Laci Denise Peterson was an American woman murdered by her husband, Scott Lee Peterson, while eight months pregnant with their first child. Laci disappeared on December 24, 2002, from the couple's home in Modesto, California, after which Scott reported her missing. Her remains and those of her unborn son, whom the couple had planned to name Conner, were discovered in April 2003 on the shores of San Francisco Bay. Subsequently, Scott was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. In November 2004, he was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Laci and the second-degree murder of the infant.
The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 is a United States law that recognizes an embryo or fetus in utero as a legal victim, if they are injured or killed during the commission of any of over 60 listed federal crimes of violence. The law defines "child in utero" as "a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb."
Dean George Cain is an American actor. From 1993 to 1997, he played Clark Kent / Superman in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Cain was the host of Ripley's Believe It or Not! and appeared in the sports drama series Hit the Floor.
Roark Grant Critchlow is a Canadian actor. He is known for starring as Dr. Mike Horton on the American daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives from 1994 to 1999.
Lori Kay Soares Hacking was a teacher who was murdered by her husband Mark Douglas Hacking in 2004 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was reported missing by her husband, and the search gained national attention before her husband confessed to the crime.
Sarah Joy Brown, sometimes credited simply as Sarah Brown, is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for originating the role of Carly Corinthos on the American daytime drama General Hospital from 1996 to 2001. For the role, she won three Daytime Emmy Awards. In 2008, she returned to General Hospital in a different role, Claudia Zacchara. She exited General Hospital once again in 2009 and began appearing on The Bold and the Beautiful in the newly created role of Aggie Jones.
Hardboiled fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction. The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence of organized crime that flourished during Prohibition (1920–1933) and its aftermath, while dealing with a legal system that has become as corrupt as the organized crime itself. Rendered cynical by this cycle of violence, the detectives of hardboiled fiction are often antiheroes. Notable hardboiled detectives include Dick Tracy, Philip Marlowe, Nick Charles, Mike Hammer, Sam Spade, Lew Archer, Slam Bradley, and The Continental Op.
Hunter is an American crime drama television series created by Frank Lupo, which ran on NBC from September 18, 1984, to April 26, 1991. It stars Fred Dryer as Sergeant Rick Hunter and Stepfanie Kramer as Sergeant Dee Dee McCall. The title character Sgt. Rick Hunter is a wily, physically imposing, often rule-breaking homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Big Combo is a 1955 American crime film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis, written by Philip Yordan and photographed by cinematographer John Alton, with music by David Raksin. The film stars Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte and Brian Donlevy, as well as Jean Wallace, who was Wilde's wife at the time. The supporting cast features Lee Van Cleef, Earl Holliman and the final screen appearance of actress Helen Walker.
The Queen Victoria is the Victorian public house in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. It has the fictional address of 46 Albert Square, Walford, London E20.
LaToyia Figueroa was an American woman of African-American and Hispanic descent who was murdered in 2005. Figueroa, who was five months pregnant at the time, was reported missing on July 18, 2005 after she failed to show up to work. She was later found strangled to death after being featured on America's Most Wanted.
Mildred Pierce is a 1945 American melodrama/film noir directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, and Zachary Scott, also featuring Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, and Bruce Bennett. Based on the 1941 novel by James M. Cain, this was Crawford's first starring role for Warner Bros., after leaving Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1996, Mildred Pierce was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress National Film Registry.
Thomas Patrick O'Brien has been an American actor since the age of sixteen, having first trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where he appeared in ACT's mainstage productions of The Holdup; and A Midsummer Night's Dream as Puck, opposite Annette Bening.
Dan Cashman was an American actor.
A Dangerous Profession is a 1949 American film noir directed by Ted Tetzlaff, written by Warren Duff and Martin Rackin, and starring George Raft, Ella Raines, and Pat O'Brien. The supporting cast features Jim Backus.
The Living Ghost is a 1942 American mystery-drama film directed by William Beaudine and produced by Monogram Pictures. Starring James Dunn and Joan Woodbury, the film incorporates elements of the horror genre as it follows an ex-private detective who is called in to investigate why a banker has turned into a zombie. As the detective shares wisecracks with the banker's cheeky secretary, the two fall in love. The film was distributed in the United Kingdom under the title Lend Me Your Ear, and later released on home video as A Walking Nightmare.
A Lovely Way to Die is a 1968 American crime neo noir directed by David Lowell Rich and starring Kirk Douglas, Sylva Koscina, Eli Wallach and Kenneth Haigh.
Under Cover of Night is a 1937 American mystery action film directed by George B. Seitz, written by Bertram Millhauser, and starring Edmund Lowe, Florence Rice, Nat Pendleton, Henry Daniell, Sara Haden and Dean Jagger. It was released on January 8, 1937, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Wolves at the Door is a 2016 American horror film directed by John R. Leonetti and written by Gary Dauberman. The film is loosely based on the murder of Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of Roman Polanski, and her friends in 1969 by members of the Manson Family, and, though not considered an installment in the franchise, takes place within The Conjuring Universe. The cast features Katie Cassidy, Elizabeth Henstridge, Adam Campbell and Miles Fisher as four friends who are stalked and murdered by a group of intruders at a farewell party, with Eric Ladin reprising his role as Detective Clarkin from Leonetti's 2014 film Annabelle.
