Murder Porn
By: Carole Olsen
Tags: Murder Shows, Humor, Addiction, Crime Prevention

My Obsession With Watching Murder Shows Becomes Uncovered.

While other people are watching talk shows, game shows, and so-called reality shows, my mind’s desire for entertainment are real-life crime solving shows. About ten years ago, I just happened to stumble upon the Criminal ID channel. Soon, I was sitting through shows of real-life murders where victims lost their lives over money, sex, love triangles, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This deadly lottery is not one you have to play to become prey.

When I first started watching these shows, my husband sat next to me quite uncomfortably, during the episodes where the subject was a wife murdering a husband. I reassured him that I wasn’t taking notes for his demise: He didn’t have enough life insurance and the idea of having an affair at my age sounded too exhausting. I went on to tell him that buying arsenic could be easily traced through credit card receipts and that forensic science was a lot smarter than I was. At first, this didn’t put his mind at ease but eventually he understood my sick fascination of these shows and became a fellow chair detective.

So now, we view the tv screen and predict who the murderer is. We have come to some conclusions after watching these shows for quite a while: Most drownings in bath tubs are usually not caused by an unfortunate fall, but by a deviant spouse who feels his mate should sacrifice her life for his cash advantage. Sometimes there is a lover involved. The drowning can avoid a messy divorce. A defense attorney that proclaims: “He might be a cheater but that doesn’t make him a murderer,” is usually wrong. It gives both of us such pleasure to have a sharp detective or forensic evidence reveal the slime bag.

We are both amused by the stupidity of some murderers. For example, a person who says that their spouse committed suicide; only to find the gun in the victim’s left hand of a right-handed person or two shots to the head when the victim would have been incapable of delivering the second blow.

Our dirty little secret of watching these shows was uncovered when our friend Dave came by to visit one day. We were in the middle of watching Detective Joe Kenda, The Homicide Hunter when he entered the room: “You’re into Murder Porn!” Dave looking at the screen had us pegged. Using the porn word made me feel just a bit shameful, but I soon understood what he meant: We were addicted to this morbid form of entertainment. Dave confessed he was an addict too, pulled up a chair, and we all watched Joe Kenda solve another crime in Colorado Springs. We all have a secret desire to travel out west and meet Joe someday- he’s definitely our hero.

My fascination with murder solving has lead to reading many books about it. My favorite is The Murder Room by Michael Capuzzo. This book centers around The Vidocq Society, a crime solving group that meets every third Thursday of the month in Philadelphia. It is named after Eugene Francois Vidocq, a 19th century French detective who helped police by using psychology of the criminal mind to solve cold case homicides. Founded in 1990, the Vidocq Society was formed by members who are forensic professionals: FBI profilers, homicide investigators, scientists, psychologists, and coroners who come together to provide justice for victims whose cases have gone cold.

The original members were able to catch the infamous John List, a New Jersey accountant who murdered his mother, wife and children, then vanished. Through criminal profiling and a head sculpture of an older John List, he was identified by someone after a viewing of the bust on America’s Most Wanted. The profilers predicted that List probably lived within 300 miles of the original crime. This proved to be true after his capture in Midlothian, Virginia.

All this fascination with crime does not outweigh the shock I have about it. How does one person rectify taking another’s life? How do these evil individuals live with themselves? Watching and reading about these crimes have taught me that anything can happen to anyone, anywhere. I shudder to think of what evil lurks out there, especially when those most dear to me are subject to such prey.

I just told my granddaughter, who is in college about a campus training program called RAD: Rape Aggressive Defense Training, which is available through the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Police. The course teaches awareness, prevention, and risk reduction of rape and violence. I stressed how important it was to look into this program which would be a real eye opener for her and her friends- safeguarding her surroundings without living in the state of fear. That is all we can ever hope for.