Curse of the Pharaohs

The curse of the pharaohs or the mummy's curse or the Curse of King Tut is a curse alleged to be cast upon anyone who disturbs the mummy of an ancient Egyptian, especially a pharaoh. This curse, which does not differentiate between thieves and archaeologists, is claimed to cause bad luck, illness, or death. Since the mid-20th century, many authors and documentaries have argued that the curse is 'real' in the sense of having scientifically explicable causes such as bacteria, fungi or radiation. However, the modern origins of Egyptian mummy curse tales, their development primarily in European cultures, the shift from magic to science to explain curses, and their changing uses—from condemning disturbance of the dead to entertaining horror film audiences—suggest that Egyptian curses are primarily a cultural, not scientific, phenomenon.

There are occasional instances of genuine ancient curses appearing inside or on the façade of a tomb, as in the case of the mastaba of Khentika Ikhekhi of the 6th Dynasty at Saqqara. These appear to be directed towards the ka priests to protect the tomb carefully and preserve its ritual purity rather than as a warning for potential robbers. There had been stories of curses going back to the 19th century, but they multiplied after Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Despite popular misconceptions, no curse was found inscribed in the Pharaoh's tomb. The evidence for curses relating to Tutankhamun is considered to be so meager that Donald B. Redford called it "unadulterated claptrap".

Tomb curses

Curses relating to tombs are extremely rare, possibly because the idea of such desecration was unthinkable and even dangerous to record. They most frequently occur in private tombs of the Old Kingdom era. The tomb of Ankhtifi (9–10th dynasty) contains the warning: "any ruler who... shall do evil or wickedness to this coffin... may Hemen (a local deity) not accept any goods he offers, and may his heir not inherit". The tomb of Khentika Ikhekhi (6th dynasty) contains an inscription: "As for all men who shall enter this my tomb... impure... there will be judgment... an end shall be made for him... I shall seize his neck like a bird... I shall cast the fear of myself into him".

The only known pharaonic curse found from the Old Kingdom was in the Pyramid of Pepi I where one of the passages of the Pyramid Texts gives the warning to anyone who disturbs the tomb: "He who shall give his finger against this pyramid and this god's enclosure of Pepi and of his ka, he has given his finger against Horus’s Enclosure in the Cool Waters. Nephthys shall traverse for him every place of his [father] Geb. His case has been heard by the Ennead and he has nothing, he has no house. He is one accursed, he is one who eats his own body."

Curses after the Old Kingdom era are less common though more severe, sometimes invoking the ire of Thoth or the destruction of Sekhemet.[4] Zahi Hawass quotes an example of a post-Old Kingdom curse: "Cursed be those who disturb the rest of a Pharaoh. They that shall break the seal of this tomb shall meet death by a disease that no doctor can diagnose."

Modern accounts

Hieroglyphs were not deciphered until the early 19th century, so reports of curses before this are simply perceived bad luck associated with the handling of mummies and other artifacts from tombs. In 1699, Louis Penicher wrote an account in which he recorded how a Polish traveler bought two mummies in Alexandria and embarked on a sea journey with the mummies in the cargo hold. The traveler was alarmed by recurring visions of two specters, and the stormy seas did not abate until the mummies were thrown overboard.

Zahi Hawass recalled that, as a young archaeologist excavating at Kom Abu Billo, he had to transport several artifacts from the Greco-Roman site. He states that his cousin died on that day, that his uncle died on its first anniversary, and that on the third anniversary, his aunt died. Years later, when he excavated the tombs of the builders of the pyramids at Giza, he encountered the curse: "All people who enter this tomb who will make evil against this tomb and destroy it may the crocodile be against them in water, and snakes against them on land. May the hippopotamus be against them in water, the scorpion on land." Though claiming not to be superstitious, Hawass decided not to disturb the mummies. However, he also claims he was later involved in the removal of two child mummies from Bahariya Oasis to a museum and reported that he was haunted by the children in his dreams – a phenomenon which he claims did not stop until the mummy of the father was reunited with the children in the museum.

The idea of a mummy reviving from the dead, an essential element of many mummy curse tales, was developed in The Mummy!: Or a Tale of the Twenty-Second Century, an early work combining science fiction and horror, written by Jane C. Loudon and published anonymously in 1827. Louisa May Alcott was thought by Dominic Montserrat to have been the first to use a fully formed "mummy curse" plot in her 1869 story Lost in a Pyramid, or The Mummy's Curse, a hitherto forgotten piece of mummy fiction that he rediscovered in the late 1990s. However, two stories subsequently discovered by S. J. Wolfe, Robert Singerman and Jasmine Day – The Mummy’s Soul (Anonymous, 1862) and After Three Thousand Years (Jane G. Austin, 1868) – have similar plots, in which a female mummy takes magical revenge upon her male desecrator. Jasmine Day, therefore, argues that the modern European concept of curses is based upon an analogy between desecration of tombs and rape, interpreting early curse fiction as proto-feminist narratives authored by women. The Anonymous and Austin stories predate Alcott's piece, raising the possibility that even earlier "lost" mummy curse prototype fiction awaits rediscovery.

Opening of Tutankhamun's tomb

The belief in a curse was brought to many people's attention due to the deaths of a few members of Howard Carter's team and other prominent visitors to the tomb shortly thereafter. Carter's team opened the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62) in 1922, launching the modern era of Egyptology.

The famous Egyptologist James Henry Breasted worked with Carter soon after the first opening of the tomb. He reported how Carter sent a messenger on an errand to his house. On approaching his home the messenger thought he heard a "faint, almost human cry". Upon reaching the entrance he saw the birdcage occupied by a cobra, the symbol of the Egyptian monarchy. Carter's canary had died in its mouth and this fueled local rumors of a curse. Arthur Weigall, a previous Inspector-General of Antiquities to the Egyptian Government, reported that this was interpreted as Carter's house being broken into by the Royal Cobra, the same as that worn on the King's head to strike enemies (see Uraeus), on the very day the King's tomb was being broken into. An account of the incident was reported by The New York Times on 22 December 1922.

