Gacy Jawbones · Tipping · Bible John
Welcome to the January budget doc cleanout
the true crime that's worth your time
Welcome to my New Year’s resolution. As opposed to letting Best Evidence’s budget doc get so painfully bloated that looking at it makes me feel terrible (my habit since we launched in 2019), I’ve resolved in 2022 to do a monthly cleanup.
So below you’ll find all the links Sarah and I really really meant to get to in January, but couldn’t even find the right place for them. All interesting and thought-provoking pieces with a link to true crime that we can’t bear to just delete without comment. We hope you’ll enjoy picking through these pieces, separating the gems from the pyrite. And as always, we hope you’ll discuss! You know what to do. — EB
Julia Garner and the Golden Age of Grift [Town and Country]
That Town and Country is weighing in on grift amuses me, as it seems like pubs like that one are partially responsible for propagating the aspirational lifestyle that gave us Anna Sorokin and so many others. Garner shares details from her interactions with Sorokin (as you know, Garner is playing her in an upcoming Netflix series), suggesting that the correctional system hasn’t offered much of a correction: “She’s in a full jumpsuit saying, ‘I’m obviously not going to make myself food when I get out of jail.’”
As Murders Spiked, Police Solved About Half in 2020 [The Marshall Project]
“For homicide detectives, 2020 brought good news and bad news. On the one hand, police across the nation solved more murders — in absolute numbers — than in any year since 1997, according to data reported to the FBI. On the other hand, because new homicides increased sharply, the reported rate at which killings were solved, known as the “clearance rate,” declined to a little below 50%.”
The ethics of a second chance: Pig heart transplant recipient stabbed a man seven times years ago [Washington Post]
This objectively interesting story of David Bennett Sr., who received a pig heart in a transplant at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, turned into a true-crime one when the Post wrote a victim-centric piece about Bennett’s 1988 conviction in a stabbing that left Edward Shumaker paralyzed for the last 19 years of his life. That story’s headline and dek (aka the subhead) were very different when the story first moved, it appears from the above tweet, and the tweets in response ask why this is a story that’s fair to tell. (This Insider piece, I see less of an argument for, but that’s not a crime question, that’s a journalism one.)
Major Media Outlets Can’t Stop Describing Police Violence As ‘Officer-Involved’ Incidents [HuffPost]
Press releases from police departments sent after a cop shoots someone are filled with doublespeak and obfuscation, the most prominent of which might be the phrase “officer-involved shooting,” a phrase dutifully repeated by reporters (myself included, mea culpa) for decades. After George Floyd’s slaying by police in 2020, the Associated Press released guidance telling journos not to use passive language to describe the shootings. Some pubs followed that guidance for a bit, but most have backslid into the lazy language they’ve always used.
The Hunt for Bible John – is this the best true-crime documentary ever made? [The Guardian]
Reviewer Stuart Heritage defies Betteridge’s Law to say that this BBC doc on slayings in 1960s-era Glasgow “is one of the best I’ve seen.” The film aired on BBC Scotland in 2021, and made it to BBC Two the first week of the year. Try as I might, I haven’t been able to score a copy, and I’m not in the mood to take a flight to England at the moment. UK readers, have you watched this show, and did you think it was as great as Heritage said?
San Quentin Inmate, Host of ‘Ear Hustle' Podcast, Among California Clemencies [NBC]
Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted the sentence of Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, which means he can “immediately go before the state parole board, which will decide if he should be released on parole.” The parole board was the one that recommended his clemency, so it’s essentially a done deal — and news that means both hosts of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated podcast will be free to embark on new projects about their experience as incarcerated people. Thomas is also “chairman of the Society of Professional Journalists San Quentin satellite chapter and works with several criminal justice reform groups.”
Some Washington Post Editors Maybe Should Stop Tweeting About Sexual Assault [Vice]
Things I have always wondered, in no particular order: Why some “top editors” spend their ostensibly minted free time tweeting like mad about all sorts of shit (isn’t that a sign that they don’t do much at their day jobs?). Why some “top editors” are so eager to publicly talk shit about journalism at other publications (then crap themselves when similarly called out). Why some “top editors” feel compelled to defend athletes who have been credibly accused of sexual assault, to the point of damaging the careers of journalists who mention those credible accusations.
Kobe Bryant's widow Vanessa reveals witness list for upcoming trial over crash photos [USA Today]
For years, we’ve heard stories about photos taken by first responders at the scene of an unusual or celebrity death. Not the official shots taken to document the scene, but stuff taken on an iPhone, presumably without the intervention of other folks on site, and shared later over beers or even texted around by colleagues.
