General True Crime Shows

[oliviabenson]

https://www.newsweek.com/lutz-family-missing-newton-illinois-more-two-months-1794477?amp=1
 

Lutz family of 4 missing for 2 plus months. Wonder what happened?

[LuvMyShows]

9 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

Is that the one where:

his girlfriend claimed she had cancer so he’d marry her? And after he got murdered she got no life insurance because it went to his ex wife?

 

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2017/07/wife_of_slain_cleveland_firefi_1.html

Uloma Curry-Walker

Yep, that's it!

[One Tough Cookie]

9 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

https://www.newsweek.com/lutz-family-missing-newton-illinois-more-two-months-1794477?amp=1
 

Lutz family of 4 missing for 2 plus months. Wonder what happened?

Sounds like sort of the McStay family out in California, yes?  They were all murdered by the husband's business partner.

[SunnyBeBe]

I caught another episode of Disappeared today.  Oh my….I guess I can’t relate to speaking briefly to your adult child on December 22, then not hearing from them during Christmas and doing nothing but continuing to leave messages and text for months. And, calling his job and getting no help.  And calling a friend who also hasn’t heard from the adult child in months. Then, in March contacting the police.  I just don’t get it.   

[Tdoc72]

2 hours ago, One Tough Cookie said:

Sounds like sort of the McStay family out in California, yes?  They were all murdered by the husband's business partner.

No, I think this is way different. The father had several domestic violence charges and was supposed to stay away from the wife and kids. Possible mental health things, but could also just be a mean guy. He’s either holed up somewhere with them or they are dead. 

[Razzberry]

Very Scary People had a good double episode last night, about the Trailside Killer in the Bay Area back in the '80's.  We've had so many serial killers I almost forgot about him.  His first murder was punished by 5 years in a mental health facility, so he went to kill at least 10 other women.  Easily-fooled doctors, shoddy police work, and naïve parole officers didn't help.  

[KittyMom4]

16 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I caught another episode of Disappeared today.  Oh my….I guess I can’t relate to speaking briefly to your adult child on December 22, then not hearing from them during Christmas and doing nothing but continuing to leave messages and text for months. And, calling his job and getting no help.  And calling a friend who also hasn’t heard from the adult child in months. Then, in March contacting the police.  I just don’t get it.   

@SunnyBeBe I think I know the episode you're referring to, was it the young man who disappeared after going to the bank to withdraw money? And it's possible his ex-boyfriend has something to do with it? I believe the mother said that it was not unusual for her to go months without hearing from her son. I get what you are saying, however, I think different families have different dynamics.  If I went 48 hours without hearing from one of my children I would be texting and calling until they answered, but I have a coworker whose son has been out of touch with her for a few years. She knows he's alive thanks to social media but she said her attempts to call or text him have been unsuccessful.

This show always makes me sad, I can't imagine the not knowing. And in this case so much time had passed and his room and vehicle had been used by others so there is no way to figure out what happened. I always hope the family will somehow get closure. 

[SunnyBeBe]

10 hours ago, KittyMom4 said:

@SunnyBeBe I think I know the episode you're referring to, was it the young man who disappeared after going to the bank to withdraw money? And it's possible his ex-boyfriend has something to do with it? I believe the mother said that it was not unusual for her to go months without hearing from her son. I get what you are saying, however, I think different families have different dynamics.  If I went 48 hours without hearing from one of my children I would be texting and calling until they answered, but I have a coworker whose son has been out of touch with her for a few years. She knows he's alive thanks to social media but she said her attempts to call or text him have been unsuccessful.

This show always makes me sad, I can't imagine the not knowing. And in this case so much time had passed and his room and vehicle had been used by others so there is no way to figure out what happened. I always hope the family will somehow get closure. 

Yes, that’s the one.  The son seemed to be an introvert.   I still couldn’t relate to letting things go so long without reporting it.  I have little doubt the former lover was behind it.  I mean, he was the only one who wasn’t worried about the guy.  

