What suspects watched their own UM segments?

[ogapogadots]

I think these: 1) Elaine Parent - her roommate said Parent watched AMW every Weds evening ...probably to see if she will be on there. Regardless I think Parent had the arrogance to watch herself on UN. 2) Tim McClure.

** But what I meant was which ones do u think watched their own segment in your opinion. (Not announced on UM.)

[TheCars1986]

Dennis Depue did.

[Killarney Rose]

I can’t think of his name- the Canadian that was a traveling salesman. He abandoned his family over fear of getting caught for a petty crime he committed as a youth. He was approaching retirement age.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

That guy who left a note about UM in a hotel wastepaper basket at least knew about his segment.

Didn't a couple of the Lost Loves see their own stories? I think that Vietnam nurse who helped the man injured by a helicopter phoned in after seeing the promo.

[rusty spike]

Steve Cox?

Wasn't he the one hiding out in a motel in Nevada and then he fled after UM aired the segment?

[ogapogadots]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

Steve Cox?

Wasn't he the one hiding out in a motel in Nevada and then he fled after UM aired the segment?

Yes that's his name.

And the Circleville Writer watched UM! If there were multiple writers maybe all of them watched UM too Iol?

[ogapogadots]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

Dennis Depue did.

P U Depue ! Why dont u change your dirty (bloody) smelly clothes into something clean, white, and refreshing?! Dennis the Menace....

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

Dennis Depue did.

I always wonder how much of the segment he actually saw. Because in the update, the live-in girlfriend looked back and theorized that he was keeping her distracted in the kitchen so she wouldn't walk in the living room and see the TV. Meanwhile, he's frantically packing and trying to catch snippets of the segment.

Then in 2020, a program called 'Man with a Van,' on Investigation Discovery aired an entire episode about the Dennis DePue saga and...wow. Setting aside the laughable dialogue they gave the young actors who were playing Ray and Marie Thorton, they showed Dennis sitting on his bed dumbfounded while watching the entire UM segment. (He's not packing). Then he hears his girlfriend walk through the front door and he contemplates killing her. And I'm like...huh?

I'm thinking the producers of this show tried to add extra drama to this already dramatic story by fudging some of the details in their reenactments. The UM update is much more likely.

[StackTime]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

I always wonder how much of the segment he actually saw. Because in the update, the live-in girlfriend looked back and theorized that he was keeping her distracted in the kitchen so she wouldn't walk in the living room and see the TV. Meanwhile, he's frantically packing and trying to catch snippets of the segment.

Then in 2020, a program called 'Man with a Van,' on Investigation Discovery aired an entire episode about the Dennis DePue saga and...wow. Setting aside the laughable dialogue they gave the young actors who were playing Ray and Marie Thorton, they showed Dennis sitting on his bed dumbfounded while watching the entire UM segment. (He's not packing). Then he hears his girlfriend walk through the front door and he contemplates killing her. And I'm like...huh?

I'm thinking the producers of this show tried to add extra drama to this already dramatic story by fudging some of the details in their reenactments. The UM update is much more likely.

Granted it was a re-enactment, but, I've never understood Depue LEAVING UM ON in one room and trying to keep his girlfriend in the other room under the guise of needed to leave immediately, and, presumably so that she wouldn't see the segment.

Why not change the channel, short out the power outlet, or something like that to avoid the segment and/or make sure she couldn't just flip the channel back (maybe she was a UM fanatic like us folks here). Depue's panic after being featured on national TV, and the need to flee ASAP, I get. The role of the broadcast airing at that particular time in their home, doesn't add up to me.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

Dennis Depue did.

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

I always wonder how much of the segment he actually saw. Because in the update, the live-in girlfriend looked back and theorized that he was keeping her distracted in the kitchen so she wouldn't walk in the living room and see the TV. Meanwhile, he's frantically packing and trying to catch snippets of the segment.

Then in 2020, a program called 'Man with a Van,' on Investigation Discovery aired an entire episode about the Dennis DePue saga and...wow. Setting aside the laughable dialogue they gave the young actors who were playing Ray and Marie Thorton, they showed Dennis sitting on his bed dumbfounded while watching the entire UM segment. (He's not packing). Then he hears his girlfriend walk through the front door and he contemplates killing her. And I'm like...huh?

I'm thinking the producers of this show tried to add extra drama to this already dramatic story by fudging some of the details in their reenactments. The UM update is much more likely.

Well, short of asking his girlfriend directly.. We'll probably never know. I kinda suspect none of the stories are actually fully correct. I figure he might have seen the start of the show and saw he was being profiled and that's when he started running around packing up. Possibly even a preview of the episode before it aired.. You know "Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries..."

Does anyone recall when his segment aired in the original episode?

Originally Posted by Killarney Rose

I can’t think of his name- the Canadian that was a traveling salesman. He abandoned his family over fear of getting caught for a petty crime he committed as a youth. He was approaching retirement age.

Did he? I don't recall this at all. Alex Cooper is the one you're thinking of. Someone in Canada did call and 'report' him but I don't ever recall hearing that he was watching his own episode.

