All Episodes Discussion

[Annber03]

I watched the episode, 'cause I hadn't seen or heard about the other documentary covering this case yet (though how you've mentioned it, @Irlandesa, I'll have to check it out at some point :)) and I'd heard some of the general details of this case, but not the full thing. So a lot of this was new to me. 

But wow, what a mess of a family. I get that these people had the kind of wealth to where they believed they were totally untouchable and could just pay people off to keep from having to face any consequences for their crimes...but it amazes me how, in this day and age, anyone, no matter how rich they are, thinks they can commit a crime without ANYONE ever finding out about it or it ever being made public. At some point, people are going to talk, and even if they don't, you're always, always going to leave some kind of paper trail that can help people realize who you've seen, where you've been, what you've done, and so on. It's exceedingly rare for any crimes to stay totally hidden forever anymore. My heart goes out to Mallory's family and friends regarding her death. Of all the things to finally fully expose this family for what they really are. 

And then the murders of Murdaugh's wife and son, and the other mysterious deaths that were connected to the family. If you've got THAT many dead people popping up around you, people are gonna talk after a while.

I'm just forever amused by his 911 call about the deaths of his wife and son. "My wife and son have been shot - badly!" Is there a good way to be shot...?

[TVbitch]

Couldn't do another 2 hours on this guy, but watched the last 10 minutes. It seemed that for the most part the update was just to say that the trials are set for 2023. I'm sure we'll get more episodes then. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

With all of the deaths involved with this family coming into the open now, I have to wonder how many other crimes are still hidden.   The family has been in power for too long for there not to be others.   

Here's a very frustrating update to the Stephen Smith homicide.  I know it's not classified as a homicide, but no other real explanation has made sense.   

https://meaww.com/cops-investigate-if-murdaugh-double-murder-was-linked-to-mysterious-death-of-gay-man-stephen-smith

Here's a better article about the case: 

https://wpde.com/news/local/family-of-teen-killed-in-alleged-hit-and-run-unveils-new-headstone-in-his-honor

Edited November 6, 2022 by CrazyInAlabama

[izabella]

1 hour ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

With all of the deaths involved with this family coming into the open now, I have to wonder how many other crimes are still hidden.   The family has been in power for too long for there not to be others.   

Yes, they should look for more bodies.  and should go back many decades, as many decades as they've had control of "justice" there.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were unexplained deaths around this family going back years.

[pdlinda]

1 hour ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

wonder how many other crimes are still hidden. 

Does anyone else recall another death they neglected to mention on this episode but described in detail on other episodes from the several true-crime shows covering this story.

It was a young, blond, gay man whom, as I recall, had a flat tire somewhere near where the phony "shooting" was taking place on the open road where Alex was "shot" and called police and implicated his friend in having planned the shooting so he could avoid the "suicide clause" in his life insurance policy and leave the proceeds to his surviving son. 

I believe the young man was run over by Alex's car, or maybe shot???

I remember how devastated the young man's mother was to lose her son in such a tragic manner.  Another family's life destroyed by the Murtaugh's.

[Crashcourse]

27 minutes ago, pdlinda said:

Does anyone else recall another death they neglected to mention on this episode but described in detail on other episodes from the several true-crime shows covering this story.

It was a young, blond, gay man whom, as I recall, had a flat tire somewhere near where the phony "shooting" was taking place on the open road where Alex was "shot" and called police and implicated his friend in having planned the shooting so he could avoid the "suicide clause" in his life insurance policy and leave the proceeds to his surviving son. 

I believe the young man was run over by Alex's car, or maybe shot???

I remember how devastated the young man's mother was to lose her son in such a tragic manner.  Another family's life destroyed by the Murtaugh's.

Yes.  Throughout this episode, I was waiting for them to bring up the story about the guy who got hit by a car, but they didn't.  I thought it was strange that they omitted that part.

I felt sorry for the young man (forgot his name) who was dating Mallory.  I forgot if they were engaged, but they had known each other since they were kids and were probably going to be married.  

[nora1992]

On 10/29/2022 at 1:31 PM, mythoughtis said:

I’d have been  calling the police as soon as he left the driveway too.  As you said, he was not ordained, just a church member who led a youth group.  I’m not sure I’d have had the courage to actually call him with the police sitting there, but I still think he didn’t break any confidentiality or friendship rules by doing so.  
I was floored by the wife who stood by Isaac after he confessed murder and an affair to her.  I am fairly confident I’d be calling the police on my own husband if he confessed murdering someone to me.   I noticed that her support was withdrawn after he got arrested.  

