Ashley Judd · Brooklyn Teens · YouTube Divers
Get out from under that heat dome with the July budget sweep
the true crime that's worth your time
How’s your summer going? When I walked into Target the other day and saw all the back to school stuff, I was genuinely stunned — doesn’t it seem like we just started this whole summer thing the other day? Then again, we need a break from the horrifying heat that seems everywhere but San Francisco, so if that comes with the fall, so be it. To help you hang in there, here’s the July budget sweep, which is packed full of true crime gems, delights, and oddities. We hope you enjoy it. — EB
How an Amateur Diver Became a True-Crime Sensation [New Yorker]
We’ve talked about water-focused amateur missing-persons searchers Adventures With Purpose here before, but this time they’re getting the NYer treatment and all that entails. Are these folks, who often seem to annoy (or worse) law enforcement with their deep dive efforts, the real deal or problematic attention-seekers? As with so many items from the New Yorker, at the end I’m still unsure, but I sure enjoyed the meandering ride. — EB
The Auteurs of San Quentin [Hollywood Reporter]
ForwardThis Productions is the first-ever film and TV production job training program that’s based inside a U.S. prison, part of San Quentin’s ever-expanding and award-winning media center (think landmark podcast Ear Hustle, for example). This longread details how this post-incarceration job training program works, and it’s pretty remarkable, as it not only sets these folks up for a profession after their release, but it produces TV and films that help those of us on the outside better understand life behind bars in a way that various Days Ins (the reality TV shows, not the crappy motels, though come to think of it…) ever could. — EB
Ashley Judd To Narrate #TextMeWhenYouGetHome Season 2; ‘Meet Marry Murder’ Returns With New Episodes At Lifetime [Deadline]
#TextMeWhenYouGetHome is a Lifetime series that, if I heard of it, I’ve since forgotten, which “follows the cases of women who have been abducted, harmed or even murdered by someone on what was an otherwise average day in their lives.” This premise does not make me confident about its quality, but I like Judd so if it gets her some cash why not.
Also buried in this wrap is that Helen Hunt (who I guess has less SEO juice than Judd?) is already the narrator of Meet Marry Murder, which is about “US homicide cases of spouses insidiously killed by their partners.” Really, “insidiously”? (There’s also another Meet, Marry, Murder out there hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg, I can’t tell if it’s somehow related or not.) But before I let you go, you guys have heard Sarah’s lovely voice, don’t you think she’d be a great true crime anthology narrator? Someone start that campaign as a hashtag, please! — EB
The Quiet Rise of Real-Time Crime Centers [Wired]
RTCCs, characterized here as “a sprawling network of CCTV and automatic license plate readers (ALPR) linked to a central hub,” can be found in 123 spots across the U.S. There’s been a boom in the past year as they are “a cheaper alternative to hiring more boots on the ground because each camera becomes, in effect, a stationary officer keeping watch over an area.” Anyone else flash to that part in The Wire’s credits where the Shotspotter camera gets trashed? — EB
Hope you like Sam Elliott. So far, it’s his Murder in Texas that’s leading the August bonus review poll, though Judd Nelson’s Billionaire Boys Club isn’t too far behind. Only you can decide which set of dated hairstyles and timeless sociopaths Sarah tackles this month, so vote now before it’s too late.
Thief cuts hole in shop’s roof, takes $600,000 worth of wine bottles [Washington Post]
h/t to Cup of Coffee for putting this piece on our radar, about a notable theft at a Venice, CA wine shop. The item itself is a well-written crime piece, the kind you could expect from any local paper before they started just printing barf-backs of police press releases. CoC’s Craig Calcaterra has a little theorizing we like, suggesting that there’s even more to the story — he notes that over a ton of wine was pulled through an admirably symmetrical hole in the roof of the shop, suggesting an inside or fraudulent job. Scroll to the bottom to get his deep dive. — EB
Texas A&M suspended professor accused of criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in lecture [Texas Tribune]
I am none the wiser about what was actually said in the classroom after I read this piece, but the idea that criticizing an elected official means someone should get fired from a public university is pretty fucking bananas. That’s a phrase I use a lot when it comes to Texas, though, so I guess it’s nice that state’s godforsaken leadership still has the capacity to surprise me. — EB
The Romance Scammer on My Sofa [Atavist]
That online romance fraudsters are known as “Yahoo boys” in Nigeria is just one of the many gems to be found in this unflinching look by Carlos Barragan at the man who scammed his own mom. It’s heartbreaking, oddly humanizing, and left me feeling both further away and closer to those folks spamming my gmail (and maybe yours) from across the globe. — EB
Murderer Released in Secretive Deal Is Recaptured After Months on the Run [New York Times]
Convicted murderer Jeriod Price was released from a South Carolina prison on order of a set-to-retire judge, either because he provided valuable insights to prison officials or due to “a dubious judicial process.” Officials tracked him to the Bronx and took him back into custody this month. The whole story is remarkably, remarkably weird and a definite They Better Be Adapting This. — EB
‘Kids trying to live’: A novel study in Brooklyn explores why teens are carrying guns [Gothamist]
Teens in Crown Heights were paid $30 to share their thoughts on personal gun use with researchers funded by the Center for Justice Innovation. The resulting study, entitled "Two Battlefields": Opps, Cops, and NYC Youth Gun Culture, might be one of the most honest looks yet at why young people to pick up and carry guns. — EB
They Followed Doctors’ Orders. Then Their Children Were Taken Away. [New York Times]
This longread dives into another result of the opioid epidemic: some drug treatment programs might pose a small risk to a fetus, so though women with substance use disorder are told to remain on the anti-addiction drugs during their pregnancy, they’re getting slammed by child welfare laws when they’re in the hospital to give birth. It’s reminiscent of the Take Care of Maya case (which I wrote about for Vanity Fair), but more common, as more and more women are rebuilding their lives with the help of anti-opioid meds that, ironically, might land them in even more trouble. — EB
Video: Apple TV+ Debuts Trailer and Announces August 25 Premiere Date for Thrilling International True-Crime Series "Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn" [Press Release]
I was never completely clear on what Ghosn — a vaunted auto exec who once led the world’s biggest car manufacturer — actually did to merit his arrest, but whatever it was, it was serious enough that as opposed to facing the music, the businessman choose to run. This Apple+ four-parter promises to reveal all, and drops on August 25. — EB
The Greatest Scam Ever Written [The Walrus]
This is a super-fun longread about Canadian mail-order scammer Patrice Runner; through “ads in print media and unsolicited direct mail, he sold self-help guides, weight-loss schemes, and, most infamously, the services of a world-famous psychic named Maria Duval.” This will make you nostalgic for the days of back-of-the-book print ads, and will also make you wonder if what this guy did — given everything that happens out there — was really that bad. — EB
Cold case homicide victim identified 44 years after body found along Texas highway [NBCDFW]
“The initial investigation into the woman’s death was unsuccessful but in 1984 self-proclaimed serial killer Henry Lee Lucas confessed to the slaying,” but we all know that Lucas’s confessions were often bogus, so this isn’t necessarily the end of this tale. — EB
Tuesday on Best Evidence: Binge vs. weekly, which wins?
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