General True Crime Shows

[tobeannounced]

14 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

What did I just watch? The preacher who was thought to be dead, church burned, his fishing buddy who he’d baptized was missing and thought to be the killer... then they figured out the buddy was the dead body and the preacher was in the hospital with a spray tan and a shaved head? WTF??

Grave Secrets! Actually one of the few shows I'm enjoying on ID anymore.

[cooksdelight]

That was a wild hour! I felt so sorry for the poor woman who’s husband was the actual victim.

And I felt bad for her big hair. :)

[cooksdelight]

How do I find an old 48 Hours episode, “SEX, LIES AND THE DOCTOR'S WIFE”?? A friend is being treated by this doctor and I want to see the story.

[Josette]

If you want, you can read the complete episode at the official website.

There's also a Dateline episode about the case you can watch here.

[Jaded]

17 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

How do I find an old 48 Hours episode, “SEX, LIES AND THE DOCTOR'S WIFE”?? A friend is being treated by this doctor and I want to see the story.

This episode isn't the 48hrs episode from 2005 that you mentioned. It's an episode they did about the case 5 years later. 
 

[QuinnInND]

Did anyone watch that Branch Davidians thing on ABC last night? 

[SunnyBeBe]

For the first time, I really got ticked off by a show on ID Discovery today. The show is called I Am Homicide, and I normally like it, because it's based in my home state of NC. I hope that this episode just got a bad edit and that the investigation wasn't so slanted.   The homicide detective is faced with a strange murder of an upstanding member, called "golden boy" of the community (Charlotte, NC), who is shot in the back for no apparent reason. There are few clues. Soon afterwards, an Hispanic male, who is visiting from out-of-state, is shot and killed in a similar fashion.  Ballistics confirm that they both were shot with the same firearm. So, it's likely the same killer.  The detective is not able to tie the two victims together., even though they were shot with the same gun.   They interview the first victim's girlfriend for the episode and she makes an on camera comment.    After that, they seem to drop interest in the second man's murder.  They imply that he would have had no reason to be connected to the golden boy.  Later, as the investigation unfolds, they don't even mention the Hispanic man.  Detective finds the killer of golden boy, but, doesn't bother asking about the Hispanic victim. In fact, the Hispanic victim is never mentioned again.  Just lots of talk about getting justice for the golden boy, which is fine. I get it.  He was an upstanding member of the community. But,  good grief. The other man was murdered too.  What about justice for him?  I didn't like it at all. I'm not sure who edited or directed that episode, but they need to make an apology to the Hispanic man's family.  I hope the investigation wasn't as pitiful as that episode.  IF anyone saw this differently or if I missed something, please chime in. 

[Brattinella]

5 minutes ago, QuinnInND said:

Did anyone watch that Branch Davidians thing on ABC last night? 

No.  I watched live on TV when it happened, and I don't need reminding of that horror.  Janet Reno should have gone to prison.

[atlantaloves]

Oh man, that was hard to watch, I had to turn it off after about 30 minutes, sickening.  He really needed to die. 

[riley702]

But not everybody else!

[Brattinella]

13 minutes ago, riley702 said:

But not everybody else!

Like I said, Janet Reno should be in prison for this.

[walnutqueen]

2 hours ago, riley702 said:

But not everybody else!

That's all on him.  And his acolytes.  And their stockpile of weapons, explosives and delusions.  I think I'm fairly clear on where to lay the blame.  And I'm usually the first to point the finger at law enforcement types.  Not this time.

[cooksdelight]

I just watched this on ID, as I was eating my lunch.... OMG....

https://tvcrimesky.com/2017/07/26/dawn-viens-david-viens-lomita-chef-killer-cooks-up-plot-on-the-perfect-murder-on-investigation-discovery/409

They have no idea if he served any of her to his restaurant guests. “Today’s special is boiled wife stew!”
 

[atlantaloves]

WOW that's a great true crime site, thanks kiddo.  I never seem to get enough, nightmares and all. ?

