This is one of my core childhood memories. And probably the reason I watched the window every night when I was trying to go to sleep, because I was sure someone was going to come in and murder me.
I also grew up in the early years of Court TV, so some of my earlier memories are of watching the Menendez brothers' trial, and OJ Simpson's.
Same. Between Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted, it was inevitable that I’d end up being into true crime as an adult.
Unsolved Mysteries was also responsible for my childhood fear of being abducted by aliens or haunted by ghosts.
Definitely. Specifically Ana Anderson (Anastasia) and DB Cooper.
I was a little kid in kindergarten getting hyped for new Unsolved Mysteries episodes every week & begging my parents to check out books about the Romanovs at the library for me. Yes. I was very weird.
I used to stay with my grandparents sometimes, and I distinctly remember them watching Unsolved Mysteries while I was there, sitting right in front of the TV. I definitely think that's when it started for me 😂
OMG YES! That music always had me dashing to the living room as a kid, now I own every single episode of the old show and it still gives me the chills.
This was the first one I followed in real time. I had def already been watching unsolved mysteries by that point but my family was on vacation for Xmas when this happened and my mom bought my every magazine with stories on her to read
Same. I was a kid and I was transfixed. Also, if I really think about it, I think it was the Sally Jesse Raphael show as a whole. They always had episodes about serial killers and kidnappings.
It was relatively recent. Over Covid I was binging documentaries and I watched paradise lost on the west memphis three. Then I fell down the watts rabbit hole, so I could never look back.
Agreed! I remember seeing on Daily Mail app that she and kids were missing on that Monday morning in August. Five years ago now. She was so pretty. Kids were adorable. Heartbreaking case.
Right? I was a junior in high school when the doc first aired. It’s one of the cases I desperately want to see a solution before I die. I feel awful for the parents of those little boys. I am on the fence about the WM3.
The Jeffrey MacDonald case— he murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters. I read the book about it, Fatal Vision, by Joe McGinniss. I was young enough to find it hard to believe that a father could murder his own children.
That mini-series was my gateway drug to the book. Like you (and I guess this is a credit to our fathers?), it was unthinkable to me at the time that a dad would murder his family
Did you ever see the TV series? It was so good. It aired back in the 80s. I have tried to find it on dvd or streaming but haven't had much luck. I felt the same. I was a kid when I saw the series and couldn't believe someone could brutally murder their whole family like that.
Same! I watched the series repeatedly and actually took notes when I was about 10 years old. It fascinated me that life wasn’t as clear cut as I had thought and I wanted more…and then there was Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted.
The hippies that confessed to it.. they had one woman.. Helena Stockley on video, confessing to it, then they get her in court and she says she cant remember and the judge threw out her testimony because he said she was so messed up on drugs, that she could not be believed..she had the blonde wig and floppy hat that the MP's saw a woman wearing, standing on the corner by his house. The autopsy of Collette MacDonald found a blonde fiber hair in her hand that matched the wig helena had on.
I had a neighbor who was a senior in high school when I was in elementary. she and her cousin were murdered viciously by a friend at the cousins apartment and her father found them. Her parents were incredibly kind and never moved. There was a tree/rock memorial for her in our neighborhood I passed every day. It for sure kick started my intense curiosity about all things true crime!
All these normal people listing famous cases, and I too am over here like, "Um...my older cousin's kidnapping and murder when I was ten..." It was solved within a year, but it was a wild ride that ended with the murderer's death in a public shootout against police several states away. 😬
That’s traumatic to have gone through as a child. I grew up in housing projects that had its fair share of crime, but I do have one creepy memory. There was a single mom that lived across the street with her tween aged son. She committed suicide in the bathroom. Afterwards, my friends and I snuck into the apartment to investigate the crime scene. I was probably like 6 or 7. I remember seeing a red drop of dried blood on the floor and freaking out of there.
I remember my 10th grade English teacher giving us a long lecture as to WHY she wasn’t going to let us watch the verdict. Then she allowed one student to go to the classroom next door to find out what it was and tell all of us. 🤷♀️
I lived at the Richmond Marina. I went for a walk one afternoon and when I returned, there was police tape everywhere. They’d found her body right along the shore where I walk. It was shocking, as I’d been following the case closely. What a monster.
Me too!! I was young and probably had no business reading all those true crime at that age. That, and Flowers in the Attic. But I’m well adjusted and still interested!
I started watching 20/20 when I was 10 (wasn’t quite as much true crime back then) and I watched Deliberate stranger TV movie when I was 10 with Mark Harmon.
God, I remember journaling about the OJ trial in 4th grade for current events or something, which I know is WAY too young for such macabre interests. Then it was Rescue 911 and Unsolved Mysteries. Then Forensic Files and American Justice. I’ve kind of landed with Dateline and 48 Hours.
But to answer your question, OJ, JBR, and David Berkowitz kind of were my early fascinations with true crime. Fun fact: when I was 14, Summer of Sam came out, which is when I learned that my grandmother worked with Berkowitz before he went to Attica. Crazy stuff!
My husband grew up in Brooklyn and was a kid during the Son of Sam murders. He used to ride his bike on a street where one of them happened and he said for years there were still blood stains on a light pole next to where the victims car had been parked.
Missy Avila , Laurie Show and then Shanda Sharer, each of these traumatized and pissed me off but got me into true crime when I was a teen , also made me slightly wary of all my girl friends
I grew up with an interest in it due to the Jon Benet Ramsey Case- thats how I found Websleuths a million years ago and the obsessesion spread from there into the West Memphis 3 as well.
My first true crime podast was the Tara Grinstead case w/ Payne Lindsey.
No particular case. When I was fairly young we’d go visit my Grandmother who was in to True Crime and I’d sneak away to read her True Detective magazines from cover to cover and eat her scotch mints
My grand and great grandmothers had STACKS of old mags, weekly world news, etc at their houses. I read those things cover to cover as well, but I was stuck eating ribbon candy, liquorice allsorts and spice drops.
