General True Crime Shows

[walnutqueen]

The less Wendy Williams, the better; but the case was OK, and I watched.

 

But that other show - "Suspicion"?  I was incredibly bored by the nurse/storyteller ...

[Jaded]

I have alternatives.  Yesterday afternoon was marathon of Texas Flip & Move, a show that usually provides lots of laughs.

Then I've also started watching Air Disasters, on Smithsonian channel.  This is the real thing, NTSB and all.

I love Texas Flip & Move. I hope new episodes get made. The same ones keep repeating on multiple channels.

[imjagain]

I watched Killer Education today.

I wasn't familiar with the case, even though it was turned into a mini-series.

I'd be freaked out enough if one of my teachers were murdered, but this freaked me the $%*&@ out! I can only imagine what the high school reunions are like for that school, at least for those who graduated in the 70s.

As for the episode itself, Wendy Williams was barely around. From reading-up on the case, some of the evidence was discovered more quickly than the episode would have left you to believe. They should also have provided more detail about the appeals. Aside from that, I thought it was done pretty well.

This case creeped me out. I can't imagine how the students at the time felt when it all came out. The principle alone, was so disturbing. Then you throw in everything else, wow.

Yeah, I didn't notice Wendy Williams much. She has minimal presence, so that's good.

[grumpypanda]

No thoughts on Killer Instinct from last night? It was definitely one I hadn't heard before. That story was full of all kinds of WTF. In the first part of the show when they said the nine months pregnant lady was doing a cleaning job, I felt so bad for her. But, wow, there can be a lot worse ways to make money when you're nine months pregnant.

I came here just to comment on this episode. I've never heard of this case before and I found the whole story so disturbing. I find it so bizarre that a woman who was nine months pregnant was out turning tricks. I'm even more shocked that the doctor would drug Deanna knowing that she was obviously very pregnant.

The doctor was pure evil to let Deanna and her baby die. I'm also shocked that he videotaped himself raping her while she was in the mist of dying. Once he saw that she was overdosing he could have just dropped her off in the parking lot of a hospital or even a convenient store and told the clerk that a pregnant woman was in distress outside. The doctor deserves to rot in hell for what he did.

Overall, I'm liking Killer Instinct. I've watched three episodes so far and two out of the three cases were new to me. The episode with the lesbian teenagers that killed the one girl's grandparents was chilling. I'm surprised that this show is so well done. I have very low expectations of any new ID show.

[Andyourlittledog2]

OMG, The Evil Kin episode about the three young men breaking their dad out of prison.... I saw that movie!! Robert Mitchum played the dad in it.  That case was so awful that ever since I saw the movie -- and knew it was a real thing that happened -- I have been haunted by it. It is the single most obvious reason in my head that I don't stop for stranded anybody on the side of the road. I even made a pact with myself that if I ever married and had children with someone who later turned out to be a psycho in prison that I would never let my kids visit or write to him. It made that big an impression on me.  I still can't look at Robert Mitchum without thinking about those poor manipulated boys and all the people who died.  A truly evil, evil man and his equally evil wife.  Their kids were doomed with those two as parents.  I often wonder how they all did in prison.  I just felt sorry for the youngest one especially.  Too late he discovered his dad's lies and true murderous personality. 

 

Now, watching it on Evil Kin, I am as appalled and upset as I was then.  

[torqy]

@Andyourlittledog2:

I live in Phoenix and remember when this happened. People were terrified. Those who say there's no Karma should ponder the mental image of Gary Tison's decomposing body rotting under a desert tree. An especially nasty way to die.

When I hear about people like Tison's brainwashed, naive wife, I want to shake them and say "What's wrong with you?"  I guess Stockholm Syndrome would explain it.

[Taylorh2]

Hahahaha. OMG! The casting people for an episode of "Blood Relatives" must have run out of time to find a look-a-like for this one murder murder suspect.

