How Did UM Choose Cases ????

[Janel "Jaycee" Miller]

Hi everyone! I'm a long time reader and this is one of my first times posting. Thanks to crystaldawn and TJ who helped me get this far.

I don't know if this has been asked before -- does anyone know how the producers chose the segments for Unsolved Mysteries. Obviously, there are many more missing children, murder victims, etc. than there was air time for, so I was wondering how the cases were selected (if its known).

Occasionally, other "track down the criminal" shows would show the same mysteries as UM and part of me wants to say air time of that nature MIGHT have been used more productively to profile a new case. I say that, and know that I have only ever really watced UM and occasionally Forensic Files, so I know not everyone watches every show out there and knows every criminal that's being sought.

Any thoughts?

[TracyLynnS]

I'll be interested to see what others, more knowledgeable than I am on the subject, will have to say about this process. I've also wondered how it works.

I do know that UM and AMW would do segments at the request of LE. I can remember Robert Stack specifically stating that LE had contacted them about a hot case and asked them to do one of their special alert type things to get the info out to the public quickly.

I wonder if some cases were on multiple shows either for their attention grabbing subject matter (the almighty ratings, ya know) or because of the sheer determination of the families of the victims who had made a vow to themselves and/or their relative that they would find out exactly what happened so they could bring a measure of justice for the victim.

On UM, I've seen a few of those kinds of statements. A sibling or parent saying that they will never rest until the whole world knows what has happened to their loved one and that hopefully a viewer of one of the programs has the opportunity to call in their tips to the police if they recognize something about the suspect, etc.

On a crime message board that I used to visit, there was a big discussion about a murder from about 1974 that had never been solved. In about 2008, friends and acquaintances of the victim met up on that board, gathered as much information as they could, and insisted that their local news station do a segment on the case, in the hopes that a viewer would finally feel that they could tell what they knew.

The case was an 18 year old, clean cut good kid with no history of criminal activity or risky behaviors, who was killed and found months later in the trunk of his car. This tv appeal was completely managed by his friends, and his parents and siblings weren't involved at all. The exception being that the friends approached the surviving family to ask if it would be okay for them to do the segment, and permission was given.

It's an interesting case, although still unsolved. His friends on that message board even went to the point of driving to the area in the same time of year that the body was found, borrowed a car like the one his body was found in to reenact the scene, etc, doing anything they could to come across something that the cops may have missed.

The boy's name was Bruce Douglass (and he even went to the same junior college at Dennis Rader, the BTK killer, at the same time! Don't know if there's a connection, but there were some similarities to BTK's MO involved in this crime.

When I was looking up Bruce's case just now, I found this article, which had never been brought up in thousands and thousands of posts on the other crime website about this case: http://www.coldcasekansas.com/pdf/Do..._tmiWeekly.pdf

[TracyLynnS]

From the link I provided in my previous post:

In the summer of 2008, a reporter
with KAKE News in Wichita produced
a segment for Crimestoppers on the
Bruce Douglass case.

This previously
abandoned case was brought to the
public’s attention once again, nearly 35
years later, due to the efforts of Paul,
other friends, and members of Bruce’s
family. [These were his friends who met on delphiforums True Crimes And Beyond board]

Those who followed the case
were extremely disappointed when it
was erroneously reported that a hose
was found at the scene attached to the
Mustang’s exhaust pipe.

- - - - - - -
We had discussed this "he asphyxiated himself with a hose to the tailpipe" theory forever. That hose simply wasn't there. It was a rumor, based on a guess because of the twisted way one of the back seats was positioned. No hose was found. [It was misinformation along the lines of Leroy Drieth's case, where one person makes an off handed comment and then LE takes it as the only possible explanation, and doesn't investigate any others.]

It was terrible that 30+ years later, this same misinformation was put into the tv news appeal for leads. Perpetuating that lie just made the viewer think that it was absolutely a suicide and that the parents just didn't want to accept it. That definitely wasn't the case.

[crystaldawn]

I do know that from talking to Sheila Kimmell and reading some books on UM cases that many times family members and law enforcement contacted UM and asked them to cover certain cases.

I'll go ahead and move this thread to the main UM board since it is UM related.

[SageSlowdive]

Didn't they use to run ads at the end of the show asking people to contact them if they wanted to be featured?

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

I do know that from talking to Sheila Kimmell and reading some books on UM cases that many times family members and law enforcement contacted UM and asked them to cover certain cases.

I'll go ahead and move this thread to the main UM board since it is UM related.

I think that's how it happened the majority of the time. In the Joyce McLain segment, Robert Stack mentioned that the town of East Millinocket sent 10,000 letters to Unsolved Mysteries begging them to feature her story.

Sometimes I was amazed at how quickly UM filmed and aired a segment. If I'm not mistaken, the Joe Smith segment aired just a couple months after he murdered his wife and step daughters.

[browneyes106]

Originally Posted by SageSlowdive

Didn't they use to run ads at the end of the show asking people to contact them if they wanted to be featured?

I also remember the ads.

[DarkDante]

I believe forum member "Kane" wrote UM requesting a story (I think it was the case of Virginia Douglas) and they didn't end up featuring it.

Douglas was an elderly woman who disappeared during an impromptu trip to Maine with her husband Frank. Frank claims she disappeared after using a restroom at a shopping plaza. Police spoke with several people who were able to confirm Frank's presence at the shopping plaza but nobody was able to substantiate Frank's claims that his wife was with him on this particular trip.

In fact some witnesses claim that Frank wandered around the mall in the hours after his wife disappeared asking other shoppers if they had seen his wife. He also made several stops at a lingerie store buying several items telling the clerk they were "omens for his wife's safe return".

Also suspicious were that the Douglas' residence was found in a disheveled state at the time that the couple allegedly departed for Maine. Virginia was habitually neat and according to her family would not leave her home in such a state before departing on a trip. Finally in searching the house, authorities also blood stains that matched Virginia's blood type on the carpet as well as a clump of her hair.

Frank passed away shortly after his wife's disappearance and the case remains unsolved to this day. It should be noted though that the couple's children believe that their father murdered their mother citing the fact that one of the couple's children was due to arrive from out of state at 9:30 p.m. for a scheduled visit. Frank stated that he and his wife departed their residence at 8:30 p.m. which meant that neither parent would be at the residence to welcome their child. This fact alone brings into question why Frank and Virginia took this trip to begin with and is one of the major questions still surrounding this case.

[shek]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

I do know that from talking to Sheila Kimmell and reading some books on UM cases that many times family members and law enforcement contacted UM and asked them to cover certain cases.

I'll go ahead and move this thread to the main UM board since it is UM related.

Yes, I was the one who contacted UM and begged them for help after one of our local reporters found their contact information and suggested I call them. Believe it or not, up to that point, I didn't even know the program existed. When I spoke to UM, they really didn't say they had certain criteria for taking certain cases but asked me to send them a ton of info for them to review. Some weeks later they called me back and said they would take our case.

Now on the other hand, other programs have contacted me wanting to cover the case. So, I guess to answer the orignal question, I suppose it could go either way. And how they choose to do what stories, I am sure it varies. But in our case, I'll quote the producer that our reporter interviewed after posing that very question. "Unsolved Mysteries get's hundreds of similar requests." [So why take our case?] "It's the very tragic element, the brutality, the senselessness, the appeal of a young girl who was motived to excel. She was kind of a model kid. Anyoneone who is a parent can identify with this story."