And yet how many friends know a friend’s spouse is having an affair but don’t tell them?

The man did the right thing in the end.  He had a close relationship with Isaac; the murder was news to him and it threw him.  He was in shock. The first thing he did after hearing the story was search the internet to find out more.  And then he struggled with what to do with the information.  He didn’t want the story to be true and then had to wrap his head around it.  Give him a break: would there ever have been an arrest without him?  

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, pdlinda said:

It was a young, blond, gay man whom, as I recall, had a flat tire somewhere near where the phony "shooting" was taking place on the open road where Alex was "shot" and called police and implicated his friend in having planned the shooting so he could avoid the "suicide clause" in his life insurance policy and leave the proceeds to his surviving son. 

They didn't talk about him in this ep?  Shocker.  It's sad, maybe juicy and very relevant.

(Full disclosure, this is from the HBO Max miniseries.)  The young man's name is Stephen Smith.  It was ruled a hit and run by local cops but the law enforcement agency that investigates road accidents doesn't think the details match a hit and run.  They think he was killed somewhere else or some other way and placed where he was found.

His car was found miles from where he was found with the gas cap open.  His sister thought it was strange because he left his wallet, phone...etc.  in the car and he could have called her. And who runs out of gas, leaves the gas cap open and doesn't put in any gas? 

The traffic agencies started calling around to ask questions about what they think happened.  Over and over people implicated at least one, if not both, of the Murtaugh boys (Paul and Buster). And when they called back to follow up, those same witnesses started to clam up or go away. 

Here's where the rumors start to come in.  Apparently, Stephen told his friends he was "messing with a man" whose identity would "shock" people if they knew who it was.  He also told his mom he was going on a trip "with a friend" to go deep sea fishing.  The belief in town, and by Stephen's father (no deceased) especially was that the man was Buster.  After Stephen's death, Buster kind of went away. 

After everyone got shot, Smith's death was reopened.  No one knows or is saying why.  Did they find something in the house, on a phone or a computer?  Maybe.  Maybe it's unrelated.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Irlandesa

[Ohmo]

I came away from this most recent episode thinking that Alex killed Maggie and Paul as a means of distraction.  All of this seems mainly financial, with so many schemes and plots, I'm wondering how much money Alex actually had left (if any) that was legitimately his money.  He had no problems manipulating and using people.  I don't think Maggie and Paul's deaths had anything to so with Maggie or Paul.  They were just the latest people that Alec used to stall the avalanche of investigation into his finances.  Buster would be wise to watch out, as would Alec's sister.

I wonder if Alec will try to pin the murders on Paul at trial.  He's already tried Curtis.

I wonder what Buster actually thinks of all of this?  Does he see his dad for who he is?

Edited November 6, 2022 by Ohmo

[Ohmo]

On 10/29/2022 at 12:22 PM, iMonrey said:

Fire & Ice - I'm glad they didn't waste two hours on this one. And here I was worried they would eventually run out of husbands who murdered their wives when on the brink of a divorce and custody hearing. Silly me! Felt sorry for their son, he of the unfortunate haircut.

The one thing that I didn't understand were the investigators who were worried about him going to Florida.  There would have been no way to ask U.S. authorities for help?  We're not talking to him fleeing to a nation that has no relationship with Canada.

[heatherchandler]

2 hours ago, Ohmo said:

I came away from this most recent episode thinking that Alex killed Maggie and Paul as a means of distraction.  All of this seems mainly financial, with so many schemes and plots, I'm wondering how much money Alex actually had left (if any) that was legitimately his money.  He had no problems manipulating and using people.  I don't think Maggie and Paul's deaths had anything to so with Maggie or Paul.  They were just the latest people that Alec used to stall the avalanche of investigation into his finances.  Buster would be wise to watch out, as would Alec's sister.

He killed them because Paul’s trial was opening up his financials and his theft would soon be detected.  Same with Maggie, she files for divorce, financials get reviewed.. everything blows up.

He thought with both of them gone, he could keep his stealing under wraps.

16 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Here's where the rumors start to come in.  Apparently, Stephen told his friends he was "messing with a man" whose identity would "shock" people if they knew who it was.  He also told his mom he was going on a trip "with a friend" to go deep sea fishing.  The belief in town, and by Stephen's father (no deceased) especially was that the man was Buster.  After Stephen's death, Buster kind of went away. 