[SunnyBeBe]

On 1/6/2018 at 0:04 PM, cooksdelight said:

I just watched this on ID, as I was eating my lunch.... OMG....

https://tvcrimesky.com/2017/07/26/dawn-viens-david-viens-lomita-chef-killer-cooks-up-plot-on-the-perfect-murder-on-investigation-discovery/409

They have no idea if he served any of her to his restaurant guests. “Today’s special is boiled wife stew!”
 

Oh, I missed that today.  I've seen about the story though.  Man.......

Another thing that has gotten me wondering is about how various persons who have disappeared, gone missing, etc.  have family members who claim to be quite close, but, they sure don't show it.   Maybe, it's just me, but, if you have a college aged daughter, single mom sister, or senior parent, driving alone, cross country, even across the state, wouldn't you think to check up on them? I mean, they start out driving and you don't hear from them for 3 days and you think nothing of it?  I'm just trying to envision how this happens.  Apparently, based on all the stories that we see on these shows, it happens quite a bit.  I get how it might have happened years ago, but, with cell phones, there's really no reason that you should be out of contact too long.  Granted some places have crappy reception. 

[cooksdelight]

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Maybe, it's just me, but, if you have a college aged daughter, single mom sister, or senior parent, driving alone, cross country, even across the state, wouldn't you think to check up on them? I mean, they start out driving and you don't hear from them for 3 days and you think nothing of it?  

Especially in today’s age of everyone having a cell phone. And thank God for those, the pinging has solved many a murder mystery. When my mom was alive, she called me every day. Or my sister called, or my favorite aunt. I was never out of touch with people who cared.

[tobeannounced]

I've been catching up on my murder and mayhem shows, and I've discovered one on ID I'm actually enjoying - Murder in the Heartland. Anyone else digging this? It's really well done. It doesn't have a bunch of reenactments, just tells the story through interviews. That seems to be the deal-breaker for me on these shows - bad reenactments. Haven't come across a series yet that I can stand that has them, except for maybe Crime to Remember.

Edited January 7, 2018 by tobeannounced

[atlantaloves]

Oh yeah, Murder in the Heartland is really good, (I love it) not too many re-enactments, which I hate, and lots of interviews with cops and DA's....but of course they have the standard family members looking at pictures and staring into space with a cup of tea, while brushing away tears, snort. It's wonderful, and they have new JUICY MURDERS, which we LOVE.  It's so good I have it on automatic record, and that is a big deal with me. 

[cooksdelight]

I don’t remember what the show was, which series, but I caught one the other day about Todd Kollhepp, the serial killer realtor from SC. They had some pretty amazing video that I’ve never seen before. Interviews with Kollhepp and police in the interrogation room, where he’s saying things like “I shot her four times. My timing was off, it wasn’t my best work.” The cops seems floored, as was I. They had video of Kala Brown, the victim who had been chained up in a storage container.... it was gut-wrenching. They showed her in the box as they were trying to get her unchained and she’s telling police about Kollhepp killing her boyfriend, and watching him roll up the body in a blue tarp. Then, there’s film of her in the ambulance, answering questions from the police officer who rode with her.

[tobeannounced]

24 minutes ago, atlantaloves said:

Oh yeah, Murder in the Heartland is really good, (I love it) not too many re-enactments, which I hate, and lots of interviews with cops and DA's....but of course they have the standard family members looking at pictures and staring into space with a cup of tea, while brushing away tears, snort. It's wonderful, and they have new JUICY MURDERS, which we LOVE.  It's so good I have it on automatic record, and that is a big deal with me. 

Too funny, atlantaloves. So true though.

[ratgirlagogo]

3 hours ago, tobeannounced said:

That seems to be the deal-breaker for me on these shows - bad reenactments. Haven't come across a series yet that I can stand that has them, except for maybe A Crime to Remember.