The first of the deaths was that of Lord Carnarvon, who financed the excavation. He had been bitten by a mosquito, and later slashed the bite accidentally while shaving. It became infected and that resulted in blood poisoning. Two weeks before Carnarvon died, Marie Corelli wrote an imaginative letter that was published in the New York World magazine, in which she quoted an obscure book that confidently asserted that "dire punishment" would follow any intrusion into a sealed tomb. A media frenzy followed, with reports that a curse had been found in the King's tomb, though this was untrue. The superstitious Benito Mussolini, who had once accepted an Egyptian mummy as a gift, ordered its immediate removal from the Palazzo Chigi.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes and spiritualist, suggested that Lord Carnarvon's death had been caused by "elementals" created by Tutankhamun's priests to guard the royal tomb, and this further fueled the media interest. Arthur Weigall reported that six weeks before Carnarvon's death, he had watched the Earl laughing and joking as he entered the King's tomb and said to a nearby reporter (H. V. Morton), "I give him six weeks to live." The first autopsy carried out on the body of Tutankhamun by Dr. Derry found a healed lesion on the left cheek, but as Carnarvon had been buried six months previously it was not possible to determine if the location of the wound on the King corresponded with the fatal mosquito bite on Carnarvon.

A study of documents and scholarly sources led The Lancet to conclude it unlikely that Carnarvon's death had anything to do with Tutankhamun's tomb, refuting another theory that exposure to toxic fungi (mycotoxins) had contributed to his demise. The report points out that the Earl was only one of many to enter the tomb, on several occasions and that none of the others were affected. The cause of Carnarvon's death was reported as "'pneumonia supervening on [facial] erysipelas,' (a streptococcal infection of the skin and underlying soft tissue). Pneumonia was thought to be only one of various complications, arising from the progressively invasive infection, that eventually resulted in multiorgan failure." The Earl had been "prone to frequent and severe lung infections" according to The Lancet and there had been a "general belief ... that one acute attack of bronchitis could have killed him. In such a debilitated state, the Earl's immune system was easily overwhelmed by erysipelas."

In 1925, the anthropologist Henry Field, accompanied by Breasted, visited the tomb and recalled the kindness and friendliness of Carter. He also reported how a paperweight given to Carter's friend Sir Bruce Ingram was composed of a mummified hand with its wrist adorned with a scarab bracelet marked with, "Cursed be he who moves my body. To him shall come fire, water, and pestilence." Soon after receiving the gift, Ingram's house burned down, followed by a flood when it was rebuilt.

Howard Carter was entirely skeptical of such curses, dismissing them as 'tommy-rot' and commenting that "the sentiment of the Egyptologist ... is not one of fear, but of respect and awe ... entirely opposed to foolish superstitions". In May 1926 he reported in his diary a sighting of a jackal of the same type as Anubis, the guardian of the dead, for the first time in over thirty-five years of working in the desert, although he did not attribute this to supernatural causes.

Skeptics have pointed out that many others who visited the tomb or helped to discover it lived long and healthy lives. A study showed that of the 58 people who were present when the tomb and sarcophagus were opened, only eight died within a dozen years. All the others were still alive, including Howard Carter, who died of lymphoma in 1939 at the age of 64. The last survivors included Lady Evelyn Herbert, Lord Carnarvon's daughter, who was among the first people to enter the tomb after its discovery in November 1922, who lived for a further 57 years and died in 1980, and American archaeologist J.O. Kinnaman, who died in 1961, 39 years after the event.

Scientific speculations

It has been suggested that the toxic spores of the fungus Aspergillus flavus, besides possibly contributing to deaths following a 1973 tomb opening in Poland, may also have contributed to some of the allegedly Tutankhamun-related deaths, particularly the deaths of Lord Carnarvon, George Jay Gould, and Arthur Mace, though the link has been disputed (at least in Carnarvon's case).

Deaths popularly attributed to Tutankhamun's curse

The tomb was opened on 29 November 1922.

George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, financial backer of the excavation, who was present at the tomb's opening, died on 5 April 1923 after a mosquito bite became infected; he died 4 months and 7 days after the opening of the tomb.

George Jay Gould I, a visitor to the tomb, died in the French Riviera on 16 May 1923 after he developed a fever following his visit.

Sir Archibald Douglas-Reid, a radiologist invited to x-ray Tutankhamun's mummy, died on 15 January 1924, aged 52, in Switzerland after abdominal surgery to help treat the metastatic spread of skin cancer he developed as a result of his career.

A. C. Mace, a member of Carter's excavation team, died in April 1928, having suffered from pleurisy and pneumonia in his final years.

The Hon. Mervyn Herbert, George Herbert's half brother, died on 26 May 1929, reportedly from malarial pneumonia.

Captain The Hon. Richard Bethell, Carter's secretary, died on 15 November 1929: died in bed in a Mayfair club, the victim of a suspected smothering.

Howard Carter opened the tomb on 16 February 1923 and died well over sixteen years later on 2 March 1939; however, some have still attributed his death to the curse.

Harry Burton, the archaeological photographer documenting Howard Carter's excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb from 1922 to 1932, died well over seventeen years later on 27 June 1940; however, some have still attributed his death to the curse.

Popular culture

The Universal horror films The Mummy (1932), The Mummy's Hand (1940), and the latter's sequels, contain references to a curse foretelling death to those who enter the tombs.

Pharaoh's Curse (1957 film)

The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964 film)

The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (1980 film)

References

Day 2006.

J. Paterson-Andrews, C. Andrews, p. 190.

The Boy Behind the Mask, Charlotte Booth (quoting Donald B. Redford), p. xvi, Oneword, 2007, ISBN 978-1851685448

Ancient Egypt, David P. Silverman, p. 146, Oxford University Press US, 2003, ISBN 019521952X

James, Thomas Garnet Henry (1953). "The Mastaba of Khentika Called Ikhekhi". Archaeological Survey of Egypt. 30. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

Allen 2005, pp. 166 & 383.

Eyre 2002, p. 44.

Osing 1994, p. 279.

Valley of the Golden Mummies, Zahi A. Hawass, pp. 94–97, American University Press in Cairo Press, 2000, ISBN 9774245857

Hawass, Zahi (6 February 2012). "Al-Ahram Weekly | Heritage | Dig days: A born archeologist". Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2018.

Consuming Ancient Egypt, Sally MacDonald, Michael Rice, p. 26, University College, London. Institute of Archaeology, Routledge Cavendish, 2003, ISBN 1844720039

Day 2006, pp. 46–47, 52–53.

