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Sarah D. Bunting

By Sarah D. Bunting
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starri

starri

12 hours ago, Sarah D. Bunting said:

The malign influence of whatever serial killer picked her up, no doubt. Except when he dropped her off in Montreal, because he was part of a plan to escape?

Was that before or after she placed the rag in the tailpipe?

The most absurd part of the whole thing is that while Renner is just a dumbass, he's not even the stupidest thing about MMM.  That honor still belongs to the episode with the psychic, followed by their defense of their credulity because they couldn't see or admit that she was just parroting information back at them.  She wasn't even cold reading them, she was hot reading.

I appreciate the episode for its catharsis (and have listened to it more than once), but it also dredged up just how infuriating MMM is.

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Sarah D. Bunting
Sarah D. Bunting

Yeah, I'm definitely wanting to focus on cons, identity fraudsters, bank robbers, forgers etc. -- I'm fascinated by those crimes and they tend to leave me with less of a grinding blue feeling than non

Sarah D. Bunting
Sarah D. Bunting

This is where a hack TV writer would call for that Bowie break. I'll just observe the silver lining here, to wit: there is some VERY TERRIBLE writing about the Bembenek case that I can't wait to evisc

starri
starri

If you'd like to cover some non-murder crime, Bad Blood, the recently released book about Elizabeth "Scammy McScammerson" Holmes and her unicorn fart-testing company Theranos is a terrific read.

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MuuMuuChainsmoker

MuuMuuChainsmoker

15 minutes ago, Sarah D. Bunting said:

Several people have asked if I'm listening, which I haven't had time to do (and unless there's a related TV property, it's outside TBP's purview...but if you find one, post it here!).

Man, I’m tempted to stage a filmed re-enactment with sock puppets just to get it on the pod.  :) 

MCMLXXVII

MCMLXXVII

(edited)
5 hours ago, veronicamers said:

Loved the Who'd Ya Rather segment! I would love to see new dramatizations of the Diane Downs and Jeffery McDonald cases which hold slots in my personal true crime cannon. Sarah Paulson as Diane is pretty inspired casting and I'd love to see Ryan Murphy re-create the "Hungry Like a Wolf" car scene.

I'd rather go with Lily Rabe for Diane Downs. She's a bit younger than Paulson (Downs was only 27 at the time of the event) and I think she can pull off the flaky narcissistic thing better. Paulson has a bit too much gravitas for the role in my opinion.

Edited by MCMLXXVII
swimmyfish

swimmyfish

I know this was not at all the brief, but as I was listening I decided that I think the best person to take on the Black Dahlia case would be David Simon. He'd handle the old-timey Hollywood aspect competently, but without the rosy-eyed nostalgia I think we might get from Murphy, but also handle the police investigation in a way that really delves into why the case remains unsolved without getting led astray by the many, many conspiracy theories that have grown up in the decades since her death the way that I believe Wolf would.

GBL85

GBL85

I'm working my way through Small Sacrifices right now, and I think a Ryan Murphy take on this would be great. 

I also read The Stranger Beside Me recently, and since I hate the idea of a Ted Bundy movie starring Zac Efron (which is apparently in the works), I've recast the Bundy story as a long form Ryan Murphy treatment with Steven Pasquale as Bundy. 

txhorns79

txhorns79

Quote

I'd rather go with Lily Rabe for Diane Downs. She's a bit younger than Paulson (Downs was only 27 at the time of the event) and I think she can pull off the flaky narcissistic thing better. Paulson has a bit too much gravitas for the role in my opinion.

Honestly, when I saw the pictures of Diane Downs when she was young, I was thinking Maggie Gyllenhaal.

veronicamers

veronicamers

Great to hear y'alls thoughts on Mindhunter. I personally didn't mind the pace of the first episode (granted, I am only two episodes in so I haven't seen how that progresses). I found it all rather...hypnotic. Fincher is my favorite director and I just love the way he creates mood and atmosphere. So I was pretty enthralled. And Groff's voice...I could listen to him narrate all day every day. I find his voice so soothing. I agree they have done a great job establishing the alliance/partnership between the two leads (a hallmark Fincher strength as Sarah noted).

