General True Crime Shows

[walnutqueen]

So I inadvertently saw an awful ad for ID's latest - a three part "event" called Serial Thriller : Angel of Decay.  Looks like it might be a graphic reenactment type hype of the Ted Bundy murders (I'm only going by the VW Bug and young women being abducted in the show's trailer).  It premieres on Sunday, June 7th at 10pm, in case anyone's interested ...

[RedheadZombie]

And not pertinent in this case, because DNA was unheard of then (1976), but now, a person could grab a bottle or cigarette butt, or piece of gum, and leave it at a crime scene, and if it matched a person in the database, how would that person ever disprove it.

 

 

It seems a clever person could easily set someone up for a crime.  Juries are so CSI-obsessed, that DNA is a slam dunk (unless you're O.J.).

 

I read a suspense novel (Lisa Gardner?) that used this premise.  A rapist would seemingly give his victim a douche in an attempt to erase his DNA, but he was actually inseminating the victims with someone else's semen.

[torqy]

The true crime program phenomenon seems to be expanding faster than the universe. I noticed that Destination American now has true crime shows...

[auntjess]

Yes, I think it's showing ID shows.

[BigBlueMastiff]

 

So I inadvertently saw an awful ad for ID's latest - a three part "event" called Serial Thriller : Angel of Decay.  Looks like it might be a graphic reenactment type hype of the Ted Bundy murders (I'm only going by the VW Bug and young women being abducted in the show's trailer).  It premieres on Sunday, June 7th at 10pm, in case anyone's interested ...

I've seen these, too, but didn't pay attention enough to see who the potential killer is based on, but ugghhh, Bundy?

[smittykins]

Remember the case in Canada where a doctor raped his patient, then put a vial of someone else's blood inside his arm so the DNA wouldn't match the rape test kit, and got away with it for years? Eventually, the blood in the vial clotted, then he was convicted of raping his stepdaughter.

[WendyCR72]

Remember the case in Canada where a doctor raped his patient, then put a vial of someone else's blood inside his arm so the DNA wouldn't match the rape test kit, and got away with it for years? Eventually, the blood in the vial clotted, then he was convicted of raping his stepdaughter.

 

I know of this case from Forensic Files, which showed this episode (and others) something like 70 kajillion times. What a piece of work that guy was.

[Andyourlittledog2]

Yeah, it has to be Bundy. There were tons of clues to it being him in the commercials. VW bug, throwing away fake crutch when girl got into car, Pacific Northwest forest, victims there with just below shoulder length dark brown hair, the face of the actor playing him.... it all adds up to Bundy.  Weirdly, that case is the only one that I don't mind rewatching again and again. It was my first true crime book etc and I never tire of it. There is something seriously wrong with me.  LOL

 

There was a Law and Order where a rapist tried to confuse the DNA in his victim by collecting a bunch of different semen from condoms left by prostitutes. Backfired on him because he basically proved it could only be him since he was the only one who had access to all the other semen. I thought that was kind of funny (well, as funny as a TV rape case could be, you know?)  

 

House of Horrors has a terrible name and a more terrible commercial but the show itself is fine. It's first person narrative of harrowing experiences with kidnapping, being held hostage, dates gone wrong, etc. It's respectful and well done. You'd never know it from it's ads, though. 

[walnutqueen]

Ayld2 - I, too, was semi-obsessed with the Bundy case, and enough time has passed that I could probably be tempted to revisit it.  I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and hitchhiked just across the border in Canada right around the time he was doing his thing (or just before, depending on what stories you believe about his prolific "career"), so it always hit close to home for me.  I remember reading that Ann Rule book about him, and how she asked if he'd really killed more than 30 women.  He told her to add another digit and she'd be close. 

 

House of Horrors isn't nearly as bad as the commercial they insist on assaulting us with.

Edited May 22, 2015 by walnutqueen

[Taylorh2]

Manson & Murder:  Brooke Astor.

 

She lived to be 105 yrs old. What an intriguing story that was.

[Mannahatta]

Intriguing, indeed. What a messed up little family that was. Not to excuse his behavior, but it made me wonder what the relationship between Brooke Astor and her son was like when he was growing up. They touched upon it to a limited degree but, wow, he really seemed to despise her. And, of course, his wife was a piece of work so that didn't help things any. Sad also that her staff could see what was going on but perhaps felt powerless to do anything - until they were fired.

