D.B. Cooper · Pink Collar Crime · Fargo
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the true crime that's worth your time
I feel sort of bad about taking this story when known D.B. Cooper stan Sarah Bunting is just a slack away. But not so bad I won’t write up the new trailer for HBO’s The Mystery of D.B. Cooper, which is set to drop on November 26.
While I’m not as obsessed with the 1971 hijacking as Sarah is, I do love the mystery of it all the same way I can endlessly mull the likelihood that those guys who glued together those raincoats made it out of Alcatraz. And I will probably watch this doc, especially because it drops in the cozy, TV-friendly Thanksgiving holiday. Doesn’t this feel like a good one to watch with your folks, if you can? — EB
For four years, I’ve argued that I’m too anxious/distracted to read. I mean, of course, I read, that’s what I do all day. But sitting down with a book has been extremely hard for me for the last few years, but I am feeling a fresh sense of calm and resolve these days. I might get on these first, because they all sound like fun:
We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence Author Becky Cooper investigates the 1969 slaying of a graduate student, to raves from USA Today and NPR. From the latter:
Consider this: One of the prime murder suspects for a time was Britton's advisor. Cooper interviewed that now elderly professor and he told her that after Britton's death, he received a call from the dean who offered him Harvard's full support without reservation. Cooper recalls the professor grinned as he added: "[The dean] didn't even ask me if I did it!"
No Place Like Murder: True Crime in the Midwest Author Janis Thornton seeks out some of the less-known (but still attention-grabbing) crimes that went down in “real America“ between 1869 and 1950, like Isabelle “Gun Girl” Messmer, a 1930s-era miscreant who nearly killed two Pittsburgh cops.
Daring, Devious and Deadly: True Tales of Crime and Justice from Nova Scotia's Past Author Dean Jobb went through 150 years of newspaper clippings and court records to come up with this accounting of classic Nova Scotia crimes. PT Barnum apparently makes an appearance!
Catching up on true true crime…Here’s the latest on a couple crimes we’re watching closely.
Judge Sets January Hearing Date for Scott Peterson Juror Misconduct Case [Bay City News] San Francisco Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo will be presiding. She’s a former family-court judge, and this profile on her from 2015 is super-interesting! Perhaps most relevant to our interests is her willingness to allow media into the courtroom — she says, “The press, like the public, is welcome in the courtroom subject to our standard rules” and says that in the past, she’s found them to be “so cooperative.”
Ex-girlfriend of dark web mastermind on dating a man wanted by the FBI [CBS] This is more Silk Road stuff, and is related to The FBI Declassified: The Dangerous Journey on the Silk Road, which aired earlier this week. “I wanted to have a normal life with him, not have him sit in front of a computer on a beautiful day,” says Julia Vie of her then-boyfriend, alleged Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. “I'm a young, beautiful woman in a new city. Take me out to dinner!" Take yourself out to dinner, Julia!
NYPD Cop Busted By Feds For "Key Role" In Multinational Cocaine Smuggling Ring [Gothamist] Paraphrasing Sarah, I’m already psyched about the true-crime adaptation of this one, but no booking photos are out yet for nine-year-police vet Amaury Abreau, so I can’t start with the casting ideas yet.
Salt Life co-founder was having ‘play’ gun fight in deadly shooting, he tells cops [South Florida Sun Sentinel] Michael Hutto, the 54-year-old co-founder of the Salt Life clothing brand, admits that he and Lora Grace Duncan, his 18-year-old girlfriend, “were pretending to shoot each other with their fingers.” Then he picked up his real gun from the bathroom of a Florida Hilton, and shot her. Then he left her body, and fled. I can’t be the only person saying “whaaaaaat?”
Should I be watching this season of Fargo? According to Den of Geek, this season tips its hat to the infamous Kansas City Massacre of June 17, 1933, in which four cops and federal prisoner Frank Nash were killed in a botched escape attempt. The FBI has their accounting of the events here, and DoG succinctly describes it as “a major fuckup for organized crime.” Since fuckups are solidly on brand for Fargo, I can see why this story might be part of any season of the series, all the episodes of which are available on Hulu. — EB
Listeners of WTOP’s An American Nightmare podcast will soon have new episodes to enjoy. It’s second season will be called Murder in a Safe Place, and will examine the unsolved case of “Sherry Crandell, a 50-year-old hospital worker who was brutally assaulted and later found dead in her office at Prince George’s Hospital Center.” It’s set to launch in January, 2021.
How did I miss Easy Prey? This podcast about “the danger and traps lurking in the real world, ranging from online scams and frauds to everyday situations where people are trying to take advantage of you—for their gain and your loss” is right up my alley, but it’s somehow eluded me until this week.
That’s when someone sent me the episode of the show that features Kelly Paxton, aka “the Pink Collar Crime Lady,” a private investigator who specializes in financial crimes — mainly embezzlement — committed by women. If you’re in a by-the-numbers mood, Easy Prey has some good ones based on the ep:
Only 15% of embezzlement cases are reported to law enforcement. (But…how do we know?)
60 percent of all dentists (?!?) have been ripped off. Dentists?
90 percent of all bookkeepers in the U.S. are women. I think I see where this is going.
“The number one way people embezzle from the workplace is forged or unauthorized checks.” OMG I forgot about checks.
You can subscribe to Easy Prey here, and Paxton’s episode is here. — EB
Friday on Best Evidence: Let’s get Aubrey O’Day a job!
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