THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Jun 6, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic
The Economist
The Economist
24 Jun 2024


NextImg:True-crime fans are banding together online to try to solve cases
United States | Forensic fandom

True-crime fans are banding together online to try to solve cases

Yikes

|NASHVILLE

It is 9am on a Sunday and Liz is trying to figure out who did it. Specifically: who killed this guy splayed across the floor? In her day job Liz is a massage therapist, but today she is a homicide detective—or rather she is cosplaying one. Wearing blue latex gloves she prods a blood-soaked mannequin by her feet, part of a crime-scene simulation at CrimeCon, a convention for true-crime fans. Liz came to learn from the experts. They start with the basics: it is blood spatter, not splatter.

At CrimeCon there are panels on topics ranging from sextortion to forensic entomology (“beetles feed on dry remains”, “moths are not predacious”). There are sessions dedicated to famous cold cases and meet-and-greets with authors and podcasters. There is merch for sale: pepper spray, stun guns, cocktail covers to guard against date rape. And there are lots of other enthusiasts to befriend. “It’s not a celebration of crime, it’s a learning of crime,” says Liz’s friend. Except everyone does seem to be having a very good time.

Explore more

Are America’s leading presidential candidates up to it?

Americans are worryingly unconfident in the sanity of the two men

America is educating a nation of investors

Encouraged by research, more states are requiring schools to teach personal finance


Lauren Boebert’s primary is a window into everyday Trumpism

Republican primary voters’ favourite thing is anything that horrifies Democrats


Are America’s leading presidential candidates up to it?

Americans are worryingly unconfident in the sanity of the two men

America is educating a nation of investors

Encouraged by research, more states are requiring schools to teach personal finance


Lauren Boebert’s primary is a window into everyday Trumpism

Republican primary voters’ favourite thing is anything that horrifies Democrats


New research exposes the role of women in America’s slave trade

In the bondage of others they saw their freedom