I don’t think the Murdaughs has anything to do with his death.  The only evidence is that he was messing around with a man who would shock people.  No other evidence points to the Murdaughs.  Why do they keep lumping him in with the other crimes?

[Irlandesa]

4 minutes ago, heatherchandler said:

I don’t think the Murdaughs has anything to do with his death.  The only evidence is that he was messing around with a man who would shock people.  No other evidence points to the Murdaughs.  Why do they keep lumping him in with the other crimes?

Multiple people contacted by the police said they heard rumors it was connected to the Murtaughs.  And the case was reopened after the events of last summer.  That's why his name keeps getting brought into it. 

Just like we don't know what happened to the housekeeper, specifically, but everything around her death and insurance payout is sketchy.

[heatherchandler]

3 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Multiple people contacted by the police said they heard rumors it was connected to the Murtaughs.  And the case was reopened after the events of last summer.  That's why his name keeps getting brought into it. 

Just like we don't know what happened to the housekeeper, specifically, but everything around her death and insurance payout is sketchy.

Right but other than rumors, there’s not any actual evidence.  

With the housekeeper, she died at their house and the circumstances were weird.  That seems like there is a real possibility that one of them has something to do with it.  

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

Right but other than rumors, there’s not any actual evidence.

No and that's why there hasn't been an arrest.  But I think multiple people hearing the similar rumors does connect the two cases, at least as an investigative avenue.

[BusyOctober]

Re. Alex Murdaugh….Just finished the series on HBO Max.  Wow, what a fucked up family.  I had seen all the Dateline eps on the Murdaughs, and I knew about the deaths of (muders really)  Mallory Beach, Stephen Smith, and Gloria Sattefield.  I knew there was financial theft of Ms. Satterfield’s two sons’ payout from their wrongful death suit.  And I remember Alex was fired for embezzling funds from his law firm in addition the screwing over the Satterfields.  But this HBO a series went into sooo many more cases of theft from his clients!  Several poor, vulnerable and minority families were robbed by Alex. He stole $10 million from his clients. That weasel-eyed SOB ruined so many lives.  I hope he rots in jail, and I hope the surviving son, Buster, gets “busted” for murdering Stephen Smith.

[12catcrazy]

Did this episode of Dateline mention that Maggie was talking to a divorce lawyer, as I didn't recall them saying it.   I had either read or seen (maybe on 48 Hours?) that she had decided to divorce Alex, and if true, that would be a good motive for him killing her, and maybe Paul was just in the wrong place at the wrong time - he was a witness and had to be murdered as well.  

And does Alex Murdaugh have siblings?  And if so, are they "clean" or as much as thief as Alex? 

[CrazyInAlabama]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murdaugh_family

Very convoluted family tree.   However, apparently Alex has two brothers. (At least I think two).     

One brother works for the law firm, and is part of suing Alex, claiming he stole from the firm, and from the brother. 

[GiandujaPie]

Every time I see Alex Murdaugh's face, I always think he looks like an inbred. He and his 2 sons have a weird look to them. They are proof positive that being rich does not make you a better or smarter person, no matter how much the rich want to believe they are superior to poor people. Alex Murdaugh and his sons clearly coasted through life on nothing more than their name. and likely ill-gotten wealth They did not have good looks, but always manage to have friends and girlfriends because of their name and money. 

I thought there was a lot of new information presented since the last episode but I would have liked to have an update on what Buster was doing now and what he was doing for money. I'm assuming relatives are supporting him, but is it maternal or paternal relatives? I wonder if Maggie came from a wealthy family too. They said she was arrogant too but was it only because she married into the Murdaugh family? 

[JudyObscure]

16 hours ago, GiandujaPie said:

Every time I see Alex Murdaugh's face, I always think he looks like an inbred.

All he needed was a banjo to hold.  When the friend talked about Maggie being so proud of their money and position I thought of the old saying, "When you marry for money you have to go to work every single day."

[Court]

Thanks for posting the updates here. I won't waste the next two hours watching it!

[nora1992]

On 11/6/2022 at 6:14 PM, Irlandesa said:

No and that's why there hasn't been an arrest.  But I think multiple people hearing the similar rumors does connect the two cases, at least as an investigative avenue.

My counter-argument to this: Chandra Levy.

