General True Crime Shows

[Josette]

I posted in the Disappeared forum, but nobody seems to go there since the show is just reruns now.  Anyhow, if you watched Disappeared, you may remember the case of Zeb Quinn, the kid with a pager who was trying to buy a car.  The main suspect in that case is the guy who was just arrested for the murders of Cristie Codd and her husband.

 

 

I liked Stalked: Someone's Watching,

 

I enjoyed that show.  I also liked that it was only half an hour.  I'm guessing since they've given Michelle Ward a new series, that one is probably not coming back.  Of course, now they have the overblown Obsession: Dark Desires.  And, yes, I do watch that.

[auntjess]

OK, I watched Mind of a Murderer, and I think he may be right, that she wanted to goad him into, if not killing her, getting thrown back in prison.
Why else was she always in his face, and so resentful of him going to the neighbor.

I think he was flawed, whether from genetics or drugs, or both, but I think she was, to him, a piece of work.

Edited March 23, 2015 by auntjess

[Taylorh2]

Actually, we don't really know for sure if she was always  "in his face" because, well.......

 

We only have his story of why he 'snapped' and murdered her. The neighbor may have seen her interactions with him but only on a limited basis.

[auntjess]

True, but I thought the consensus of people who knew them, was that she'd always been strict.
I really don't mean to be devil's advocate, but something about her just didn't ring like a true victim.
Also I didn't understand why he got the death penalty, unless it was because people considered matricide so unnatural.
We've seen people commit premeditated murders (which this wasn't), and tortured the victim, and did awful things, and they didn't get the death penalty.

[applecrisp]

I am glad there has been some activity of late.  I watched the Web of Lies the episode was "Crowded House."   A young girl who is pi-polar, moves back with her mom.  Soon her mother helps her get her own apartment, no men allowed.  A guy she meets on the internet moves in.  They both like the same group Insane Clown Posse - although that really did not play a part.  I just mention it because it is  the description of the episode.  I have noticed it other times where the description does not mesh with the episode.

 

Soon a lot of this guys loser friends move in and it becomes a bad situation very quickly.  She stops taking her meds and is unhappy.  This is where it becomes disturbing.  The mom just seems to not notice what is happening.  The girl calls to see if she can come to her mom's house-I didn't say home for a reason.  The daughter is out of touch and this goes on for 8 days.  Mom goes over for a look and the apartment is a mess, disgusting and smells bad.  Her daughter is looked in the bathroom dead and partly dismembered. 

 

Mom goes home and on day 11 the sheriff arrives to say she is dead.  This really bothered me, I just wanted to scream at the WTF!!!  Why did you wait so long. How could you be so fucking clueless?  This was a young women who was vulnerable and you can't be bothered, you were so fucking busy.  HATE.

[tobeannounced]

Applecrisp, that episode of Web of Lies is what made me search and see if there was a thread for the series.  I just could not believe that mother was so cold.  I'd love to know what the real story was of why she couldn't wait to get her daughter out of her house.  I'm thinking a man was involved.  Pure speculation, but something was really off with that woman.

[Maizie131]

Just finished watching True Crime w/Aphrodite Jones "What Happens in Vegas...", and must admit it was pretty good!  I DO like Aphrodite (although, I've always wondered...who the hell would name their kid that & what do they call her for short??) - love her snarky comments that are right-on-the-money.  (I'd take her over Paula Zahn ANY day!)  Anyhow, Aphrodite's interviewing a man who was shot in the neck while he was driving & survived.  I did like the guy at first, but as the story unfolded I thought he was a controlling asshole (who did NOT, BTW, deserve to be shot).  The whole "blended" family appeared to me to be a little effed up, due in large part -no doubt-to parenting skills.  In any event, was good to watch it all unfold.  Don't wanna ruin it for those who didn't see it, but I recommend. 

[applecrisp]

tobeannounced, Agree with your post.  Sometimes one of these stories will really stick with me and this one did.  I could not remember all the names and I always delete after viewing.  Just felt so bad for this girl.