Winstone 2006, p. 178.

The Face of Tutankhamun, Christopher Frayling, p. 232, Faber & Faber, 1992, ISBN 0571168450

"Times Man Views Splendors of the Tomb of Tutankhamen", The New York Times, 22 December 1922, Retrieved 12 May 2009

Gunther, John (1940). Inside Europe. Harper & Brothers. pp. 247–248.

J. Paterson-Andrews, C. Andrews, p. 196

Winstone 2006, p. 291.

In the Valley of the Kings – Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun's Tomb, Daniel Meyerson, p. 158, Ballantine Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0345476937

Cox, Ann M (7 June 2003). "The death of Lord Carnarvon". Lancet. 361 (9373). The Lancet: 1994. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)13576-3. PMID 12801779. S2CID 45173628. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

Winstone 2006, p. 294.

J. Paterson-Andrews, C. Andrews, p. 198.

Winstone 2006, p. 326.

Winstone 2006, pp. 295–296.

Carter, Howard. Excavation journal, May 1926. The Griffith Institute, Oxford.

David Vernon in Skeptical – a Handbook of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, ed. Donald Laycock, David Vernon, Colin Groves, Simon Brown, Imagecraft, Canberra, 1989, ISBN 0731657942, p. 25.

"Egypt: The Mummy Curse of Tutankhamun". touregypt.net (in Russian). Retrieved 17 March 2018.

Bill Price (2007). Tutankhamun, Egypt's Most Famous Pharaoh. Hertfordshire: Pocket Essentials. p. 138. ISBN 978-1842432402.

"Death Claims Noted Biblical Archaeologist", Lodi News-Sentinel, 8 September 1961, Retrieved 9 May 2014

Al-Shamahi, Ella (2022). "Tutankhamun: Secrets of the Tomb". Channel 4. Retrieved 1 June 2023.

Cox, Ann M. (7 June 2003). "The death of Lord Carnarvon". Correspondence. The Lancet. 361 (9373). Elsevier Ltd.: 1994. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)13576-3. PMID 12801779. S2CID 45173628. Retrieved 18 September 2021.

"Why we love mummies". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Archived from the original on 2 September 2008. Retrieved 12 August 2008. Upon breaching the tomb, something stung Carnarvon on the cheek. He died several months later. Newspapers sensationalized his death as the fulfillment of an ancient mummy's curse. A rumor spread that there was an inscription over the tomb promising death to anyone who opened the tomb of the pharaoh. One recent theory is Carnarvon might have ingested anthrax spores deliberately placed in the tomb by ancient Egyptian priests to thwart tomb robbers.

"Carnarvon Is Dead of an Insect's Bite at Pharaoh's Tomb. Blood Poisoning and Ensuing Pneumonia Conquer Tut-ankh-Amen Discoverer in Egypt". The New York Times. 5 April 1923. Retrieved 12 August 2008. The Earl of Carnarvon died peacefully at 2 o'clock this morning. He was conscious almost to the end.

"George J. Gould Dies in Villa in France". The New York Times. 17 May 1923. Retrieved 23 May 2008. George Jay Gould died this morning at 3:30 at the Villa Zoralde, Cap Martin, where he had been living for some months with his wife and her two children. His death, it was stated at the villa, came quietly and was expected, as he had never rallied from the illness from which he had been suffering all Winter.

Duck, Francis. "Archibald Reid, Frederick Harlow and Charles Phillips and the War Office X-ray Committee, 1915-1919" (PDF). Invisible Light: The Journal of the British Society for the History of Radiology. 41: 20. Retrieved 29 December 2024.

Thomas, Adrian (5 January 2020). "The radiologist and the curse of the mummy". Aunt Minnie Europe. Retrieved 29 December 2024.

Winstone 2006, p. 310.

Abstract only referenced: full text available for a fee. "Mervyn Herbert, Diplomat, is Dead". New York Times. 28 May 1929. p. 25. Retrieved 19 June 2010.

"Curse of Tutankhamun may have been work of Satanist killer". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 August 2017. Captain Richard Bethell (15 November 1929): Howard Carter's 46-year-old personal secretary was found dead in his bed at Mayfair's exclusive Bath Club. Bethell was said to have been in perfect health. It was initially thought that he died of a heart attack but his symptoms raised suspicion that he was smothered to death as he slept. Crowley had only recently returned to London and was often a guest of novelist W. Somerset Maugham at the club.

"Howard Carter, 66, Egyptologist, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 March 2008. Howard Carter, Egyptologist who earned world fame for his discovery and exploration, in association with the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, of the tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen, died in his London home today at the age of 66.

Bibliography

Allen, James (2005). Der Manuelian, Peter (ed.). The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. Writings from the Ancient World, Number 23. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 978-1-58983-182-7.

Day, Jasmine (2006). The Mummy's Curse: Mummymania in the English-speaking World. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415340229.

Eyre, Christopher (2002). The Cannibal Hymn: A Cultural and Literary Study. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-0-85323-706-8.

Hamilton-Paterson, James (1978). Mummies: Death and Life in Ancient Egypt, Carol Andrews, p. 197, Collins for British Museum Publications, ISBN 0001955322

Osing, Jürgen (1994). "Zu Spruch 534 der Pyramidentexte". Hommages à Jean Leclant (in German). Vol. 1. Cairo: Institut français d'archéologie orientale. pp. 279–285. ISBN 2-7247-0134-8.

Winstone, H.V.F. (2006). Howard Carter and the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Barzan, Manchester. ISBN 1905521049. OCLC 828501310.

Fellowes, Ross (2024). "The Pharaoh's Curse: New Evidence of Unusual Deaths Associated with Ancient Egyptian Tombs". Journal of Scientific Exploration. 38: 41–60. doi:10.31275/20242855.

External links

Zack Rolly (16 February 2011). "Tutankhamun – the 'Boy King'". h2g2.

Dunning, Brian (24 June 2008). "Skeptoid #106: King Tut's Curse!". Skeptoid.

Lake Shawnee Amusement Park

 

The Lake Shawnee Amusement Park is a defunct amusement park in Princeton, West Virginia, United States, located along Lake Shawnee. Opened in 1926, the park operated for 62 years before closing in 1988. It received public attention for urban legends regarding the park being haunted due to accidental deaths supposedly caused by "cursed land".