How much time was wasted trying to build a case against the married boyfriend?  In the end, there wasn’t enough evidence against the man convicted in the first trial to survive an appeal.

[BusyOctober]

Re. Trouble at Dill Creek Farm

I really need to stop watching any Dateline episode “reported” by Andrea Canning. Ugh, she is awful.

Also, I wish Dateline (& 20/20) would stop these 2 hour episodes. Forty minutes of actual crime story, 30 minutes repeating what has already been shown, 50 minutes of ads.  

It was obvious from the jump who killed Ken.  Why bring in all the dead ends and introduce the audience to people who weren’t suspects?  OK, tell us about some leads or shady people who ‘could have been’ involved, but introduce them all and wrap it up…”Sneaky Sam had a bad business dealing with the victim, but was cleared.  Ex wife Susie had a solid alibi and was no longer under suspicion.  A tipster dropped a dime on Crazy Carl, the local alcoholic, but he was found to be not involved.” DONE!  Now focus on the 2 most likely killers, and confirm what 98% of the audience and the victim’s close circle already knows…the wife did it.

[basiltherat]

It was just a two hour commercial designed to feature .  .  ,.  BUTCH PATRICK !?!?!!

[mythoughtis]

Dill Creek Farm- what a bizarre case.    I tend to agree with Butch Patrick - who can remember where they were on any given night years later?  Only if whatever happened was particularly significant to you is your memory going to hold that long.  A murder of someone you  met  because you signed autographs once a year at a track they co-owned for a couple years isn’t that type of memory. Plus he probably  didn’t even hear of it for weeks. 
I was sure the wife had done  it right away - as soon as we heard the 911 calls and the initial interview recording. Then we hear about 5 life insurance policies for a less than 3 year marriage.  
Interesting that the show let the real life of the victim show ( subtly of course) rather than present him as a saint.  He had flaws, but he still didn’t deserve to he murdered. 

[Morrigan2575]

I find myself annoyed by Cindy's sister. I can't tell if she truly believes this crap or she's as much of a liar as her sister. 

[Guest]

41 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I find myself annoyed by Cindy's sister. I can't tell if she truly believes this crap or she's as much of a liar as her sister. 

That’s my reaction.  Either she needs a hearing aid or someone needs to tell her to use her inside voice. 

THERE WAS A PUBIC HAIR IN THE ENVELOPE!!!

And I’ve already instructed my family that in the event of my murder/disappearance to never, ever refer to me as beautiful.  People watching Dateline will pay no attention to details of my demise because they’d be looking at my picture saying “what the hell..?

Just like I did with judging Cindy and her show stopping beauty. 
 

[Irlandesa]

First, the farm was beautiful.  I'm not a country person but it reminds me of my grandparents' farm in that area (ish) of the state. 

42 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I find myself annoyed by Cindy's sister. I can't tell if she truly believes this crap or she's as much of a liar as her sister. 

I think she absolutely believes her.  And I think, if I were in her position with a sister of mine, I might too if I loved my sister.  In fact, it was obvious who was convicted because the anger radiating off of her during the interview was palpable.  She probably believed every lie the sister told of her ex's crazy family.

4 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

 Why bring in all the dead ends and introduce the audience to people who weren’t suspects?

I will say that I thought it was a murky case and it seemed like the other people weren't suspects simply because the cop decided they weren't suspects and dismissing a woman who said she overheard them talking about killing someone.  Maybe she's crazy but ultimately, it made me go hmmm even though most of the evidence was stacked against the wife because she had the most to gain.

5 hours ago, nora1992 said:

My counter-argument to this: Chandra Levy.

How much time was wasted trying to build a case against the married boyfriend?  In the end, there wasn’t enough evidence against the man convicted in the first trial to survive an appeal.

In that case there was a previous conviction and a confession the cops were ignoring.  That's not the case here.

[nora1992]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

In that case there was a previous conviction and a confession the cops were ignoring.  That's not the case here.

There was a confession before Connie Chung’s interview of the philandering politician?  Or the multiple magazine covers with the missing woman’s photos?  
Rumors do not create evidence, no matter how many there are.  I’m old enough to remember the conversations that summer, where people wondered who politician philanderer hired to get rid of her, and how long it would be before a confession came from someone.

There are so many bad players in the world; it is possible that even a small town has more than one or two undiscovered villains.
 

