# What True Crime Story Fascinates You Most? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2024, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511 "2024-11-20T15:28:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/1 "2024-11-20T15:28:47Z")
Currently, I seem to have a fixation on the story of Diane Schuler and her Taconic State Parkway Crash. I’m not sure why. Diane Schuler was a New York woman who drove the wrong way down the above mentioned parkway and crashed head on into another car killing herself, the three guys in the other car, and four young children who were in the minivan she was driving who were her daughter and three nieces. Only her eight-year-old son survived. Every time I see a video about this incident on Youtube, I tune in. I suppose I’m just floored by the carnage, and also that even though two autopsies proved that Diane was way drunk and stoned, even though there was an open broken bottle of vodka in the wreckage, her widowed husband still insists that Diane couldn’t have crashed because of alcohol. I mean, talk about denial. I’ve had other crimes that have captivated my attention over the years. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/2 "2024-11-20T15:40:43Z")
The Manson murders. How did he do that? Take young women and a young man who came from a good family and turn them into murderers. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/3 "2024-11-20T15:47:44Z")
I’ve long been fascinated by the Lyle and Erik Menendez murders. It’s been in the news lately, but back in 1989 it was shocking. Did the father really physically and sexually abuse his sons for years, or was that a concocted story they and their lawyers thought might get them off? Why didn’t they run away, or report the abuses to the appropriate authorities? And why did they kill their mother? How did they think that killing both their parents was going to solve anything? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/4 "2024-11-20T15:50:40Z")
The [Kris Kremers & Lisanne Froon deaths](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_of_Kris_Kremers_and_Lisanne_Froon). A photo off their camera was erased in such a way that it could not be recovered so in a way that was not erasing it via the camera itself. Much is made of the path going the wrong way of the summit they were on gets you quickly and easily lost, but people have made videos of that path and no, you can’t get lost. There is a photo of Kris crossing a stream where she looks scared, but is she really? A series of flash photos taken every second taken at night at random directions to end the series of photos on the camera. Personal items found organized indicating theirs were not accidental deaths. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/5 "2024-11-20T16:33:48Z")
In my case, it’s a tie involving mishandled investigations. On the one hand: the botched investigation of three dead eight-year-old boys. > **[West Memphis Three](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three)** > > The West Memphis Three are three freed men convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, United States. Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley Jr. to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin to life imprisonment. During the trial, the prosecution asserted that the juveniles killed the children as part of a Satanic ritual. > Due to the dubious nature of the evidence, the lack of physical evidence connecting the... On the other: five dead babies initially believed to be SIDS victims and the doctor responsible for the diagnosis (Alfred Steinschneider) refused to believe otherwise. > **[Waneta Hoyt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waneta_Hoyt)** > > Waneta Ethel (Nixon) Hoyt (May 13, 1946 – August 13, 1998) was an American serial killer who was convicted of killing all five of her biological children. > Hoyt was born in Richford, New York. She attended Newark Valley High School, when she was in 10th grade, but dropped out, to marry > Tim Hoyt on 11 January 1964. > After Hoyt married Tim, the couple would go on to have seven children (five biological; one permanently adopted; and one temporarily adopted). All biological children of Hoyt died be... > **[How Two Baby Deaths Led to a Misguided SIDS Theory](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-20-he-44680-story.html)** > > New York cases caused a doctor to conclude the syndrome was the result of sleep apnea. What he didn't see was a mother who tried to get away with murder. > **[Getting Away with Murder](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/did-a-murderer-in-waiting-go-undetected-because-she-was-a-woman)** > > Do Black Widows and other female killers go undetected because they are women? IIRC, Dr. Steinschneider was also involved in a similar case of misidentification. > **[Marie Noe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Noe)** > > Marie Noe (August 23, 1928 – May 5, 2016) was an American woman who was convicted in June 1999 of murdering eight of her children. Between 1949 and 1968, eight of the ten Noe children died of mysterious causes which were then attributed to sudden infant death syndrome. All eight children were healthy at birth and were developing normally. Two other children died of natural causes. Noe pleaded guilty in June 1999 to eight counts of second-degree murder, and was sentenced to 20 years' probati Noe w... ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/6 "2024-11-20T16:34:19Z")