History

The land on which the amusement park was built was the site of a massacre in which three members of landowner Mitchell Clay's family were murdered by Native Americans in 1783. A daughter and son (aged 16 and 18) had been killed and scalped while another son (aged 16) was captured and taken to Chillicothe and burned at the stake. Clay sought revenge, and with the help of other landowners, he killed several of the Native American raiding party. Some accounts state that Clay did not seek revenge against the Shawnee and instead desired to give his children a proper burial, making a deal with the Shawnee Chief and ending the dispute.

In 1926, an entrepreneur named Conley Trigg Snidow, Sr. purchased the land and began developing an amusement park for the people of Mercer County, West Virginia. The park, which featured a ferris wheel and a swing ride, was popular among locals in the county, particularly families of coal miners who resided in the area. It also featured a swimming pool, race track, concession stands, dance hall, and cabins for overnight stays. Two drowning deaths were reported during Snidow's ownership, as well as the death of a young girl on the swing ride in 1966. The park was closed in 1967 because of a failed health inspection.

In 1985, former employee Gaylord White purchased the land and reopened the park in the summer of 1987. After increasing insurance rates forced the park to close in 1988, White sought other uses for the location, such as fishing tournaments and off-road motorsports. In the early 1990s, White's work crews uncovered numerous Native American artifacts on the property dating to before the arrival of Anglo-European settlers. Archeologists from Marshall University spent several years uncovering artifacts and graves, and a total of thirteen Native American skeletons were uncovered, mostly of elderly people and young children. Shortly after, White began hosting Halloween week guided paranormal tours of the property.

In the media

Television

The park was featured on the television series Scariest Places on Earth in 2002 which aired on ABC Family.

The abandoned Lake Shawnee Amusement Park was also showcased on the part 5 episode of Most Terrifying Places in America which aired on the Travel Channel in 2010.

In 2010, Everyday Paranormal featured Lake Shawnee Amusement Park in Season 2 of Discovery Channel's Ghost Lab.

In 2018 lake Shawnee was featured on The Dead Files: Season 9, Episode 12 - Rotten Tomatoes episode titled "Terrorland"

In 2019, Lake Shawnee Amusement Park was also featured in a haunted locations on the paranormal TV series, Most Terrifying Places which aired on Travel Channel.

The park was also featured on the paranormal TV series, The UnXplained which aired on History Channel in 2019.

The park was featured in a 2021 episode of Portals to Hell with Jack Osbourne.

In 2023 the park was featured on Alone Paranormal Edition created by OmarGoshTV on Youtube.

References

"Lake Shawnee Is Closed By Health Department". Beckley Post-Herald. 10 July 1967. p. 6.

Pitts, Phillip. West Virginia Antiquities Commission, Oct. 1976, Lake Shawnee.

Kuruvilla, Carol (October 26, 2013). "Abandoned West Virginia amusement park has a bloody history". New York Daily News. Retrieved September 1, 2017.

Donnelly, Shirley (3 November 1972). "Lake Shawnee Massacre is Detailed". Beckley Post-Herald. p. 4.

James, Michelle (October 25, 2015). "The Haunted History of Lake Shawnee". The Register-Herald. Beckley, West Virginia. Archived from the original on June 19, 2019.

https://theclio.com/entry/86706

Coppola, Emily. "‘Agony in Stone' Statue at Courthouse Depicts Sombre History." Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 7 June 2019, [www.ptonline.net/community/agony-in-stone-statue-at-courthouse-depicts-sombre-history/article_33132ce6-892d-11e9-b110-f399be221627.html]

"Urban Legends 2". Scariest Places on Earth. Season 3. Episode 8. October 23, 2002. ABC Family.

"Shadow Factory".

Kim Edwards & Lucas Markham

 

Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham were 14-year-old teenagers who were jailed for the double murder of Edwards’ mother, Elizabeth (49), and her younger sister, Katie (13), in Spalding, Lincolnshire, in April 2016. Their sentences were later reduced to 17.5 years each after the Court of Appeal decision in 2017.

Overview of the Case

Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham were involved in a shocking double murder that took place in April 2016 in Spalding, Lincolnshire. At the time, both were just 14 years old.

Victims

Elizabeth Edwards: 49 years old, mother of Kim.

Katie Edwards: 13 years old, sister of Kim.

Details of the Crime

Murder Method: Lucas Markham used a kitchen knife to stab both victims in the neck while they slept.

Aftermath: Following the murders, the couple remained in the house for about 36 hours, during which they engaged in normal activities like watching movies and eating ice cream.

Legal Proceedings

Conviction: Both were convicted of murder and originally sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison.

Sentence Reduction: In 2017, their sentences were reduced to 17.5 years each by the Court of Appeal.

Background Information

Relationship: Kim and Lucas were teenage sweethearts who had a troubled relationship with Kim's family, particularly her mother.

Motivation: The couple reportedly shared dark thoughts and planned the murders together, believing it was a solution to their grievances.

This case remains one of the most notorious instances of juvenile crime in the UK, highlighting complex issues surrounding youth, mental health, and the criminal justice system.

Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham, both 14 at the time, murdered Edwards' mother Elizabeth and sister Katie in their beds in Spalding, Lincolnshire, in April 2016 by stabbing them through the throat and smothering them with a pillow. After the killings, the pair shared a bath, had sex, ate ice cream, and watched vampire-themed Twilight films.

The Court of Appeal reduced their minimum terms by allowing full credit for admissions despite late guilty pleas, lowering the minimum from 20 years to 17 and a half years.

Juvenile offenders like Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham often exhibit complex psychological issues, including deep-seated familial resentment and a potential lack of empathy, which can lead to extreme actions such as murder. Their cases may also reflect a toxic relationship dynamic, as seen in their "Bonnie and Clyde" connection, which can exacerbate their psychological distress and decision-making processes.

Gruesome Murder of Brenda Schaefer

 

~TRIGGER WARNING~

Graphic depictions of violence and r***/s***** assault. Reader discretion is ADVISED!

