General True Crime Shows

[KellsBells]

8 hours ago, hoosiermom said:

Didn’t she say she cancelled the wedding 32 days before it was to have taken place? The invitations should have been sent well before that time. Was she getting any RSVPs?

I don't remember how many days, but she did say that some of her guests went ahead and went to Italy anyway, since they'd already booked their tickets, so it was close enough that people had already made quite an investment in it. Remember that next time you're invited to a destination wedding!

[SunnyBeBe]

8 hours ago, Lizzing said:

Benita was a difficult one to feel sorry for.  I could see the initial attraction, especially with her ex dying and her getting sick, but as soon as he said the Pope, the Obamas, the Clintons, and Putin were all going to bein the same room for a Pope officiated wedding of a divorcee and a non Catholic, an entire parade of red flags should have blasted through her brain.  That just was not possible. Plus I found her kind of off-putting, from the constant camera posing, to the ridiculous bottom lashline blue eyeliner rimming, to the histrionic last phone call to Paolo, she was, as the kids say, so very extra.

But the worst thing about the show was the comparatively short shrift given to the actual (imo) murder victims in the story.  Paolo is a serial killer, perhaps of unusual modes of murder, but a serial killer nonethless.  How he has any medical license is something I wished were explored, as well as any civil actions by the deceaseds' families.  

Oh, @SunnyBeBe, the ad for the Golden State Killer show ran again, and that is set to air starting March 5th, for two nights.

I sat in a lot of disbelief watching this one, I think it was called He Lied About Everything. OMG!  But, my disbelief was actually more about those around this doctor and not him.  This woman, Benita, who fell for all the lies......come on.  Something is not right with her, imo. Even an unsophisticated, uneducated person would have seen through him with the bizarre contentions about the Pope wedding.  Too bizarre.  Come on.

  Then there are the doctor's colleagues and heads of the hospitals where he worked. My goodness.......I suspect Benita was in love with an idea of a man who never existed, except in her mind. The doctor was a fraud, crooked, serial killer, con man, who she never really knew. I hope she gets the help she needs. 

Benita seemed to be outdated, like living in the early 90's, imo. She looks so much like a reality tv lady from Texas featured on Real Housewives of Dallas named Leeanne. Here's her photo.  

http://www.bravotv.com/people/leeanne-locken

I hope that doctor gets some justice.  God only knows what else his has done. 

[TheGreenWave]

Agree with you all on He Lied About Everything.  It was odd watching her interview her own friends, especially those that were like, "oh, yeah, I could tell something wasn't right."  And the wedding dress designers - I felt so bad for them with all of the hard work they did for her.  Although, $10,000 for wedding invitations??  Holy sh*t!!

Did you all watch Betrayed last night?  I mean, the stories featured on that show are all horrible, but good God, that poor woman!!

[Lizzing]

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

She looks so much like a reality tv lady from Texas featured on Real Housewives of Dallas named Leeanne. Here's her photo.  

LOL, she actually reminded me more of D'Andra, but ole Paolo should be glad he didn't con Leeann, lest he be disappeared by her crazy carney hands!

Since Benita went to Vanity Fair and they ran a piece on her story, I really wish Vanity Fair Confidential had done the story instead, or even the guy from The LA Times who did Dirty John. A less biased narrator would have improved the show 1000%.

[geekgirl921]

12 hours ago, KellsBells said:

Right, I agree with that, but I meant his marital status and the supposed celeb guests that were coming to their "wedding." She worked for a news network, she could have sent her feelers out to see if any of those people even had a clue this was going on. 

Well, she did meet his mother and his sister's daughter was supposed to be a flower girl and so she was communicating with her and neither of them said anything about him being a lying scumbag!

22 hours ago, applecrisp said:

Did anyone watch He Lied About Everything? It was a 2 hour , one off story.  A news producer interveiws a world renowned surgeon about plastic trachea transplants. They are revolutionary.  They instantly fall in love and he is a romantic.