 

Maizie, I too like Aphrodite-maybe they gave her that name because Jones is such a common surname.  Anyhow, I think she is very compassionate and she usually asks some good questions.  I just like her and agree she is better than Zahn. 

[roamyn]

I HATE Aphrodite Jones. Tried watching her whrn she first started a show and all it was was re-hashed. Give me Paula & her over annunciation any day. At least her cases are interesting & unique.

[aurora296]

I am glad there has been some activity of late.  I watched the Web of Lies the episode was "Crowded House."   A young girl who is pi-polar, moves  I just wanted to scream at the WTF!!!  Why did you wait so long. How could you be so fucking clueless?  This was a young women who was vulnerable and you can't be bothered, you were so fucking busy.  HATE.

I just watched that episode last night.

Yes, that mom pissed me off too. But she had no problem going on the show to tell her story, so I doubt she feels like she's at fault.

 

When the mom stopped over her daughters place and saw that a guy was there, especially how the daughter and guy were disrespecting the mom, I'd have immediately stopped paying rent on the place and got their asses kicked out. 

 

I assume the mom was paying for it, right? No one who lived there had a job. 

 

I think the mom didn't want to be bothered with her daughter anymore. She knew her daughter was off her meds and being manipulated by this strange guy, yet did nothing, even when the daughter gave big hints that she wanted to come home. 

 

Just hearing that part last night made me vow to myself never to be too busy when my son ever asks for my help, no matter how old he is. 

 

Also, the other people that were staying at the house actually peeped in the room a couple times while the girl was being stabbed and strangled, yet did nothing. WTF! The one guy said on camera, "I was afraid, if I interfered, what he'd do to me." Dude! There were like 4 people down stairs against the one guy. You could have all taken him on. What a bunch of useless lumps, including the mom. 

 

Oh, also the step daughter the interviewed too. She states at the end that the victim was her best friend. Really? Didn't you ever go visit with her or offer her a place of refuge for awhile like normal best friends do? No, you did not. Another useless lump. 

[zxy556575]

I'm really ... enjoying isn't the right word ... but I look forward to new episodes of See No Evil. These aren't reenactments, folks. It's very interesting to see how CCTV can help solve cases. Not solve them alone, but as another clue. Even the episode with the home invasion by 5 masked men, we saw what but not who.

 

The police in the ep about Skylar Neese were way too trusting, but her parents were so composed during their interviews I thought maybe Skylar really had run away. If I was one of those officers I seriously would have wanted to choke a confession out of both her friends.

[ridethemaverick]

I'm really ... enjoying isn't the right word ... but I look forward to new episodes of See No Evil. These aren't reenactments, folks. It's very interesting to see how CCTV can help solve cases. Not solve them alone, but as another clue. Even the episode with the home invasion by 5 masked men, we saw what but not who.

The police in the ep about Skylar Neese were way too trusting, but her parents were so composed during their interviews I thought maybe Skylar really had run away. If I was one of those officers I seriously would have wanted to choke a confession out of both her friends.

I thought the same thing about the police. Why did they just take to girl's word that it wasn't her car? If this was a married couple and the wife went missing, they would never just take the husband's word for anything. Made me angry.

[aurora296]

The girls killed Skylar Neese because...well..."We didn't like her." 

 

Did these psychopaths ever consider other options, like...oh I don't know, NOT HANGING OUT WITH HER?!

 

As a teen, I outgrew some friends and even though it was awkward because people got their feelings hurt, my ex- friends are still alive today. 

 

I'm sad for her parents, especially since she was their only child. What a terrible reason to die, because some nitwits girls decided they didn't like you anymore. 

[Taylorh2]

I don't understand why that girl kept going to Skylar's house to sit in her room ?  Was she trying to find out what the parents knew or was she just being a straight up psychopath ?

[walnutqueen]

I don't understand why that girl kept going to Skylar's house to sit in her room ?  Was she trying to find out what the parents knew or was she just being a straight up psychopath ?

 

Psycho bitch.