 

The guy casted was tall really good-looking 24 yr old with a full head of wavy hair and a slight close shaved beard. The *actual* police interview footage with the suspect was this overweight puggy guy who was balding with a slight comb-over.  Huh?

 

I  had to rewind because I was like 'who's that guy' ?

 

I thought the he was another suspect that I had somehow missed, like I blinked or something. The casting was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off.

[tobeannounced]

I don't usually watch Evil Kin but caught the episode about breaking the dad out of prison.  Prisons sure were a lot looser in the old days about what people could bring in (a cooler!) and why did they examine the sack lunch but not the cooler?

 

I just could not understand why the dad had to kill the whole family.  At first I thought someone must have survived because they kept talking about how the wife didn't want the husband to stop.  If everyone was killed, how does anyone know that?

[punkypower]

I missed all repeats of the first episode of Killed By Gossip, but caught the second episode today. They changed QUITE many details..

http://murderpedia.org/female.P/p/pike-christa.htm

Also, what horrible human beings, but that goes for every show/case...

[Constantinople]

OMG, TheEvil Kin episode about the three young men breaking their dad out of prison.... I saw that movie!! Robert Mitchum played the dad in it.  That case was so awful that ever since I saw the movie -- and knew it was a real thing that happened -- I have been haunted by it. It is the single most obvious reason in my head that I don't stop for stranded anybody on the side of the road. I even made a pact with myself that if I ever married and had children with someone who later turned out to be a psycho in prison that I would never let my kids visit or write to him. It made that big an impression on me.  I still can't look at Robert Mitchum without thinking about those poor manipulated boys and all the people who died.  A truly evil, evil man and his equally evil wife.  Their kids were doomed with those two as parents.  I often wonder how they all did in prison.  I just felt sorry for the youngest one especially.  Too late he discovered his dad's lies and true murderous personality. 

 

Now, watching it on Evil Kin, I am as appalled and upset as I was then.

 

 

@Andyourlittledog2:

I live in Phoenix and remember when this happened. People were terrified. Those who say there's no Karma should ponder the mental image of Gary Tison's decomposing body rotting under a desert tree. An especially nasty way to die.

When I hear about people like Tison's brainwashed, naive wife, I want to shake them and say "What's wrong with you?"  I guess Stockholm Syndrome would explain it.

I was surprised, shocked even, that she only spent a year in jail. If I were a family member of one of the victims, I would have gone ballistic.

[torqy]

 

I was surprised, shocked even, that she only spent a year in jail. If I were a family member of one of the victims, I would have gone ballistic.

Totally agree. Even if she was in fact brainwashed, she was an integral part of the crime spree.

[torqy]

Anyone catch the Murder Made Me Famous episode about Ted Bundy on Reelz? Actually not bad for what I call "low-budget crime shows."

[editorgrrl]

Did anyone watch Twisted Tales of My 9 to 5 (Saturdays at 10 p.m.)? I don't know what I was expecting, but it was three stories of young women being threatened by men. Talking heads with the victims + reenactments, and all three stories are interwoven.

From the press release: https://corporate.discovery.com/discovery-newsroom/passion-greed-revenge-investigation-discovery-reve/

Everyone remembers a job they’ve hated – from overbearing bosses who yell at their employees, to companies that put their interns on “coffee duty.” But when a boss’ requests go from demanding to bizarre, office gossip blows up in an inter-employee feud. TWISTED TALES OF MY 9 TO 5 tells the stories of typical work days that have turned into horrid tales.

I couldn't find anything about it on the ID website.

[One Tough Cookie]

Anyone catch the Murder Made Me Famous episode about Ted Bundy on Reelz? Actually not bad for what I call "low-budget crime shows."