On September 24, 1988, 36-year-old Brenda Schaefer was abducted, raped, and killed in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The crime had been carried out by her 50-year-old ex-fiancé Mel Ignatow and his 38-year-old girlfriend Mary Ann Shore, with the latter cooperating with authorities in exchange for a lesser charge by implicating Ignatow as the main perpetrator.

Ignatow was acquitted of Schaefer's murder in 1991, after a jury found Shore's testimony unconvincing. Less than a year later, Ignatow admitted to killing Schaefer after physical evidence was found at his home. Under the legal principle of double jeopardy, he could not be tried a second time for the murder. However, Ignatow was convicted and sentenced to a combined 17 years in prison, of which he served nearly 10 years, for several instances of perjury in his grand jury testimony for the case, in which he had repeatedly and falsely proclaimed his innocence.

Background

Brenda Schaefer

Brenda Sue Schaefer was born on April 25, 1952, in Louisville's St. Joseph neighborhood, as the youngest of six children to Essie (née Downs) and John Schaefer. She grew up in nearby St. Matthews, with her family operating a summer camp out of a log cabin near Harrods Creek. In 1971, shortly before her graduation from Waggener High School, Schaefer became engaged to her highschool sweetheart Charles "Pete" Van Pelt. The wedding was called off on May 2, 1971, when Schaefer's older brother Jack, a police officer, was gunned down in Smoketown after intervening in an attack on his patrol partner Wilbur Hayes. The two attackers, brothers Michael and Narvel Tinsley, were arrested four days later and sentenced to death that same year. Schaefer and Van Pelt subsequently married in December 1971 and moved to Clarksville, Indiana.

Schaefer worked as a sales clerk and attended training to become a nurse's aide while Van Pelt continued his job as a police dispatcher. According to Van Pelt, Schaefer was extremely shy and "terrified" of having physical intimacy beyond kissing and cuddling. The couple divorced on March 23, 1976, after around four years of marriage, due to arguments over Van Pelt's low income and spending habits. In early 1978, Schaefer entered a stable relationship with Jim Rush, a Louisville-area dentist. The couple remained together for eight years, during which Rush suggested that Schaefer had hypoactive sexual desire disorder, but eventually agreed to separate in August 1986, citing Schaefer's emotional issues and Rush's functional alcoholism. Schaefer maintained good relationships with both Van Pelt and Rush. Schaefer worked as a trained X-ray technician for William Spalding, a friend of Jim Rush, at the time of her death.

In the months leading up to Schaefer's death, her family was negatively affected by other events. Schaefer's teenage niece Jennifer Hayes was killed in a traffic collision on August 17, 1988, and on September 16, Michael and Narvel Tinsley were released on parole for the murders of Jack Schaefer and Wilbur Hayes.

Mel Ignatow

Melvin Henry Ignatow was born on March 26, 1938, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the second of three children to Virginia (née Gerdelmann) and David Ignatow. Ignatow was baptized in accordance with his mother's Catholic faith, but raised Orthodox Jewish, his father's religion. The family moved to Louisville during World War II, where Ignatow's parents ran several successive businesses, mostly grocery stores, each of which failed financially and led to the family filing bankruptcy. During Ignatow's teenage years, the family briefly relocated to Washington, Indiana, for nine months to run another grocery store that ultimately closed down. Upon returning to Louisville, Ignatow attended Atherton High School and joined the Young Men's Hebrew Association. Ignatow briefly enrolled at the University of Louisville, but dropped out without picking an academic major and instead worked for his father as a jeweler, finding employment at Medco Jewelry Company and later at Rosalco as a buyer, with a yearly income of between $50,000 to $80,000.

Ignatow married Sharon Kippen on May 27, 1960, in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The couple had three children before divorcing on March 18, 1973. Kippen later stated that Ignatow was emotionally abusive, left the family several times for "time on his own" and spent most of the family's income on buying luxury items only he could use, including a Corvette and two Pontiac Grand Prix cars. During their thirteen-year marriage, Ignatow became known for his "hedonistic tendencies", showing off his wealth, joining singles clubs, and openly having extramarital affairs. During the divorce proceedings, Ignatow was allowed to retain their house, all household items and savings, as well as custody of their children.

Afterwards, Ignatow entered a brief relationship with Mary Ann Shore, a co-worker at his workplace, largely based on Ignatow's claim he could make her thinner through "sexercise", but he eventually broke up with her. Despite this, they maintained a sexual relationship, with Shore acting as a babysitter to Ignatow's children while he was away on weeks-long trips to China, Taiwan, and Japan as part of his job as a traveling salesman. According to friends, Ignatow was known as a con artist who greatly exaggerated his wealth and made far-fetched claims such as working for the CIA.

Relationship

Only a few days after Schaefer's break-up with Jim Rush, she was introduced to Ignatow by a friend during a double date. Ignatow was noted as being significantly older and less physically attractive than Schaefer, but she had been drawn to him due to his willingness to listen to her and financial stability he offered. Their relationship was nevertheless described as "frigid" by Ignatow, with the pair only meeting on weekends. In spite of this, Ignatow proposed to Schaefer in December 1986, but was turned down. She accepted a second proposal on February 14, 1987, five months after their first meeting.

After becoming engaged, Ignatow exerted increasing control over the relationship, demanding that Schaefer, who was devoutly Catholic, participate in anal intercourse, group sex, and bondage. While at work, Ignatow expected Schaefer to be available via phone at specific times, screaming at her if she ever deviated from this. At home, Ignatow was easily enraged whenever Schaefer failed to abide by his meticulous rules, such as tearing toilet paper incorrectly or turning off water faucets without putting them in an even position, causing Schaefer to sleep primarily at her mother's house. In December 1987, Ignatow became more irritable after he was fired from his job at Rosalco and had to live off his pension of $48,000 (equivalent to $136,028 in 2025). Throughout early to mid 1988, Schaefer's demeanor became more nervous and her performance at work worsened. She confided Ignatow's abuse to family and friends, telling them that he forced Schaefer to take "sex tablets", which resulted in her losing consciousness and awakening nude. Schaefer recalled a specific incident during a motel stay in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where she had once awoken to find Ignatow leaning down at her with a chlorofom-soaked rag, which he claimed was to "help her sleep". In the weeks preceding her murder, Schaefer began being less compliant with Ignatow's demands after a friend recommended her the self-help book Women Who Love Too Much. At the same time, Ignatow continued to meet Shore for sex, though telling her that he and Shore were no longer dating. Shore developed a dislike for Schaefer over being "dumped", with Ignatow continuing to speak more favorably of Schaefer's appearance and sexual performance compared to Shore whenever they were together.