Ed Gein. Inspiration for Psycho, Buffalo Bill, and he Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Lived about a half an hour from where I grew up. The real story is more fascinating than the characters in the movies. And he looked a lot like my dad. Also, Jodi Arias. I’m fascinated by how simultaneously clever and stupid she was, at the same time. And she’s arguably Arizona’s most (in)famous killer. Her trial was one of many “trial of the century”. It’s the anti-Law and Order episode. Both sides, prosecution and defense, were incompetent, or at best just not very good. But she made such an impression that, when I took a tour of the jail facilities, they pointed out where she was arraigned. I call it the Jodi Arias Memorial Bench. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/7 "2024-11-20T17:35:50Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > The [Kris Kremers & Lisanne Froon deaths](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_of_Kris_Kremers_and_Lisanne_Froon) I agree it’s a very interesting (and sad) case. But I am not convinced a crime occurred. A number of people have taken a “deep dive” into the case, and many believe they died due to injuries or the elements. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/8 "2024-11-20T18:41:19Z")
I know it’s probably become almost ‘too famous’ now, if that’s a thing, but it has to be the Zodiac killer. I think I knew of it prior to the brilliant 2007 David Fincher film, but that really did increase my somewhat morbid interest in the case a lot. Since then I’ve seen numerous documentaries, including one where one of the infamous coded messages was cracked, and the recent one on Netflix which points the finger squarely at one of the long-time major suspects (although reading the reviews on IMDB, a lot of viewers are rather sceptical about that). ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/9 "2024-11-20T18:49:08Z")
The Japanese man who kidnapped girls so he could teach them about real estate business. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1em30qo/japanese\_realtor\_kidnaps\_junior\_high\_school\_girls/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1em30qo/japanese_realtor_kidnaps_junior_high_school_girls/) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/10 "2024-11-20T18:52:37Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Also, Jodi Arias. I’m fascinated by how simultaneously clever and stupid she was, at the same time. Well, it’s a fine line… ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/11 "2024-11-20T18:58:20Z")
I have an interest in the OG of true crime cases, Jack the Ripper. I’ve read a few books about it anyway. And I’m sure it wasn’t the King or anyone famous. Just some schmoe. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/12 "2024-11-20T19:01:58Z")
Who blew up the Georgia Guidestones? I used to live about 35 miles away from them. I visited a few times, and thought they served as council for the remaining people on Earth after worldwide destruction. Nobody’s been caught, but the man who allegedly commissioned the Guidestones advocated for the world population to be reduced to 500 million, so it’s probably just as well. [Georgia Guidestones: Monument mystery may have finally been solved](https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/02/us/georgia-guidestones-mystery-cec-cnnphotos/#:~:text=Elberton%2C%20Georgia%20%E2%80%94%20It%20was%20a,few%20answers%20and%20no%20arrests). ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/13 "2024-11-20T19:17:12Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Why didn’t they run away, or report the abuses to the appropriate authorities? And why did they kill their mother? How did they think that killing both their parents was going to solve anything? I doubt anyone who didn’t experience it themselves can really imagine what it is like to be raised from infancy with sexually abusive parents. How the heck are such children to develop resilience, bravery, and belief in a better future - the psychological resources they would need to even have hope of breaking free? If abuse is all you’ve ever known, and you are still emotionally immature (as even children raised in wonderful homes are by their teen years) the situation may seem so hopeless that there is simply no other means of escape. Years ago I read a book about the phenomenon of parricide; the author looked at numerous cases and in every single one, the abuse was simply horrific. Psychologists agreed that it is understandable how hopeless children in such situations would feel. It rang completely true to me. My parents never sexually abused me, and compared to what an unfortunately large number of kids endure, the physical and emotional abuse I went through was mild. But even so, I can remember feeling incredibly bleak and hopeless as a child. Magnify that a gazillion times to account for the horror and shame a boy would feel when his own father anally raped him, and yes, I understand and sympathize. Just about anything - including facing the consequences of murder - would seem like a better alternative. Especially to a kid who doesn’t have the upbringing or brain development to think maturely about the future. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/14 "2024-11-20T19:32:14Z")
