actually knew the truth though - as long as the money was flowing, Averill was along for the ride. Whether hubby killed his dad or not didn't matter. I really wonder if she put him up to it. And I wonder if she ended up marrying the new boyfriend they showed at the end. He should have run far and fast! Hopefully she has no life insurance on him.

I called this one in the first 5 minutes, but half way through I asked my fellow crime show fans if I was the only one wondering about her and her oddness. My mom couldn’t put it into words, what was wrong with her, but I think sociopath is the word we were all looking for. 

[patty1h]

It's always jarring to me when I tune in Dateline and it's not a crime related story.  That aside, the episode "Trapped" was horrifying and uplifting.  That was a horrible wreck - that car was crumpled and crushed and, looking at it, you wouldn't believe that anyone was coming out of it alive, but all three people survived.   It was so tense watching that mother trapped in there, not knowing if her babies were okay and if they were going to topple over any second.   God bless those military men and that they had that special crane there.

I don't think I could drive again after that experience.

[cooksdelight]

1 hour ago, patty1h said:

I don't think I could drive again after that experience.

Me either. I am claustrophobic and I would have died from fright. Did they ever mention if the driver of that truck was charged, or did he die? I was dead tired last night so I didn’t catch it all.

[biakbiak]

1 minute ago, cooksdelight said:

Did they ever mention if the driver of that truck was charged, or did he die?

He died in the explosion.

[cooksdelight]

Thanks for the info, I was in and out of the room and tired as hell. :)

[walnutqueen]

10 hours ago, patty1h said:

It's always jarring to me when I tune in Dateline and it's not a crime related story.  That aside, the episode "Trapped" was horrifying and uplifting.  That was a horrible wreck - that car was crumpled and crushed and, looking at it, you wouldn't believe that anyone was coming out of it alive, but all three people survived.   It was so tense watching that mother trapped in there, not knowing if her babies were okay and if they were going to topple over any second.   God bless those military men and that they had that special crane there.

I don't think I could drive again after that experience.

Thank goodness I'd seen this story before, because some fucking football game caused a very late start and my DVR couldn't record the ending ...  GODDAMNED SPORTS!!!

But I remember the initial airing, and the heart-wrenching suspense, the heart-warming heroics, and the incredible set of circumstances coming together to make one hell of a happy ending for the trapped family.  But let's not forget that amidst a seemingly miraculous save, it also ended in tragedy for another family.

The Universe works in strange and mysterious ways

[bubbls]

I rewatched the Cottonwood Creek episode about the death of Dr. Leslie Mueller from a mysterious fall into the creek and both (hung jury) trials of her husband Fred Mueller. I’m perplexed. On one hand, if he was several steps away how did he see her hit the rocks? And everyone I’ve asked says they’d look forever for their possibly knocked out and drowning loved one rather than run off for help like Fred did. That’s very suspicious to me. On the other hand, no motive. None. I noticed Leslie looked very sad. In every picture, even the old ones, her eyes were dead. I wonder if she committed suicide, and Fred is covering for her. That’s the only thing I can think of to reconcile all the available facts, although I think it’s a stretch. 

 

I dont think he held her down or even even physically fought with her as there’d be abrasions on her and bruising. Yet no broken spine from her fall is completely mysterious too. IMO this one is truly a mystery. 

[bubbls]

Hey! A Reddit AMA with Keith Morrison!

[cooksdelight]

Nice to see a new episode tonight. At least, it was new to me.

That poor girl. I cannot imagine what her life has been like since the attack that almost killed her.

I wasn’t buying that guy’s “oh, poor me, I didn’t do it” act. When you have a history of a certain crime, don’t think it won’t catch up with you.

[Lizzing]

5 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

I wasn’t buying that guy’s “oh, poor me, I didn’t do it” act. When you have a history of a certain crime, don’t think it won’t catch up with you.

Yeah, that was laughable.  Call me a cynical asshole, but the red, puffy eyes looked self-induced, maybe with some pepper spray or hot sauce.

[AZChristian]

If I were innocent, I wouldn't think twice about a DNA test.  He was all charm and concern until they wanted to check facts.  Then he had to talk to his mom????  

[Whimsy]

1 hour ago, AZChristian said:

If I were innocent, I wouldn't think twice about a DNA test.  He was all charm and concern until they wanted to check facts.  Then he had to talk to his mom????  

Plus, he was saying that he’d seen the tv shows where people are wrongfully convicted, blah, blah, blah but those people are usually exonerated because DNA finally reveals they didn’t do it, right?  I mean, I haven’t studied all of those wrongful convictions, but I’ve definitey heard of cases where, with the advances of DNA technology, they were exonerated due to DNA proving it wasn’t them. This idiot was trying to say that the DNA was wrong. 

[ridethemaverick]

It must be slim pickings in that town because I couldn't see the good looking, charming, hot older guy everyone was raving about. Even in his before pic he looked like a smarmy asshole.