[aurora296]

Maybe that was her attempt to try to show how much she "cared" for her friend so that they wouldn't consider her as a suspect. Plus, maybe some guilt set in after the fact.

 

This is the kind of stuff that scares me as a parent. My kid could get seriously hurt or even killed if some friend decides they don't like him. Or he might become attracted to the "dangerous" type of friend who can easily talk him into doing bad things. 

[zxy556575]

I also like how See No Evil uses CC footage from the actual police stations and other areas to illustrate the ongoing story.

 

The policewoman who did most of the narration for Skylar only looked about 21 herself. But yeah. Small town force for sure. Kenda would have had that sucker solved in a couple of days.

[auntjess]

See No Evil was very grim indeed this time.  I kept thinking about it for a long time afterwards.

[applecrisp]

Psycho bitch.

Walnut Queen, was she ever.  And she was the longtime friend rather than Rachel who had met her in high school.  There was a Lifetime movie based on a true story starring Patty Duke, where her daughter's friend became close with the family for a couple of years after she had killed her daughter.

 

It was a real cold case until one girl who knew about the crime had someone she knew die and realized how painful it is. 

[Fraoch]

The Skylar Neese case has also been covered on episodes of Dateline and 20/20 (both of which are on YouTube). For those girls to leave those poor parents hanging like that for so long...unbelievable.

[zxy556575]

It was a real cold case until one girl who knew about the crime had someone she knew die and realized how painful it is.

 

It always shocks me no matter how many times that happens! A bunch of (usually) teens know that one of their friends killed someone and none of them says a word. At least in the Neese case, the two girls were lying to save themselves.

 

If it was jealousy and a love triangle situation with Skylar, that makes it even sadder that the police didn't discover that right away so they could focus on the correct suspects.

[Josette]

 

First of all, they weren't just friends, it was a lesbian love triangle

 

 I thought the theory (some people don't agree with it) was that Skylar knew that Rachel and Sheila had had sex during a sleepover, and they were worried she would tell people this secret.  I might be wrong, but  I don't think it was ever implied by anyone that there was a love triangle that involved Skylar.  There was another girl named Shania who people claimed liked Sheila.  I think that was where the love triangle came in, and it hasn't anything to do with the murder.  

[WendyCR72]

What @Josette said. I do recall the story of Skylar knowing about the other girls having a sexual encounter, so that angle was not swept under the rug. But I don't recall Skylar Neese being mentioned as a part of that triangle, and another girl was involved.

 

But even if Neese was involved, there was no excuse for that ambush. It was premeditated, and even if she did do as claimed and was a pain in the ass, that's what parents and the police are for. Those "friends" were psychopaths themselves, and to have one of them "supporting" Skylar's family was just beyond the pale and disgusting.

[aurora296]

I watched a portion of The Mind of a Murderer last night. For the most part it was boring, but one thing stuck out to me. Michelle ward said that decades of research has now proven that a very accurate predictor of aggressive and/ or criminal behavior is a low resting heart rate.  I thought WTF? Really? So I did a bit of research on the net and there are countless articles about how in the past decade, research has discovered many physical traits of potential psychopaths. Much of what determines a persons personality is purely physical. As a mom, this was very interesting to me.

 

Imagine in the future, as soon as someone is born, we may be able to test someone at birth for positive characteristics of psychopathic tendencies. If these things are identified early, there are many things that can be done to divert this behavior. 

 

One thing, I was glad to hear, was a positive relationship with one's mother and well as other nurturing exposures. So is a killer born or made? Nature vs. nurture? Science is proving that yes, killers may be born that way, but can be "cured" if caught early enough.

 

Not sure if I'm allowed to post any links, but this article I read, says it better than I can, and I found it truly fascinating. Someday in the future, we may be able to control killer tendencies and greatly reduce criminal activity.