Murder

Preparation

Ignatow knew that Schaefer was planning to break off their relationship over his abuse. He asked his former girlfriend, Mary Ann Shore, to help him plan and carry out the murder. They spent several weeks making extensive preparations. Shore testified they had "scream tested" her house and dug a grave in the woods behind it. Schaefer told Ignatow about the break-up two days before her murder. Shore claimed that Ignatow framed the later murder as a "sex therapy" meeting to help mend the relationship between Schaefer and Ignatow, and that the grave was only meant to be a scare tactic. For the act, Ignatow prepared gloves, duct tape, rope, several plastic bags, a bottle of chloroform, a wooden fraternity paddle, a camera, extra roll film, an electric vibrator, and lubricant jelly.

On September 22, 1988, a day after the break-up, Ignatow called Schaefer's workplace. A colleague answered the call and after overhearing Ignatow becoming increasingly hostile, Schaefer took the receiver and said "I told you to never call me again". Despite this, the pair agreed to meet up again for a final time so Schaefer could return several gifts of jewelry and a fur coat to Ignatow. Schaefer told family of her sister-in-law of this meeting and said that Ignatow may have followed her home after the call. The same day, she had made plans to give the former relationship with her ex-husband Jim Rush a second chance, with a date in planning for the day after she met with Ignatow.

Day of the crime

During the afternoon of September 24, Schaefer picked up Ignatow in her car from his home. After she gave back the gifts, Ignatow and Schaefer had a meal at a Gold Star Chili restaurant, where he told Schaefer that he knew someone who would buy the jewelry. The two drove to Shore's house in Poplar Level, arriving at around 6:00 p.m. Sitting on a couch together, Ignatow explained his "sex therapy" idea, arguing that "she [Schaefer] needed to have this because she was just very cold-natured and he needed that sex". Schaefer tried to leave but Ignatow physically kept her seated, all the while checking off steps on a written list. Eventually, Ignatow forced Schaefer against a wall and told her to undress while Shore took photographs. Schaefer was then blindfolded, gagged, and tied a table in the living room, where Ignatow sodomized Schaefer for over two hours, with Shore continuing to take pictures at Ignatow's command.

During the night, Schaefer was relocated to Shore's bedroom, where she was tied to the frame of the bed. Schaefer was orally raped by Ignatow, who instructed Shore to beat Schaefer and digitally penetrate Schaefer's rectum. When Ignatow began striking Schaefer with a paddle, Shore relented and left the room. Eventually, Ignatow held a rag with chloroform over Schaefer's face until she stopped breathing. To ensure her death, Ignatow strangled her with a rope, which he left tied around her neck.

Afterwards, Ignatow told Shore that Schaefer had died. Shore looked into the bedroom to find Schaefer's body still tied up. With Shore's aid, Ignatow wrapped Schaefe's body in garbage bags and buried her in the prepared hole in the woods behind Shore's house. Ignatow loaded the vibrator and camera, as well as any leftover tape and rope into the trunk of Shore's vehicle before puncturing a tire on Schaefer's car. With Shore following behind him, Ignatow drove Schaefer's car across Interstate 64, where he left it offroads near Breckenridge Lane.

Investigation

Schaefer's car was found in the morning hours of September 25, 1988, by the St. Matthew Police Department. According to the officer who found the car, Tom Gilsdorf, besides the flat tire, the rear window had been broken and the built-in radio was stolen, also reporting what appeared to be blood on the backseat and the car's exterior. A few hours later, Schaefer was separately reported missing by her parents, with her brother, Tom Love, telling investigators of his suspicions regarding Mel Ignatow due to his abusive behavior. Detective Jim Wesley questioned Ignatow the same day at his home, reading Wesley and his officers pre-prepared notes on the events of that day. Police remained suspicious of Ignatow since he showed no emotion, with his story later conflicting with other people's accounts. Ignatow refused to take a polygraph test, citing a weak heart. During a second audio-recorded meeting at the office of Ignatow's attorney Charlie Ricketts, Ignatow spent the first minutes crying before returning to his usual monotone, implicating Schaefer's exes by saying that her ex-boyfriend Jim Rush had a substance addiction and falsely claiming that her ex-husband Pete Van Pelt had been stalking her.

The Kentucky Rescue Association spent eighty hours searching the Ohio River for Schaefer's body. By January 1989, the family and Schaefer's employer William Spalding had offered $25,000 (equivalent to $68,057 in 2025) for any information on Schaefer's whereabouts, with an open post office box for anonymous tips to be left. The following month, a colleague of Schaefer told police of Ignatow's hairstylist, Lauren Lechleitner, who happened to know Mary Ann Shore. Shore had told the hairstylist about Ignatow's controlling behavior and her frustrations about the end of their relationship. Detective Jim Wesley also found out that Shore had taken the day off of a scheduled babysitting job on the day of Schaefer's disappearance and along with the FBI, he believed Shore may have been involved in Schaefer's murder. During questioning, Shore declined to talk further after failing a polygraph test. After the polygraph, officers followed her out of the police station and took her back for interrogation when she was seen walking together with Ignatow. She was pressed to give the "full story" but still refused to talk. On February 14, 1989, Shore was arrested for five previously outstanding check fraud charges, but released on bail.

Ignatow was openly named as a central suspect, but he protested his innocence on March 5, 1989, in the Courier-Journal. On March 22, Ignatow received a threat letter demanding he reveal the location of Schaefer's dead body or face "execution by a gang of Cubans". In August 1989, the letter was traced to Schaefer's boss William Spalding, who was subsequently convicted of terroristic threat and fined $300 (equivalent to $779 in 2025).

In early January 1990, Shore was called to testify in front of a grand jury regarding Schaefer's disappearance, during which she first claimed to have met Schaefer only once, but later contradicted herself by inquiring in response to a question by U.S. Attorney Scott Cox if he meant "the last time" Shore had seen her. On January 9, 1990, Shore confessed to the FBI that she was present during Schaefer's murder, and to taking pictures of Ignatow as he tortured and abused Schaefer. FBI and Jefferson County investigators were led to the grave site by Shore, where Schaefer's badly decomposed body had been buried for over a year. The autopsy showed she had been abused, but any DNA evidence, from blood and semen, had become unusable for testing.

