Investigating true crime stories; Behind the mind of a killer

    There is a select audience that can handle the stories of the most spine-chilling individuals who only come out at night. But there are a few people in NH who enjoy the studies behind the most cold-blooded killers who make you lock your doors at night.

     Science teacher Mrs. Kristian Jones-Knoll, is a part of the audience who finds herself watching true crime shows to pass time. Jones-Knoll claimed she, “enjoy[s] watching TV shows that show serial killers and murder stories just to see the psychology behind their actions.” 

     Senior Hannah Holcombe finds, “the role detectives play in true crime stories is the most interesting.” She stated that it is, “fascinating and honestly impressive the way they think and how they work through the puzzle of solving the crime.” 

     Some of her favorite shows to watch include, “some forensic shows like Criminal Minds and the 1st 48.” She explained that some of these criminals get away with their crimes, “because a lot of them are highly intelligent.” Senior Claire Priebe also claimed it can be hard to catch the killer because, “the case cannot always be solved and there’s a lot of factors that go into solving the crime.”

     Jones-Knoll said her Forensic students can learn many of the skills displayed in crime show by, “practicing solving murder mystery cases in class and watching crime shows.” Some skills they have gained from these cases according to Priebe are, “identifying different kinds of evidence and which is more reliable.” 

     Priebe also explained how they do things like “practicing fingerprinting,” which is how a crime is sometimes traced back to the culprit. When solving a case there can be many factors that go into understanding the events that led up to the scandal, Priebe says, “investigators will use specific evidence called individual patterns.” 

      What scares Jones-Knolls the most about true crime stories because she thinks, “it’s very scary that some people lack empathy and are capable of that kind of stuff.” Priebe says the most chilling stories are the ones where, “the woman is the murderer because that is not very common, it’s usually a man. It is so shocking and unexpected.” 

     The story Jones-Knoll finds the most interesting is the story behind American serial killer, “Jeffery Dohmer.” According to the science teacher, the 1990s criminal took, “over 13 years to catch.”

     One story that haunts Jones-Knoll is the story, “of the beltway sniper in 2002.” According to an article about the criminals, during the month of October, “ten people had been randomly gunned down and three critically injured while going about their everyday lives.”

     After “23 days of killing in the Washington D.C. area, John Muhammad and Lee Malvo were captured.” The reason this case resonated with Jones-Knoll is because, “it happened around Maryland, and it took multiple police departments to catch the killers.” 

     A true crime story that surprised Holcombe the most was, “a woman who befriended

her victims and then murdered them before stealing their identities.”