Cut to plans for a lavish wedding where the Pope will marry them. Her friends are excited, he is planning the wedding and she knows little.  She does end up shelling out some serious cash. Well he is a fraud. While he is an actual Dr. and mostly a good one in technique, he did almost no research on the plastic tracheas and he falls under suspicion.

It said that there would be an aftershow of some sort and she would answer questions.  I couldn't find it.  Anyway, all his patients die a really awful death and he is under heavy scrutiny.

OK like some of the women on Evil Lives Here, I found Benita to be similar in that he really hurt her but there were victims who have suffered so much more and I found her very hard to take and I guess I just did not like her. She was an investigative journalist and never fact checked anything! Well she did google to see if the Pope actually marries people.( He does.) Did anyone else see it. Am I being too hard on her?? I was so irritated. It was quite a story though.

The aftershow was really just a few questions (three or four). It was on ID Go

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, TheGreenWave said:

Did you all watch Betrayed last night?  I mean, the stories featured on that show are all horrible, but good God, that poor woman!!

I did, and yeah, talk about fucked up. It truly disturbs me that there were people at that house who heard what those guys were doing to that poor woman in that room, and didn't say anything. I suppose they would say they were afraid and all, but still... I just can't imagine sitting by and not reacting to that somehow. 

[TheGreenWave]

10 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

I did, and yeah, talk about fucked up. It truly disturbs me that there were people at that house who heard what those guys were doing to that poor woman in that room, and didn't say anything. I suppose they would say they were afraid and all, but still... I just can't imagine sitting by and not reacting to that somehow. 

ME TOO!!!!!  Not even to say, "I can't listen to this anymore" and then leave the house.  Women and men were in there drinking and partying as if nothing was going on!  AND what did they think was going to happen when they finished gang raping her?!??  I don't believe for one moment that the plan all along didn't include murdering her.  What else would they have done?  Release her? 

I would have loved to seen more of the trials and catch a glimpse of their loved ones sitting in court listening to what all of them did to Janet more than 30 years before.  Monsters.  Disgusting monsters.

[Annber03]

19 minutes ago, TheGreenWave said:

ME TOO!!!!!  Not even to say, "I can't listen to this anymore" and then leave the house. 

This. At the very least, they should've done this, if they were afraid to actively intervene. 

Quote

AND what did they think was going to happen when they finished gang raping her?!??  I don't believe for one moment that the plan all along didn't include murdering her.  What else would they have done?  Release her? 

Exactly. 

The image of the guys coming and going in that room really drove home the horror of it all. Ugh. 

[auntjess]

That Hilltop Horror listed on the ID schedule for tonight, looks like an old Nightmare Next Door, from what I can tell by googling it.  It was a Pennsylvania case.

I'm still not sure if I want to watch that He Lied ..., because it sounds more convoluted than appealing.  And two hours? 

Edited February 16, 2018 by auntjess

[ButterQueen]

9 hours ago, TheGreenWave said:

Agree with you all on He Lied About Everything.  It was odd watching her interview her own friends, especially those that were like, "oh, yeah, I could tell something wasn't right."  And the wedding dress designers - I felt so bad for them with all of the hard work they did for her.  Although, $10,000 for wedding invitations??  Holy sh*t!!

Did you all watch Betrayed last night?  I mean, the stories featured on that show are all horrible, but good God, that poor woman!!

BETRAYED was horribly sad, and I guessed her friend was involved early on in the episode.  What a horrific crime.  

[SunnyBeBe]

Anyone see Vanity Fair Confidential on The Boy Who Cried Author? It's about the hoax of JT Leroy.  That was such a waste of my time.  Omg.  Did there need to be a documentary about that?  

[applecrisp]

2 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Anyone see Vanity Fair Confidential on The Boy Who Cried Author? It's about the hoax of JT Leroy.  That was such a waste of my time.  Omg.  Did there need to be a documentary about that?  