Bryant’s suit about photos taken at her husband’s crash site is one of the highest profile to actively push back against this known practice (which a law enforcement worker once described to me as “a way to blow off steam” — why is that always the phrase used when misconduct is revealed? Why can’t people blow off steam the way I do, by eating a bunch of french fries and yelling at Project Runway?). It’s worth following, especially as some of Bryant’s claims suggest a larger pattern of corruption within LA County.
Ex-Hollywood Madam Jody “Babydol” Gibson Dead At 64 [TMZ]
Gibson’s autobiography, Secrets of a Hollywood Super Madam, is not the best book you’ll ever read, and it skates over a lot of the most interesting stuff, but it’s worth nothing that when she faced trial in 2000, she named Bruce Willis, Tommy Lasorda, filmmaker Don Simpson, and Texas politician Ben Barnes as clients. It wasn’t until I checked her Goodreads page that I learned that she’d written a couple other books, including contributions to an Anna Nicole Smith bio. Just skimming her Wikipedia, you’ll get a glimpse of a person who seems to offer as much rich true-crime texture as you might ask for. A clear-eyed adaptation that approaches consensual sex work from a contemporary perspective is something I’d love to watch.
The Secrets in Gacy Victims’ Jaws [John Wayne Gacy News]
This blog post from Alison True and Tracy Ullman — the researchers featured in last year’s Devil in Disguise — is a deep dive into ongoing efforts to use DNA evidence to identify some of the remains of Gacy’s scores of victims. There’s an ongoing court case, claims against Cook County cops, and much much more. This piece is probably best for experts in the case, as its hard to parse if you haven’t been following True and Ullman’s work closely before now.
The photo that helped define the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol [Reuters]
This is a story for all your on-the-ground-crime-reporting fans, a fascinating look at how this particular piece of sausage was made. It follows Reuters photographer Leah Millis for four hours during the Capitol insurrection last year, leading up to a photo that led publications around the world on Jan. 7.
How a Key West bartender and his boss helped solve the burning of a beloved landmark [FL Keys News]
Included here mainly because I’m delighted that someone who allegedly failed to tip his bartender and server over the course of three whole orders ended up being identified as a suspect in another case, solely due to his alleged failure to tip. Do I wish we lived in a place where folks who work in the food and beverage business were paid a living wage and tips weren’t necessary? Of course I do, but until then, tipping is what we must do (or drink at home, that also works) as a society, like it or not.
The Isdalen mystery [NRK]
This story hits you with scenes from the site — a burned female body found in a Bergen campsite in 1970. I was eating a breakfast burrito when I first clicked on the link Sarah had dropped in the doc, and had to put it down (thanks, partner! [“sorry!” - SDB]). This is clearly a translation, with the goofiness that sometimes comes with that, but stick with it — it’s a quirky and twisty tale, with odd tangents you might not suspect (did you know that people rarely ate garlic in Norway until very recently? That detail is a clue!). If you’re up for some unsettling photos, this piece is a fantastic ride.
What Lisa Montgomery Has In Common With Many On Death Row: Extensive Trauma. [The Marshall Project]
Montgomery was executed shortly after this piece was published last year, making Jan 13, 2021 the first time a female inmate was put to death by the federal government in 67 years. An Indiana judge had halted the execution, saying that a competency hearing should be held, but a ruling by the Supreme Court allowed it to continue. Her crime is a dreadful one, but this Marshall Project report poses some uncomfortable questions about how our society treats seriously impaired people who do horrifying things without, perhaps, understanding what they are doing.
Murderville, Texas: Season Two [The Intercept]
This podcast’s first season sprawled from 2018 to earlier this month, with reporters Liliana Segura and Jordan Smith following the case of Devonia Inman, who served 23 years for a high-profile Georgia homicide that courts later agreed he did not commit. Season 2 of the show kicks off on February 1, this time tackling the case of Charles Raby, a death row inmate from Harris County, Texas, which “has sent more people to death row than any jurisdiction in the nation.” Many folks say that he, too, is innocent, a claim the show will presumably investigate.
True-Crime Docuseries ‘Uprooted’, Focusing On Unsolved Death Of Keith Warren, From NowThis Set At Discovery+ [Deadline]
It’s been almost a year since Maryland officials called for a renewed investigation into the death of 19-year-old Keith Warren, who was found hanging in the Silver Spring woods in 1986. The three-part series “will follow Keith Warren’s sister Sherri, who has spent 35 years seeking the truth about what happened to her brother.” It will be accompanied by “a six-part podcast hosted by Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza.” Both launch on February 18.
Friday on Best Evidence: I hear rumors of a podcast review. While you wait, why not grab a paid subscription and enjoy the entire 2.5 years of our archives?
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