 

Did the show mention that the son died in 2014 at the age of 90?    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/anthony-marshall-son-brooke-astor-dead-90-article-1.2029294

 

 

 

 

[friendperidot]

yes, they did say he had been convicted, sent to prison, but was only there a few months, paroled due to ill health and died shortly after. This one interested me for some reason, vaguely remember hearing about it. After the show I read up a little on them, he was her only child and she was about 17 when he was born. Vincent Astor was her third husband. She had her son in her first marriage, then she was divorced, married again and her son took this husband's last name.

[walnutqueen]

Such a sad story.  The poor woman should have been able to live in peace at the end of her life, instead of being plagued by the actions of her greedy son and daughter-in-law.  When I hear about the millions these people were fighting over, it makes me wonder how much is enough.  All that money - what could they possibly want to spend it on that was worth the fraud and public disgrace, not to mention the mother's suffering?

[tobeannounced]

Cry Wolfe?  Gosh, I don't even recall that one.

[Andyourlittledog2]

Cry Wolfe is the aptly named 'detective' 'true crime' show where Mr Wolfe basically reenacts cases he allegedly had that were interesting.  Allegedly.  And they pretend the cases are real and being shown in real time. The always pretty, perfectly coifed and dressed clients and subjects are just a coincidence, and the cases are always coincidentally shocking! amazing! did you see that coming!!!!??? cases.  It's basically Operation Repo but about with a detective trying to pretend to be taking us on real cases.  It's both pathetic and infuriating. So of course it was renewed. 

[editorgrrl]

The true crime program phenomenon seems to be expanding faster than the universe. I noticed that Destination American now has true crime shows...

Even Lifetime Movie Network & Oxygen show true crime.

[tobeannounced]

Oh, yeah, now I remember.  I started to watch it once, and when I realized it was one of those fake Operation Repo type deals, I turned the channel.  Can't stand that.

[walnutqueen]

That Cry Wolfe guy oozes sleaze from every pore.

[auntjess]

Here's something that really needs to be clarified and standardized.
What should be the waiting time to report someone missing.
In most of the places, it seems to be 24 or 48 hours, though some will do preliminary searching earlier, depending on the circumstances.
But in one show, don't remember which, some police in a Wisconsin town were suspicious when the mother didn't report her teen daughter right away, and told them, when they asked why, that she assumed she had to wait 48 hours.  I'd have assumed that too, and even before the TV shows, in English mysteries it was SOP too.
I couldn't believe they didn't know that their department was very much the exception.
 

[jacofa]

Southern Fried Homicide? Damn! Hate that narrator. If I was born in the South I would despise this show. I'm from Jersey and I hate when they portray everybody from Jersey like they're a member of the Sopranos. And Jerry Springer is on Tabloid, right? Crap!

As a Southerner I have more of a problem with the promos than the actual show. Southern Fried Homicide calls their show "Murder but with manners." WTF does that even mean? Like for example one of their episodes involved Susan Newson Lynch and Fritz Klenner murdering 9 people including themselves and Susie's 2 little boys. Is that murder but with manners? I call it a sick act but that's just me.

As for the narrator, I don't have a problem with Shanna Forrestall. She's no Bill Kurtis, Sharon Martin, Lynnanne Zager, Pete Demeo, or Peter Thomas but she is at least better than Susan Lucci, Marlo Thomas, Jennifer Server, and the narrator for Snapped: Killer Couples.

Edited May 25, 2015 by jacofa

[jacofa]

I need to send a petition to the producers of the ID channel and I hope you'll all agree and sign it. Please stop airing that God-awful commercial for Houses of Horror. You know the one, showing the man sitting in his recliner, sipping his wine, listening to his classical music: while the woman is locked up in his basement as she squeaks out a pitiful cry for help. Ugh! It just annoys me.

I'll sign. I hated the commercial last year when they used it and I still hate it. Even Scorned: Love Kills and My Dirty Little Secret had better commercials.

[applecrisp]

As a Southerner I have more of a problem with the promos than the actual show. Southern Fried Homicide calls their show "Murder but with manners." WTF does that even mean? Like for example one of their episodes involved Susan Newson Lynch and Fritz Klenner murdering 9 people including themselves and Susie's 2 little boys. Is that murder but with manners? I call it a sick act but that's just me.

As for the narrator, I don't have a problem with Shanna Forrestall. She's no Bill Kurtis, Sharon Martin, Lynnanne Zager, Pete Demeo, or Peter Thomas but she is at least better than Susan Lucci, Marlo Thomas, Jennifer Server, and the narrator for Snapped: Killer Couples.