I don't remember it at all.  Was it really that big of a deal?  

[KellsBells]

On 2/16/2018 at 7:40 AM, TheGreenWave said:

Did you all watch Betrayed last night?  I mean, the stories featured on that show are all horrible, but good God, that poor woman!!

I think that show is so poorly done, with bad actors wearing bad wigs, that I usually just skip to the end to see whodunit, but something didn't seem right about that story, so I looked it up. Here's the article I found: https://www.glamour.com/story/janet-chandler

Turns out she was sleeping with several of the guards and feuding with a couple of her co-workers (including her boss) over a couple of them that they were all having sex with. They planned all along to kill her, with her former friend saying they had planned to "F**k her to death." 

[applecrisp]

Thanks for the link Kells. I thought it odd that Janet smoked and was best friends with that woman.  Still very sad. No one deserved that.

[SunnyBeBe]

3 hours ago, KellsBells said:

I think that show is so poorly done, with bad actors wearing bad wigs, that I usually just skip to the end to see whodunit, but something didn't seem right about that story, so I looked it up. Here's the article I found: https://www.glamour.com/story/janet-chandler

Turns out she was sleeping with several of the guards and feuding with a couple of her co-workers (including her boss) over a couple of them that they were all having sex with. They planned all along to kill her, with her former friend saying they had planned to "F**k her to death." 

Interesting article.  

And to think that these were Security Guards! Boggles the mind. 

[SunnyBeBe]

5 hours ago, applecrisp said:

I don't remember it at all.  Was it really that big of a deal?  

I don't think so.  It just seemed so over the top.  I wasn't impressed. 

[ratgirlagogo]

10 hours ago, applecrisp said:

12 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

Anyone see Vanity Fair Confidential on The Boy Who Cried Author? It's about the hoax of JT Leroy.  That was such a waste of my time.  Omg.  Did there need to be a documentary about that?  

I don't remember it at all.  Was it really that big of a deal?  

If you worked with books, yes.  I'm a librarian and it was a big deal because "his" books were being so heavily recommended to teenage readers.   I haven't watched the episode yet so I don't know what they covered, but  "J T Leroy" hornswoggled a lot of well-known writers, artists, and media people, including I suppose most egregiously Asia Argento  ( very much in the news these days as one of Harvey Weinstein's victims, also because of her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain's high profile support)   who directed a film based on  "J T Leroy's" book The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things.  Also Gus Van Zant, whose film Elephant (about the Columbine school shootings) was produced in part by "J T Leroy" (as well as Diane Keaton (!)) because of "his" supposed expertise, being a "teenager" "himself",  about  young alienated teenagers.   

It was kind of like a hipper version of the Go Ask Alice hoax of the early 70's.

ETA spelling.

Edited February 18, 2018 by ratgirlagogo

[Brattinella]

Pretending to be a different gender?

[kathyk24]

Did anyone watch a Crime to Remember last night? I was horrified how the Chicago police were allowed to torture their suspect. I don't know why the court didn't reverse his conviction.

[ratgirlagogo]

16 hours ago, Brattinella said:

Pretending to be a different gender?

A woman in her early 30's pretending to be a teenage boy.   The fact that the work was presented as based on the harrowing true-life experiences of the author was crucial to its success.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JT_LeRoy

She would have been just another YA novelist without the deception.

[Maizie131]

3 hours ago, kathyk24 said:

Did anyone watch a Crime to Remember last night? I was horrified how the Chicago police were allowed to torture their suspect. I don't know why the court didn't reverse his conviction.