[KittyMom4]

I totally agree @SunnyBeBe that it was too long of a time span before someone noticed he was missing. There were 2 or 3 other people living in that house, and they all said he would never leave his cats (they never said where they went, hoping the mom took them in) so why wasn't anyone notifying family or the police? The ex-boyfriend allowing other people to use his room and his vehicle and no one is questioning that?  

[SunnyBeBe]

6 hours ago, KittyMom4 said:

I totally agree @SunnyBeBe that it was too long of a time span before someone noticed he was missing. There were 2 or 3 other people living in that house, and they all said he would never leave his cats (they never said where they went, hoping the mom took them in) so why wasn't anyone notifying family or the police? The ex-boyfriend allowing other people to use his room and his vehicle and no one is questioning that?  

I hope they were feeding his cats.  

[badhaggis]

https://abc7chicago.com/lutz-family-found-newton-il-missing-stephen/13148428/#:~:text=Lutz family%2C missing from Newton,February%2C found safe in Arizona&text=Stephen and Monica Lutz and,NEWTON%2C Ill.

The Lutz family was found safe in Arizona.

[SunnyBeBe]

2 hours ago, badhaggis said:

https://abc7chicago.com/lutz-family-found-newton-il-missing-stephen/13148428/#:~:text=Lutz family%2C missing from Newton,February%2C found safe in Arizona&text=Stephen and Monica Lutz and,NEWTON%2C Ill.

The Lutz family was found safe in Arizona.

That sounds like a terrible situation.  I hope someone intervenes to protect the kids.  If mother is voluntarily staying with the man…….man.  

[Vermicious Knid]

This case was profiled on 48 Hours in 2017.

New York woman sentenced for cheesecake murder plot

Quote

 

A Russian woman has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for attempting to kill her lookalike in a bizarre identity-theft plot in New York City.

Viktoria Nasyrova gave her beautician, Olga Tsvyk, a slice of poisoned cheesecake on 28 August 2016 before stealing her passport and work permit...

At the time, Ms Tsvyk and Nasyrova looked quite similar, with dark hair and the same skin complexion, and they were both Russian speakers.

Phenazepam, a powerful sedative, was detected in remnants of the cheesecake, and the pills strewn on the floor were confirmed to be the same drug...

This was not the first time Nasyrova has landed in trouble with the law.

In 2015, Interpol issued a red notice for her arrest over the murder of a woman in Russia a year earlier. She is accused of killing her neighbour and stealing her life savings.

Nasyrova, who US media reports is a former dominatrix, has also been accused of drugging and robbing men she met on dating websites.

 

Trying to kill someone with cheesecake is such an 'only in New York' kind of thing. 

[SunnyBeBe]

2 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

This case was profiled on 48 Hours in 2017.

New York woman sentenced for cheesecake murder plot

Trying to kill someone with cheesecake is such an 'only in New York' kind of thing. 

I haven’t seen about that one, but I do recall one show where the killer tried to fake his death, so he murdered the guy and planted his personal items on the guy, then burned the building.  He got caught though.  

[LuvMyShows]

For all you "ATL Homicide" fans, did you catch the recent episode of Oxygen's "The Real Murders of Atlanta"?  The episode was called "Murder in College Town" and at one point in the show, there was a need for the detectives on the case to have someone interviewed at a different Atlanta location.  So apparently, since another detective was already there at that location, they let that other detective do the interview.  They only played a really short audio clip of that interview, and the detective only said about one or two sentences, but it was unmistakably our buddy David Quinn!  Then near the very end of the episode, they said something in passing about "Detective Quinn", so I knew that my Quinn audio recognition was spot on!

[LuvMyShows]

Wow, I was genuinely amazed by the forensic science I saw in an episode of Forensic Factor.  They had an unidentified corpse, and fingerprints/DNA turned up nothing.  Likewise nothing with reaching out about missing people, even nationwide.  So they used isotopic analysis of the teeth, hair, and bones to determine where the person had spent long amounts of time.  In this case, they correctly identified that he had spent formative years near Chernobyl during the nuclear reactor incident, then spent time in Germany, and then England.  Turns out this is also how scientists study human remains from long, long ago to determine if they originated from some other land mass and migrated.

