Brandon Teena was an American transgender man who was raped and later, along with Phillip DeVine and Lisa Lambert, murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska, by John Lotter and Tom Nissen. His life and death were the subject of the films The Brandon Teena Story and Boys Don't Cry.
Laci Denise Peterson was an American woman murdered by her husband, Scott Lee Peterson, while eight months pregnant with their first child. She disappeared in 2002, from the couple's home in Modesto, California, after which Scott reported her missing. The next year, her remains and those of her unborn son, whom the couple had planned to name Conner, were discovered on the shores of San Francisco Bay; subsequently, Scott was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. In 2004, Scott was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Laci and the second-degree murder of Conner.
Boys Don't Cry is a 1999 American biographical film directed by Kimberly Peirce, and co-written by Peirce and Andy Bienen. The film is a dramatization of the real-life story of Brandon Teena, an American trans man who attempts to find himself and love in Nebraska but falls victim to a brutal hate crime perpetrated by two male acquaintances. The film co-stars Chloë Sevigny as Brandon's girlfriend, Lana Tisdel.
Michael Iver Peterson is an American novelist who was convicted in 2003 of murdering his second wife, Kathleen Peterson, on December 9, 2001. After eight years, Peterson was granted a new trial after the judge ruled a critical prosecution witness gave misleading testimony. In 2017, Peterson submitted an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. He was sentenced to time already served and freed.
Jack Leon Gordon, also known as Samuel Isaac Gordon and Clifford William Johnson, was an American businessman and entertainment manager. Gordon was the manager and husband of American singer–songwriter La Toya Jackson. Gordon also served as the manager of American tabloid subject later turned porn actor John Wayne Bobbitt. Gordon died of cancer on April 19, 2005, at age 65.
The Staircase is a 2004 French-produced, English-language documentary television miniseries directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade about the trial of Michael Peterson, convicted of murdering his wife, Kathleen Peterson.
Shanda Renée Sharer was an American girl who was tortured and burned to death in Madison, Indiana, by four teenage girls. She was 12 years old at the time of her death. The crime attracted international attention due to both its brutality and the young age of the perpetrators, who were aged between 15 and 17 years old. The case was covered on national news and talk shows and has inspired a number of episodes on fictional crime shows.
The Staircase Murders is a 2007 Lifetime television film directed by Tom McLoughlin and starring Treat Williams, Samaire Armstrong, and Kevin Pollak. Based on Aphrodite Jones' book A Perfect Husband, the film was written by Jones and Donald Martin.
Diane Dimond is an American investigative journalist, author, syndicated columnist, and TV commentator.
Stacy Dittrich, a former police detective from Ohio, is an American mystery novelist and true crime author.
Edward Wayne Edwards was an American serial killer and former fugitive. Edwards escaped from jail in Akron, Ohio, in 1955 and fled across the country, holding up gas stations. By 1961, he was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
Della Faye "Dante" Sutorius was an American woman who was convicted of murdering her husband in 1996.
In 2009, Bernice Novack and her son, Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel heir Ben Novack Jr., were murdered three months apart. Narcy Novack, Ben's estranged wife was convicted of orchestrating the murders, and after a highly publicized trial was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jill Lonita Coit is an American convicted murderer. A con artist and serial bigamist who has been married 11 times to nine different men since 1961, Coit was convicted of killing her eighth husband in 1993 and is also suspected of killing her third husband in 1972. Coit is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility.
Making a Murderer is an American true crime documentary television series written and directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. The show tells the story of Steven Avery, a man from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who served 18 years in prison (1985–2003) after his wrongful conviction for the sexual assault and attempted murder of Penny Beerntsen. He was later charged with and convicted of the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach. The connected story is that of Avery's nephew Brendan Dassey, who was accused and convicted as an accessory in the murder of Halbach.
Mindhunter is an American psychological crime thriller television series created by Joe Penhall, based on the 1995 true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The series debuted in 2017 and ran for two seasons. Executive producers included Penhall, Charlize Theron, and David Fincher, the latter of whom served as the series' most frequent director and de facto showrunner, overseeing many of the scriptwriting and production processes. The series stars Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, and Anna Torv, and follows the founding of the Behavioral Science Unit in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the late 1970s and the beginning of criminal profiling.
The Brandon Teena Story is a 1998 American documentary film directed by Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir. The documentary features interviews with many of the people involved with the 1993 murder of Brandon Teena as well as archive footage of Teena. After its theatrical release, it aired on Cinemax as part of its Reel Life series.
Randall Sullivan is an American author and journalist who has also worked as a screenwriter, film and television producer and on-camera television personality.
Susan Smith was an American FBI informant. She was strangled by her handler and lover, FBI agent Mark Putnam – the first FBI agent to be charged in a homicide.
The Staircase is an American biographical crime drama television miniseries created by Antonio Campos, based on the 2004 true crime docuseries of the same name created by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. The series stars Colin Firth as Michael Peterson, a writer convicted of murdering his wife Kathleen Peterson, who was found dead at the bottom of the staircase in their home. The series premiered on HBO Max on May 5, 2022.