The investigators convinced Shore to wear a listening device, by promising only to charge her with tampering with evidence. In the surveillance, Shore told Ignatow that the FBI was hounding her and she was afraid the property behind her house was being sold and developed. He was on tape berating her for letting the FBI "rattle" her and told her he didn't care if they dug up the whole property because "that place we dug is not shallow."

Murder trial

Based on this recording, Ignatow was tried for murder, kidnapping, sodomy, sexual abuse, robbery, and tampering with evidence, between early 1990 and December 1991. In one section of the recorded conversation between Ignatow and Shore, in which Ignatow stated, "That place we dug is not shallow. Beside that one area right by where that site is does not have any trees by it," the jury decided that Ignatow said "safe," not "site," as police believed. This led the jurors to conclude that the discussion involved a buried safe. During the proceedings, Shore was excused from the trial between June 1990 and May 1991, as she was unable to speak properly due to Bell's palsy and was also getting married during this time. Furthermore, Shore, the prosecution's star witness, wore a tiny miniskirt to court and laughed during her testimony, undermining her credibility in the eyes of the jury. The defense argued that Shore, not Ignatow, had killed Schaefer. The defense had also repeatedly sought to remove Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney Ernest Jasmin from the case for including the FBI tape. Ignatow's trial was originally set for November 13, 1991, but in the final month, proceedings were moved outside the Louisville/Jefferson County area, to Kenton County where far less publicity had been generated.

On December 22, 1991, after six hours and fifteen minutes of delibration, the jury acquitted Ignatow. One juror stated after the trial, "The reason he was found not guilty was there was not one shred of evidence that connected him to the crime. Nothing. We don't know if Mel did it or not. What we do know is there was no proof of it". Another juror stated that Shore's testimony appeared to be based on animosity due to Ignatow's refusal to marry her. The judge was so embarrassed by the verdict that he took the unusual step of writing a letter of apology to the Schaefer family. Schaefer's parents died before the trial began. According to some family and friends, their deaths were premature due to the heartbreak and stress of Schaefer's murder.

After testifying in Ignatow's trial, Mary Ann Shore-Inlow pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence on December 2, 1991. On January 8, 1992, a federal grand jury indicted Ignatow for perjury and inducing Shore to commit perjury.

Aftermath

Perjury trials

On October 1, 1992, a carpetlayer working in Ignatow's old house, which had been sold to fund his defense, pulled up a length of carpet in a hallway. Under it he found a floor vent containing a plastic bag, taped to hold it inside the vent. Inside the bag was the jewelry Schaefer had taken with her on the night of her disappearance, and three rolls of undeveloped film. When developed, the film showed Ignatow torturing and raping Schaefer, just as Shore had described. Ignatow's face was not in the pictures, but body hair patterns and moles matched him perfectly.

Ignatow faced federal charges for perjury and lying to the FBI, based on his grand jury testimony. Knowing that he could not be retried for the murder because of double jeopardy, Ignatow confessed in court at his perjury trial. He turned to Schaefer's brothers in court and said he had killed her, but claimed that she had died peacefully. In October 1992, Ignatow pleaded guilty. He faced a maximum of 15 years in prison, albeit his agreement called for a term ranging from 8 to 10 years. Ignatow was sentenced to eight years and one month in prison.

On October 23, 1997, Ignatow was indicted on state perjury charges. He was released from federal prison on October 31, 1997. The state later prosecuted him on perjury charges for testimony he gave in a case against Schaefer's employer, Dr. William Spalding, for threatening to kill Ignatow if he did not reveal where Schaefer was. Spalding had been convicted of terroristic threatening and fined $300 after Ignatow falsely proclaimed that he and Schaefer had parted on good terms. He was sentenced to nine years in prison for perjury as a second degree persistent felony offender in January 2002. Ignatow's sentence was reduced for time served.

Imprisonment and release

In April 2002, Ignatow was denied release on shock probation. He converted to Christianity during his incarceration and unsuccessfully appealed beginning December 2002. Ignatow was denied release a final time in June 2003, after described his perjury during the Schaefer murder trial as "self defense". He was originally slated for release in December 2007, but released early for a second time on December 1, 2006, after serving four years, on good behavior and prison work, during which he became a trained mechanic. He returned to Louisville, living in a home 4 miles (6.4 km) from the house where he murdered Schaefer.

Brenda Sue Schaefer is buried in her family's plot in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

Mary Ann Shore was sentenced to five years imprisonment for her role in Schaefer's killing. She was released for good behavior after serving three and died of heart disease in 2004, aged 54.

On September 1, 2008, Ignatow was found dead in his apartment. He was 70 years old. An autopsy determined that Ignatow died from an accidental fall that lacerated his head or his arm, and had eventually bled to death. The neighbor who found his body stated that "It just looked like he had fell... and he tried to go to the kitchen, and there was a blood trail that way, and then it looked like he tried to make it to his room, before he made it to his room, that's where they found his body at."

Ignatow's neighbor also described him as "a sick and elderly man, alone and struggling for help when he apparently stumbled to his death. I used to hear him all night, asking for Jesus to come get him, because he was in a lot of pain." Ignatow's son admits, "He will probably go down as one of the most hated men in Louisville... Maybe it'll just put it to rest, that we all don't have to keep dealing with this over and over. That's what I hope."

Media

Author Bob Hill wrote the 1995 true crime book Double Jeopardy exploring the case, which became a bestseller and provoked widespread interest in the case. MSNBC and CourtTV also produced television documentaries.

The television series American Justice aired the death of Brenda Schaefer titled "Getting Away with Murder", season 9, episode 7 original air date March 15, 2000.

Investigation Discovery series, Evil Lives Here (S10 Ep4), had an episode about the case titled "He Got Away With Murder", which originally aired on August 8, 2021.

References

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"Unanswered question, how could Brenda Schaefer vanish?". The Courier-Journal. March 5, 1989. p. 4.

O'Doherty, Mary (October 1, 1988). "Police, judge protest parole for two killers once sentenced to die". The Courier-Journal.