What did you think of the cold open with Dennis Rader in episode 2? I had to explain to my husband (who indulges my true crime obsession like a champ) who it was. As I said, I haven't gotten far enough to see if they continue with this episode to episode. It felt a little bit odd. I guess they are showing us how these killers live among us and show clues about how their pathologies manifest in daily life? The obsession with authority (security work), the rigidity with how things are to be done, the superiority complex, etc. 

KlavdiaVavilova

KlavdiaVavilova

I agree that the pretentious hippy girlfriend is somewhat on the annoying side but the way this kind of work affects the profiler/law enforcement is a running theme in all these books and I assume that is her purpose. The Nietzsche quote "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you" or some variant of it I have read in a million of them. I would be ASTONISHED if it did not come up at some point in this series (I've watched the first 7)  so I guess since they have the "stable old married couple" they have to have the young couple who don't know each other as well to contrast.   I don't love the way it's played out but I know it was inevitable ....

As a Hamilton fan, I love seeing Groff but was even more excited for Holt McAllany, I might be one of the three people who watched Lights Out and mourned it's cancellation after one terrific season. It was not without flaws but his performance as an ageing heavyweight boxer trying for a comeback was not among them. I find him very charismatic on screen and could probably watch him all day.

Waiting for them to go from 'sequence killer' to 'serial killer' is kinda like waiting for the words "Saul Goodman" to make an appearance in Better Call Saul .... I wonder how long they will string it out.

And finally, I have to point out how absurd, as an Australian, the name "Holden Ford" is.  Holden is what GM is called here so its like a character called "Pepsi Coke" to me, it is a bit hard to take seriously in this super serious show.  I would like someone to ask fellow Australian Anna Torv if she laughed the first time she got the script. :-)
 

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helent

helent

(edited)
6 hours ago, KlavdiaVavilova said:

And finally, I have to point out how absurd, as an Australian, the name "Holden Ford" is.  Holden is what GM is called here so its like a character called "Pepsi Coke" to me, it is a bit hard to take seriously in this super serious show.  I would like someone to ask fellow Australian Anna Torv if she laughed the first time she got the script. :-)
 

Yep! This bothered me so much.

The actor who plays Debbie reminds me of Jennifer Carpenter.

Edited by helent
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Sarah D. Bunting

Sarah D. Bunting

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Yep, definitely a Carpenter vibe.

 

I wasn't sure it WAS Rader until later; I think they're trying to make a subtle point about pattern blindness (and jurisdictions having no way to talk to each other about these kinds of murders) before the late '70s/early '80s. 

@Klav, that quote is the basis of the title of Robert Ressler's book (the guy Tench is based on). Glad you're also loving McCallany; I haaaaated Lights Out but always liked him.

maxineofarc

maxineofarc

For all the narrative emphasis given (by both scripted and unscripted media) to the idea of criminal profiling, has it actually ever helped catch a criminal? Every case I can think of, they've caught their guy and THEN said "look, he fits our profile!" Which... great, but I'm not convinced it actually contributes in a very practical way to the solution of crimes. If I'm wrong about this and there are examples where profiling has actually PREVENTED a crime, please let me know?

veronicamers

veronicamers

1 hour ago, Sarah D. Bunting said:

I wasn't sure it WAS Rader until later; I think they're trying to make a subtle point about pattern blindness (and jurisdictions having no way to talk to each other about these kinds of murders) before the late '70s/early '80s. 

Interesting. I remember a pretty big point being made of that in the book. How investigations were hampered by silos in law enforcement jurisdictions.