 

I was just coming here to post about this show.  Other than the Jodi Arias episode I am enjoying it so far.  I was really sorry that Ann Rule died before she could give input about her experience with Ted.  And I am dumbfounded that those pictures he kept were never found.  Ted had an enormous ego, almost as large as his lust to kill.  I have read A LOT about Ted back in the day and while I really enjoyed Ann's book I got a lot out of Hugh Aynesworth's  Only Living Witness and Conversations With a Killer.  Aynesworth was able to interview Ted on tape while he was waiting execution and the books gave the reader a look at this monster's mind.  I also broke  down and bought the Dobson tape wherein blames all his crimes on porno.  That tape was done less than12 hours before his execution and I was amazed at the man's self control.

[Maizie131]

Did anyone watch Twisted Tales of My 9 to 5 (Saturdays at 10 p.m.)? I don't know what I was expecting, but it was three stories of young women being threatened by men. Talking heads with the victims + reenactments, and all three stories are interwoven.

 

I made it through about 10 minutes before I turned the channel.  Too confusing for me.  They didn't give enough background (in my opinion) for each one before they went on to the next, and I didn't care enough for the "players."  If you watched the whole thing, what did you think?  

[editorgrrl]

I made it through about 10 minutes before I turned the channel. Too confusing for me. They didn't give enough background (in my opinion) for each one before they went on to the next, and I didn't care enough for the "players." If you watched the whole thing, what did you think?

Each story literally ended with a moral. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. No wonder ID doesn't even acknowledge the show on their website!

[applecrisp]

i have found this season of Evil Kin riveting.  The last episode was about Ward Weaver and his son also Ward who committed murder and rape.  It raises the question about nurture and nature.  Other shows have as well.  Maybe there are bad people who are born that way?  I don't know but it is disturbing.

[editorgrrl]

It raises the question about nurture and nature. Other shows have as well. Maybe there are bad people who are born that way? I don't know but it is disturbing.

Ward Weaver Jr. didn't raise Ward III. And I thought at the end of "Lost Highway"

a DNA test proved that Ward Jr. is not Ward III's biological father

?

Edited September 16, 2015 by editorgrrl

[applecrisp]

Ward Weaver Jr. didn't raise Ward III. And I thought at the end of "Lost Highway"

a DNA test proved that Ward Jr. is not Ward III's biological father

?

 

I watched that end twice and the son of Ward III was not his, can't remember his name but was glad it wasn't Ward.

[editorgrrl]

Thanks for the correction. I wondered why Evil Kin did a story about people who weren't really kin.

Tuesday's episode, "House of Secrets," is about Eddie Lee Sexton.

[KellsBells]

I just can't with last night's episode of Suspicion. I don't think they could have presented that case any more oddly than they did. I couldn't actually finish watching it, so I don't know who the zombie neighbor that was narrating was "suspicious" of, but it's fairly well known that no one had a clue who was committing the crimes until an alert trooper accidentally caught him, so how that could have fit with the the of Suspicion is nonsense.  

[walnutqueen]

I just can't with last night's episode of Suspicion. I don't think they could have presented that case any more oddly than they did. I couldn't actually finish watching it, so I don't know who the zombie neighbor that was narrating was "suspicious" of, but it's fairly well known that no one had a clue who was committing the crimes until an alert trooper accidentally caught him, so how that could have fit with the the of Suspicion is nonsense.  

 

That was a pile of crap.  She was suspicious of everyone BUT the guy who did it.   The only thing you missed at the end was that she bought the perp's murder house next door and moved into it.  Not weird at all ...

[KellsBells]

That was a pile of crap.  She was suspicious of everyone BUT the guy who did it.   The only thing you missed at the end was that she bought the perp's murder house next door and moved into it.  Not weird at all ...

 

WTF?????  No, no, that's not a bit creepy. There are a lot of bad shows on ID, but I think this one takes the top spot. 

