Generation Why: True Crime

Carrie Culberson. August 28, 1996. Blanchester, Ohio. 22 year old Carrie Culberson arrived at her home very late in the evening after playing volleyball. Then she and her car just vanished. Or seemed to, anyway. A neighbor said that she witnessed the young woman's boyfriend, Vincent Doan, hitting her and heard him say, 'I told you if you ever tried to leave me I'd kill you'. Carrie's family tried their best to search for her, but the most promising lead developed when two dogs both alerted by a pond on the property of Lawrence Baker who was Doan's father. Detectives felt that this was significant and thought that answers to Carrie's whereabouts were about to be revealed. But before the pond could be drained and searched, someone put a stop to it and dealt a serious blow to the investigation...

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Noura Jackson. June 5, 2005. Memphis, Tennessee. An 18 year old spends a Saturday evening partying with friends. Sometime that evening her mother calls her to say that she needs to go back home. Her mother had been upset with her regarding her drug use and concerned that she wouldn't finish her education. Noura Jackson had been told to stay home, but went out anyway. The phone call convinces her to go home. Sometime between 1am and 5am something terrible happens. Noura calls 911 at 5am to report that her mother isn't breathing and that she is bleeding. An autopsy later revealed that she had been stabbed 50 times. This was the second parent of Noura's to be murdered. In January of 2004, her father was shot and killed at his store by an unidentified individual. Months after her mother was stabbed to death, the teenager was arrested. Did she murder her mother? Or was someone else responsible?

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John Edward Robinson. 1984-2000. Kansas & Missouri, United States. For many years, John Edward Robinson was known as a scammer and embezzler. His crimes usually resulted in probation and he was able to lie so effectively that many gave him the benefit of the doubt. But beyond the face he presented to most everyone lurked a man who hungered for domination of others. In the early days of the internet he chose the name Slavemaster. He not only abused and attacked those who signed contracts to be his submissives, but he also targeted women who needed help. To them, he first appeared to be a savior. With promises of training and a job, he was able to lure women into his trap. To understand just what a monster Robinson was you need to follow his history from Illinois as a young Eagle scout to his scams and murders in both Kansas and Missouri where he created layers of lies to attempt to perpetrate and cover his crimes. Join us as we discuss a serial killer who you won't soon forget. 

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Circleville Letter Writer. Circleville, Ohio. Letters were first mailed out in 1976 accusing a bus driver of having an affair with the superintendent of schools. At first she simply ignored them. Then letters were mailed to her husband. The threats from the anonymous writer prompted the woman and her husband, as well as a few other people, to mail letters to the person they suspected of being responsible, but the letters and threats only stopped for a few weeks. In 1976, Ron Gillespie, gun in hand, rushed out of his house after receiving a phone call. His truck would be found just down the road crashed into a tree and he was dead behind the wheel. His gun had been fired once, but it could not be determined why. In 1983, his wife Mary, the bus driver, removed a sign that had a box with string attached on her route that seemed to be from the mysterious letter writer. Once home, she took it apart and discovered that it was a booby trap. A gun was set to go off if tampered with. An arrest was made soon after. Was it the letter writer? 

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Rodney Reed. April 23, 1996. Bastrop County, Texas. Nineteen year-old Stacey Stites was found dead on the side of a road. She had been engaged to a police officer named Jimmy Fennell and had been working hard at her job to pay for the upcoming wedding. After a brief investigation into Fennell, detectives would later focus their attention on a man named Rodney Reed after his dna was proven to be in and on the victim. After Reed is convicted and sentenced to death, in what appeared to be an open and shut case, a more capable attorney as well as forensic experts have revealed major issues with the investigation and its conclusions. Did Rodney Reed murder Stites? Or could she have been killed by her fiance? This controversial true crime case has divided many people across the nation.

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2012 Aurora Shooting. July 20, 2012. Aurora, Colorado. At the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises, the last in a trilogy of Batman films by director Christopher Nolan, an armored man opened fire into the hundreds seated in theater 9 at the Century 16 theater in Aurora, Colorado. After the shooting ended, seventy people had been injured and twelve were dead. Law enforcement responded quickly and the suspect was arrested just after he left the complex. The question of who was responsible was not really in question, but whether or not James Holmes, 24, was fit to stand trial or not was. Mental health experts and lawyers argued over Holmes' mental illness and whether or not he understood that what he was doing at the time was wrong. Murder has a devastating effect on families and communities. This is never more evident than when murder is as a result of a mass shooting.

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The Backpacker Killer. November, 1993. New South Wales, Australia. Three more bodies are recovered from the NSW Belanglo State Forest, bringing the count to seven. Now the police had to admit that a serial killer was abducting and murdering backpackers. The killer was dubbed The Backpacker Killer. His modus operandi was to take his victims to the forest where he disabled them by severing their spinal cords then murdered them in various ways. Because of this, police considered that there may have been more than one person involved. But a man named Paul Onions would contact authorities to tell them of his abduction story. This would focus the investigation on a single person Onions identified in a video lineup; Ivan Milat. Ivan owned many firearms, was very strong, and came from a large, tight-knit family. A raid on the Milat properties in 1994 would produce 100s of items of evidence and yet he denied any involvement.

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The Beltway Snipers. Washington, D.C. October, 2002. Fear grips the beltway as random people are shot dead in public by a hidden shooter. Parking lots and gas stations were no longer safe. A single gunshot would be heard and then someone would fall. Five were shot dead on October 3rd alone. The threat caused people to look around and to be on guard. Men, women, and even kids were targets for whoever was behind the attacks. For more than 20 days the attacks and even taunts from the killer continued until a call from a man alerted authorities to the location of the two responsible for the crimes. But the Beltway attacks were not the whole story. The pair had shot others before October and the reason behind the spree killings seemed to be rage. John Allen Muhammad and his teenage co-conspirator Lee Boyd Malvo wanted to terrorize the public and bring the system down. For Muhammad, losing his children in a custody battle with his ex-wife may have been the last straw.

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The Boston Boy Fiend. South Boston, Massachusetts. Beginning in late 1871, a series of abductions and beatings occur that leave parents worried about what is happening to young children in the Chelsea, Massachusetts area. Later, the attacks will move to South Boston and the victims there will suffer even more brutal attacks. A suspect is identified and sentenced to the House of Reformation. In less than two years, far less than the sentence given, the young teenager is released due to his good behavior. Little did anyone suspect that young Jesse Pomeroy would quickly graduate to being a murderer. He would earn the nickname, The Boston Boy Fiend.

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