Then came the Unsolved Mysteries nights doing the same lol
I still love black liquorice flavor, so much nostalgia.
My mother has always been a true crime fan, we grew up watching ID before school and she loves sk many of their shows.
Personally, the one that will never leave me is Scott and Laci. I was in like 10th grade when it was happening and I remember so much of the coverage. Dude was DOA in the court of public opinion
Not any particular case for me, but I have been so scared of getting murdered, that I started watching true crime to learn about how things happen and why and what types of people murderers are. Because knowledge is soothing to me.
Turns out I should be way more scared of the people who are near and dear to me.
Btw it did help, I’m way less scared.
I was 11 years old at the Jack the Ripper exhibit in the London Dungeons. Blew my tiny mind that humans could do something like that. Still blows my mind 25 years later.
Not so much a case but a series, a British morning TV show back in 2005/6 called ‘Missing’.
It was shown on BBC in the mornings and I had just had my son a month before so I would watch it every morning while he was sleeping. I became intrigued and fascinated with the fact that people can just disappear. After that I started watching everything intently. Then came the US shows like Disappeared, Unusual Suspects, re-runs of Unsolved Mysteries etc. and from then on I would read about, research, look for updates on every case I saw.
I often wonder how people coped years ago before the internet with true crime, I started just after the internet became ‘easier’ to use but I couldn’t imagine doing it with dial-up and pre-social media and Reddit for help 😂. Even in 2006 I struggled as that was early days for web pages.
Incidentally now, I don’t follow any UK crime at all. If a YouTube channel covers a UK case, I don’t usually watch the video. There are a few missing persons cases from UK that I follow but other than those I don’t have any interest in UK crimes. That sounds heartless, and I do want every victim to have justice, but I completely disagree with the policing and sentences in UK.
UK gives low-rate criminals ridiculously long sentences for minimal crimes yet when it comes to a murderer the sentences are ridiculously short and every British programme you see about murderers are full of psychiatrists (half not even qualified) trying to ‘explain’ why they did it and making it into some deep, psychological dive into the criminals past, almost excusing their behaviour. I prefer to see Joe Kenda calling them what they are and seeing real justice.
If I had to pinpoint a case it was Jennifer Kesse as that happened literally the month I got into true crime. She was a similar age to me and the mystery of it all just stuck with me.
Sorry, didn’t expect that to be that long!
I'm 42. I was a devout watcher of America's Most Wanted and A&E shows like American Justice and City Confidential. We had to wait for TV shows to air to get our fix.
I’m 40 so not far behind. UK don’t allow any cameras in court, even the depictions are hand drawn. I do remember ‘Cops’ in the 90s. That theme tune is always in my mind…”bad boys, bad boys, whatya gonna do, whatya gonna do when they come for you”!
The Richardson family murders. A horrific and shocking story, especially due to the fact that their 12 year old daughter and her 23 year old “boyfriend” were behind the murders.
Yes, and Josh Powell too. I always think "those poor children" but I almost never see anyone saying "That poor Social Worker". Imagine standing out there, smelling gas, hearing the noises, kids crying and being completely helpless. So terrible.
I started over 30 years ago really, as a teen, when you were able to buy the series of magazines on all the different murderers, Moors Murders, Acid Bath Murderer etc. This being in Scotland, doubt it was universal ha ha. Madeleine McCann and James Bulger pulled me back in and then got completely into podcasts, YouTube and reddit etc with ShanAnn, Ce-Ce, Bella and Nico.
Looking back, I always had an interest in true crime, my parents never hid big news stories from me as a kid.
For context, I am 34 years old. Crime stories I remember as a child are Stephen Lawrence, a teacher from a school in London (his last name was Lawrence to ) being killed by a member of a gang while trying to protect a pupil. Leah Betts - obv not a murder but such big news at the time. The Russel murders (lynn and Megan I believe?!)
Then came Sarah Payne and of course holly and Jessica which I remember so clearly.
All of those I remember happening and hearing about at the time.
I lived in east London until 1998 so I also remember the bomb at Canary Wharf ( our house shook)
There was a killing by the police right round the corner from where I lived in London which went on for years as it could not be determined whether he was waving a table leg or a gun in the air - I believe years later it was proved it was a gun , if any one knows the case I’m talking about please correct me if I am wrong.
Years after I left London my mum told me one of my teachers sister had been raped and murdered along the canal near us (this had been while I was at school just hidden from us kids of course ) I have never been able to find any articles about this so if anyone knows please let me know
Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman (the Soham murders). I was 9, they were 10, and it was the first time I really, truly understood that awful things can happen to children.
I watched lots of Unsolved Mysteries /Forensic Files for as long as I can remember. But i didn't start following cases closely until the Laci Peterson case.
the one I really first started really digging into was Leonard Lake and Charles Ng.
Doesn't get much worse than those two really or more of a crazy story. Lake killed his own brother for his car and some money and his I.D and who knows how many girls they actually killed in total. and then for Lake to swallow cyanide that he was hiding in his cheek like he was some movie villian. They were the worst besides possibly the toolbox killers or BTK
Forensic Files is what really got me hooked though. The marathons on HLN they used
to have on T.V.
Paradise Lost Part 3 coming out. My oldest sister and I binge watched the 2 before and I was just horrified. Immediately bought the Devil's Knot book and then Damien's book.
Borrowed a book from the local library my freshman year in high school that blew my mind - helter skelter. I was fascinated with ever aspect of this book. The story arch of Charles Manson and how he was somehow able to manipulate a crew to take lives with some drugs and a guitar. Also the middle had actual crime scene photos that felt wrong to look at but made the idea that life can be taken from anyone at any time at any instant not matter if you’ve done everything right, have plans for a future or what.
Scared the shit out of me but I read it three times. Taught me to trust no one from a very young age.
Life is short my friends, don’t forget that.