MCMLXXVII

MCMLXXVII

(edited)

I restarted Netflix for this and I'm on episode one and liking it so far- serial killers and Fincher is right up my ally. ❤️

Anyone know who the band they saw at the bar was supposed to be? She mentioned they were from Detroit.

I like that the show takes place in the 70s but it's not the generic Boogie Nights-Summer of Sam-Dazed and Confused disco/classic rock/loud shirts/bell bottoms version we always see. The setting doesn't distract from the subject matter.

Edited by MCMLXXVII
ooh.boo

ooh.boo

For all the narrative emphasis given (by both scripted and unscripted media) to the idea of criminal profiling, has it actually ever helped catch a criminal? Every case I can think of, they've caught their guy and THEN said "look, he fits our profile!" Which... great, but I'm not convinced it actually contributes in a very practical way to the solution of crimes. If I'm wrong about this and there are examples where profiling has actually PREVENTED a crime, please let me know?

I don’t think profiling is very effective in preventing crimes. I think it’s used to narrow down suspects, but it can backfire.

starri

starri

On 10/19/2017 at 9:24 AM, maxineofarc said:

For all the narrative emphasis given (by both scripted and unscripted media) to the idea of criminal profiling, has it actually ever helped catch a criminal?

That would be a pretty solid no.  As fascinating as I find it, it's rather unscientific, since they only manage to actual get data from the serial killers they manage to catch.  

FozzyBear

FozzyBear

I just finished E9 (1 more to go) and while I’m liking the show, I hate Debbie. She’s just the worst and I don’t like what the actress is doing with her. The entire character is so phony and forced that if she hadn’t actually interacted with other people I would swear she’s a figment of Holden’s imagination. At this point I hope she turns out to be a serial killer.

15 hours ago, starri said:

That would be a pretty solid no.  As fascinating as I find it, it's rather unscientific, since they only manage to actual get data from the serial killers they manage to catch.  

Plus, once you have a profile then what? A profile isn’t cause for a warrant or evidence to present in court. You still to work the case.  I think the Altoona case demonstrates that well (I’ll try to avoid spoilers). The profile may have helped them understand some issues with the case, but it was still solid police work that got the suspects. 

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Jeanne222

Jeanne222

I love this series and even though I watch True Crime type shows I was not familiar with MM.  Interesting.  In this latest episode last evening they went through what could have happened to Maura.  I think there were five cards on the table.  They crossed them all off except for abduction.

Same theory I have had since watching this series.  I do find the Prosecutor kind of strange and the way law enforcement has always been so reluctant to discuss this case with Maura's own family but that aside I think she was abducted.

I know it was a lonely road in the middle of nowhere but many times that's how it happens.  Fate steps in and she's gone.  I don't think they will ever find her close by.  I'm glad they looked but now we know she's not there.

Whomever took her and killed her took her far away and if she's ever to be found it will be quite by accident.  A bone here or there.  Not much hope for that happening.

Next week I think the episode deals with bringing in a psychic .  Now that should be interesting.  LOL

Side thought...Where ever did Maggie come up with all those Tatoos?  She has them everywhere.  Wow.

starri

starri

(edited)
5 hours ago, Jeanne222 said:

Whomever took her and killed her took her far away and if she's ever to be found it will be quite by accident.  A bone here or there.  Not much hope for that happening.

The problem with that:  it requires an insane amount of coincidences in order to have happened.  She's need to have wrecked her car and just so happened, after refusing other rides, to get in the vehicle of whatever serial killer was roaming every notch and gore of East Jesus, NH on the off chance that a co-ed might have been stranded by the side of the road.

Could that have happened?  I guess.

But which is more likely:  all of those stars aligning or a drunken young woman, who may or may not have had some kind of head trauma, wandering off into the woods and dying of exposure?

Edited by starri
Jeanne222

Jeanne222

2 hours ago, starri said:

The problem with that:  it requires an insane amount of coincidences in order to have happened.  She's need to have wrecked her car and just so happened, after refusing other rides, to get in the vehicle of whatever serial killer was roaming every notch and gore of East Jesus, NH on the off chance that a co-ed might have been stranded by the side of the road.