[Irlandesa]

24 minutes ago, nora1992 said:

There was a confession before Connie Chung’s interview of the philandering politician?  

No.  Allegedly by the guy they tried.  

But this is getting off topic.  Basically, I think it's fair to bring up Murphy because many people in the town do.  It's an open investigation.  Murdaugh isn't being tried based on rumor and innuendo.  They might not have anything to do with the case.  They might have everything to do with it.  At this point, we don't know.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Irlandesa

[nora1992]

41 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

They might not have anything to do with the case.  They might have everything to do with it.  At this point, we don't know.

There is enough evidence already discovered in all of the cases.  My point is that the reliance on rumors for other cases sets a bad precedent.  Cell phone positioning is believable; are records kept long enough to weigh in for this case?  From all that’s been said about the family, I don’t think anyone would be capable of masking GPS data.

[Annber03]

3 hours ago, PsychoKlown said:

That’s my reaction.  Either she needs a hearing aid or someone needs to tell her to use her inside voice. 

THERE WAS A PUBIC HAIR IN THE ENVELOPE!!!

I nodded off early on for a time during last night's episode (this past week at work was insane and I was just exhausted).

And that line about the pubic hair is what I woke up to. I actually looked at the TV at that moment like, "...uhhhhh...okay?" So that was fun :p. 

[Tdoc72]

1 hour ago, Annber03 said:

I nodded off early on for a time during last night's episode (this past week at work was insane and I was just exhausted).

And that line about the pubic hair is what I woke up to. I actually looked at the TV at that moment like, "...uhhhhh...okay?" So that was fun :p. 

I like they after they said “pubic hair” like 6 times, Andrea says gross. Not sure why I found it so funny, but I rewound and watched 3 times. 

[Ohmo]

7 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I find myself annoyed by Cindy's sister. I can't tell if she truly believes this crap or she's as much of a liar as her sister. 

Annoyed is not the word.  Her sister was obnoxious, mouthy, and loud.  She also showed no objectivity about Cindy.  I have siblings, and I love them, too, but they aren't perfect.  That's the actual word Pam used to describe Cindy.  Nothing was Cindy's fault. It was either Ken's fault, Ken's kids' fault, Betty's fault, Ken's sister's fault, etc.  Cindy is a piece of work, and so is her sister.

Ken's mother Margaret at 102?  You go, Ms. Margaret! 

I agree that all of the men were somewhat of a distraction, but the handwriting angle was completely interesting to me.  If they were fighting, he probably wanted to push her buttons, and I'm sure he knew his kids called her that.  Maybe that fight was him realizing that she was indeed a bitch.  Then, she reacted by killing him.

Given Cindy's sister, that's not a big stretch.

[Tdoc72]

The sister said, along others things, that Ken told her sister to sleep in the camper and also thet Ken wanted all the life insurance for Cindy. I found myself yelling at her, “those are things Cindy said he said.  You have no idea if he actually said them.”  I also laughed at the end when Andrea said Cindy got new lawyers and her sisters said the truth was going to come out. Yeah, I’m sure there’s so much other proof that the old lawyers just ignored. 
I loved his mom. She’s seems so feisty!  

[Ohmo]

Marathon County widow continues to deny killing pharmacist husband as she's sentenced to life in prison

Quote

She criticized her trial attorney and said the conviction "hurt my soul."

Once again, nothing is Cindy's fault.

Quote

Moran said the messages Juedes' mother sent to Schulz-Juedes asking her for information about her son, a funeral and family property given to Schulz-Juedes were heartbreaking. 

This hurts my soul.  Watch whom you marry, folks.

[CraftyHazel]

11 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

Re. Trouble at Dill Creek Farm

I really need to stop watching any Dateline episode “reported” by Andrea Canning. Ugh, she is awful.

I find myself distracted from the story by her numerous and inappropriate clothing choices!  She visits the crime scene in a flowered, ruffled mini-dress more appropriate for a dinner out or dancing, and has a half dozen or so outfit changes in every episode she does.  She also lacks the tone of Josh or Keith, where you can tell they just don’t buy the bullshit their interviewee is trying to sell.  Something in her voice is just too…soft, too “oh, wow…that’s amazing!” to seem like she’s reporting on a crime.

And it’s not because she’s a woman.  Fatima Silva of “Reasonable Doubt”, Maureen Maher, and many other women have had the right tone of voice and the lack of vanity to do what Andrea Canning tries to do.  (Granted, Silva IS an attorney, not a reporter.). I just feel like AC is there to lure in the casual male viewer.