[oliviabenson]

On 4/19/2023 at 11:33 PM, Vermicious Knid said:

This case was profiled on 48 Hours in 2017.

New York woman sentenced for cheesecake murder plot

Trying to kill someone with cheesecake is such an 'only in New York' kind of thing. 

Yikes. I was hoping wanna be killer would be locked up for life. 

[Annber03]

...that creepy moment when you're watching a true crime show (tonight's "Evil Lives Here: Shadows of Death", to be exact) and it's focusing on a case that happened literally right on the outskirts of your town... They showed a mugshot from my town's police department and everything. 

Seriously, I would've been nine when this case happened and I have never once heard anything about this until now. Wow, this is freaking me out. 

[Razzberry]

16 hours ago, Annber03 said:

...that creepy moment when you're watching a true crime show (tonight's "Evil Lives Here: Shadows of Death", to be exact) and it's focusing on a case that happened literally right on the outskirts of your town... They showed a mugshot from my town's police department and everything. 

Seriously, I would've been nine when this case happened and I have never once heard anything about this until now. Wow, this is freaking me out. 

Is that the one with 4 or 5 people killed, including two children?  I only saw the last part of it.  Very disturbing.  

[Annber03]

4 hours ago, Razzberry said:

Is that the one with 4 or 5 people killed, including two children?  I only saw the last part of it.  Very disturbing.  

Yep,, that'd be the one :(. The fact they had to beef up the security during the trial, because of all the threats the prosecution and so forth got... Scary stuff, indeed. 

[SunnyBeBe]

On 4/25/2023 at 9:47 PM, Annber03 said:

...that creepy moment when you're watching a true crime show (tonight's "Evil Lives Here: Shadows of Death", to be exact) and it's focusing on a case that happened literally right on the outskirts of your town... They showed a mugshot from my town's police department and everything. 

Seriously, I would've been nine when this case happened and I have never once heard anything about this until now. Wow, this is freaking me out. 

I haven’t seen that one yet.  It sounds horrible.  
 

I just saw one that happened in my home county in NC.  It’s featured on Fear Thy Neighbor about two former best friends and their families in a very nice neighborhood, who have a falling out and it goes out of control.  Anyone could have seen that escalation culminating in violence.  The thing is, I think I was in court one day this one neighbor (the shooter) was there on the restrainting order.  I recall the conversation between him and the judge and the facts sounded like what was happening in this case and the neighborhood was the same. The neighbors also had a previous business together and that was also mentioned.  I’m an attorney and was there on another matter.   Man, creepy.   There were actually 3 family members killed in that case.  Both families had children too.  Just a tragedy that didn’t have to happen.  

Edited April 28, 2023 by SunnyBeBe

[LexieLily]

A new season of See No Evil starts on Wednesday May 3, 8:00 on ID. That's always been one of the better-done shows, IMO, and one of my favorites.

[oliviabenson]

No release date on deadly women S15. One of my favorite true crime shows.

Edited April 28, 2023 by oliviabenson

[LexieLily]

1 hour ago, oliviabenson said:

No release date on deadly women S15. One of my favorite true crime shows.

Ooh, I LOVE that show!

[SunnyBeBe]

Does anyone watch Undercover Underage? Omg! That’s the craziest show I’ve ever seen. Man, talk about intense! Tough subject matter! This is perhaps the most disturbing show out there. It’s about an undercover woman, who looks and sounds Iike a 15 year old girl. She helps catch child predators. That’s dangerous work.  I can’t believe they are showing themselves on a tv show!  I didn’t see a thread for it around here.  