WTF ever happened to A Crime to Remember anyway?   They were renewed last March, there's a listing for eight episodes (!) for Season 5 on the IMDB  - including  the Leopold and Loeb case and the Clutter (In Cold Blood) murders.  The last entry on their Facebook page is from April.    It's my favorite ID show by far and I just don't get it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3044834/episodes?season=5&ref_=tt_eps_sn_5

Edited January 8, 2018 by ratgirlagogo

[bubbls]

3 hours ago, tobeannounced said:

I've been catching up on my murder and mayhem shows, and I've discovered one on ID I'm actually enjoying - Murder in the Heartland. Anyone else digging this? It's really well done. It doesn't have a bunch of reenactments, just tells the story through interviews. That seems to be the deal-breaker for me on these shows - bad reenactments. Haven't come across a series yet that I can stand that has them, except for maybe Crime to Remember.

No reenactments?!! I’m checking it out!!

[auntjess]

3 hours ago, tobeannounced said:

That seems to be the deal-breaker for me on these shows - bad reenactments.

I'd make an exception for Nightmare Next Door, which takes bad reenactments, and dialog, to the heights of camp.
I saw the storage container one, but can't remember which show it was.  That's why I hate it when people want separate files for all the shows.
There a few where they work, but not a lot.

[cooksdelight]

I’m just now seeing the rerun of the story about Paul Keller, the serial arsonist who killed three elderly women in a nursing home. And I’m really pissed that the parents are clueless as to their responsiblity in all of this. Paul tried to kill their other two children.... why wasn’t he institutionalized?? 

[Lizzing]

The storage container episode that I most recently saw was one of the People Magazine Investigates series, which I find remarkably well done, about as good as the Vanity Fair shows, despite the fact that I find the actual People Magazine only good for waiting rooms where the wait is under 15 minutes.

[atlantaloves]

Oh yeah, I love the People Magazine Murder show as well....very well done and just the right amount of gore! Oh man, that storage container one, I want that killer dead dead dead, refresh my memory, he's in for like 8 life sentences right? He was beyond creepy. A Stone Cold Killer.  

[Razzberry]

Yep, the taxpayers will be supporting that slob for the rest of his sorry life.   Apparently he was planning on killing his girlfriend of ten years next, according to Kala.   His girlfriend said “I knew there was something that didn’t sit right with me about him, but I couldn’t really put my finger on it.”

She's attractive but she must be dumb as a fence post.

[auntjess]

2 hours ago, Razzberry said:

His girlfriend said “I knew there was something that didn’t sit right with me about him, but I couldn’t really put my finger on it.”

She's attractive but she must be dumb as a fence post.

Sounds like someone I've just been having a heated discussion with, on Facebook.  At least the "dumb as a fence post" part.

[Fable]

On 1/7/2018 at 8:31 PM, auntjess said:

That's why I hate it when people want separate files for all the shows.
There a few where they work, but not a lot.

I like things in one place too.  The problem for me is that when I have yet to see an episode there are spoilers.  I wish more people would add spoiler tags, just in case.  

[atlantaloves]

Okay guys, be sure to watch the People Magazine Investigates latest episode. It is a goodie, I still don't know if this one guy is guilty or not, and I am a super sleuth.  (it's the one about a teen aged girl being killed horribly on a beach)

[funky-rat]

44 minutes ago, atlantaloves said:

Okay guys, be sure to watch the People Magazine Investigates latest episode. It is a goodie, I still don't know if this one guy is guilty or not, and I am a super sleuth.  (it's the one about a teen aged girl being killed horribly on a beach)

I had seen that case prior on another show, and I have serious doubts that the crime scene investigator had anything to do with it.

[atlantaloves]

I think I agree with you.

[cooksdelight]

I recorded it, going to watch it now. :)

[Razzberry]

I was hoping that People Investigates would investigate the claim about lab technicians supplying their own semen as control samples more thoroughly.  That seemed like a real stretch to me.  Why would anyone want to, knowing they're dealing with crime evidence, and what did female technicians do?  Nevertheless it would probably be enough to raise reasonable doubt and unlikely a DA would proceed with prosecution.   Why kill yourself just for being questioned?   I disagree with the wife's lawsuit.  I think he knew the jig was up.