Yes, I did, Kathy24, and I was horrified, as well, about the torture and I agree w/you -- that conviction most definitely should've been overturned.  This episode was disappointing to me because the murders were never solved.  I prefer to have heinous crimes like these tied up in a neat little bow with the perp going off to prison for LWOP (or death row), hopefully giving the survivors at least some solace, if that's even possible.  I still love the show with its amazing props ... vintage cars, etc., which are spot-on, in my opinion.  Last night I had to smile when they showed a Royal typewriter that looked almost identical to the Royal I learned to type on!  haha!  Seriously!  I got up to 70 wpm on that old sucker, which was a preface to what I would do for the career I chose for the next 37 years:  legal secretary!  ha!  

I'd be interested to know everyone else's take on last night's show.

[Guest]

On 2/12/2018 at 8:41 PM, auntjess said:

I was going to watch a Patty Hearst show, but the only one I saw coming up, is at least 3 parts, and I'm not that interested.

I didn't see the first part but watched the second last night; it's actually really well done! I still believe Patty was in on it and that she not only received a commutation, but also a pardon chaps my ass to no end. 

On 2/17/2018 at 8:30 AM, SunnyBeBe said:

 

Anyone see Vanity Fair Confidential on The Boy Who Cried Author? It's about the hoax of JT Leroy.  That was such a waste of my time.  Omg.  Did there need to be a documentary about that?  

 

I did! It remains the best produced show on ID, IMO. I loved the story of JT Leroy -- a washed up lunatic who wrote stories about being a West Virginia male teenage prostitute who dropped out of high school. Except "he" was a "she" and was a middle-aged nutcase who managed to fool some haughty literary dumbasses by catfishing a bunch of them. Then, when "he" finally presented his face in public, it was at least clear to me it was just some lady wearing a really bad wig and hat but everyone still seemed to believe it was a boy! It shouldn't astonish me so much that people can be so easily fooled these days, but that story really took the cake. 

[Annber03]

8 minutes ago, Maizie131 said:

I still love the show with its amazing props ... vintage cars, etc., which are spot-on, in my opinion.  Last night I had to smile when they showed a Royal typewriter that looked almost identical to the Royal I learned to type on!  haha!  Seriously!  I got up to 70 wpm on that old sucker, which was a preface to what I would do for the career I chose for the next 37 years:  legal secretary!  ha!  

I said in the discussion for this episode in the "Crime to Remember" forum that I was really enjoying watching the reporters walking around looking all dapper in their suits and hats and rolled up sleeves and such throughout :D. 

But yeah, I was both fascinated and horrified by the whole story, too. Everybody involved dropped the ball in spectacular fashion, and the torture they used was appalling. 

[BuyMoreAndSave]

On 2/13/2018 at 5:44 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

Most of the time the victims are portrayed as so kind, decent, good people....it's sad.  What about those jerks, who treat their family like crap, abuse, terrorize, etc.?  What about when they get murdered?  Not much about that. lol

The abusers become what is known as a "few details are available" case on the Charley Project. If they even have anyone left to report them missing.

[walnutqueen]

9 minutes ago, BuyMoreAndSave said:

The abusers become what is known as a "few details are available" case on the Charley Project. If they even have anyone left to report them missing.

Yet I would hazard an uninformed guess that more "unsavory" sorts get murdered more often than the "kind to all living creatures, "beautiful" and "lights up the room" sort of people.

[auntjess]

I just watched the one where Jane Andrews, former aide to Fergie, when she was Duchess of York, murdered her boyfriend, when he wouldn't marry her.
She was apparently messed up mentally, from a young age, and was jealous and possessive in all her relations with men.
The sad thing, is that she was released on parole after 14 years.   
I hope someone on the parole board is her next victim.  
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/21/royal-aide-jane-andrews-prison-release-murder
One thing that surprised me, was that during the trial, she's seen arriving in street clothes, with someone I assumed was an attorney.
I can't imagine why she'd be allowed bond, because she'd fled after the murder.

