Case File: Wrongful Conviction

Please read the “TCT Disclaimer” under the True Crime tab at the top of the page before reading any true crime posts.

It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these and it’s a bummer. I know. Really, I’m way behind in reading too. Everything is crashing down around me now that it’s the end of the year.

The truth is, October (to the end of the year) is a really busy time for me. I have my husband’s birthday, our wedding anniversary, three other family birthdays, then my own; Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Shit gets crazy. Plus we had an election in Canada that ended last night (phew!) Suffice to say, my stress levels are through the roof most days. I have no time, I spent too much money and our pet’s heads are falling off!

When I’m stressed out from it all, you will find me decompressing by way of isolation. I don’t do too much social media, I burrow myself in my bedroom and watch TV. So, there’s not a lot of motivation to write reviews or research murder.

Today, it’s time to break the slump!

I’m feeling good about last night’s election results, as my beloved country rejected the right-wing politics that are taking over most other places on the globe – even if AB and SK are being fucking whiny bitches about it. Die mad if you think that’ll get you anywhere, Prairies!

With some stress alleviated from my brain mush, I’ve been watching an ass-load of horror movies for the #31daysofhorrorchallenge, and I’m feeling in the Halloween spirit.

My favourite holiday hit me late this year for a lot of reasons, but I’m in it now!

So my first #TTC post of the season is going to be something special for the spooky season. And what better way to keep the spooky spirit flowing through you then with a nun killer?

Poor taste? Too on the nose?

Either way, this is the story of Sister Tadea Benz.

Continue reading →

Please read the “TCT Disclaimer” under the True Crime tab at the top of the page before reading any true crime posts.

I wasn’t old enough in the early 90s to full enjoy it. The big bangs and long hair and neon spandex. Saved by the Bell, 90210 and Nirvana and Chris Farley SNL days. I was aware, but I wasn’t. I remember being in my cousin Bill’s room one day after school – he’s 10 years old than me – and he had the Nirvana smiley face on everything. I asked him “what’s this?” and he said, “it’s a thing for a band.” That might have been the first time I took in the concept of a band.

I was a teenager in the early 2000s. Things like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake in full denim outfits, Blink-182 and “flared” jeans, trucker hats and unnecessary scarves, were really what was going on when I fully came online as a person, for better or for worse. Early 2000s fashion is truly some of the very, very worst.

There are things about being a little girl in the 90s that have stuck with me and shaped me as a person, though. Clueless is still one of my favourite movies. I always wanted to grow up and own a white Jeep. Maybe some day still. Scream inspired my love of horror. And Silence of the Lambs inspired my love of crime fiction.

My love of true crime didn’t start until later when I turned on an episode of Dateline for the first time. Oh, you mean this is like the murder-mysteries I read except for real life?! That sounds horrifying! Count me in!

Maybe that’s why I find myself drawn towards 90s true crime. It was happening, and I didn’t know it. My access to information limited, but now I can learn all about these things that were going on in the world while I was growing up. Plus the fashion, the pop culture – I feel connected to it.

So, for this week’s True Crime Tuesday, we’re going to go back to 1991. To a yogourt shop in Austin, Texas, where four girls died in a fire.