"My mom." That’s all eight-year-old Christie Downs needed to say. After surviving a stroke and slowly regaining her ability to speak, this soft-spoken reply to investigators shattered the alibi of her mother, Diane Downs — and confirmed what many already suspected. On 19 May 1983, in a quiet corner of Oregon just outside Springfield, Diane Downs pulled her car over on Old Mohawk Road and did the unthinkable: she ... View more
true crime
The Killing of Derrick Robie: Eric Smith and the Juvenile Crime That Shook America
On 2 August 1993, in the sleepy village of Savona, New York, an act of violence so shocking in its brutality would forever alter the landscape of juvenile justice debates in the United States. The victim was four-year-old Derrick Robie, a cheerful, red-headed boy with a love for nature and baseball. The perpetrator was thirteen-year-old Eric Smith—another redhead, known in the village for his quiet nature and trademark thick ... View more
Phil Hartman And The Night He Was Killed By His Wife
It’s hard to imagine a man so gifted at delivering joy being consumed by such a grim ending. Phil Hartman wasn’t just another comic in the lineup—he was the glue of Saturday Night Live, the golden voice behind Troy McClure, and the everyman with a wicked twist in sitcoms like NewsRadio. And yet, despite a career laced with humour, fame, and respect, Hartman’s life came to a haunting and violent end in 1998, killed while he ... View more
The Prince of Fraud: Anthony Gignac and the $8 Million Royal Ruse
In the summer of 2017, the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach — one of the most iconic luxury destinations in America — nearly welcomed a new investor. Claiming to be Prince Khalid bin Al Saud, a high-ranking member of the Saudi royal family, a man expressed interest in acquiring a $440 million stake in the resort. He arrived in style, trailed by a security entourage, stepping out of a Ferrari California with diplomatic plates ... View more
The Eviction of Mary Filan: When The Trump Organisation Ousted a Widow from Her Home
For more than 30 years, Mary Filan — a widowed 74-year-old woman semi-paralysed from a recent stroke — had lived in Apartment 6B, 143-15 Barclay Avenue, in Flushing, Queens. Her flat was modest, but it was home. Living alone on a fixed income from Social Security and a telephone company pension, her monthly earnings totalled less than $500. Her rent, which remained under $200, allowed her to remain independent. That all ... View more
New Comment