I have to admit I’m a huge fan of true crime. Yeah I know, what a surprise. Not. I read it, I watch it, I listen to it. I’m so fascinated by it that I scare my own family and honestly that’s hard to do because my family is weird. But I out weird them all. I wrote a post when I started this blog in German as a part of the prerequisites. If you don’t know, originally this blog was started as part of a University class I took for key competences. And I of course had to write about True Crime and social media, because it’s me and I’m weird.
True crime has been a genre for a long, long time. It has always fascinated people and probably always will. Already during the Victorian age people loved to read about the most salacious murders and criminals of their time in newspapers. Plays were also a popular medium to consume murders. Humans have always been fascinated about what we can do to one another, about the dark side to humanity and who depraved some of us can be. I recently finished a book by Judith Flanders called The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime. It was a fascinating and illustrating read and I can only recommend it to people who love to learn more about true crime and its history. In this book she basically describes how the mass media, theatre, and the arts helped create the genre and how fascinated people were even then with crimes. The morbid has always drawn people in and will always do so. We may be disgusted by it, of course, but we’re still fascinated why some people become such monsters and how they did what they did. And of course who they did it to. But this fact, the victims of it all, are most of the times completely neglected when cases are being discussed. This is one point I will be coming back to throughout this post as it’s something that is important to me and should be highlighted more when talking about murder cases. This post also focuses on how modern forms of communication and social media have helped solve cases or keep cases in the spotlight.
There are so many true crime channels on YouTube nowadays. Many have taken it on after noticing how much clicks they get talking about cases, and others do it because they’re passionate about it and want to help victims see justice.
My favorites so far are:
Criminally Listed was the first true crime channel I subscribed to and I got addicted to his videos. As the channel name already tells you, the videos are lists belonging to a certain topic. Oftentimes there are several parts and he also makes updates for certain cases when there are new developments. I still love this channel and look forwards to new videos. The narrator of the channel has a very detached voice which some viewers find off putting, but I kinda like it as it fits the seriousness of the videos. And the cases are always interesting too. After first discovering it I binge watched all of his videos so that I had to wait for new ones to be up. I will link it here.
That Chapter, where the charming Irish host Mike relays even the most serious cases with a sense of humor but never loses focus about what’s important, the victims. His talent lies in making the most gruesome cases seem fascinating and even making fun of the perpetrators and making them seem less sympathetic. He speaks his mind and does not shy away from name calling (he is Irish after all). And he often talks about cases I haven’t heard about which is rare. He release videos every Tuesday and Friday and I will link his channel here.
Then there is Georgia Marie. She is British and still pretty young, but her videos are so well researched and she varies in topics. In addition to true crime she also makes videos about historical events and on LGBTQ topics, which I absolutely love and I’ve learned so much from her videos. She’s also very outspoken when it comes to victim advocacy and she emphasized the importance of knowing the victims rather than the perpetrator. This shows in her videos. Rather than focusing on the one committing the crime, she really goes deep into the victims and shows how important they still are and that their loved ones lost someone they loved. She especially tries to give a voice to the voiceless, namely sex workers and even more so sex workers of color who are easy victims and get ignored by law enforcement as they simply don’t care about them. I have some choice words for them but for now I’ll keep them to myself. I will link her channel here if you want to check her out.