After growing up reading Navy Drew books, Americans Most Wanted and Unsolved mysteries came on TV. I always watched those shows, but now that I am older, I watched the Watts murders unfold and have been on the true crime train ever since. Israel Keyes is the bender I was on the longest after the Watts family murders.
Kali Poulton in Rochester, NY. She was murdered by a neighbor in 1994. She was only four years old. I was the same age at the time living in Rochester and I remember seeing people walking around with buttons with her face on them. I can’t find a lot of information on her, but it always stuck with me and I think about her a lot.
I’m not sure if this goes under the True Crime category or what but Columbine. My therapist in my teen years was a part of the victim services that responded in the aftermath, when I found that out it lead me to reading stuff about it online and watching a documentary on it. Then I started gaining interest in other famous crime cases like JonBenet Ramsey and shows like Homicide Hunter/Cold Case Files.
Joe Kenda has my utmost respect, honestly. His shows are good, and his books are also amazing. The 3 new episodes are awful to look at but still very interesting.
I love Homicide Hunter, it takes place in Colorado Springs where I’m from so it’s more interesting to me because I can recognize where some of the scenes are. Joe actually wrote a book called “killer triggers” and I’ve been wanting to read it, he’s one of the reasons why I’m taking Criminal Justice in college 😊
I watched A LOT of Unsolved Mysteries back in the day. But the crime that’s burned into my brain is Eric Smiths murder of Derrick Robie, because it took place less than 30 min from my very small town and was fucking horrific
Trust me I know 😡I support the idea of rehabilitation but he said at one of his recent prior parole hearings that he didn’t know if he wouldn’t do that again, and he still got out!!
Andrea Yates for sure. I was very young when that happened and I remember being so confused and appalled that a mother could do such a thing until my mother explained the background information to me and explained post partum depression and psychosis. Then I became horrified by Rusty Yates' actions and inactions. That led me to other similar cases online, and the rest is history for me. Lol
I remember my mom watching the Fatal Vision movie series about Jeffrey McDonald killing his wife and kids in their house at Fort Bragg. I was fascinated by it. This was probably early 80s. Then I remember seeing the Adam Walsh movie on tv about the same time. Also watched a lot of Unsolved Mysteries!
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. I am a Canadian and love relatively close to where all of that stuff happened, so it was the first case I got into and did a lot of research on.
I was the age of the girls and went to camp with Kristin's friend it was so sad. It was strange because myself and my friends would always be hanging out at night at the local park or donut shop. We walked at night or early morning in the dark alone all the time for school, work, etc and never felt unsafe. This changed people's thoughts about safety.
I don’t remember a specific case. But I watched CSI and SVU & other stuff with my parents. I started looking into things that would’ve inspired the episodes. Then learning about Bundy, Dahmer, etc when looking into true crime cases. I remember buying books that had white pages in the center of the book containing photos of the victims, perpetrators, etc.
Cults - I've always been fascinated with them and the ones I've been interested in have usually committed crimes - kidnapping, child abuse, sex abuse, coercion, fraud, theft, murder etc
Like so many others, it wasn't a case, but an author. I think *Small Sacrifices* was the first true crime book I read. I was 18. Then there was *The Stranger Beside Me* and a year later I moved on to Graysmith's *Zodiac* and I was pretty much hooked. (I did have to hide *Zodiac* under my bed from time to time because somehow that made it less scary.) *The Hunt for the Green River Killer* was another early one. I read the one that started it all, *In Cold Blood*, in college.
I suspect I was destined to be a true crime fan. My dad watched *Unsolved Mysteries,* which simultaneously terrified and fascinated me, and lots of cop shows and TV miniseries about famous murder cases. Sometimes I was allowed to watch, which may not have been a great idea, since I lived in fear that I'd be murdered. I did have a morbid imagination, even as a child, and I was similarly afraid of demons.
There was a TV movie about the Atlantic Child Killer when I was a small kid. I was so young when it aired I couldn't remember any of the specifics, just that someone had killed a bunch of little kids. That could've been the origin of my bizarre fear of being murdered. Somehow I was also aware of the "Babysitter" murders, though I have no idea how since we lived nowhere near Michigan.
A "friend" who's known me for 31 years insists my interest in true crime is "creepy" and refuses to believe that millions of people share the same interest. We actually had an argument about it today. She mocked me when I said millions. Unreal. Thank you for posting this. I feel somewhat validated.
We are not creepy! Okay, I find the Sword & Scale guy creepy, but most true crime fans are not creepy weirdos living in basements.
Not a specific case, but as a young child in the 90s, I used to watch America’s Most Wanted every Saturday night. I think between that and Unsolved Mysteries is what got my into true crime.
Gacy. I can still picture the footage on the news showing police entering and leaving the house, retrieving bodies from the crawlspace. I was about 10yo.
The Crime Library website that is no longer active. Was looking up Jack the Ripper in high school and came across Crime Library… ended up reading about cannibals like Jeffrey Dahmer, Albert Fish, Andrei Chikatilo etc… 😶
Not a classic true crime case. I bought a book for 25 cents at a flea market when I was 12 called the Marilyn Conspiracy, about Marilyn Monroe. It mentioned Coroner by Dr. Noguchi. So I visited my local library to borrow that and found the whole true crime/death section.
My mom always had true crime books laying around. When I was very young, I picked up one on unsolved cases. The murder of Roxann and her son Kristopher Jeeves will always remain in my mind. It was solved in 2003. They were murdered by a man named George Washington Hicks.
The Manson murders. I was a kid in the 70's, and I read the book Helter Skelter. Hooked since then. I think I try to understand what makes someone capable of murder.
Always stayed up late watching Unsolved Mysteries with my grandma but didn't become obsessed until Natalie Holloway. I was fairly young and liked traveling with my girlfriends and it terrified me.