Could that have happened?  I guess.

But which is more likely:  all of those stars aligning or a drunken young woman, who may or may not have had some kind of head trauma, wandering off into the woods and dying of exposure?

I think they would have found her if she wandered off.  Remember they went pretty far and saw no footprints leading off the road or into the road.  They had cadavar dogs and search dogs..nothing.

YOU"The problem with that:  it requires an insane amount of coincidences in order to have happened."

Look up Morgan Harrington.  She went to a concert with two girls.  Went outside for a smoke.  They had rules and she could not get back in.  She started walking and on the bridge Jesse Matthews pulled up driving a cab.  His part time job.  He picked her up and she was found dead months later on a farm miles outside town by a farmer checking his fence posts after a terrible storm.  Amazing all that happened to her. 

I followed her case religiously.  It's an amazing series of happenings.  Jesse also abducted and killed Hannah Graham.  But Police Chief Longo went after who killed Hannah with everything he had or could muster up.  Pictures of Jesse were everywhere.  This happened in Charlottesville, VA.

Strangely enough Jesse hightailed it down to Florida and was living on a beach in a tent.  One morning a woman walking saw him and recognized him from Chief Longo's pictures everywhere.  She called 911 and he was arrested and pleaded guilty of murdering Hannah who also was found miles away on a farm after he confessed.

If it's not a family member then I would dare to say it's fate.   Bad things have a way of happening out of nowhere. 

http://wtvr.com/2016/03/03/the-disturbing-timeline-of-jesse-matthews-sexual-violence-and-murder/

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

ooh.boo

ooh.boo

On 10/26/2017 at 9:24 AM, Sarah D. Bunting said:

We'll be back next week with the main podcast! (Best place to get those updates is Twitter, if that's a platform you use.) Family emergency -- now resolved -- took me and my husband out of town for a day or two and since said spouse was also the guest, we just punted it. Sorry about that!

Glad all is resolved, and hope everyone is well. 

pigs-in-space

pigs-in-space

So I'm wondering if you guys watched any more of this and have any evolving opinions on it?  Because I'm on episode three which seems to be basically "let's tear apart all of James Renner's ridiculous theories" and I am finding it kind of hilarious.  And I'm wondering if that was the plan all along, to show how ridiculous those conspiracy theories are and how out of hand things can get when internet sleuths start to believe they're real investigators and insert themselves into the case.

WoodyCee

WoodyCee

Have you ever seen “Texas Justice” with Heather Locklear about T Cullen Davis? He was acquitted of killing two people at his ex wife’s house and then acquitted of conspiracy to commit murder of the judge in his divorce case?  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Cullen_Davis

At one point in the movie Heather Locklear wears a choker that says “Rich Bitch” so you know, quality programming. 

On 10/10/2017 at 3:15 AM, MuuMuuChainsmoker said:

Holy hand grenade, is anyone else listening to the Dirty John podcast?  It’s BONKERS.  Not sure if this non TV property fits the Blotter mandate, but I’d love to hear @Sarah D. Bunting‘s take on it.  

OMG that was the most bonkers case I have ever listened too! The thing that was the most crazy to me... was the mother who forgave the MURDERER of her daughter!!!

4Sibes Redux

4Sibes Redux

I was living in Columbia, MO at the time of the Heithold murder. To put it mildly, the whole thing changed my perception of how “justice” is handled.

The day after the murder, the police visited all of the bars in that general area. One bar was owned by a coworker’s boyfriend, SN. Apparently the detective had a theory that the murderer was a member of the Mizzou Tiger football team. Heitholt had been critical of his abilities. I always thought the artist’s rendering of the suspect looked more like this player than it did Ryan Ferguson. I’ve never heard this theory anywhere else.

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