[auntjess]

21 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Does anyone watch Undercover Underage? Omg! That’s the craziest show I’ve ever seen. Man, talk about intense! Tough subject matter! This is perhaps the most disturbing show out there. It’s about an undercover woman, who looks and sounds Iike a 15 year old girl. She helps catch child predators. That’s dangerous work.  I can’t believe they are showing themselves on a tv show!  I didn’t see a thread for it around here.  

I saw the preview and decided it was not for me.  The same for some of the shows on Vice network.

[KittyMom4]

On 4/29/2023 at 9:47 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

Does anyone watch Undercover Underage? Omg! That’s the craziest show I’ve ever seen. Man, talk about intense! Tough subject matter! This is perhaps the most disturbing show out there. It’s about an undercover woman, who looks and sounds Iike a 15 year old girl. She helps catch child predators. That’s dangerous work.  I can’t believe they are showing themselves on a tv show!  I didn’t see a thread for it around here.  

 

17 hours ago, auntjess said:

I saw the preview and decided it was not for me.  The same for some of the shows on Vice network.

This topic is a solid no-go for me, we just had several arrests in my area of adults who abused a single child under 13. Like 20 people. I wish I had the money to hire someone to hunt them all down. 

[SunnyBeBe]

17 hours ago, auntjess said:

I saw the preview and decided it was not for me.  The same for some of the shows on Vice network.

This show resulted in the arrest of at least one famous person. He was a pro golfer.  Some are still under investigation. That’s why I would be so scared to make myself so known.  I do find the show really interesting though.  It flies by. 

[Tdoc72]

On 4/28/2023 at 5:38 PM, LexieLily said:

A new season of See No Evil starts on Wednesday May 3, 8:00 on ID. That's always been one of the better-done shows, IMO, and one of my favorites.

Yes, my fav too. Always impressed when they see some little detail and I just see a gray blob. Unless it’s Target or Walmart—they always have great video. 

[Jaded]

I remember being shocked at what kind of people would get caught when Dateline had their "To Catch a Predator" stuff going on. Yes. I remember how and why it ended.

[auntjess]

5 hours ago, Tdoc72 said:

Yes, my fav too. Always impressed when they see some little detail and I just see a gray blob. Unless it’s Target or Walmart—they always have great video. 

Yes, as soon as they pull into Walmart, you know they're done for.
Right now, I'm bingeing on ATLHomicide; love Quinn and Vinny.  I think it's my favorite crime show, but See No Evil is probably my second favorite.

 

[Schnickelfritz]

On 4/24/2023 at 9:02 AM, LuvMyShows said:

For all you "ATL Homicide" fans, did you catch the recent episode of Oxygen's "The Real Murders of Atlanta"?  The episode was called "Murder in College Town" and at one point in the show, there was a need for the detectives on the case to have someone interviewed at a different Atlanta location.  So apparently, since another detective was already there at that location, they let that other detective do the interview.  They only played a really short audio clip of that interview, and the detective only said about one or two sentences, but it was unmistakably our buddy David Quinn!  Then near the very end of the episode, they said something in passing about "Detective Quinn", so I knew that my Quinn audio recognition was spot on!

I wondered why they never showed him as he was also the one who interviewed the witness in Florida, but then I realized that this case had been on his (and Vince Valezquez') show of ATL Homicide (S2, E 12), so maybe they didn't want to muddy the waters or couldn't.

[kathyk24]

I watched the Still a Mystery episode featuring a little girl named Oakley. She had been in foster care and returned to her biological parents. There is a similar case in New Hampshire about a little girl named Harmony Montgomery. She had been in foster care in Massachusetts until she was returned to her father. Her father has a criminal record and Harmony hasn't been found. There have been several articles in the Boston Globe.

[SunnyBeBe]

So, on Body Cam they feature the story of how the lady veterinarian and new lover (doctor who wasn’t allowed a license), hired an undercover cop to kill their exes.  The vet dove off her balcony pending trial.  Everyone said she was such a great person.  I’m trying to figure that out.  Their requests are recorded at a local Olive Garden.  They also made partial payments.  

