If you're anywhere near a radio this afternoon (Monday, August 21) -- or a computer if you're one of those sophisticated twenty-somethings who know how to listen to the radio on your computer (???) -- National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation program is going to devote some time to this subject: "Unsolved Murders...why some cases move to the top of the list and others don't."
Most murders are not interesting. Most are half-wit affairs, simple slaughter. Edmund Pearson, in the preface to his book More Studies in Murder, says that of all the murders in the whole world in any given year probably not more than one or two are worthy of a connoisseur's attention.
--Larry Wakefield, Butcher's Dozen
UPDATE: The Talk of the Nation Website (above) has this description for the program:
For 10 years, the media and the police continued to investigate the highly publicized murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey. But thousands of unsolved cases gather dust in police files. Why do some cases move to the top of the list?
The audio is available after 6 pm at The Anatomy of Unsolved Murder Cases.
Host Neal Conan interviewed two guests:
Valencia Mohammed, mother of two murder victims, both unsolved crimes; founder of support group for mothers of unsolved crimes
Lou Eliopulos, forensic consultant and senior homicide analyst for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service; author of Death Investigator's Handbook (a technical manual that costs $72 here.)
The show delves into two themes: Why does the justice system solve some murders and not others? And how are cold case squads doing?
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