[pdlinda]

1 hour ago, Ohmo said:

Ken's mother Margaret at 102?  You go, Ms. Margaret! 

I thought that was absolutely AMAZING!  And that she had the stamina and "wits" to testify at a trial and was articulate and energetic was beyond inspirational. 

One would think a trauma like she suffered would be enough to hamper her longevity; however, she apparently was resilient enough to survive.

I couldn't believe that they shared such horrible news with the father who was in a nursing home.  Why was that necessary?  I didn't understand.  Maybe someone can explain that decision to me.

[MooCat Pretzel]

Dill Creek Farm.

Why is the sister yelling at me? Good night, she was loud.  
 

1 hour ago, pdlinda said:

I couldn't believe that they shared such horrible news with the father who was in a nursing home.  Why was that necessary?  I didn't understand.  Maybe someone can explain that decision to me.

My mom was in a nursing home before she passed of kidney and heart failure.  She had her wits about her the whole time until she went into hospice.  If Ken was a frequent visitor, then I would think that they would have to tell him because he would wonder why Ken stopped coming to see him.  
 

[UsernameFatigue]

I had so many questions in this episode, and no answers. I didn't understand Cindy's claim that she slept in the camper because Ken got so many late night calls as a pharmacist. Really? How many emergency pharmacy calls would one get? I've never heard of such a thing. It looked like he and his partner had their own business, so why would someone be calling Ken at home off hours to have a prescription filled? I was waiting for the police to say they had asked, say his partner, if that was even a thing/true.

Also I didn't understand how Cindy could inherit everything from Ken. Even if it was a real will, why would his ex not contest it at least on behalf of the minor son. At least where I live, unless there is a really good reason, children cannot be cut totally out of a will just because their parent's second spouse doesn't like the kids. I thought they said that Ken's ex and he were in a custody/maintenance dispute over the 16 yr old, so how could he be totally cut out of Ken's will when Ken still had financial obligations to him? I know this point doesn't necessarily relate to the murder, but I didn't understand how Cindy could inherit everything, even if it was (though it certainly didn't seem like it) Ken's actual will. 

I did like the cop who finally took over pointing out the things that only Cindy would know, as well as noticing that the b in the note looked exactly like b that Ken made in his notes on the white board. Too bad it took so long for the case to get to that point.

Edited November 13, 2022 by UsernameFatigue

[JudyObscure]

I'll never look at my pharmacist the same.  I have no idea what he does in his off hours, but thinking it might be drunken orgies with strippers makes me want to make sure  he washes his hands before touching my drugs.

Cindy's sister was so shrilly defensive you knew right away Cindy had to be in prison.  The poor dumb thing thought Cindy had to be a wonderful person because she was a care giver and a foster mother, and that just makes me feel sad for all the poor people who were under her "care."

Two things would have made me happy to see Cindy behind bars whether she killed Ken or not -- handing Ken's young son his stuff at the door and telling him not to come back, and not answering Ken's mother's pitiful phone pleas. 

Ken's mother was amazing.  I would hope to be as smart and slender as she is someday, but I'm not now, so probably not.  I hope beautiful Cindy realizes that she now looks older than her mother-in-law.

[Guest]

14 hours ago, CraftyHazel said:

I find myself distracted from the story by her numerous and inappropriate clothing choices!  She visits the crime scene in a flowered, ruffled mini-dress more appropriate for a dinner out or dancing, and has a half dozen or so outfit changes in every episode she does.  She also lacks the tone of Josh or Keith, where you can tell they just don’t buy the bullshit their interviewee is trying to sell.  Something in her voice is just too…soft, too “oh, wow…that’s amazing!” to seem like she’s reporting on a crime.

And it’s not because she’s a woman.  Fatima Silva of “Reasonable Doubt”, Maureen Maher, and many other women have had the right tone of voice and the lack of vanity to do what Andrea Canning tries to do.  (Granted, Silva IS an attorney, not a reporter.). I just feel like AC is there to lure in the casual male viewer.

She also has a habit of clomping through fields in platform sandals. 

A bit ago I posted about her inappropriate dress while boarding a boat to visit a crime scene dumping. Who dresses her?   Halter tops and platform shoes.  

Give me Keith and his converse sneakers and jeans and Josh’s just-got-home-from-the-office no tie look. 