[LuvMyShows]

Has anybody watched VH1's "Celebrity True Crime Story"?  It's pretty good.  They had an episode on Lorenzen Wright, the NBA player whose wife Sherra ordered his killing.  I've seen this story on several franchises but learned a few new things in this one.  Relatively early on when they suspected Sherra, they took it to a grand jury and it was denied.  I've rarely heard of that happening, especially since a grand jury basically only hears one side of the story. 

I also learned that this beeyotch wrote a book called "Mr. Tell Me Anything", a 'fictional' account of a woman and man with the exact same background as her and Lorenzen, with a career arc the exact same as Lorenzen, and struggles the exact same as theirs.  She sounds really really hurt and angry in it, and it is super easy to imagine her wanting revenge, even though they were already divorced when she ordered the hit.  She had the nerve at the end of the book to say there would be a sequel, but instead, her ass is in jail.

[SunnyBeBe]

45 minutes ago, LuvMyShows said:

Has anybody watched VH1's "Celebrity True Crime Story"?  It's pretty good.  They had an episode on Lorenzen Wright, the NBA player whose wife Sherra ordered his killing.  I've seen this story on several franchises but learned a few new things in this one.  Relatively early on when they suspected Sherra, they took it to a grand jury and it was denied.  I've rarely heard of that happening, especially since a grand jury basically only hears one side of the story. 

I also learned that this beeyotch wrote a book called "Mr. Tell Me Anything", a 'fictional' account of a woman and man with the exact same background as her and Lorenzen, with a career arc the exact same as Lorenzen, and struggles the exact same as theirs.  She sounds really really hurt and angry in it, and it is super easy to imagine her wanting revenge, even though they were already divorced when she ordered the hit.  She had the nerve at the end of the book to say there would be a sequel, but instead, her ass is in jail.

Yes, I like that show.  I’ve seen 2 of the episodes. One was on Christy Martin, professional boxer.  And, the one about Laura Ackerman.  Ackerman case happened in my city in Raleigh, NC!  It was huge!  I watched the trials online.  Bizarre case.  It’s been featured several times on different shows, due to the macabre nature of it., but putting it as a celebrity case is rather a stretch.   I watched them on ID discovery or Oxygen… can’t recall which.  

[Vermicious Knid]

This seems destined for Dateline. 

Woman who wrote book about grief for children arrested for murdering her husband.

Quote

A medical examiner found that Eric Richins had five times the lethal amount of fentanyl in his system...The charges are based on the officers’ accounts of their interactions with Ms Richins as well as the account of an “unnamed acquaintance” who said they sold the fentanyl to Ms Richins...A warrant also states that Ms Richins was caught changing her husband’s life insurance policy to make herself the only beneficiary.

The acquaintance said she asked for “some of the Michael Jackson stuff.”

Deleted doesn't mean gone:

Quote

Detectives investigating Eric Richins' death noted inconsistencies in Kouri Richins' statements to them and determined there were messages that had been sent and received during the time she claimed she left her phone to charge next to her bed, and that those messages had been deleted, according to the charges...Eric Richins' family told police that Eric was seeking a divorce and had "recently changed his will and life insurance from his wife to his sister, the court documents state.

He was telling people if anything happened to him his wife is to blame. 

[oliviabenson]

https://people.com/crime/lori-vallow-daybell-found-guilty-murdering-her-two-children-husbands-first-wife/
 

Found guilty. I’m thinking she is getting life no parole.

[Annber03]

One of the most "no duh" verdicts ever. Good. 

[SunnyBeBe]

I really don’t understand these people, that know her, who keep saying she’s a really good person.  

[oliviabenson]

On 5/10/2023 at 3:58 AM, Vermicious Knid said:

This seems destined for Dateline. 

Woman who wrote book about grief for children arrested for murdering her husband.

The acquaintance said she asked for “some of the Michael Jackson stuff.”