[walnutqueen]

Thanks for taking one for the team and reporting back. I tried to watch Suspicion a week or so ago, and just couldn't stick with it. The story - whatever the heck it turned out to be, I have no clue - was presented verrryy strangely. It seemed repetitious, and was hard to follow. Something about a family stalked by a prowler and a woman who kept peering out into the night, straining to see who was prowling around the bushes. In her own bloody yard.

 

I said, probably out loud, "so why the fuck don't you people get some really strong floodlights to light up the area next to your house at night, and some surveillance video cameras?" And switched channels. 

 

That one was even more fucked up, Suz.  They did get surveillance cameras and saw a "shadowy figure".  Then they found the daughter dead in her room one morning, and are still fighting to get the manner of death changed to homicide.  The coroner & cops don't agree with the mother ...

 

This is a really bad show, with really bad re-enactments, and unintelligible storytelling.  Right up ID's alley.

[KellsBells]

I just saw the episode of Killer Instinct discussed above ^^ about the pregnant woman. Wow. That was one of the most horrific things I've ever seen. And a doctor???? It's was just completely crazy. Can't believe he was able to plead to only 30-something years. 

[applecrisp]

That one was even more fucked up, Suz.  They did get surveillance cameras and saw a "shadowy figure".  Then they found the daughter dead in her room one morning, and are still fighting to get the manner of death changed to homicide.  The coroner & cops don't agree with the mother ...

 

This is a really bad show, with really bad re-enactments, and unintelligible storytelling.  Right up ID's alley.

This one was really bad.  Why did she think someone murdered her daughter?  There was no one person that they suspected.  It was sad that her daughter died but I really think it was a suicide and the mother could not handle it.

[slensam]

This one was really bad.  Why did she think someone murdered her daughter?  There was no one person that they suspected.  It was sad that her daughter died but I really think it was a suicide and the mother could not handle it.

I definitely thought it was suicide. The way the daughter was depicted was in a very depressed manner. I don't know where the mystery was in all this. What are they trying to accomplish with this show? I was getting mad at the mother at the end. Yeah, the cops and the coroners and everybody else are all in it to suppress the truth! What is this; Oliver Stone?! Phoooey!

[applecrisp]

On Swamp Murders a young woman is murdered and the police think it was the no-good boyfriend that did it.  No proof.  They wait ten years and now can use DNA. Does not match the boyfriend and one investigator said, he still may have been involved-- he also passed a lie detector and they thought they just asked the wrong questions.

 

Turns out it was another guy..  Tunnel vision and you harass a guy for ten years.  The big hazard of thinking it's "this guy".

[KellsBells]

On Swamp Murders a young woman is murdered and the police think it was the no-good boyfriend that did it.  No proof.  They wait ten years and now can use DNA. Does not match the boyfriend and one investigator said, he still may have been involved-- he also passed a lie detector and they thought they just asked the wrong questions.

 

Turns out it was another guy..  Tunnel vision and you harass a guy for ten years.  The big hazard of thinking it's "this guy".

 

That is a particularly egregious case of tunnel vision after he passed a lie detector and his DNA didn't match, but I've noticed quite a few shows about older murders where they were convinced it was the boyfriend or husband and the poor guy was under a cloud for years until DNA (or something) rules them out. I've seen shows where the boyfriend was even banned from the funeral they were so convinced it was him. In fact, now that I think of it, police were convinced that one of BTK's first victims was killed by her husband and he lived under that cloud for decades until Rader proved that he had actually done it. I mean, it often is the husband or boyfriend, but  still...

[Brattinella]

So, I'm watching this "Twisted Tales of My 9 to 5", with three stories of the MOST MORONIC women!  Seriously, start work as an Exec Secretary and your male boss has a closet full of slut clothes that you MUST WEAR. 

 

Or, the Ice Rink lady who sees a male co-worker steal money, he threatens her with a knife, then he loosens the blade on her skates so she sprains her ankle, then tosses her KEYS in the middle of the ice!  She is on CRUTCHES, and tries to get the keys!