Scanlon, Leslie (December 19, 1991). "Jurors hear Ignatow on tape demanding ex-lover's silence". The Courier-Journal. p. B1, B7. Archived from the original on March 2, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon

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Robinson, Paul H.; Robinson, Sarah M. (July 15, 2015). Pirates, Prisoners, and Lepers: Lessons from Outside the Law. ISBN 978-1612347462.

Scanlon, Leslie (December 14, 1991). "Schaefer wasn't going to wed Ignatow, pair say". The Courier-Journal. p. A5, A12. Archived from the original on March 2, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon

Wolfson, Andrew (October 3, 1992). "Finding evidence in home a fluke". The Courier-Journal. p. A1, A6. Archived from the original on March 2, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Free access icon

"A Story of Murder". The Courier-Journal. October 3, 1992. p. 2. Archived from the original on August 15, 2025. Retrieved November 5, 2025.

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Weathers, William (September 30, 1997). "A miscarriage of justice will be complete on Halloween". The Kentucky Post. E. W. Scripps Company. Archived from the original on May 15, 2005. Retrieved May 28, 2006.

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Murder of Scott Amedure

 

The Murder of Scott Amedure occurred on March 9, 1995, at his mobile home in Lake Orion, Michigan. Amedure, who was 32 years old, was killed by 24-year-old Jonathan Schmitz, three days after they appeared as guests for the taping of an episode of the daytime talk show The Jenny Jones Show. Amedure had publicly revealed in the episode that he had a crush on Schmitz, who claimed that he was straight but flattered by the revelation. On the morning of March 9, Amedure left a sexually suggestive note on Schmitz's apartment doorstep. In response, Schmitz purchased a 12-gauge shotgun, confronted Amedure at his home, and fired two shots into Amedure's chest. Schmitz called 911 to report the killing and he was subsequently arrested.

Schmitz was charged with first-degree murder. He utilized the gay panic defense, in which he claimed that he killed Amedure over embarrassment about the revelation of a same-sex crush. Schmitz was found guilty of second-degree murder.

The Amedure family sued The Jenny Jones Show for wrongful death, although the show was ultimately found to not be liable. Amedure and Schmitz's appearance on The Jenny Jones Show was shelved, although it was later shown to jurors during the civil trial against The Jenny Jones Show.

Background

Scott Bernard Amedure was born on January 26, 1963, the youngest of six children to Frank Amedure and Patricia Graves. Aged seventeen, Amedure dropped out of high school to join the Army. He served in the Army for three years before he returned to Michigan. Amedure had a history of substance abuse, for which he entered rehabilitation programs twice. He also experienced difficulties with relationships and he had past instances of domestic violence. Amedure worked as a bartender at Club Flamingo, a gay club in Pontiac, Michigan. According to Amedure's neighbor Gayle Clinton, he "was a talk-show junkie."

On March 6, 1995, Amedure was a guest on an episode of The Jenny Jones Show titled "Revealing Same Sex Secret Crush", in which he admitted to being a secret admirer of Jonathan Schmitz, who lived near him in Lake Orion, Michigan. Until the taping, Schmitz did not know who would be revealed as his secret admirer. Schmitz stated that he participated in the show due to curiosity, and he claimed later that the producers implied that his admirer was a woman, although the producers of the show claim that they did tell Schmitz that the admirer could be male or female. During the segment, Amedure was encouraged by Jones to share his fantasies about Schmitz, after which Schmitz was brought onstage. According to The Washington Post, "[t]he two men exchanged an awkward embrace before the host dropped her bombshell." In response to Amedure's disclosure, Schmitz laughed, then stated that he was "definitely heterosexual".

Murder

According to footage of the murder trial, a friend of Amedure later stated that Amedure and Schmitz went out drinking together the night after the taping and an alleged sexual encounter occurred. According to testimony at the murder trial, three days after the taping, Amedure left a "suggestive" note at Schmitz's house. After finding the note, Schmitz withdrew money from a bank, purchased a shotgun, went to Amedure's mobile home, and asked Amedure if he left the note. According to court documents, Amedure responded with a smile. Schmitz then returned to his car, got his gun, and returned to Amedure's trailer. He then shot Amedure twice in the chest, killing him. After killing Amedure, Schmitz left the residence, telephoned 9-1-1, and confessed.

Criminal trial

At trial, defense attorneys argued that Schmitz, who had been diagnosed with manic depression (bipolar disorder) and Graves' disease, was caused to commit homicide by mental illness and humiliation, by way of the "gay panic defense". Schmitz was found guilty of second-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to 25–50 years in prison, but his conviction was overturned on appeal. Upon retrial, he was found guilty of the same charge once again and his sentence was reinstated. Schmitz was released from prison on August 22, 2017, after being granted parole.

Civil trial

In 1995, Amedure's family filed a negligence lawsuit against The Jenny Jones Show, Telepictures, and Warner Bros. Represented by Geoffrey Fieger, Amedure's family alleged that producers of the show "ambushed" Schmitz through the revelation of a same-sex crush and that they should have known the segment would result in violence. In May 1999, the jury awarded the Amedures $29,332,686. Time Warner's defense attorney later claimed the verdict would cause a "chilling effect" on the industry. However, this judgment was later overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals in a 2-to-1 decision. The Michigan Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The court held that the producers of The Jenny Jones Show were not liable for Schmitz's subsequent actions, which they deemed "unforeseeable".

Media coverage

The controversy was covered in the first episode of the Netflix series Trial by Media. In 2021, the controversy was covered in season 6 of the series How It Really Happened on the US TV network HLN in an episode titled "The Jenny Jones Show: Fatal Attraction". Also in 2021, the incident and a portion of the unaired The Jenny Jones Show episode was featured on an episode of VICE TV's docuseries Dark Side of the 90s. In 2025, portions of the episode were featured in the ABC docuseries, Dirty Talk: When Daytime Talk Shows Ruled TV

References

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Gajanan, Mahita (May 11, 2020). "What to Know About the Six Sensationalized Court Cases Examined in Netflix's Trial By Media". Time.

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Acosta, Nicole. "The Jenny Jones Show Murder: How a Tragic 1995 Killing Led to the End of '90s 'Trash' Talk TV". People. People Magazine. Retrieved February 5, 2026.