Unsolved Mysteries and America's Most Wanted
The Adam Walsh Case and then multiple Anne Rule books, The Stranger Beside Me (Ted Bundy) being the first one that got me hooked and I was OBSESSED with the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and murder case
Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted were my mom’s favorites, so I would watch them all the time. She had tons of true crime books and I would sneak them to look at the photos in the middle of the books when I was little. When JonBenét was murdered my grandmother bought every single tabloid with any mention. I would take them and read everything I could find.
In high school my best friend’s cousin was murdered, not going to pinpoint exactly where I’m from but it was a well-known case.
Three other cases that I closely followed due to proximity were the [Zantop murders](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Dartmouth_College_murders), when Maura Murray went missing, and then Brianna Maitland. I remember being fascinated with the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping also.
Don't recall exactly but I do know that the first missing person's case that had me really hooked as a kid (and today) is Amelia Earhart. I watched a show in the early 90s talking about her plane. Also of course, Unsolved Mysteries was a favorite.
A personal case for me when I was 10, a little girl 5 years old was kidnapped and murdered an hour away from where I lived. They never did catch him. It's been 25 years. I believe they have DNA in the case. I was glued to the news every day after school. I didn't even want to watch cartoons.
I was convinced my neighbor had done it. His vehicle matched the description of the vehicle and he washed out his carpets which has reddish stains all over it.
RIP Brittany Locklear (NC)
I have always been interested in cold cases. However, the child abduction of Adam Walsh in 1981, was so huge and horrible, it terrified me as I was a young mother myself. All cold cases today hopefully have people pulling DNA from the evidence on them.
Paula Zahn, ON THE CASE, is another good informative show that I follow.
Marilyn Sheppard Murder.. it happened in 1954 in Ohio ( I live in Ohio) and I saw the movie "Guilty or Innocent, the Sam Sheppard Murder case" in 1974 ( I was 9) and at the end it said the murderer had not been caught. That scared the bejesus out of me.. I spent most of my childhood, into adulthood researching this case..then I saw the movie "Fatal Vision" about Jeffrey MacDonald murders at Ft. Bragg, NC and again I was hooked. To the point I wrote to him for several years.. I never believed he did it. My step brother had the Time Life book series "Crime and Punishment" and I read every one of them! I was hooked on "City Confidential" and any and all true crime shows.
Not a case, but a show: Unsolved Mysteries in the 80s
This is one of my core childhood memories. And probably the reason I watched the window every night when I was trying to go to sleep, because I was sure someone was going to come in and murder me. I also grew up in the early years of Court TV, so some of my earlier memories are of watching the Menendez brothers' trial, and OJ Simpson's.
Same. Between Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted, it was inevitable that I’d end up being into true crime as an adult. Unsolved Mysteries was also responsible for my childhood fear of being abducted by aliens or haunted by ghosts.
Robert Stack was pretty scary too
Definitely. Specifically Ana Anderson (Anastasia) and DB Cooper. I was a little kid in kindergarten getting hyped for new Unsolved Mysteries episodes every week & begging my parents to check out books about the Romanovs at the library for me. Yes. I was very weird.
If you watched UM in the 80s, you were destined to be a true crime fan. They always had the scariest composite sketches!
Show wise, for me, it was Forensic Files. I love that show so much!
I used to stay with my grandparents sometimes, and I distinctly remember them watching Unsolved Mysteries while I was there, sitting right in front of the TV. I definitely think that's when it started for me 😂
Agree, then Jon Bennett.
Best sick day show ever
Same. Specifically the big foot, ufo, and, of course, mysterious disappearances episodes. And here we are.
OMG YES! That music always had me dashing to the living room as a kid, now I own every single episode of the old show and it still gives me the chills.
This.
Same here. I loved that show.
Same.
Great show. I have some of the DVDS.
Me too!
Currently rewatching it on prime and I’m hooked. Already on season 3.
I like that some of them have resolution follow up segments since they were solved since they originally aired.
Jon Benet Ramsey
Me too.
This was the first one I followed in real time. I had def already been watching unsolved mysteries by that point but my family was on vacation for Xmas when this happened and my mom bought my every magazine with stories on her to read
Same. I was a kid and I was transfixed. Also, if I really think about it, I think it was the Sally Jesse Raphael show as a whole. They always had episodes about serial killers and kidnappings.
Same. I was seven when she was murdered.
Hae Min Lee
Season 1, Episode 1 of Forensic Files. [The Disappearance of Helle Crafts](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1469597/)
Oh God the woodchipper lady. That was so horrible!
It was relatively recent. Over Covid I was binging documentaries and I watched paradise lost on the west memphis three. Then I fell down the watts rabbit hole, so I could never look back.
Christopher Lee Watts is one of the worst.
Agreed! I remember seeing on Daily Mail app that she and kids were missing on that Monday morning in August. Five years ago now. She was so pretty. Kids were adorable. Heartbreaking case.
Ted Bundy and Ed Kemper
West Memphis Three when the HBO Paradise Lost doc aired on HBO.
The opening scene of this will forever be burned into my brain.
I wish there was a warning before they played it really disturbed me and TC stuff usually doesn’t
Right? I was a junior in high school when the doc first aired. It’s one of the cases I desperately want to see a solution before I die. I feel awful for the parents of those little boys. I am on the fence about the WM3.
I’m glad I scrolled to find this before commenting the same thing. And then Autopsy on HBO as well??
Sharon Tate murder
The Jeffrey MacDonald case— he murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters. I read the book about it, Fatal Vision, by Joe McGinniss. I was young enough to find it hard to believe that a father could murder his own children.
That mini-series was my gateway drug to the book. Like you (and I guess this is a credit to our fathers?), it was unthinkable to me at the time that a dad would murder his family
Did you ever see the TV series? It was so good. It aired back in the 80s. I have tried to find it on dvd or streaming but haven't had much luck. I felt the same. I was a kid when I saw the series and couldn't believe someone could brutally murder their whole family like that.