Well put.  I don't mind the show either.  The Lynch/Klenner murder was horrific, felt so bad for the father.  He actually spoke about it on Southern Fried Homicide and I was impressed by that.  I only knew about the murders from the movie Bitter Blood.  I looked up the muders and did not find out very much about them.

[editorgrrl]

In the US, there is no waiting period for reporting a missing person.

http://www.lapdonline.org/lapd_adult_missing_persons_unit

Contrary to public belief, federal law prohibits the observance of a waiting period before accepting a M/P report.

[auntjess]

I'm glad to know that.  I wonder if this is new, responding to some case.
I'm also surprised that this is a matter of federal jurisdiction, unless, perhaps, they can make an assumption of possible kidnapping, in which case federal law would prevail.

[Tunia]

I'm really loving this thread because it's nice to see that there are many others who are as obsessed about true crime stories as I am.  My only concern is that I often Google the cases or methods shown and, if the cops ever have to check my hard drive for any reason, they're going to think I was trying to commit the best crime eva'h, or that at least, I'm one real sicko!

[Andyourlittledog2]

I know!  I had to finally stop telling people I would kill them in their sleep.  Just my luck someone would turn up dead, and there I'd be....

 

Does anyone know if Murder in Paradise is coming back?  I love that show, it's the closest to Disappeared they have. 

[applecrisp]

I have been watching Dangerous Persuasions and I like it.  They had one about Scientology and it was interesting. I just did not want to watch Going Clear and this was informative.

 

Has anyone seen the promos for Over My Dead Body?  It's about women who fight back.  It could be good or really bad.  I miss everyone on this thread.  I hope some of you come back, I am lonely.

[Andyourlittledog2]

I just watched Mail Order Bride about the Chinese-Canadian man who shot two Chinese-Canadian organized crime thugs who were threatening him in his home. He came off as both naive and well and truly fucked by his decision to get involved in this. Anyway, one of  the thugs crawled to a neighbor's apartment and asked for help. This idiot woman is now one of the talking heads on the episode and she is outraged that Danny was acquitted on self defense.  'How do you shoot someone and get away with it!? And why did he have a gun?!'  Well lady, he got a gun three weeks earlier because these guys were threatening him. Chinese organized crime is no joke. But the really ridiculous and inexcusable thing this idiot said was that the thug begged for help and initially she got a cloth to try to stop the bleeding but then stopped trying to render first aid, which she says she was fully trained in, because, and I quote (paraphrased slightly): 'I didn't think I should touch him because obviously a crime had been committed and he was a crime scene.'  His bleeding shot body was 'a crime scene' and so should not be disturbed, I guess. If that isn't the stupidest thing anyone has ever said ever on any true crime show I don't know what is. Apparently the way she sees it no one who is assaulted in any criminal way should be rendered first aid because their body is a crime scene in and of itself and must not be disturbed lest one lose some evidence in the act. They'll die, sure, but you'll have that evidence. I wanted to punch her smug idiotic face so much. Sadly I have to settle for venting on this forum. Someone in Canada should really punch her though. Then she'll be a crime scene and remember, don't anyone treat her wounds. The police need the bleeding wounds preserved as is for 'evidence'. 

 

I also like Deadly Persuasions.  And I do recommend 'Going Clear' as a documentary. Very riveting stuff. 

Edited May 28, 2015 by Andyourlittledog2

[BigBlueMastiff]

 

Has anyone seen the promos for Over My Dead Body?  It's about women who fight back.  It could be good or really bad.  I miss everyone on this thread.  I hope some of you come back, I am lonely.

I remember a show like this on Discovery that was pretty good. I'll check it out. Hope it's not like the kidnap victims' show.

 

 

I have been watching Dangerous Persuasions and I like it.

I saw the one about the woman who joined the Communist group in San Francisco. Too bad, the leader was a nut, because some of their principles, like being anti-corporation, were good. I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone could get so brainwashed. Sorry, but the minute they told her to bring her sick mother out there, and then put her to work is the minute she should have left and never looked back.