Another one is Stephanie Harlowe. She is brilliant. Her videos are very long and detailed and often times split up into different parts because she’s that thorough. Similar to Mike she also advocates for the victims and often includes unsolved cases in her videos or makes an entire series out of it. And there is a certain case I’m going to focus on, because the focus it has garnered through YouTube and other social media platforms, helped solve it. Well, sorta. But it got the main suspect arrested after years of the Phoenix Police Department not doing anything about it. The case I’m talking about right now is the one about Alissa Turney. In May 2001 the then 16 year old high school student suddenly went missing. There was a note in her room saying she would go to California staying with her aunt, but she left her clothes, cell phone, and money at home. So, the note was more than likely fake. For years now her younger sister Sarah has advocated in behalf of her missing sister. Because the likely perpetrator was her own father Michael Turney. He has a history of being a creep towards his own daughter Alissa (well stepdaughter). According to Sarah, Alissa wanted to go to the police to report her stepfather for sexually abusing her. And suddenly Alissa was gone. Her body still hasn’t been found. Sarah did everything in her power to keep attention on the case and force the police to do something, because they never did anything even though there were leads posting towards Michael. She used platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to talk about her sister and why her father is the one who did it. She also collaborated with Stephanie Harlowe and other true crime Youtuber’s to talk about it and get more people involved. And last year her advocacy finally paid of. Her father was arrested for the murder of Alissa. He still hasn’t confessed or at least said where the body is, but it is a step in the right directions and really shows how social media can helps solve cases. And also how the new interest in true crime has kept people focused and engaged with the case. There’s another case I now want to talk about that is still ongoing and where a breakthrough sadly hasn’t happened yet. the Delphi murders. In 2017, best friend Abigail Williams and Liberty German were found dead near Monon High Bridge Trail near Delphi, Indiana. Liberty managed to get some audio and video material of the man who had been following the girls and parts of that was released to the public along with a composite sketch of what the murderer looks like to the public. So far no one has been identified as the possible murderer. Similar to Alissa, Liberty’s sister Kelsi German advocates for her sisters murderer to be identified. She also uses social media to keep the attention up and to ask people to get involved as spread awareness as well. Sarah Turney is also helping Kelsi and works together with her to find who killed Abigail and Liberty.
These two cases are just two examples I’m listing to show how the new interest in true crime can also be helpful. Especially with the new forms of social media we have nowadays to reach even more people fast and cheap.
Another form, other than Youtube, books, and social media is of course the good old TV and as newer forms streaming services. Here I’m thinking of Netflix who took up true crime after seeing how it appealed to people and that it gets talked about fast. Tiger King, I would say, was the first Netflix true crime documentary that really pulled me in. And her social media also played a big part. I saw the hashtags on Twitter and clicked on it. I read some tweet and thought to myself “It can’t possibly that batshit crazy as people are saying“ so I had to check it out myself. And it was as batshit crazy as people said. Plus it was during the first lockdown and I was bored out of my mind and needed something to do. Since then, Netflix has release a steady stream of true crime content, with the newest one being about British serial killer Denis Nielsen, which was released last week. Netflix of course does not have the same goal as some YouTubers. While they do, in my opinions, focus a lot on the victims, oftentimes it feels exploitative. That does not mean that it makes the documentaries less enjoyable to watch or less interesting. I’m merely pointing towards my opinion on it. If you feel differently, please share it in the comments.
Though I’m still surprised that Netflix has kept up with the true crime content and steadily delivers more. The Night Stalker series about the crimes of Richard Ramirez was the most surprising one for me thus far. It was well researched and focused a lot on the people involved, and not just simply Ramirez himself.
Podcasts have also risen in popularity, though I have to admit that so far I’m not that into them. Maybe I just haven’t found one that pulls me in. The only podcast I actively listen to is The Bald and the Beautiful by Trixie Mattel and Katya, my two favorite drag queens. If you have any suggestions or know of a really good true crime podcast, fell free to share as I’d love to try them out.
There are many sides to true crime. It can seem exploitative to many people, talking about the death of people, who were loved, who had family, who are missed. So I get that some people might not like it for that reason. Why I love true crime, is because I’m interested in the why. Why do these people do that. How could it have come this far, when there were signs there. Sometimes I get mad when I read or hear about certain cases where there were clear signs and previous arrests. It can be frustrating because of the injustice or the brutality, but nevertheless it is fascinating. For me, what makes true crime important are the victims and the advocations for justice reform and new laws being implemented concerning missing persons etc. Especially the victims deserve to be highlighted for who they were, even if they were sex workers. They were people who had families and loved ones, and deserved to live. And I hope that trough true crime and the attention given, many more cases will get solved. Especially the Delphi murders.
I hope you liked this one. It was bit longer than my usual stuff but it’s a topic that is near and dear to me and I could talk about it even more. If you love true crime and have suggestions for me, please leave a comment. You can also let me know if I’ve missed something important or if you liked/disliked this post.
Stay safe and sane, and please wear a mask and get vaccinated. Until next time.
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