[ogapogadots]

[QUOTE=StackTime;6192735]Granted it was a re-enactment, but, I've never understood Depue LEAVING UM ON in one room and trying to keep his girlfriend in the other room under the guise of needed to leave immediately, and, presumably so that she wouldn't see the segment.


//
I agree why not change the channel. Maybe he wanted to watch it to see how much UM and police knew of his whereabouts like what state or city they think Dennis is in... //

Oh no that stupid jardiance commercial is on again!!! Back to the subject at hand: in the last 10 yrs I heard many people here and on YT comments section say how creepy Dennis looked. lol well I remember only 1 person on YT say that Mrs Depue looked scary too. True, at least in that um pic w dennis!

[Killarney Rose]

Alex Cooper- thanks Labonte18 !

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by Labonte18

Does anyone recall when his segment aired in the original episode?

The original episode aired March 20, 1991, which was 11 months after the crime happened. The whole thing was surreal, this being a "local" case for me. Coldwater is two hours away but Marilyn grew up in my city and even went to high school with my uncle. I later found out that her funeral was in my city as well and that her sister still lived here. I was a 5th grader when this segment aired and I was getting ready to leave for school when my mom showed me an article in our local newspaper about Dennis killing himself after being featured on Unsolved Mysteries.

The following Wednesday night when Unsolved Mysteries aired, the episode started with Stack telling the viewers about the development in the Dennis Depue case which had just aired the previous week. He did this before he previewed that night's cases, the only time I can ever remember UM doing this. And since episodes were shot weeks and months ahead of airdates, the UM crew must have asked Robert Stack to come in and film that quick intro. I've never seen it again after that original airing. It was never shown on Lifetime or Filmrise.

Originally Posted by Labonte18

Did he? I don't recall this at all. Alex Cooper is the one you're thinking of. Someone in Canada did call and 'report' him but I don't ever recall hearing that he was watching his own episode.

This was such a classic segment. But you're right. It's never mentioned that Alex watched his own segment. A viewer in Hamilton, Canada recognized him and called the authorities. Everything about this story was intriguing and I think would have made a great movie. So many discoveries the family made along the way and then to find out he hasn't been dead the last five years...but why is he running? It has all the makings of a great script, especially if you're in to drama.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

The original episode aired March 20, 1991, which was 11 months after the crime happened. The whole thing was surreal, this being a "local" case for me. Coldwater is two hours away but Marilyn grew up in my city and even went to high school with my uncle. I later found out that her funeral was in my city as well and that her sister still lived here. I was a 5th grader when this segment aired and I was getting ready to leave for school when my mom showed me an article in our local newspaper about Dennis killing himself after being featured on Unsolved Mysteries.

The following Wednesday night when Unsolved Mysteries aired, the episode started with Stack telling the viewers about the development in the Dennis Depue case which had just aired the previous week. He did this before he previewed that night's cases, the only time I can ever remember UM doing this. And since episodes were shot weeks and months ahead of airdates, the UM crew must have asked Robert Stack to come in and film that quick intro. I've never seen it again after that original airing. It was never shown on Lifetime or Filmrise.

Well, here's where my mind is going, and the reason I asked where the DePue case aired in the original episode.. Which segment it was.

It's already.. Odd.. To think that his girlfriend (I could likely look up her name, but.. Who cares? She was an innocent bystander in all this.) was getting home between 8pm and 9pm.. That.. Just doesn't sit right. Because, the way UM showed it.. She got home and he was running around and his segment was airing.

The further towards 9pm you get, the odder this would be.

So.. My opinion/guess here.. He wasn't watching the show at all. I think there was a 'bumper' aired that said they would be profiling his case.. And he probably was packing up and running sometime more around the 6pm timeframe.

That.. Would make a whole lot more sense. Someone arriving home from work between 8pm and 9pm.. That's just.. REALLY weird. not impossible, of course, but.. Weird.

This was such a classic segment. But you're right. It's never mentioned that Alex watched his own segment. A viewer in Hamilton, Canada recognized him and called the authorities. Everything about this story was intriguing and I think would have made a great movie. So many discoveries the family made along the way and then to find out he hasn't been dead the last five years...but why is he running? It has all the makings of a great script, especially if you're in to drama.

Sorry.. I view this one totally differently. I just look at him as a horrible person.

Look.. I understand what he did back in the day. I understand him hiding that from his family.. But.. To pack up and disappear on them? That was the WORST option available.

I'd have much more respect for him if he had just sat them all down and said "Ok.. Here's what I've hidden from you for 40 years". What he tried to do.. Running away.. Awful. what he put his family through. Everything up until the point he staged his disappearance.. You know what? All that I could forgive. But.. Not the disappearance.

I've said it before here.. Not sure in relation to Alex.. But.. While he's at the shallow end of worthless.. He still ranks as worthless as a human being for that.


Oh.. And I'd start the celebration here because I remembered a name that others didn't.. But.. I'd be lying. I had to look it up.

[dynoguy88]

Not defending him at all. I think it's terrible what he put his family through. But I do think the story itself is interesting.