True Detective

The police retrieved CCTV footage from a homeowner who had a camera installed outside his home. It showed a black Chevrolet Malibu with distinctive chrome mirrors and door handles driving back and forth in the area where Mollie was jogging. This car driver, the detectives speculated, could be the killer, making his last-minute reconnaissance before

The Parole Board's decision to release British rape-killer Colin Pitchfork has proved hugely controversial. Pitchfork, the first killer to be convicted of murder on the basis of DNA evidence, killed two Leicestershire schoolgirls in the 80s and had been behind bars since 1988... All he wanted to do, Colin Pitchfork said, was to expose himself,

On June 28th, 2007, Paige Birgfeld vanished. How, people wondered, could she abandon her children ­­– her daughter and two sons aged six and three – so callously? Paige lived in an upmarket suburb of Grand Junction, Colorado, where she was paying off a $6,000-a-month mortgage on her home. That was the first part of

The newspaper headlines were colourful. “DEATH AMID THE JU-JU MASKS” said one. Subsequent reports explored the possibility of an Oriental curse.The murder victim was 59-year-old Mrs. Elsie May Batten, a well-known art critic and wife of the sculptor Mark Batten. The couple’s close friends included 72-year-old Louis Meier and Marie Grey, proprietors of Louis Meier’s

The story of the bomb at the bank was told to a court in Salem, Oregon, in December 2010, when a businessman father and his son were accused of plotting to blow up and rob the bank because they were short of cash. Bruce Turnidge, 59, and his son Joshua, 34, faced an 18-count criminal

Within hours of committing some of his 33 murders, America’s most notorious serial killer would dress up as Pogo the Clown and entertain children. But on May 10th, 1994, it was somebody else’s turn to play the clown...at John Wayne Gacy’s execution. Mockingly, revellers painted their faces and donned clowns’ attire as they partied outside

On June 21st, 2000, the inspectors went to a committee meeting at their government offices. Jean Hillery and her federal colleague Tom Quadros, 52, outlined the case against Alexander. “We have been to this factory on several occasions,” she told the meeting. “Mr. Alexander is a very upset and angry man.” The committee agreed that

Bordering Los Angeles, Orange County, California, gets its name from its vast orange groves, whose fragrant blossom fills the air for miles around. This was the home of Steven Gordon, 23, who worked for a time at Disneyland and revelled in the Californian dream. Gordon was also a paedophile. In April 1992 he was jailed

In June 2020, a frail old man of 74, with hollowed cheeks and myopic eyes, was wheeled into the hastily converted ballroom of Sacramento State University. Rising from the wheelchair, he stood before a makeshift socially-distanced court in a visor. In an orange prison jumpsuit, the defendant admitted his guilt to 13 murders with additional

Brett Pearson’s schoolfriends laughed when he told them he wanted to kill his parents. No one took that kind of brag seriously. It was just teenage angst – all cheap talk and empty threats. And this was especially true in the wholesome little Oregon town of Keizer where Brett and his family lived. Four miles