Deleted doesn't mean gone:

He was telling people if anything happened to him his wife is to blame. 

I think he had a large life insurance policy. Another case where no way was she getting away with it.

[andromeda331]

I'm glad she's was convicted. I'm confused about the reporters keep talking about how she had no reaction when she heard. She killed her kids and went to Hawaii to get married to her equally psycho husband, what were they expecting?

[LuvMyShows]

In the "On the Case" episode called "Follow the Blood", more cop idiocy.  A woman was killed in her apartment, and the killer left a trail of blood out of her apartment and into the complex.  The trail ended at the edge of the parking lot, so the cops assumed for decades that it was because he had gotten into a car and drove off, so they never pursued the people who lived in the complex.  Turns out the perp lived up the steps that were right there at the spot where the blood ended, but they never thought he might have just gone up the stairs. Maybe the blood ended cause he took off his shirt to stop the blood, or maybe the blood just finished dripping.  At any rate, good grief. (The perp was identified eventually through genetic genealogy.)

[KittyMom4]

On 5/10/2023 at 3:58 AM, Vermicious Knid said:

He was telling people if anything happened to him his wife is to blame. 

When I read that in the article my only thought was "then why did you stay with her?!?" If I thought my spouse was trying to poison me, #1 I would never, ever take any food or drink that they offered, and #2 I would get the hell out of the household!

[KittyMom4]

On 5/13/2023 at 1:55 AM, andromeda331 said:

I'm glad she's was convicted. I'm confused about the reporters keep talking about how she had no reaction when she heard. She killed her kids and went to Hawaii to get married to her equally psycho husband, what were they expecting?

Once her sentencing is complete I never want to hear or see her name again. She is pure evil with no remorse. I have enjoyed watching her slowly become a stringy-haired, sallow, shriveled hag. I wish they would stop posting pics of her prior to her arrest because her looks now match her true identity: an evil witch.

[SunnyBeBe]

4 hours ago, KittyMom4 said:

When I read that in the article my only thought was "then why did you stay with her?!?" If I thought my spouse was trying to poison me, #1 I would never, ever take any food or drink that they offered, and #2 I would get the hell out of the household!

Exactly!  And, you can be poisoned in multiple ways.  I’d be OUT of their reach, so the couldn’t contaminate any of my items.  
 

Recently, my brother and I were discussing some untimely deaths of various people and I asked, did they do an autopsy?  If a person is relatively young, no health issues,  no drug use, ……….I’d want an autopsy.   Apparently, other people don’t watch Dateline, like I do.  Lol. 

[auntjess]

5 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Recently, my brother and I were discussing some untimely deaths of various people and I asked, did they do an autopsy?  If a person is relatively young, no health issues,  no drug use, ……….I’d want an autopsy.   Apparently, other people don’t watch Dateline, like I do.  Lol.

I'd think that if a cause wasn't apparent, they'd do on automatically.

 

[SunnyBeBe]

12 hours ago, auntjess said:

I'd think that if a cause wasn't apparent, they'd do on automatically.

 

Right. I don’t know them well enough to make an inquiry.  It’s my understanding that an unattended death by medical staff or someone who isn’t under Hospice or doctors’s care should get an autopsy, but I’m not sure if that is always followed. One reason I think that, is that I knew someone once who was found dead in his home (one other person was in the home and discovered him) and they did toxicology, but not a full autopsy. I know, because when I read of his death online about a year later, I was so shocked I wrote and requested a copy of the autopsy results, which are available to the public in my state. I received a report of the state of the body, police report, toxicology findings, with a statement  there was no autopsy. Based on what I read, I am still in shock.  

Edited May 16, 2023 by SunnyBeBe

[oliviabenson]

Sometimes there is no autopsy due to religious reasons!

[SunnyBeBe]

Omg!  I think I recall this from Unsolved Mysteries.  The child was found in my state!  
 

https://people.com/crime/illinois-girl-missing-since-2017-found-store-owner-recognized-her-unsolved-mysteries/