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Private Notes
Examining how the 1993 murders of a Maryland boy, his mother and nurse sparked a lawsuit against the publishers of “Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors,” an instruction book used by the killer. The lawsuit has also inspired intense debates about the First Amendment rights of the publisher.
Examining the crimes of convicted murderer Roy Fontaine, and the trail of death he left behind in the late '70s as he posed as a sophisticated butler in households throughout Britain.
Examining the 1988 disappearance and murder of 7-year-old Jaclyn Dowaliby. The case became a cause celebre when her parents, David and Cynthia, became suspects. David was convicted, but the verdict was overturned in 1991 and the case remains unsolved.
The case of John Bodkin Adams (1899-1983), a British physician suspected of killing patients after they wrote wills naming him as their beneficiary. Adams was tried for murder in 1957, but was acquitted for lack of evidence.
The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a radio journalist and former member of the Black Panthers who was convicted in 1982 of the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner.
Chronicling the hunt for the killer of five college students at the University of Florida in Gainesville. After one suspect was cleared, the police captured Danny Rolling, who was convicted of the August 1990 murders in 1994.
Examining the 1988 murder of a Kentucky woman named Brenda Schaefer. The prime suspect, her fiancé, was tried but acquitted of the crime in 1991, despite the testimony of a former girlfriend who led police to the body.
Recalling the 1990 killings of five students at the University of Florida in Gainesville. All five were murdered within a 48-hour period, and their killer, Danny Rolling, was convicted in 1994.
Recalling the 1993 rape and murder of Teena Brandon, a Nebraska teen who, it was revealed, had been posing as a male named Brandon Teena. Teena's story was told in the 1999 film “Boys Don't Cry.”
The case of Michael Alig, the infamous Manhattan party promoter who in 1997 was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Angel Melendez, one of Alig's “club kids.” The documentary recalls how Alig kept the body in his apartment for a week, then dismembered it and threw it into the Hudson River.
A recap of the 1997 trial of Louise Woodward, the British au pair accused of causing the death of eight-month-old Matthew Eappen. Woodward was initially convicted of second-degree murder, but the verdict was later changed to involuntary manslaughter.
A look at the crimes of Patricia Allanson, whose desire to lead an upscale life led to the murders of her husband Tom's parents (a crime for which he was wrongly convicted) and the attempted poisonings of his grandparents.
The case of Cullen Davis, a wealthy Texan acquitted of two murders after an alleged 1976 shooting spree. He was later found innocent on a separate murder-for-hire charge. Included are comments from Davis, his former wife, Priscilla, and his defense attorney, Richard Haynes.
The case of Kathy Bonney, a Virginia woman murdered at the hands of her father, Tom Bonney. Bonney was found guilty in 1988, but his conviction was overturned in 1992 on appeal, pending a competency hearing.
The case of Donald Hume, notorious British double murderer. After serving a sentence for being an accessory in a 1949 killing, Hume committed a murder in Switzerland that earned him a life sentence.
Recalling the case of a Florida man convicted in 1991 of the poisoning death of a neighbor, with whom he'd been feuding. George Trepal, an amateur chemist, had injected the family's soft drinks with a lethal substance.
Recalling the 1992 murder of Sara Tokars, a young mother whose husband, Fred, hired a hit man to kill her, allegedly to prevent her from testifying against him regarding a money-laundering scheme.
“When a Child Kills.” A report on Nathaniel Abraham, who at age 13 became the youngest American to be tried as an adult for first-degree murder, a crime he committed at age 11. Included: an interview with Abraham's mother.
A look at convicted Texas killer Kenneth Allen McDuff, who was sentenced to death for murdering three people, later paroled, then sent back to death row and executed for killing again.
The prosecution of California serial killer Charles Ng is recalled. Ng avoided prosecution through legal loopholes for over a dozen years, but was later convicted of murdering 11 people.
Two cases in which money was the motive for the murders of family members: the DeFeo case in Amityville, N.Y., and the Benson case in Florida.
The case of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who is serving two consecutive life sentences for the 1975 murder of two FBI agents on the Oglala Lakota Indian reservation in Pine Ridge, S.D.
The case of Dr. Bruce Rowan, who killed his wife in 1998 but was found innocent by reason of insanity.
An examination of a 1935 murder case in Scotland involving Dr. Buck Ruxton, who killed and dismembered his wife and maid and was executed for the crime.
A look at the 1987 case of Lisa Steinberg, a 6-year-old who died as a result of abuse from her adoptive father, Joel Steinberg, who is serving a prison sentence for the crime.
An account of how and why OJ Simpson lost the civil ligation.