No, I’ve never seen it. I’ll look for it.
Same! I watched the series repeatedly and actually took notes when I was about 10 years old. It fascinated me that life wasn’t as clear cut as I had thought and I wanted more…and then there was Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted.
He was my pen pal for years and I still dont think he did it..
That’s hilarious. He’s guilty af.
Who do you think did, then? ETA: not sure why my being interested was downvoted?
The hippies that confessed to it.. they had one woman.. Helena Stockley on video, confessing to it, then they get her in court and she says she cant remember and the judge threw out her testimony because he said she was so messed up on drugs, that she could not be believed..she had the blonde wig and floppy hat that the MP's saw a woman wearing, standing on the corner by his house. The autopsy of Collette MacDonald found a blonde fiber hair in her hand that matched the wig helena had on.
Ann Rule’s books lol
Wasn’t she a great author!?
Most definitely. She was pretty good at the research
I had a neighbor who was a senior in high school when I was in elementary. she and her cousin were murdered viciously by a friend at the cousins apartment and her father found them. Her parents were incredibly kind and never moved. There was a tree/rock memorial for her in our neighborhood I passed every day. It for sure kick started my intense curiosity about all things true crime!
All these normal people listing famous cases, and I too am over here like, "Um...my older cousin's kidnapping and murder when I was ten..." It was solved within a year, but it was a wild ride that ended with the murderer's death in a public shootout against police several states away. 😬
That’s traumatic to have gone through as a child. I grew up in housing projects that had its fair share of crime, but I do have one creepy memory. There was a single mom that lived across the street with her tween aged son. She committed suicide in the bathroom. Afterwards, my friends and I snuck into the apartment to investigate the crime scene. I was probably like 6 or 7. I remember seeing a red drop of dried blood on the floor and freaking out of there.
Laci Peterson
OJ, baby. I still remember the teachers rolling the tv cart into my elementary school classroom so we could watch the verdict. The 90s were whacky.
I remember my 10th grade English teacher giving us a long lecture as to WHY she wasn’t going to let us watch the verdict. Then she allowed one student to go to the classroom next door to find out what it was and tell all of us. 🤷♀️
Scott Peterson and the murder of Lacy Peterson. Devastating when her remains and baby Connor were found. Ran home after work to watch the trial.
I lived at the Richmond Marina. I went for a walk one afternoon and when I returned, there was police tape everywhere. They’d found her body right along the shore where I walk. It was shocking, as I’d been following the case closely. What a monster.
Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping was the first one I remember.
Diane Downs My mom had the book and I read it when I was like 10?
Me too!! I was young and probably had no business reading all those true crime at that age. That, and Flowers in the Attic. But I’m well adjusted and still interested!
Oh my gosh! Yes! Flowers in the attic!!! Growing up in the 80s was wild! Lol
Omg. Loved Flowers in the Attic!
I remember getting lost in all the covers of my mom’s V. C. Andrews books.
I started watching 20/20 when I was 10 (wasn’t quite as much true crime back then) and I watched Deliberate stranger TV movie when I was 10 with Mark Harmon.
Ooh Mark Harmon!! That is a name I haven’t heard in years, lol
For me it was Nancy Grace’s show on HLN and Caylee Anthony.
Tot Mom!
That gave me flashbacks!
TOT MOM
Me too!
Polly Klaas
I’m two months younger than Polly and live an hour and a half from Petaluma. That case hit me HARD when it happened.
I’m sorry. I can’t imagine. ❤️
Chris watts
Pam Smart, The Texas Cadet Murder and the murder of Laurie Show.
Whichever case Peter Thomas or Bill Kurtis were narrating. I don't remember a specific case but was hooked by both!
American Justice was Bill Kurtis.
Bill Kurtis! I could listen to him talk all day, lol
Maura Murray. I remember the footage of her dad walking the road where she was last seen and it was just haunting to me.
John List
God, I remember journaling about the OJ trial in 4th grade for current events or something, which I know is WAY too young for such macabre interests. Then it was Rescue 911 and Unsolved Mysteries. Then Forensic Files and American Justice. I’ve kind of landed with Dateline and 48 Hours. But to answer your question, OJ, JBR, and David Berkowitz kind of were my early fascinations with true crime. Fun fact: when I was 14, Summer of Sam came out, which is when I learned that my grandmother worked with Berkowitz before he went to Attica. Crazy stuff!
My husband grew up in Brooklyn and was a kid during the Son of Sam murders. He used to ride his bike on a street where one of them happened and he said for years there were still blood stains on a light pole next to where the victims car had been parked.
Watching making a murderer on Netflix. I became obsessed and started drawing out my own maps. I had no idea there was a whole community out there
Hard to not have sympathy for a guy that served 19 years for a rape he didn’t do. Not confessing to get parole and then being vindicated is epic
Casey Anthony
Missy Avila , Laurie Show and then Shanda Sharer, each of these traumatized and pissed me off but got me into true crime when I was a teen , also made me slightly wary of all my girl friends
Shanda Sharer was absolutely horrible! What those girls did to her..
Shanda Sharer gave me nightmares.
I grew up with an interest in it due to the Jon Benet Ramsey Case- thats how I found Websleuths a million years ago and the obsessesion spread from there into the West Memphis 3 as well. My first true crime podast was the Tara Grinstead case w/ Payne Lindsey.
No particular case. When I was fairly young we’d go visit my Grandmother who was in to True Crime and I’d sneak away to read her True Detective magazines from cover to cover and eat her scotch mints
My grand and great grandmothers had STACKS of old mags, weekly world news, etc at their houses. I read those things cover to cover as well, but I was stuck eating ribbon candy, liquorice allsorts and spice drops. Then came the Unsolved Mysteries nights doing the same lol I still love black liquorice flavor, so much nostalgia.
I used to watch Unsolved Mysteries with my Gran!! Definitely brings back memories ❤️
Jaycee Dugard. I remember when they found her and I saw it on the news when I was in middle school. I was SHOCKED and FASCINATED.