 

And the third maroon is the Flight Attendant who lets this jerk-off smoker in the bathroom BULLY HER.  Wow!  All three of these stories are SO anti-woman!

 

This is a terrible show.

[Jaded]

Has anyone else seen the new daytime syndicated show Crime Watch Daily? I've only caught a few episodes but they seem to have plenty of stories that could be covered on those ID shows without the same stories being rehashed again and again. I'm still not sure what I think about the show though. It seems kind of like a tabloid feeling show that's trying to take itself seriously.

http://crimewatchdaily.com/

[GreatKazu]

So, I'm watching this "Twisted Tales of My 9 to 5", with three stories of the MOST MORONIC women!  Seriously, start work as an Exec Secretary and your male boss has a closet full of slut clothes that you MUST WEAR. 

 

Or, the Ice Rink lady who sees a male co-worker steal money, he threatens her with a knife, then he loosens the blade on her skates so she sprains her ankle, then tosses her KEYS in the middle of the ice!  She is on CRUTCHES, and tries to get the keys!

 

And the third maroon is the Flight Attendant who lets this jerk-off smoker in the bathroom BULLY HER.  Wow!  All three of these stories are SO anti-woman!

 

This is a terrible show.

I just watched this the other night. What the hell? Are these stories based on true events? How was it a girl who was being terrorized by a co-worker, still working at her job at an ice rink? Why didn't she inform her boss? Why was she still working with a broken leg and at an ice rink of all places? The airline stewardess story. Why wasn't the captain called out when the rowdy passenger was acting up in the bathroom? Second, how was a passenger able to bring on board an animal in her bag? Security checks would have caught that before she even entered the plane. The employee wearing slut clothes. How is it this guy was not reported to HR on the first day. So many questions for that episode. It doesn't make any sense.  What a stupid, stupid show. 

[tobeannounced]

I'm hate watching Suspicion at this point.  It is so bad, it's funny.  What I want to know if how can they take some really interesting stories that I've never heard of, for the most part, and turn them into complete, moronic drivel?  It's almost like it was written in English, translated to a foreign language, and translated back to English. It's just so odd and disconnected.

[Tunia]

I'm hate watching Suspicion at this point.  It is so bad, it's funny

 

 

I caught this for the first time last night - the episode where a woman thought her live-in was poisoning her and he ended up in jail, only to find out it was pollutants from a nearby industrial complex.  My thought afterwards was that this show might be more aptly titled Just A Suspicion! 

[Cobb Salad]

I saw Suspicion last night for the first time as well - one of the first things she explained was how strange all of the neighbors were - wouldn't that have been a big red flag the boyfriend wasn't the problem when she started to be affected? How far away was the industrial complex that she didn't notice it before she moved in? How come none of the neighbors picked up on this problem before her?

[applecrisp]

That actually sounds intriguing. 

[tobeannounced]

That actually sounds intriguing. 

Exactly my point, applecrisp.  They've actually got some interesting stories, but the writing and acting is so laughable, it just totally ruins it.

[roamyn]

I just heard from my mother's cousin.

Her granddaughter's murder is going to be showcased on Paula Zahn in November or December. The production company was interviewing family this past week.

Shannon's murder took 25 years to solve officially. The trial just ended this summer.

I like PZ, and out of respect, asked the cousin (my mother has been deceased for 20 yrs, so it's my responsibility & honor to keep up with that side of the family) if they want family watching it. She only went to the trial a few times due to health issues.

Since we already know the outcome, if they prefer not to have family watch, I can forgo it. I didn't know Shannon, and only met her mother once.

[Rina99]

I saw Suspicion last night for the first time as well - one of the first things she explained was how strange all of the neighbors were - wouldn't that have been a big red flag the boyfriend wasn't the problem when she started to be affected? How far away was the industrial complex that she didn't notice it before she moved in? How come none of the neighbors picked up on this problem before her?