[Taylorh2]

I just watched Mail Order Bride about the Chinese-Canadian man who shot two Chinese-Canadian organized crime thugs who were threatening him in his home. He came off as both naive and well and truly fucked by his decision to get involved in this. Anyway, one of  the thugs crawled to a neighbor's apartment and asked for help. This idiot woman is now one of the talking heads on the episode and she is outraged that Danny was acquitted on self defense.  'How do you shoot someone and get away with it!? And why did he have a gun?!'  Well lady, he got a gun three weeks earlier because these guys were threatening him. Chinese organized crime is no joke. But the really ridiculous and inexcusable thing this idiot said was that the thug begged for help and initially she got a cloth to try to stop the bleeding but then stopped trying to render first aid, which she says she was fully trained in, because, and I quote (paraphrased slightly): 'I didn't think I should touch him because obviously a crime had been committed and he was a crime scene.'  His bleeding shot body was 'a crime scene' and so should not be disturbed, I guess. If that isn't the stupidest thing anyone has ever said ever on any true crime show I don't know what is. Apparently the way she sees it no one who is assaulted in any criminal way should be rendered first aid because their body is a crime scene in and of itself and must not be disturbed lest one lose some evidence in the act. They'll die, sure, but you'll have that evidence. I wanted to punch her smug idiotic face so much. Sadly I have to settle for venting on this forum. Someone in Canada should really punch her though. Then she'll be a crime scene and remember, don't anyone treat her wounds. The police need the bleeding wounds preserved as is for 'evidence'. 

 

I also like Deadly Persuasions.  And I do recommend 'Going Clear' as a documentary. Very riveting stuff.

 

I cannot believe  that women said she stopped rendering aid because he was a crime scene. What a fucked up POS you are. You stopped helping another human being because you thought his body was a crime scene ?

[friendperidot]

anyone else laugh at the ads for Cry Wolfe when he says he's damn good at his job?

[auntjess]

I've never done Netflix, but I see it when it's on U-Verse.
What i'd like to see back, is The Shift.

[tobeannounced]

Anyone watching The Killing Hour?  They had one a couple weeks ago about a former employee of the Duchess of York (Fergie) that was pretty interesting.  The one this week was about a serial killer.  OMG, it was so morbid, it would have been comical if it wasn't actually true.

[walnutqueen]

Anyone watching The Killing Hour?  They had one a couple weeks ago about a former employee of the Duchess of York (Fergie) that was pretty interesting.  The one this week was about a serial killer.  OMG, it was so morbid, it would have been comical if it wasn't actually true.

 

This week's episode was better listening to than actually watching, what with the all the over-the-top  crazy eyes emoting done by the re-enactors.

[tobeannounced]

This week's episode was better listening to than actually watching, what with the all the over-the-top  crazy eyes emoting done by the re-enactors.

Walnutqueen, so funny you should say that.  I listened to it while I was trying to take a nap and glanced at it a few times and made the same assessment about the crazy eyes - lol

[slensam]

This week's episode was better listening to than actually watching, what with the all the over-the-top  crazy eyes emoting done by the re-enactors.

Where do they find these actors?!

[editorgrrl]

Anyone watching The Killing Hour? They had one a couple weeks ago about a former employee of the Duchess of York (Fergie) that was pretty interesting. The one this week was about a serial killer. OMG, it was so morbid, it would have been comical if it wasn't actually true.

I'm an Anglophile, so I love it! (The North American narrators not so much.)

"Killing for Company" (episode 6) was darkly funny:

On October 5, 1981, [Dennis Nilsen] moves to a top-floor apartment at 23, Cranley Gardens, Muswell Hill [North London]. But it doesn't have a garden. Without a garden to burn his bodies, Nilsen thinks his days of murdering innocent men are over.…

The Victorian drainage at Cranley Gardens isn't built to handle the volume of flesh and blood that Nilsen flushes away.

Edited May 31, 2015 by editorgrrl

[tobeannounced]

I hope this is okay to post here because I'm not sure where else to post it.  But I'm in the mood to read some true crime this summer while traveling.  Any suggestions?  I used to like Ann Rule, but I haven't even finished the last book I got of hers.  Do y'all have any favorite true crime authors or books about specific cases that were particularly interesting?

[editorgrrl]

I'm in the mood to read some true crime this summer while traveling. Any suggestions? I used to like Ann Rule, but I haven't even finished the last book I got of hers. Do y'all have any favorite true crime authors or books about specific cases that were particularly interesting?

Maybe you could ask the mods to turn this into a True Crime book thread? http://forums.previously.tv/topic/383-dead-mountain-true-crime-life/

(If there's one already, I couldn't find it.)

[editorgrrl]

The Killing Hour is a North Americanization of Channel 5's Countdown to Murder from 2013: http://www.channel5.com/shows/countdown-to-murder/

You can watch the originals on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKcu8NwU3KatLSfXr7o5xIMIkniafOJtJ

[tobeannounced]

Thanks, editorgrrrl.  I was actually looking for kind of an off-topic area in ID or for specific shows like Dateline, but couldn't find anything.

 

ETA:  Oh, I see you linked to a book thread.  I didn't realize there was such a thing here.  I need to get around the board more.  Thanks again!