[ButterQueen]

On 2/17/2018 at 11:20 AM, KellsBells said:

I think that show is so poorly done, with bad actors wearing bad wigs, that I usually just skip to the end to see whodunit, but something didn't seem right about that story, so I looked it up. Here's the article I found: https://www.glamour.com/story/janet-chandler

Turns out she was sleeping with several of the guards and feuding with a couple of her co-workers (including her boss) over a couple of them that they were all having sex with. They planned all along to kill her, with her former friend saying they had planned to "F**k her to death." 

I love the show and narration.  No matter who she was sleeping with, she didn't deserve that horrible death.

[BuyMoreAndSave]

3 hours ago, walnutqueen said:

Yet I would hazard an uninformed guess that more "unsavory" sorts get murdered more often than the "kind to all living creatures, "beautiful" and "lights up the room" sort of people.

There's different levels of unsavory also, though. I've seen episodes of shows like Disappeared where the person is described as "such a great and devoted mom" and then it turns out they were a heroin and meth addicted prostitute with untreated bipolar disorder whose kids were removed by CPS and were living with relatives. Also, many abusers only abuse a subset of people, such as their children or spouse, and have friends who they don't abuse who can give good soundbites about them. In general I think these true crime shows self-select. Cases usually only become well-known if the person has a lot of loved ones, and those loved ones are devoted to searching and publicizing, and the media and true crime shows are only going to air cases where the victim seems sympathetic and where there are a lot of people to interview who are going to give a positive impression. Even so, plenty of cases with devoted loved ones get barely any coverage despite their efforts.

I'm estranged from my violent and abusive mother. If she went missing and a show like Disappeared covered it, I would tell the truth. Assuming I agreed to be interviewed at all, which I probably wouldn't exactly for that reason. Even my brother who still talks to her would probably say "she had her good side, but she had a lot of mental problems and mood swings."

Edited February 19, 2018 by BuyMoreAndSave

[auntjess]

I'd guess a lot of the selection is done by the DAs et al, who tout their cases.
But yes, victims are mostly kind, beautiful, loving.  
I don't like it when some, other than children, are described as "innocent victims" who didn't engage in "high risk behavior."
 

[andromeda331]

4 hours ago, auntjess said:

I just watched the one where Jane Andrews, former aide to Fergie, when she was Duchess of York, murdered her boyfriend, when he wouldn't marry her.
She was apparently messed up mentally, from a young age, and was jealous and possessive in all her relations with men.
The sad thing, is that she was released on parole after 14 years.   
I hope someone on the parole board is her next victim.  
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/21/royal-aide-jane-andrews-prison-release-murder
One thing that surprised me, was that during the trial, she's seen arriving in street clothes, with someone I assumed was an attorney.
I can't imagine why she'd be allowed bond, because she'd fled after the murder.

I remember that one! I don't remember if its the same episode or from a different show. That's the one where the guy called the police telling them someone was going to get hurt and they blew him off.      

[Jaded]

6 hours ago, Giant Misfit said:

I did! It remains the best produced show on ID, IMO. I loved the story of JT Leroy -- a washed up lunatic who wrote stories about being a West Virginia male teenage prostitute who dropped out of high school. Except "he" was a "she" and was a middle-aged nutcase who managed to fool some haughty literary dumbasses by catfishing a bunch of them. Then, when "he" finally presented his face in public, it was at least clear to me it was just some lady wearing a really bad wig and hat but everyone still seemed to believe it was a boy! It shouldn't astonish me so much that people can be so easily fooled these days, but that story really took the cake. 

I don't think I knew about the JT Leroy stuff when everything was happening. I found out about it after Law & Order did an episode in 2008 titled "Sweetie" that seemed to have been based on the same events.  