I was just so confused by the entire thing.  Did they ever find out who stole the neighbor's underwear, or the narrator's pills?  Why was the boyfriend still in jail nine months later if it was just something in the water?  And yes, why were the neighbors just allowing themselves to turn into crazy zombies without someone else thinking it might be the water?

Edited September 28, 2015 by Rina99

[Cobb Salad]

I was just so confused by the entire thing.  Did they ever find out who stole the neighbor's underwear, or the narrator's pills?  Why was the boyfriend still in jail nine months later if it was just something in the water?  And yes, why were the neighbors just allowing themselves to turn into crazy zombies without someone else thinking it might be the water?

There was no reported resolution to the missing pills or underwear. I was wondering if it was the beginning of the symptoms for one of them - like they were doing some things and having no recollection of it later. About the boyfriend, maybe there was something else we weren't told that kept him in jail? It does seem odd that she couldn't just drop the charges once she realized he wasn't the cause of her poisoning.

[tobeannounced]

I was wondering about the boyfriend too.  Maybe the stalking was considered a parole violation or something.

[Maizie131]

Anyone watch Killer Instrict w/Chris Hansen "The Lady Killers" tonight?  I'd DVR'd it, but after watching 15 minutes it was just too heartbreaking, so I stopped it & just watched the last 10 minutes to find out what happened to the assholes who killed that nice lady. 

[Shriekingeel]

Really hard to watch. Such monsters.

[KellsBells]

It was appalling. And the fact that so many people saw her when she was still alive and didn't do a thing. Such a sad commentary on that community. 

[Brattinella]

It broke my heart to see how many people saw her, the "trophy" in the trunk.  All of them were pretty despicable, but my TRUE loathing was for the incarcerated younger brother.  He was SO BORED with the entire thing, like "What's the big deal?".  He had no soul behind those flat dead eyes, no answer to Chris Hansen's questions of WHY DIDN'T YOU DO SOMETHING.  He HAD no answer, he just didn't give a shit.  Like the girl said, "I don't like white people anyway".

[Mrs. P.]

Anyone watch Killer Instrict w/Chris Hansen "The Lady Killers" tonight? I'd DVR'd it, but after watching 15 minutes it was just too heartbreaking, so I stopped it & just watched the last 10 minutes to find out what happened to the assholes who killed that nice lady.

One brother got the death penalty and was executed in November of 2009, I believe. His brother got life in prison. The girl with them turned state's evidence and received a much lesser sentence.

[tobeannounced]

Just got done watching it.  Wish I hadn't!  I kept debating turning it off or fast-forwarding.  I live in Texas, and I can't believe I never heard of this case. Wow, those people are subhuman. How does one community have so many savages living among them?

[Rina99]

Fatal Vows, Evil Twins, and Surviving Evil return this month, with four new shows as well.  

Edited October 2, 2015 by Rina99

[Tunia]

Martin Frankel, who has been featured in CNBC's American Greed is back in trouble with the law, as told by his former local newspaper, Greenwich Time:

 

http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Former-Greenwich-insurance-hustler-back-in-6543999.php

[bubbls]

 I have read A LOT about Ted back in the day and while I really enjoyed Ann's book I got a lot out of Hugh Aynesworth's  Only Living Witness and Conversations With a Killer.  Aynesworth was able to interview Ted on tape while he was waiting execution and the books gave the reader a look at this monster's mind.

 

Thanks for mentioning these. I might read them. I have to be feeling invulnerable to read any serial killer books. Otherwise they frighten me too much. Right now I've been watching a lot of Disappeared and Forensic Files, so I'm too hyper aware of how vulnerable we can be to predators to do any SK reading.

 

 

I've only caught a few episodes but they seem to have plenty of stories that could be covered on those ID shows without the same stories being rehashed again and again.

 

 

I was just wondering today if people suddenly stopped vanishing and being murdered circa 2000 or so.

Edited October 4, 2015 by bubbls