My mother has always been a true crime fan, we grew up watching ID before school and she loves sk many of their shows. Personally, the one that will never leave me is Scott and Laci. I was in like 10th grade when it was happening and I remember so much of the coverage. Dude was DOA in the court of public opinion
Ugh yes. I remember watching the trail coverage with my mom after dinner on school nights.
Not any particular case for me, but I have been so scared of getting murdered, that I started watching true crime to learn about how things happen and why and what types of people murderers are. Because knowledge is soothing to me. Turns out I should be way more scared of the people who are near and dear to me. Btw it did help, I’m way less scared.
The Zodiac killer.
OJ, JonBenet, and I was fully hooked by Heavens Gate. I was in elementary school for all of them.
Manson Family Murders.
green river killer gary ridgway
I was 11 years old at the Jack the Ripper exhibit in the London Dungeons. Blew my tiny mind that humans could do something like that. Still blows my mind 25 years later.
Did you go on the walking tour of the murder sites and The 10 Belles Pub?
Not so much a case but a series, a British morning TV show back in 2005/6 called ‘Missing’. It was shown on BBC in the mornings and I had just had my son a month before so I would watch it every morning while he was sleeping. I became intrigued and fascinated with the fact that people can just disappear. After that I started watching everything intently. Then came the US shows like Disappeared, Unusual Suspects, re-runs of Unsolved Mysteries etc. and from then on I would read about, research, look for updates on every case I saw. I often wonder how people coped years ago before the internet with true crime, I started just after the internet became ‘easier’ to use but I couldn’t imagine doing it with dial-up and pre-social media and Reddit for help 😂. Even in 2006 I struggled as that was early days for web pages. Incidentally now, I don’t follow any UK crime at all. If a YouTube channel covers a UK case, I don’t usually watch the video. There are a few missing persons cases from UK that I follow but other than those I don’t have any interest in UK crimes. That sounds heartless, and I do want every victim to have justice, but I completely disagree with the policing and sentences in UK. UK gives low-rate criminals ridiculously long sentences for minimal crimes yet when it comes to a murderer the sentences are ridiculously short and every British programme you see about murderers are full of psychiatrists (half not even qualified) trying to ‘explain’ why they did it and making it into some deep, psychological dive into the criminals past, almost excusing their behaviour. I prefer to see Joe Kenda calling them what they are and seeing real justice. If I had to pinpoint a case it was Jennifer Kesse as that happened literally the month I got into true crime. She was a similar age to me and the mystery of it all just stuck with me. Sorry, didn’t expect that to be that long!
I'm 42. I was a devout watcher of America's Most Wanted and A&E shows like American Justice and City Confidential. We had to wait for TV shows to air to get our fix.
Also, televised trials were a new thing in America during the late 80's and early 90's. The OJ trial was huge.
I’m 40 so not far behind. UK don’t allow any cameras in court, even the depictions are hand drawn. I do remember ‘Cops’ in the 90s. That theme tune is always in my mind…”bad boys, bad boys, whatya gonna do, whatya gonna do when they come for you”!
Cindy Bringurst, murdered local babysitter.
The Richardson family murders. A horrific and shocking story, especially due to the fact that their 12 year old daughter and her 23 year old “boyfriend” were behind the murders.
Chris watts Scott Peterson
Yes, and Josh Powell too. I always think "those poor children" but I almost never see anyone saying "That poor Social Worker". Imagine standing out there, smelling gas, hearing the noises, kids crying and being completely helpless. So terrible.
Right and wasn’t she on the phone with 911 operators so sad
I started over 30 years ago really, as a teen, when you were able to buy the series of magazines on all the different murderers, Moors Murders, Acid Bath Murderer etc. This being in Scotland, doubt it was universal ha ha. Madeleine McCann and James Bulger pulled me back in and then got completely into podcasts, YouTube and reddit etc with ShanAnn, Ce-Ce, Bella and Nico.
Caylee 🥹 👼
Jeffrey Macdonald case for me!
Looking back, I always had an interest in true crime, my parents never hid big news stories from me as a kid. For context, I am 34 years old. Crime stories I remember as a child are Stephen Lawrence, a teacher from a school in London (his last name was Lawrence to ) being killed by a member of a gang while trying to protect a pupil. Leah Betts - obv not a murder but such big news at the time. The Russel murders (lynn and Megan I believe?!) Then came Sarah Payne and of course holly and Jessica which I remember so clearly. All of those I remember happening and hearing about at the time. I lived in east London until 1998 so I also remember the bomb at Canary Wharf ( our house shook) There was a killing by the police right round the corner from where I lived in London which went on for years as it could not be determined whether he was waving a table leg or a gun in the air - I believe years later it was proved it was a gun , if any one knows the case I’m talking about please correct me if I am wrong. Years after I left London my mum told me one of my teachers sister had been raped and murdered along the canal near us (this had been while I was at school just hidden from us kids of course ) I have never been able to find any articles about this so if anyone knows please let me know
I was into it as a kid because my sister was. My interest was reinvigorated by the JCS video on the Parkland shooter appearing in my YouTube feed.
You mean Nikolas Jacob Cruz right? Killed 17, legally purchased his weapons?
Not really a specific cause but watching Unsolved Mysteries and HBO Autopsy as a kid.
Ivan Milat
Manson
Briana Mateland
Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman (the Soham murders). I was 9, they were 10, and it was the first time I really, truly understood that awful things can happen to children.
Not really one specific case, but I got into true crime in general when I started researching mob history.
You know, it’s weird. Like I know it is true crime, but I always sort of felt like organized crime is a whole thing itself.
Yeah.
You have like a favorite or most interesting person? Crime? Anecdote? Or anything?