[geekgirl921]

On 2/17/2018 at 6:25 PM, ratgirlagogo said:

If you worked with books, yes.  I'm a librarian and it was a big deal because "his" books were being so heavily recommended to teenage readers.   I haven't watched the episode yet so I don't know what they covered, but  "J T Leroy" hornswoggled a lot of well-known writers, artists, and media people, including I suppose most egregiously Asia Argento  ( very much in the news these days as one of Harvey Weinstein's victims, also because of her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain's high profile support)   who directed a film based on  "J T Leroy's" book The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things.  Also Gus Van Zant, whose film Elephant (about the Columbine school shootings) was produced in part by "J T Leroy" (as well as Diane Keaton (!)) because of "his" supposed expertise, being a "teenager" "himself",  about  young alienated teenagers.   

It was kind of like a hipper version of the Go Ask Alice hoax of the early 70's.

ETA spelling.

I definitely remembered the J T Leroy scandal though I didn't remember the outcome. It was definitely a big deal especially because of how many big names were fooled.

[Josette]

17 hours ago, kathyk24 said:

Did anyone watch a Crime to Remember last night?

That show now has its own forum, so people's responses to the episode will be there mostly.

[SunnyBeBe]

Man, this Patty Hearst stuff is fascinating!  I've learned so much, too.  Well, apparently, I had not realized just how involved and proactive Patty got after her capture.  How much was due to brainwashing?  Hmmm.....  There are a couple more episodes left.  This is the best documentary that I have seen in a long time. 

[applecrisp]

Where can I find the Patty hearst stuff?

[Mannahatta]

1 hour ago, applecrisp said:

Where can I find the Patty hearst stuff?

It's on CNN. It's called "The Radical Story of Patty Hearst". At least one of the airing times is 10 PM (EST) on Saturdays but I'm sure they repeat it throughout the week or watch it online. Not sure how many parts it has but as of yesterday they're up to Part 4. One fun fact that completely skeeved me was how at the time of her kidnapping, Patty was living with a former teacher. It's unclear exactly how old she was when the actual sexual relationship began (15, 16, 17?) but in his interviews he made sure to emphasize that she was the one who pursued him. WTF?

Right now I'm watching Evil Lives Here, S3;E6, "the Soap Star's Secret". If ID ever decides to repackage this series they should rename it "Denial Lives Here". So you have this little sociopath running around the home, writing lists of the animals he's tortured and killed, etc, etc. The mother wants to channel all his "energy" into something positive. So what does she do? She enrolls him in karate classes! (Of course these classes come in handy later when she and the step-father try to put him on punishment and tell him he can't ride the motorcycle she bought for him.) And when the actor-brother, Thom Bierdz, receives an illustrated letter from his younger brother, depicting in graphic sadistic detail the ways he wants/plans to kill him, his natural response is : "I didn't think anything of it." Look, I have the utmost sympathy for their plight. They did at least take little Troy to therapists although that apparently didn't help. (Though I wonder how open the mother was in disclosing his behaviors.) And I'm not sure what society has to offer that can really effectively deal with a sociopath (when they're not incarcerated and out among us). But I also find the denial of the family members to be absolutely fascinating. In fact, what I like about this show (in addition to the creepy music) is that they just let family members talk and talk and talk. It's very revealing.

Edited February 19, 2018 by Mannahatta
The ghosts of my elementary school teachers haunting me, telling me I made a grammatical error. lol

[applecrisp]

Good analysis of the show.  I think it would be so hard to live with someone like that so I don't like to judge. Yet there were signs as they state on this show. I just wonder where you would go to get help. It really is like someone being stalked. There has to be a crime committed. 

There was so much denial. I did like that the mother turned him in when he beat the boyfriend.

Edited February 20, 2018 by applecrisp

[SunnyBeBe]

I thought the SLA found Patty due to an engagement announcement in the newspaper and that she was living with her fiance Steven Weed, who is in the documentary.  I saw their photo, but, didn't realize that he was so much older than her.   

There are 6 parts total.  They ran a marathon last night, so, I expect they will do it again, perhaps next Sunday. 

[KellsBells]

On 2/18/2018 at 4:01 PM, ButterQueen said:

I love the show and narration.  No matter who she was sleeping with, she didn't deserve that horrible death.