[atlantaloves]

I believed the wife, however, they said that he never worked on that particular case, but Good God From Zion, using their own semen as control samples...wow....but I believe that as well. So glad that things have improved. Yeah, killing yourself is pretty extreme.....now I am confused. Another reason why I love this show. But let's go back, those cases were exactly the same, I believe it was the same man. 

[walnutqueen]

Dude was a certifiable creep, with a penchant for underaged girls, and another clueless wifey.  However his DNA ended up on a dead girl, I suspect that  he took some sort of delight in the savagery of the crime.  Whether on the scene or thereafter.  Which makes him much more expendable than either of those poor victims.

Why yes, I DO speak ill of the dead, and blow theories outta my ample ass.  I suppose he could be totally innocent and much maligned by me and others.  None of us will ever know for sure, until we're dead and go to my version of Heaven, where ALL questions are answered and all mysteries are solved, and I can commune with my critters in TOTAL peace!  ;-)

[cooksdelight]

I think he was guilty as hell. Innocent people don’t hang themselves, they fight to clear their name. Just because he hadn’t killed anyone else means nothing. That murder might have been enough to scare him off from doing it again. And it explains his sudden turnaround, leading a Christian life with a wife, as atonement for his sin. He hadn’t handled any evidence in the case, it was said, and probably didn’t want to go near it for fear of his DNA getting on something. I wonder if he knew they kept a semen sample?

I also believe he was friends with Tatro, and I also believe Tatro drowned himself. It was the anniversary of the murder, and maybe he knew the cold case was back under investigation. Sorta freaked me out to learn he lived next door in Tennessee.

The other guy, the loony on the beach..... I don’t think he had anything to do with it. He lived on the beach picking up cans and bottles, and finding a dead body where it was, was probably part of his daily route. He may have been schizophrenic, judging from his letters, and may have been why he jumped.

[walnutqueen]

1 hour ago, cooksdelight said:

I also believe he was friends with Tatro, and I also believe Tatro drowned himself

Tatro may well have drowned himself, but their connection to a dead girl's body and the police explanation of it all leaves me largely unsatisfied & with a lot of unanswered questions.

[cooksdelight]

If Tatro and he were indeed friends, and they talked about crime cases over a few beers... and Tatro blurted out something about cutting off a girl’s right breast.... (I cannot remember the guy’s name to save my life) figured he could try it for a thrill kill and use the same technique in hopes it might be blamed on Tatro. He should have checked to see that Tatro was in town first, tho.

I have seen too many criminals who committed horrible crimes, and were so distraught over disappointing family and loved ones that they took their own life.

He figured his wife would be so distraught and disappointed .... and that’s the trigger.

[Razzberry]

Families are so clueless or biased that it's generally a waste of time to even interview them. I usually go make a sandwich or something, but I kept hoping they'd actually investigate a bit more.  They seemed to buy the wife's purely emotional argument 100%.

On a purely shallow note, Johnny Dodd's voice could talk me into believing anything he said. ;)

[walnutqueen]

6 hours ago, Razzberry said:

Families are so clueless or biased that it's generally a waste of time to even interview them. I usually go make a sandwich or something, but I kept hoping they'd actually investigate a bit more.  They seemed to buy the wife's purely emotional argument 100%.

On a purely shallow note, Johnny Dodd's voice could talk me into believing anything he said. ;)

Yes, this bothered me immensely - especially since it was quite obvious (to me, at least), that the wife was just spinning the narrative she was preparing for her lawsuit against the SDPD.

[cooksdelight]

“Grave Secrets” last night creeped me out to the point I had nightmares. Poor legless man killed by his own son’s hand!