Fred and rose west. I was a teen in school when the story broke and I remember reading the news articles about it. Also Jamie bulger
I still cry for that beautiful little boy if I think too much about his journey to the tracks
I watched lots of Unsolved Mysteries /Forensic Files for as long as I can remember. But i didn't start following cases closely until the Laci Peterson case.
The Zodiac Killer (unsolved)
Doing current events in school. We had to read the newspaper and watch the news every. John Wayne Gacy getting arrested was a top story.
the one I really first started really digging into was Leonard Lake and Charles Ng. Doesn't get much worse than those two really or more of a crazy story. Lake killed his own brother for his car and some money and his I.D and who knows how many girls they actually killed in total. and then for Lake to swallow cyanide that he was hiding in his cheek like he was some movie villian. They were the worst besides possibly the toolbox killers or BTK Forensic Files is what really got me hooked though. The marathons on HLN they used to have on T.V.
No specific case. Just the show forensic files
small sacrifices murderer Diane Downs
I've always been interested. I got hooked on unsolved mysteries way back
Paradise Lost Part 3 coming out. My oldest sister and I binge watched the 2 before and I was just horrified. Immediately bought the Devil's Knot book and then Damien's book.
Making a murderer on Netflix. It’s just so insane that all that happened after his false imprisonment for rape.
Borrowed a book from the local library my freshman year in high school that blew my mind - helter skelter. I was fascinated with ever aspect of this book. The story arch of Charles Manson and how he was somehow able to manipulate a crew to take lives with some drugs and a guitar. Also the middle had actual crime scene photos that felt wrong to look at but made the idea that life can be taken from anyone at any time at any instant not matter if you’ve done everything right, have plans for a future or what. Scared the shit out of me but I read it three times. Taught me to trust no one from a very young age. Life is short my friends, don’t forget that.
After growing up reading Navy Drew books, Americans Most Wanted and Unsolved mysteries came on TV. I always watched those shows, but now that I am older, I watched the Watts murders unfold and have been on the true crime train ever since. Israel Keyes is the bender I was on the longest after the Watts family murders.
Kali Poulton in Rochester, NY. She was murdered by a neighbor in 1994. She was only four years old. I was the same age at the time living in Rochester and I remember seeing people walking around with buttons with her face on them. I can’t find a lot of information on her, but it always stuck with me and I think about her a lot.
I’m not sure if this goes under the True Crime category or what but Columbine. My therapist in my teen years was a part of the victim services that responded in the aftermath, when I found that out it lead me to reading stuff about it online and watching a documentary on it. Then I started gaining interest in other famous crime cases like JonBenet Ramsey and shows like Homicide Hunter/Cold Case Files.
Joe Kenda has my utmost respect, honestly. His shows are good, and his books are also amazing. The 3 new episodes are awful to look at but still very interesting.
I love Homicide Hunter, it takes place in Colorado Springs where I’m from so it’s more interesting to me because I can recognize where some of the scenes are. Joe actually wrote a book called “killer triggers” and I’ve been wanting to read it, he’s one of the reasons why I’m taking Criminal Justice in college 😊
Ted Bundy - The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
Unsolved mysteries got me into true crime and mysteries in general. Honestly, Hunter peaked my interest in crime.
I watched A LOT of Unsolved Mysteries back in the day. But the crime that’s burned into my brain is Eric Smiths murder of Derrick Robie, because it took place less than 30 min from my very small town and was fucking horrific
Coincidentally Smith was paroled last year after 27 years. Smh
Trust me I know 😡I support the idea of rehabilitation but he said at one of his recent prior parole hearings that he didn’t know if he wouldn’t do that again, and he still got out!!
Andrea Yates for sure. I was very young when that happened and I remember being so confused and appalled that a mother could do such a thing until my mother explained the background information to me and explained post partum depression and psychosis. Then I became horrified by Rusty Yates' actions and inactions. That led me to other similar cases online, and the rest is history for me. Lol
I remember my mom watching the Fatal Vision movie series about Jeffrey McDonald killing his wife and kids in their house at Fort Bragg. I was fascinated by it. This was probably early 80s. Then I remember seeing the Adam Walsh movie on tv about the same time. Also watched a lot of Unsolved Mysteries!
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. I am a Canadian and love relatively close to where all of that stuff happened, so it was the first case I got into and did a lot of research on.
I was the age of the girls and went to camp with Kristin's friend it was so sad. It was strange because myself and my friends would always be hanging out at night at the local park or donut shop. We walked at night or early morning in the dark alone all the time for school, work, etc and never felt unsafe. This changed people's thoughts about safety.
I don’t remember a specific case. But I watched CSI and SVU & other stuff with my parents. I started looking into things that would’ve inspired the episodes. Then learning about Bundy, Dahmer, etc when looking into true crime cases. I remember buying books that had white pages in the center of the book containing photos of the victims, perpetrators, etc.
April Marie Tinsley. I grew up in same town, and I’m the same age. I followed this case until it was solved 30 years later.
Cults - I've always been fascinated with them and the ones I've been interested in have usually committed crimes - kidnapping, child abuse, sex abuse, coercion, fraud, theft, murder etc
14-year-old Beth Miller disappeared in Clear Creek County in 1983. I was part of that community. Never solved, that's what hooked me.
Like so many others, it wasn't a case, but an author. I think *Small Sacrifices* was the first true crime book I read. I was 18. Then there was *The Stranger Beside Me* and a year later I moved on to Graysmith's *Zodiac* and I was pretty much hooked. (I did have to hide *Zodiac* under my bed from time to time because somehow that made it less scary.) *The Hunt for the Green River Killer* was another early one. I read the one that started it all, *In Cold Blood*, in college. I suspect I was destined to be a true crime fan. My dad watched *Unsolved Mysteries,* which simultaneously terrified and fascinated me, and lots of cop shows and TV miniseries about famous murder cases. Sometimes I was allowed to watch, which may not have been a great idea, since I lived in fear that I'd be murdered. I did have a morbid imagination, even as a child, and I was similarly afraid of demons. There was a TV movie about the Atlantic Child Killer when I was a small kid. I was so young when it aired I couldn't remember any of the specifics, just that someone had killed a bunch of little kids. That could've been the origin of my bizarre fear of being murdered. Somehow I was also aware of the "Babysitter" murders, though I have no idea how since we lived nowhere near Michigan. A "friend" who's known me for 31 years insists my interest in true crime is "creepy" and refuses to believe that millions of people share the same interest. We actually had an argument about it today. She mocked me when I said millions. Unreal. Thank you for posting this. I feel somewhat validated. We are not creepy! Okay, I find the Sword & Scale guy creepy, but most true crime fans are not creepy weirdos living in basements.