I didn't mean to imply that she deserved it, I merely felt that the show portrayed her as this sweet, innocent, devout girl who was lured to her doom, and it didn't happen that way. 

[ButterQueen]

2 minutes ago, KellsBells said:

I didn't mean to imply that she deserved it, I merely felt that the show portrayed her as this sweet, innocent, devout girl who was lured to her doom, and it didn't happen that way. 

They actually mentioned how she was sleeping with the security guards.  She was innocent, young and naive.

[Annber03]

9 hours ago, Mannahatta said:

Right now I'm watching Evil Lives Here, S3;E6, "the Soap Star's Secret". If ID ever decides to repackage this series they should rename it "Denial Lives Here". So you have this little sociopath running around the home, writing lists of the animals he's tortured and killed, etc, etc. The mother wants to channel all his "energy" into something positive. So what does she do? She enrolls him in karate classes! (Of course these classes come in handy later when she and the step-father try to put him on punishment and tell him he can't ride the motorcycle she bought for him.) And when the actor-brother, Thom Bierdz, receives an illustrated letter from his younger brother, depicting in graphic sadistic detail the ways he wants/plans to kill him, his natural response is : "I didn't think anything of it." Look, I have the utmost sympathy for their plight. They did at least take little Troy to therapists although that apparently didn't help. (Though I wonder how open the mother was in disclosing his behaviors.) And I'm not sure what society has to offer that can really effectively deal with a sociopath (when they're not incarcerated and out among us). But I also find the denial of the family members to be absolutely fascinating. In fact, what I like about this show (in addition to the creepy music) is that they just let family members talk and talk and talk. It's very revealing.

Yeah, that was a heartbreaking story. Like you, I'm a little amazed at how they shrugged off some of the huge warning signs (particularly the drawings Thom got), but I felt for them with how much they really did try to help turn Troy around, too. It is frustrating sometimes how easily these people in this show seem to brush off the dangers, but yeah, I also understand their struggle to accept a family member could do something so horrible, or having a hard time imagining them following through on a threat. After all, Thom and his other siblings didn't grow up to be violent people, so it makes sense he'd want to believe his brother would turn out the same way. 

I especially get Thom wanting to believe the best of his brother when he looked at that photo of Troy as a little boy, smiling as he stood next to his mom. I wouldn't peg that kid as somebody who could kill another person, either. That was a really bittersweet image. The fact Thom could manage to forgive was remarkable and understandable all at the same time. 

(I did wonder why Troy was allowed to leave that halfway house to go to his mom's place, though. The guy'd already tried to kill her. I would think any meetings between him and any family members should've been supervised after that, and he shouldn't have been able to leave the halfway house so easily.)

[KellsBells]

32 minutes ago, ButterQueen said:

They actually mentioned how she was sleeping with the security guards.  She was innocent, young and naive.

I guess we have to agree to disagree on this one. 

[Mannahatta]

2 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I thought the SLA found Patty due to an engagement announcement in the newspaper and that she was living with her fiance Steven Weed, who is in the documentary.  I saw their photo, but, didn't realize that he was so much older than her.   

There are 6 parts total.  They ran a marathon last night, so, I expect they will do it again, perhaps next Sunday. 

Yep, that's the guy who used to be her teacher. Nowadays I don't think that a school would be as tolerant of a teacher having an affair with a student/ ex-student. At least I hope that they wouldn't be. Plus she was pretty young when she first met him and apparently had a crush on him. Fiancee or not, it just irked me how Weed made it sound like she was the aggressor so therefore his response was inevitable. (Granted the age difference wasn't as great between Hearst and Weed - but that's the same thing Mary Kay Letourneau would say about Vili.) That said, I was a teenager in the 70's and and looking back I remember it as being the golden age of poor boundaries.

One little aside, I remember when the Post Office had Patty Hearst's Wanted poster on display. Ah, memories...