Edited May 31, 2015 by tobeannounced

[kathyk24]

Who is the narrator for the Killing Hour? I think it's Lynn Sher from 20/20.

[friendperidot]

Another Paula Zahn show I have a problem murder. Episode was about Mary Jayne, a 17 yr old in Ottumwa, Iowa in 1974. I think her name was Smith, but didn't really catch it. After a suspect was identified, but due to lack of evidence, couldn't be charged, the investigative officer kept saying over and over that the suspect wanted to have sex with the young lady, that he saw her and wanted to have sex with her. Rape is not sex. Rape is about power and control of one person over another. If the police cannot say rape when it is, it's no wonder some men think that they can take a woman any time they want and it's sex. When it's rape, for pete's sake say the word, rape.

 

And when Paula first started talking about a case in Ottumwa, Iowa, all I could think was that is the home of Radar, it was easier to concentrate when she quit saying the name of the town.

[BigBlueMastiff]

I shouldn't have but I watched Fear Thy Neighbor. The one with crazy MN neighborhood who murdered his next door neighbors, husband, wife, young daughter and 10-11 year old son. He executed them. It was horrible, and then he killed himself, no justice. The next one was the CA transplants in Leesburg, VA where crazy ex-military man executes a husband/father because he hates the fact that neighborhood kids hangout at their house and skateboard, WTF? I can't watch these psychos. I am so glad I live in a city where everyone is not armed to the teeth. Seriously, these shows, make that a criteria for where to live now.

[Rina99]

I shouldn't have but I watched Fear Thy Neighbor. The one with crazy MN neighborhood who murdered his next door neighbors, husband, wife, young daughter and 10-11 year old son. He executed them. It was horrible, and then he killed himself, no justice. The next one was the CA transplants in Leesburg, VA where crazy ex-military man executes a husband/father because he hates the fact that neighborhood kids hangout at their house and skateboard, WTF? I can't watch these psychos. I am so glad I live in a city where everyone is not armed to the teeth. Seriously, these shows, make that a criteria for where to live now.

 

I caught the back half of the Virginia one last night, and well, as soon as I saw it was Virginia I guessed that he'd get off for self-defense, and was sadly proven right.  This is a nice thread, so I'll cut my thoughts off right here.

[BigBlueMastiff]

OH my god, Rina99, I must've blacked out the travesty that was his self defense claim working. To have to live near that jackass after that, and him taking down the yellow ribbons. Karma, please kick his ass.

[applecrisp]

Fear Thy Neighbor was very hard to take.  Last year the show usually did not end with a murder. This year every show has ended in murder I think except the one with the old guy(I know not much of a descrition for this show). The neighbor lived with many injuries. This last show was definitely justice denied.  He even called the police when the daughter came back to visit.

 

Also, they really had done nothing to this guy.  The dog peed in the bushes once not dozens of time.  The only other thing was the burning letters that I don't think were on his property.  The friction came from homeland security guy.

[BigBlueMastiff]

 

Also, they really had done nothing to this guy.  The dog peed in the bushes once not dozens of time.  The only other thing was the burning letters that I don't think were on his property.  The friction came from homeland security guy.

This, this show makes me so glad i don't have neighbors (lucky us), right next door, anyway. When you live in a community, you can't act that jerk and pretend it's your own little fiefdom. If you don't like people, isolate yourself from them, ugghh, hate that guy.

[applecrisp]

AKraven. I only watched Southern Fried but who allows furlough from prison if the person committed murder?  Of course this was a long time ago.  

 

My parent 's neighbor sponsored a guy who murdered his wife and she(Alice) later married him.  They had some money.  My parents stayed friends with them.  I did not learn this for many years.  Some people in Alice's family never spoke to her again.  Now looking back I kind of understand that.  Even as a child he gave me the creeps. 

 

In the case of Marie Hilley she had been a fugitive and it seem everyone in her small town hated her and wanted justice and she slipped away.  Then she is convicted and while on a break she runs again.  I actually hope she met up with somebody more evil.  I felt so bad for the daughter.

[auntjess]

I couldn't believe that Hilley was allowed out.  She'd been a fugitive before.  Was this before ankle bracelets?

The show that outraged me, not sure which show, was the Salisbury, NC murder of a teenager, Brittany Loritts.  Her stepfather, and controlling SOB, did it.
When they said he took a plea, I assumed it would be to get life rather than execution, but the bastard got 9 years.
The police seemed to be working it hard, but I wonder if it's the judiciary that was corrupt.
Outrageous.