The Murder Tapes
Season 5 ID (*171) 21:00 True Crime
The Murder Tapes is back in graphic and violent detail. Detectives and forensic specialists provide first-hand counts as they recall some of the worst murder cases they’ve investigated and how they managed to hunt down the killers and sent them to prison. “It’s a scary world we live in, and realising that we’re in the same space as these monsters is terrifying,” says narrator Dave DeAndrea.
The reason for the show’s popularity despite its grisly subject matter is something Dave doesn’t quite understand. “I’ve been told that we – humans – have a fascination with things that are out of our normal lives, things that are strange to us. And murder is certainly strange, because a sane person doesn’t wake up and decide to shoot someone dead.” But that’s the kind of thing the show investigates – abnormal behaviour by people who make headlines for the wrong reason: Grievous crimes.
The show has also worked out a series of checkpoints they go through to make sure they tell stories as well as possible. “We get a list of everyone involved with the cases, from the first police officers on the scene, right through to the pathologists who conduct autopsies. If one of them refuses to talk to us, we scrap that case, even if it’s heart-wrenching and tragic. We want the full story and we go all-out to tell the victim’s tale and bring some closure to their families who are also interviewed,” says Dave.
Choosing which murders to investigate is one of the hardest parts though – because there are so many. “We’ve had people write into the show for a few seasons already,” says Dave, adding, “It’s difficult to say no to some of them as it’s a tragedy and you’re unable to help. Sometimes we want to help but we just can’t get all the info we need, and that hurts us as a team too.”