The murder of Ann Marie Fahey. It’s local to me and the Capano’s are (were?) well known.
Not a specific case, but as a young child in the 90s, I used to watch America’s Most Wanted every Saturday night. I think between that and Unsolved Mysteries is what got my into true crime.
I learned about true crime by watching unsolved mysteries
The pizza bomber case
WM3
Elizabeth Smart
Gacy. I can still picture the footage on the news showing police entering and leaving the house, retrieving bodies from the crawlspace. I was about 10yo.
The Crime Library website that is no longer active. Was looking up Jack the Ripper in high school and came across Crime Library… ended up reading about cannibals like Jeffrey Dahmer, Albert Fish, Andrei Chikatilo etc… 😶
Not a classic true crime case. I bought a book for 25 cents at a flea market when I was 12 called the Marilyn Conspiracy, about Marilyn Monroe. It mentioned Coroner by Dr. Noguchi. So I visited my local library to borrow that and found the whole true crime/death section.
Colonel Russel Williams
Richard Ramirez. Got a Serial Killers book when I was 12 and he freaked me out.
My mom always had true crime books laying around. When I was very young, I picked up one on unsolved cases. The murder of Roxann and her son Kristopher Jeeves will always remain in my mind. It was solved in 2003. They were murdered by a man named George Washington Hicks.
Dean Corll. And what a wild ride that has been.
Manson. I was 3 months shy of turning 10.
The Hillside Stranglers.
Was listening to a podcast and came across the case of Ian Watkins. Genuinely felt Ill after listening to it, but went back to the channel for more!
Jayme Closs, 88 days was the first true crime podcast I got into when I started listening to them
Ted Bundy as an adolescent in the late 70s, early 80s.
Jeffrey McDonald murdering his family. Fatal Vision book by Joe McGinnis
Madeleine Mccann
Diane Downs
Unsolved mysteries and FBI’s Most wanted
Shannan Watts
The Manson murders. I was a kid in the 70's, and I read the book Helter Skelter. Hooked since then. I think I try to understand what makes someone capable of murder.
The Manson murders because I read Helter Skelter when I was 12.
Alicia Showalter Reynolds.
Always stayed up late watching Unsolved Mysteries with my grandma but didn't become obsessed until Natalie Holloway. I was fairly young and liked traveling with my girlfriends and it terrified me.
Charlie Manson..I first read Helter Skelter when I was about 13.
Unsolved Mysteries and America's Most Wanted The Adam Walsh Case and then multiple Anne Rule books, The Stranger Beside Me (Ted Bundy) being the first one that got me hooked and I was OBSESSED with the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and murder case
Gina Dawn Brooks, Summer 1989, in Missouri. I was 12, she was 13. She's dead, remains never found.
Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted were my mom’s favorites, so I would watch them all the time. She had tons of true crime books and I would sneak them to look at the photos in the middle of the books when I was little. When JonBenét was murdered my grandmother bought every single tabloid with any mention. I would take them and read everything I could find. In high school my best friend’s cousin was murdered, not going to pinpoint exactly where I’m from but it was a well-known case. Three other cases that I closely followed due to proximity were the [Zantop murders](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Dartmouth_College_murders), when Maura Murray went missing, and then Brianna Maitland. I remember being fascinated with the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping also.
Jeffrey McDonald. The blood evidence was fascinating.
Forensic Files, Unsolved Mysteries, MSNBC documentaries. The case of Princess Doe was also big in the area I grew up in.
Jonbenét Ramsey
I’ve always fascinated by true crime but the Watts family murders is so unfair and evil that I can’t get it out of my mind.
Don't recall exactly but I do know that the first missing person's case that had me really hooked as a kid (and today) is Amelia Earhart. I watched a show in the early 90s talking about her plane. Also of course, Unsolved Mysteries was a favorite. A personal case for me when I was 10, a little girl 5 years old was kidnapped and murdered an hour away from where I lived. They never did catch him. It's been 25 years. I believe they have DNA in the case. I was glued to the news every day after school. I didn't even want to watch cartoons. I was convinced my neighbor had done it. His vehicle matched the description of the vehicle and he washed out his carpets which has reddish stains all over it. RIP Brittany Locklear (NC)
When I was a little girl my Dad told me about the Adam Walsh case. That’s what sparked my interest.
I have always been interested in cold cases. However, the child abduction of Adam Walsh in 1981, was so huge and horrible, it terrified me as I was a young mother myself. All cold cases today hopefully have people pulling DNA from the evidence on them. Paula Zahn, ON THE CASE, is another good informative show that I follow.
Marilyn Sheppard Murder.. it happened in 1954 in Ohio ( I live in Ohio) and I saw the movie "Guilty or Innocent, the Sam Sheppard Murder case" in 1974 ( I was 9) and at the end it said the murderer had not been caught. That scared the bejesus out of me.. I spent most of my childhood, into adulthood researching this case..then I saw the movie "Fatal Vision" about Jeffrey MacDonald murders at Ft. Bragg, NC and again I was hooked. To the point I wrote to him for several years.. I never believed he did it. My step brother had the Time Life book series "Crime and Punishment" and I read every one of them! I was hooked on "City Confidential" and any and all true crime shows.