 

Here's the link. Moderators, delete if it's not allowed and slap me on the knuckles with a ruler.

http://www.amren.com/features/2013/07/born-to-kill/

 

[Taylorh2]

I don't understand why his appeal wasn't looked at closer ? He was given 70 yrs for  armed robbery. Seems very extreme.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Taylorh2

[walnutqueen]

Thanks for the link, aurora296 - it was a fascinating read.  Yet another genetic testing can of worms will be opened ...

 

I am also enjoying Cause of Death; 30 minute episodes, so not much background, but the focus is on forensics and hard evidence, which is always cool.  :-)

Edited March 28, 2015 by walnutqueen

[junemeatcleaver]

It shows how little I've been paying attention to ID lately, I just now have seen that ID is now airing Forensic Files/Cause of Death, and have been for awhile judging from the comments.  Exactly how many networks air this show now?

[auntjess]

 

He was given 70 yrs for  armed robbery. Seems very extreme.

I didn't understand this either.  Nothing was said about when he'd have been eligible for parole.

Too, wasn't this about the time when Texas was granting parole to serial killers to ease prison over-population?

The sentence was out of line with the crime, and I'd assume, with normal sentencing fo that type of crime.

[Taylorh2]

NM

Edited March 30, 2015 by Taylorh2

[auntjess]

Did anyone see the Paula Zahn about the girl killed while delivering pizza?

It wasn't solved for almost 30 years, but fairly early in the case, they settled on a guy who'd repainted his truck, which looked liked the suspect vehicle.
He hanged himself when they called him in for more questioning, by searches of his house and vehicles found no link.
Nothing more was ever said.

At the end, when it was solved, and talked of how her parents and family had suffered, there was no thought spared for how he and his loved ones must have suffered.

Collateral damage, I guess.

[applecrisp]

Did anyone see the Paula Zahn about the girl killed while delivering pizza?

It wasn't solved for almost 30 years, but fairly early in the case, they settled on a guy who'd repainted his truck, which looked liked the suspect vehicle.

He hanged himself when they called him in for more questioning, by searches of his house and vehicles found no link.

Nothing more was ever said.

At the end, when it was solved, and talked of how her parents and family had suffered, there was no thought spared for how he and his loved ones must have suffered.

Collateral damage, I guess.

Very sad, Aunt Jess.  Hey , but you told us about it so more people know.

[Rina99]

Annoyed right now that the first episode of Redrum tonight is yet another (to me, anyways) story that's been done several times.  I know I saw it on Snapped and Stolen Voices, Buried Secrets.  Admittedly, I just may, MAY watch too much true crime TV.  :)

 

Anyways, here's a press release for new and returning shows for ID's 2015-2016 season.  I think this is just for the fall.  I don't see Southern Fried Homicide, Swamp Murders, Tabloid, Elder Skelter, or Nightmare Next Door on here, to name a few.  

 

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/03/31/investigation-discovery-announces-2015-16-programming-slate-including-new-series-american-scandal-death-by-gossip/382415/

 

ETA:  Just looked up the wikipedia entry on Carla Hughes, and realize that this story has been on Dateline NBC, Snapped, Forensic Files, Stolen Voices, Buried Secrets, and Scorned: Love Kills.  So yes, it has been done to death, but as I've seen ALL of these versions, I may have a problem.*  

 

 

 

 

 

*

That I will do nothing about...

Edited April 1, 2015 by Rina99

[walnutqueen]

Did anyone catch Vanity Fair Confidential last night?  It was a horrific story about Dozier School for Boys, and the survivors of same, known as The White House Boys.  I had a very hard time listening to old men reliving the horrors of their childhood.  But finding 55 remains when they only had records for 31 boys' deaths?  Chilling.

 

 

ETA:  great link, Rina99 - Thanks for posting it!

Edited April 1, 2015 by walnutqueen

[Rina99]

Did anyone catch Vanity Fair Confidential last night?  It was a horrific story about Dozier School for Boys, and the survivors of same, known as The White House Boys.  I had a very hard tie listening to old men reliving the horrors of their childhood.  But finding 55 remains when they only had records for 31 boys' deaths?  Chilling.