[ButterQueen]

On 11/26/2017 at 7:53 PM, auntjess said:

You will never want to celebrate the holidays en famille again, after watching these shows.
http://www.oxygen.com/homicide-for-the-holidays/blogs/homicide-for-the-holidays-premieres-november-25-at-65c

I think I saw four famiies wipped out last night.

I watched all of those, and found them interesting.

I am shocked how many channels are now showing true crime shows.  No need to worry if you don't have the ID channel.  

[Fable]

21 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

I think he was guilty as hell. Innocent people don’t hang themselves, they fight to clear their name.

I totally believe an innocent person would commit suicide if investigators were hounding them mercilessly, especially if they were emotionally fragile to begin with.  I imagine the constant scrutiny could become almost unbearable.   Admittedly, however, in the People Magazine case, I wasn’t really convinced one way or the other. 

[cooksdelight]

Would he have actually put his semen in her kit, knowing what it might bring? He was reportedly not involved in examination of her case, at all.

Based on all the warnings he got at work, and the reports of his perverse thinking, I don’t think he’d take that chance. I will always think he was guilty.

[atlantaloves]

To cooksdelight, man thanks for warning me about the latest Grave Secrets, I started to watch it, but it was really really late  and I said, nope, this is going to be really gross, so I turned it off, now I have erased it. Thanks again. I can't deal with murders of helpless much less legless people. No No No.  

[cooksdelight]

52 minutes ago, atlantaloves said:

To cooksdelight, man thanks for warning me about the latest Grave Secrets, I started to watch it, but it was really really late  and I said, nope, this is going to be really gross, so I turned it off, now I have erased it. Thanks again. I can't deal with murders of helpless much less legless people. No No No.  

It surprised me that the son orchestrated the murder, using street kids who followed his leadership. Then the son moved in to Dad’s house and bingo, the motive was clear. Although, the house looked so much better than when Dad lived there and had such sparse furniture.

But I laughed out loud and yelled for my husband to come and look.... over the sofa hung a velvet wall hanging featuring deer in the woods. When we bought our house in Oct., the previous owner left the exact same wall hanging in the rec room!

[SunnyBeBe]

I"m really on the fence about the crime lab worker.  What a bizarre case. I had actually seen that story somewhere before.  Maybe, it was on Forensic Files or something, but, I was perplexed the first time I saw it too.  I just don't know.  Part of me thinks that it WAS contamination in the lab, but, then again.......IDK.  I suppose a jury will get the matter eventually, since the widow has filed a lawsuit.  

One thing that I don't buy into is a family member, friend or co-worker, saying, something like," There is no way he would do that.  He isn't capable of committing that kind of crime."  I believe that anyone is capable of anything under the right circumstances.  And plenty of times, very nice people, turn out to have a very dark side. YOU NEVER KNOW who may be evil. 

Edited January 11, 2018 by SunnyBeBe

[Annber03]

11 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

One thing that I don't buy into is a family member, friend or co-worker, saying, something like," There is no way he would do that.  He isn't capable of committing that kind of crime."  I believe that anyone is capable of anything under the right circumstances.  And plenty of times, very nice people, turn out to have a very dark side. YOU NEVER KNOW who may be evil. 

Agreed. I can sympathize with family and friends who want to believe in their loved one's innocence-it's a natural reaction, and I can only begin to imagine how tough it would be to have to reconcile the fact that somebody you thought you knew, somebody you loved and cared about, might actually be capable of heinous crimes. 

But yeah, if I've learned anything from watching true crime shows, it's that a) people's judgment of and trust in other people can fail them more times than not, and b) many criminals are really, REALLY good at knowing how to hide their true natures and pull the wool over people's eyes. That's kind of what makes them so frightening, after all. 

Edited January 11, 2018 by Annber03

[SunnyBeBe]

Yeah, especially when it comes to adult children sticking up for a guilty as hell parent, EVEN in the face of overwhelming guilt.  It's amazing, how they will side with the person who obviously murdered the other parent.  It boggles the mind.  Maybe, it's human nature or something.