That’s more in keeping with the situation. JMO 

[Ohmo]

On 11/12/2022 at 8:27 AM, BusyOctober said:

I really need to stop watching any Dateline episode “reported” by Andrea Canning

Andrea really doesn't bother me most of the time, but I really wished this were Josh's case so he could have called out Cindy's sister on her BS and general obnoxiousness,

ETA: Typed "his" instead of "her", but that's one of the things I love about Josh.  He meets obnoxious head on with his own brand of attitude.

Edited November 17, 2022 by Ohmo

[BusyOctober]

3 hours ago, Ohmo said:

Andrea really doesn't bother me most of the time, but I really wished this were Josh's case so he could have called out Cindy

Or some Keith Morrison snide side eye😒 

[iMonrey]

Dill Creek Farm:

Once you've watched enough episodes of Dateline it's pretty easy to guess the murderer in about five minutes. It's whoever is being talked about but isn't being interviewed.

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It was obvious from the jump who killed Ken.  Why bring in all the dead ends and introduce the audience to people who weren’t suspects?  

Ordinarily I would agree but the whole situation with the race track did seem fishy. I have serious doubts Eddie Munster had anything to do with the murder but the partner that was being sued had a very good motive. It wouldn't surprise me if Cindy was in cahoots with them and one of them was the actual gunman. In fact at one point I thought maybe the gunman had left the "bitch" note for her because she had reneged on a promise to be there and help or something, until that detective pointed out that it was probably Ken's handwriting.

That was some fine detective work, BTW. They should put that guy on more cold cases.

Agree about the sister, she was almost comically angry. It's hard to get past the phony will and the five life insurance policies. The pharmacist friend whose signature was on the will as a witness testified he never signed it.

[pdlinda]

21 hours ago, MooCat Pretzel said:

 If Ken was a frequent visitor, then I would think that they would have to tell him because he would wonder why Ken stopped coming to see him.  

I thought they could have shared that Ken had passed away but attributed it to an alternative cause. 

Burdening the father with his son's murder seemed too harsh to me.

[CrazyInAlabama]

They might have told the father because they knew someone else would stick their noes in, and tell him if they didn't.   There's always some snoopy person who thinks they know best, and butt into situations.  

Edited November 14, 2022 by CrazyInAlabama

[DonnaMae]

17 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Once you've watched enough episodes of Dateline it's pretty easy to guess the murderer in about five minutes. It's whoever is being talked about but isn't being interviewed.

True, and it's probably the spouse who wants the life insurance.

[GiandujaPie]

I do think Cindy likely was the culprit but based on the evidence that Dateline showed the evidence was pretty paltry. I think she got convicted because she just wasn't a likable person because it did seem like there were deficits in the investigation and there were some other possible culprits to give the jury reasonable doubt if they had wanted to. 

I thought it was funny how they kept playing up the Eddie Munster connection when it was a tenous connection at best. 

[iMonrey]

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I thought it was funny how they kept playing up the Eddie Munster connection when it was a tenuous connection at best. 

Yeah he showed up once a year to sign autographs, some lowlife tells the cops he was in on the murder plot so he has to testify at trial? 

[12catcrazy]

You really have to feel bad for these victims who marry these greedy people who later murder them for insurance policies and property.  

The guy here was apparently very besotted with Cindy but maybe his besot-ment was running out which is  why Cindy killed him (and despite the lack of real forensic evidence, and the  original police work being shoddy, I believe that she is guilty as sin).   Who the hell knows what was said during their fight; he could have told her that he was going to divorce her ass or that his son could move in and if she didn't like it, she could move out.   We will never know.  And rather than a heat of the moment type of thing, she could have been planning it.  Wouldn't surprise me if there was another person involved who actually committed the murder while Cindy "slept" out in the trailer. 

And is it just me, but did anybody else think it weird that these people seemed to live in a fairly large looking house (even if the layout seemed a bit strange), so why would Cindy go sleep in that crappy looking trailer rather than in another room in the house - especially in August.  So yeah, maybe it cools down a bit at night but not like it would in Sep or Oct.    And  I  also don't buy it where a pharmacist would get a lot of emergency phone calls in the middle of the night (unless he's dealing illegal drugs).   Cindy's story kind of stank like 3 day old fish.  

As far as the loud mouth sister goes - you've got to wonder what Kool Aid she was drinking.  Talk about a cringe-worthy interview.