 

I actually couldn't watch it.  I live in Florida, and they've been covering this over the past decade here locally as more and more survivors spoke out.  Crimes against children is something I can't stomach too well, and this story makes me both heartbroken and furious as there's no one really left to punish for this.  

[kathyk24]

Vanity Fair Confidential broke my heart. I have no doubt the abuse occured. The son of one of the house fathers annoyed me. just because you never saw the abuse doesn't mean it didn't happen.

[auntjess]

Count me with those who just couldn't bear to watch this one.

[slensam]

 

Anyways, here's a press release for new and returning shows for ID's 2015-2016 season.  I think this is just for the fall.  I don't see Southern Fried Homicide, Swamp Murders, Tabloid, Elder Skelter, or Nightmare Next Door on here, to name a few.  

 

 

Great! I absolutely hated Southern Fried Homicide and Elder Skelter. Stereotypes run amok.

[walnutqueen]

I couldn't watch Vanity Fair Confidential past the first few minutes. I saw the TH of the man whose dad worked there, but I had to switch it off. I also have trouble watching stories of child abuse and had an idea the scope of the horrors in this story would be beyond my tolerance level.

 

Thanks for the link to the ID news release, Rina99. I'm hoping that some of those shows will not be taking the sleazy sexalicious route, which ID definitely went on a few seasons ago. I loved their claim that ID is America's favorite "guilty pleasure." True in my case. When I'm asked about my hobbies and interests, I can yak for minutes about photography, travel, etc., but I'm not sure even my friends realize that I keep up with what's on ID. It's our little secret, so don't tell.

 

 

Do you keep your Kenda coffee cup hidden from your friends, too, Suz?  'Cause it's a dead giveaway.  :-)

[Rina99]

The one thing that I keep hoping for is that they will produce new episodes of Forensic Files.  As much enjoyment as 10-15 year old episodes still give me, I know they've made some real advances in technology, and I'd love to see that.  They need to get cracking, though.  Peter Thomas is now 90!  We don't know how much longer we'll have him!

Edited April 1, 2015 by Rina99

[tobeannounced]

Web of Lies last night was about a 12-year-old boy who tried to meet up with a "girl" who had started texting him out of the blue.  Parent's worst nightmare!  Geez, I felt so bad for that mom.  Very chilling story.  I was worried Web of Lies would end up kind of like Catfish and be the same scenario over and over, but they've done a good job of having stories with a different twist.

[auntjess]

You know you've been watching these shows too long, when Cause of Death shows someone's jacket, and says "but he cradled the victim," but you know damn well that it's "cast off" or whatever, and NOT from kneeling in blood.

[applecrisp]

tobeannounced, I saw that show finally.  I was struck by how fast it all happened.  So tragic.  I was so glad the neighbor was still up to see the taxi.  

 

I watched the show with reluctance at first but now it is one of my favorites.  And now I can watch all the re-runs.

[Callasin]

I enjoy Web of Lies but it freaks me out  to think of how many people I have met from the internet.  All of them have been nice people luckily. Most I met from groups where we shared an interest not looking for romance though which probably makes a difference.

 

Add me to the list of people who could not watch the Vanity Fair episode about the white house.  I read an article about it which was bad enough.  The show was just too upsetting and I deleted it after a few minutes.  The episode last night where there was a rush to convict two men for killing that little girl just to help someone's political campaign made me angry. 

[applecrisp]

I watched The White House boys and also the most recent Aphrodite Jones and gotta say. "Florida!! reallllyyy". I know it is a cliche but there is a reason Florida is considered our craziest state.  On Vanity Fair, it was hard to watch.  I was astounded that this reform school was just recently shut down and that it had been in operation since the turn of the century.  Also there were some investigations over the years.

 

The guy from the Miami Herald really stuck with this case and he deserves some praise.

 

The case on Aphrodite was equally horrendous.  Three young girls being raised by a drunk mother and a monster for a father. It only really took the state of Florida ten years to investigate, a murder that happened in 1985.  Well, two murders.  I know she is not the most popular host, but I find her to be compassionate and I also like that she expresses her disgust and anger at some of these cases. 