[SunnyBeBe]

There is so much to consider with the Hearst story.  So much about the country, politics, culture, violence, our etc.  It's really caused me to think a lot.  

[cooksdelight]

10 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Yeah, that was a heartbreaking story. Like you, I'm a little amazed at how they shrugged off some of the huge warning signs (particularly the drawings Thom got), but I felt for them with how much they really did try to help turn Troy around, too. It is frustrating sometimes how easily these people in this show seem to brush off the dangers, but yeah, I also understand their struggle to accept a family member could do something so horrible, or having a hard time imagining them following through on a threat. After all, Thom and his other siblings didn't grow up to be violent people, so it makes sense he'd want to believe his brother would turn out the same way. 

I especially get Thom wanting to believe the best of his brother when he looked at that photo of Troy as a little boy, smiling as he stood next to his mom. I wouldn't peg that kid as somebody who could kill another person, either. That was a really bittersweet image. The fact Thom could manage to forgive was remarkable and understandable all at the same time. 

(I did wonder why Troy was allowed to leave that halfway house to go to his mom's place, though. The guy'd already tried to kill her. I would think any meetings between him and any family members should've been supervised after that, and he shouldn't have been able to leave the halfway house so easily.)

I had to look Thom up on IMDB because I wanted to know which soap he was on. Reading his bio, he quit the show to try movies, then his brother kills their mother and his career is on hold. He still acts some, but mostly paints and travels the country talking about all of this. I guess that’s his way of dealing with it, and he wrote a book about it also.

[walnutqueen]

10 hours ago, Mannahatta said:

That said, I was a teenager in the 70's and and looking back I remember it as being the golden age of poor boundaries.

Yes, I probably had sexy times with inappropriate people back then ... to date, none of them have been featured on a True Crime show (but you never know!).  ;-)

[ButterQueen]

22 hours ago, KellsBells said:

I guess we have to agree to disagree on this one. 

❤️❤️

[Tdoc72]

On 2/18/2018 at 5:01 PM, Maizie131 said:

  I still love the show with its amazing props ... vintage cars, etc., which are spot-on, in my opinion.  

They shot a few scenes at my sisters house 2 summers ago (for the Charles Starkwarther case)  and the production team was very careful about every detail. Their script binder was huge, with pages and pages about the cars, dress, etc of the era. Also, everyone was really nice and let me ask a ton of questions. 

[ButterQueen]

On 2/20/2018 at 7:55 AM, cooksdelight said:

I had to look Thom up on IMDB because I wanted to know which soap he was on. Reading his bio, he quit the show to try movies, then his brother kills their mother and his career is on hold. He still acts some, but mostly paints and travels the country talking about all of this. I guess that’s his way of dealing with it, and he wrote a book about it also.

I remember him clearly being on The Young & Restless as Phillip Chancellor, III.  Too bad his psycho brother ruined his career.  He seems very down to earth and very kind to forgive his brother.  

On 2/18/2018 at 6:16 PM, auntjess said:

I just watched the one where Jane Andrews, former aide to Fergie, when she was Duchess of York, murdered her boyfriend, when he wouldn't marry her.
She was apparently messed up mentally, from a young age, and was jealous and possessive in all her relations with men.
The sad thing, is that she was released on parole after 14 years.   
I hope someone on the parole board is her next victim.  
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/21/royal-aide-jane-andrews-prison-release-murder
One thing that surprised me, was that during the trial, she's seen arriving in street clothes, with someone I assumed was an attorney.
I can't imagine why she'd be allowed bond, because she'd fled after the murder.

Which show was this?  Thanks!

[ButterQueen]

Not being disrespectful, but has anyone else noticed how messy the homes of murder victims are --- in the ones they show the actual video?  Even homes that appear to be very upper class are so cluttered and messy.  Sometimes I have to rewind to look again.  It just amazes me.