Dean Corll fascinates me partly because of how little-known he is these days. He was a pedophile serial killer in Houston, TX who tortured and killed at least 28 (and possibly dozens more) teen boys between 1970 and 1973. He was sort of a forebear of John Wayne Gacy, and Gacy would admit to having copied some of his techniques after reading about him in the paper. Unlike Gacy, though, he had two teenage accomplices who he paid to lure their friends and acquaintances to his house for him to kill, and who often participated in the torture with him. I’m honestly surprised that that story has never been turned into a horror movie. Corll never faced a judge, though - he was shot and killed by one of his accomplices after a sudden change of heart while they had two of his friends tied up. There were several loose ends that never got thoroughly investigated - photos and super 8 films of some of his victims turned up when police busted a child porn ring in California several years later, and he may have been linked to a child sex trafficking ring with ties to the Mafia. It’s just such a strange and unsettling tale. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/15 "2024-11-20T19:33:49Z")
I’m a sucker for these stories. Even ones that are _probably_ solved, I relish the possibility that there is an unknown element to them. Some that fall under this heading are: D. B. Cooper - I’m about 90% sure he died in the fall but… There is a podcast called The Cooper Vortex. Most of the people they interview are kooks but some of the guests make very compelling cases. Alcatraz escape. Yeah, they probably drowned but out of _three_ bodies, none were never found? [Then there’s this.](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42826582) Lindbergh Kidnapping - some of this story is straightforward but I read a book once that convinced me there was much more to the story than came out. [Sodder Children disappearance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodder_children_disappearance). I put this under ‘crime’ because many think the fire was intentionally set. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/16 "2024-11-20T20:22:12Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > D. B. Cooper - I’m about 90% sure he died in the fall but… That case is such a mess. Nothing makes sense, nothing fits. But it has to be simple, I’m sure he didn’t intend to leave an unsolvable mystery, where _some_ money was recovered. After all this time, I’m beginning to think he never jumped. At least that doesn’t make him look like a complete idiot, jumping into the woods in the dark in street shoes. What do I know? Maybe he WAS a compete idiot. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/17 "2024-11-20T22:08:12Z")
Dennis Rader, the BTK killer. Scout leader, church elder, security guard, and all out insane guy. One of the first uses in DNA familial matching. I used his case in my computer class, about how you should remove your personal information when publishing Microsoft Word documents, since that’s how they found him. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/18 "2024-11-20T22:54:11Z")
The Chris Watts murders in Colorado. Her murdered his pregnant wife and two young daughters. Buried his wife in a shallow grave and stuffed the two little girls in crude oil well tanks. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/19 "2024-11-20T23:00:54Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > since that’s how they found him. It certainly wasn’t from the FBI BSU profile, which was about as wrong as wrong could be. I keep waiting for that episode of Mindhunter. 🙂 And it certainly wasn’t from the subliminal message they broadcast. Sheesh. maybe they should have hired a psychic. “I see the killer near a tree, and water, and a church…and there’s a barking dog.” ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511/20 "2024-11-21T00:02:30Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > That case is such a mess. Right? The strongest DNA they had was all of the cigarette butts but the FBI destroyed them apparently. And yeah, jumping in slippers? 2 things that nag at me are 1) Given the woods, one would think the canopy would have hung up and been found eventually and 2) it seems strange that given the pervasive coverage that was going on at the time, no one ever said, hey Dan never showed back up for work. (or wife or dad or friend or whatever) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-true-crime-story-fascinates-you-most/1010511.md?page=2)