[Rina99]

I watched The White House boys and also the most recent Aphrodite Jones and gotta say. "Florida!! reallllyyy". I know it is a cliche but there is a reason Florida is considered our craziest state.  On Vanity Fair, it was hard to watch.  I was astounded that this reform school was just recently shut down and that it had been in operation since the turn of the century.  Also there were some investigations over the years.

 

 

If you ever have time to kill, check out the twitter handle @_floridaman.  And yes, as a Floridian, I long ago gave up trying to divert people's attention to Texas.  

[auntjess]

For Web of Lies fans, you might check a few episodes of Catfish on MTV. 

No one is killed on this show, but you see a lot of people dumb enough to fall for a story, but lucky enough not to connect with a killer.

I know this isn't for my demographic, but it's fun to peek at another world.

[RedheadZombie]

The case on Aphrodite was equally horrendous.  Three young girls being raised by a drunk mother and a monster for a father. It only really took the state of Florida ten years to investigate, a murder that happened in 1985.  Well, two murders.  I know she is not the most popular host, but I find her to be compassionate and I also like that she expresses her disgust and anger at some of these cases. 

 

I watched Aphrodite Jones "Memories of Murder" last night, and I was reminded why I just despise Aphrodite Jones.  I watched it the first season, and was extremely irritated by the narrator - "Aphrodite Jones knew ...... ".  Well she narrates now, and she does not have the voice for it.  She also inserts herself into the story with her over exaggerated reactions, and talking into the camera.  I find her completely unprofessional in the way she sensationalizes such tragic stories.   I will list examples of her stupid questions.

 

1. When discussing how these little girls had to fend for themselves - catching crab and building fires to cook them - Aphrodite hits on what she apparently finds the most horrible:  "So what did you use to wash your hair and bathe with?" 
2. One of the little girls tells her mother that her father is molesting her, and mother doesn't believe it.  Aphrodite smirks:  "Is it she didn't want to believe it, or she didn't believe it?"
3. The father comes home and beats the mother to death.  The daughter says they screamed as it happened.  Aphrodite's question:  "Screaming what?"  [Me:  "Are you fucking kidding me, Aphrodite?"]
4. After the mother is killed, and he forces his daughter to help bury her body, Aphrodite asks (victim blames):  "I know you were only seven, but why not run?"
5. After hearing about the youngest girl being hit until she stops moving, and the body disappears forever, Aphrodite asks the cop:  "So there's no way to know whether or not perhaps, someone could have found her on a road side, and changed her name and decided that she would be their baby, and she would never know that she was swept away by another family, is that what you're saying?"  [Me:  "No dumbass, he's saying her body's never been found, so they can't be 100% certain he killed her."]
6. After one of the women explains her father beat her with a large tree branch, and after we've already been told he beat her mother and most likely her sister to death, and molested them, Captain Obvious Jones asks:  "Would you say he's a monster?"

 

At this point, it's only half over but I can't bear to listen to her anymore.  The more salacious the details, the more excited she gets.

 

Side note:  I'm disappointed I didn't record the show that followed this one.  I grew up near Naperville, Illinois, and remember hearing about Jeanine Nicarico's murder, and the trials, convictions, over turning of conviction, and acquittal that followed.

[cbetsky]

I don't know if anyone is reading right now, but I just checked our channel guide and it says that the "Cause of Death" (relabelled "Forensic Files") episode airing at 7:30 pm central time (in about 20 minutes) is a new episode from 2015!

 

 

[Rina99]

I don't know if anyone is reading right now, but I just checked our channel guide and it says that the "Cause of Death" (relabelled "Forensic Files") episode airing at 7:30 pm central time (in about 20 minutes) is a new episode from 2015!

 

They're not new, unfortunately.

[auntjess]

Cbetsky, I just watched the Cause of Death with today's date, one about the hunting "accident," and if you look closely at the ending credits, you see MMIX for the copyright date.