Question:

[Steve W.]

Why do you think so many cases were listed as "Unexplained Death" segments on UM airings when they were clearly "Murder" cases?

Examples of this include: Charlie Anderson, Jay Cook/Tanya Van Cuylenborg, Gary Grant, Jr., Veronica (Tina) Jefferson, Lisa Kimmel, Chaim Weiss, Lisa Ziegert, etc.

[dynoguy88]

I think those cases were listed as "Unexplained Death" because police had no idea who the killers were. They knew the victims were murdered but who killed them was the unexplained part.

Had police known who the killers were, those murder segments would be listed as "Wanted," like the Annette Burnside or Dennis DePue segments.

[Apostapler]

Well, there was no "murder" category. They lumped murders and mysterious deaths together in one category, e.g. questionable suicides, drownings, poisonings, and the like.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Apostapler

Well, there was no "murder" category. They lumped murders and mysterious deaths together in one category, e.g. questionable suicides, drownings, poisonings, and the like.

There actually was a "murder" segment category. These were usually when there was a known suspect, with a known motive for killing the victim. They may not have known exactly who the suspect was (if they did like Dennis Depue, then the segment would be classified as a "Wanted" one), but there was still a clear cut motive. As to the "Unexplained Death" segments, I always thought it was either unknown if it was a suicide or a homicide, or if someone was murdered (like the ones Steve W. mentioned above), they did not have any motive or reason why each victim would have been targeted for murder.

[unsolved243]

The one thing I do not understand is on the new Unsolved Mysteries website. The category "Unexplained Death" on the new show is the mysterious deaths cases (the questionable suicides, etc. mentioned above), but on the site it lists cases Charlie Anderson, David Cox, Philip Fraser, Sally Mcnelly and Shane Stewart, Kathy Page, Judy Smith, and Chaim Weiss in that category when they should obviously be in the "Murder" category. I know some of them might fit in the category, they were all obviously murdered and there was no question that they did not commit suicide or died accidentally.

[Apostapler]

Well my mind is blown...how did I not remember there being a MURDER category?

Haha

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by Apostapler

Well my mind is blown...how did I not remember there being a MURDER category?

Haha

There was only a "Murder" category in that it flashed on the screen during the second opening style along with all the other types of segments (I believe this was in the mid-90s and accompanied by a skull). But I don't remember it ever being flashed on the screen before a segment would come on. I think it was still listed as "unexplained death" instead.

[Steve W.]

Originally Posted by unsolved243

The one thing I do not understand is on the new Unsolved Mysteries website. The category "Unexplained Death" on the new show is the mysterious deaths cases (the questionable suicides, etc. mentioned above), but on the site it lists cases Charlie Anderson, David Cox, Philip Fraser, Sally Mcnelly and Shane Stewart, Kathy Page, Judy Smith, and Chaim Weiss in that category when they should obviously be in the "Murder" category. I know some of them might fit in the category, they were all obviously murdered and there was no question that they did not commit suicide or died accidentally.

I agree with your bewilderment. I forgot to mention the UM official website as the other example for my question above.

But yes, I think someone has accurately explained the difference above: "Murder" was when there was a clear-cut motive for why someone was murdered, "Wanted" was when there was an exact suspect for whatever crime they committed, and "Unexplained Death" cases would also extend out to murder cases but were not listed as "Murder" on the show when there either wasn't a clear-cut motive or a clear-cut suspect. I suppose that makes sense.