I hope Britney gets her smile back.

[patty1h]

I didn't give this my 100% attention (because 2 hours) but I don't understand why the mother didn't give a description of the person she saw in her home.  She made it sound that she saw the culprit face to face (he even threatened her) but no word of her describing him to cops - they resorted to hypnotizing Britney to get more info.  Did I miss something?

[Kelloggirl]

7 minutes ago, patty1h said:

I didn't give this my 100% attention (because 2 hours) but I don't understand why the mother didn't give a description of the person she saw in her home.  She made it sound that she saw the culprit face to face (he even threatened her) but no word of her describing him to cops - they resorted to hypnotizing Britney to get more info.  Did I miss something?

Yes, actually the mother was the first to give a description to the police, but it led nowhere. If you have a chance to catch it again, she did describe spiky hair as well, but the two sketches were pretty different (the one that came from her description vs the one Britney did after her hypnosis).

I too, missed a bit of this, mainly the end after his arrest - did they ever speculate on a motive, did he follow her, theory of the crime, etc? Was it based on rejection, was he just a sociopath (seems odd he had no criminal history before or after), was it sexually motivated?

[AZChristian]

5 minutes ago, Kelloggirl said:

I too, missed a bit of this, mainly the end after his arrest - did they ever speculate on a motive, did he follow her, theory of the crime, etc? Was it based on rejection, was he just a sociopath (seems odd he had no criminal history before or after), was it sexually motivated?

The prosecuting attorney at his plea hearing said that he had attacked 3 or 4 other woman, including a 17-year-old girl who was pregnant (I think with his child).  But maybe his mommy helped cover for him then, which is why he wanted to talk to her before giving the DNA.

[Kelloggirl]

28 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

The prosecuting attorney at his plea hearing said that he had attacked 3 or 4 other woman, including a 17-year-old girl who was pregnant (I think with his child).  But maybe his mommy helped cover for him then, which is why he wanted to talk to her before giving the DNA.

Ah, interesting. Thank you! Scary! She is SO lucky she survived. But what a horrible vicious ordeal for her, and her whole family. Glad he got the max!

[tobeannounced]

When Brittney came up with Justin's name, I wonder why they didn't just show his picture to the mom to identify. Or maybe they did, but I don't think they mentioned that.

Edited September 8, 2018 by tobeannounced

[Fable]

It bothers me when law enforcement picks up DNA out of the trash instead of an actual blood sample.  How can you really prove where that sample came from?  You can say it came from anywhere.   

[biakbiak]

2 minutes ago, Fable said:

It bothers me when law enforcement picks up DNA out of the trash instead of an actual blood sample.  How can you really prove where that sample came from?  You can say it came from anywhere.   

They do that to get probable cause to then get a court order for DNA when it’s presented in court it’s a different sample. They also document every step of collection. 

[AZChristian]

30 minutes ago, Fable said:

It bothers me when law enforcement picks up DNA out of the trash instead of an actual blood sample.  How can you really prove where that sample came from?  You can say it came from anywhere.   

In this specific case, Justin had wrapped all of his trash in the placemats from McDonald's. There was no confusing it with other trash.

[Cherrio]

What puzzled me was when the family was told a man came to the E.R. checking on Brittney where are the camera's? Surely they had video and checked it.

The other thing that bugged me is that they all said that the mall was the epicenter for everything. They all knew or knew of Justin.  They should of been questioning everyone working at the mall in the vicinity of her kiosk. Somebody must of seen him talking to her numerous times, especially since he seemed to be god's gift to the mall and females there.

[JudyObscure]

I hate to think Justin will be out in 18 years.  If he had already been in trouble for assaulting three women, it's  obvious that he is unable to control his rages.  Time served will probably just make him angrier.  You could see a little bit of that illogical anger when Andrea asked him about people who thought he was guilty.

Those pictures made from DNA sure did beat the composite sketches made from witness memory.  I can only guess that Brittney and her mother were looking at Justin with the light behind him to make his skin and eyes look browner.

[JudyObscure]

10 hours ago, Cherrio said:

What puzzled me was when the family was told a man came to the E.R. checking on Brittney where are the camera's? Surely they had video and checked it.

I know, right? They should have had a police person watching for just such a man!  This was just hours after  a murder attempt plus a murder threat to the mother and the perp still loose. 

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, JudyObscure said:

I know, right? They should have had a police person watching for just such a man!  This was just hours after  a murder attempt plus a murder threat to the mother and the perp still loose. 

The cameras and police officer stationed at the hospital are both great questions.  My thought is that with every passing day, criminals are working hard to outsmart the system, and police tend to be playing "catch-up" based on what they've learned from crimes that were already committed.  This happened ten years ago.  I suspect that if it happened today, there would be videos to review at the hospital and a police presence to protect Brittani and her mother.