True Crime Genre News: MyCase.com

On November 7, 2007 at 10:30 p.m. ET, Court TV will air a fascinating new true crime special :

MyCase.com (link: MyCaseDotCom.com).

I will be your guide for some portions of the show. We'll explore how the clues to a crime can sometimes be found on the Web. We'll follow a digital pathway littered with broken relationships, obsessions, lies, and alibis. We will follow a cyber-trail of evidence that led to a tragic conclusion: murder.

Check out this link: "Upcoming Series on Court TV."

At the bottom of that page is the following:

MyCase.com - NEW!

Premieres Wednesday, November 7 at 10:30pm E/P

The internet provides a startling new look into the mind of a criminal. Profiles are posted on personal web sites, motives revealed in online blogs, and premeditated plans detailed on email. There’s a new type of investigator following the trail: the Cyber-sleuth. They will show us that, online, we are closer than we realize to clues and insight into criminal minds. TV-14

Optomen's blurb for the show (working title: Crime.com) says it well: "The clues to crimes of passion are embedded in a vast digital matrix." (Emphasis added.)

I can't be cool about this anymore.

I'm as excited as I've been about anything I've done since I began crime-blogging! (Yes, that's an exclamation point, and I meant it. Here's another -->!)

I first chatted with folks from Optomen's home office in the United Kingdom back in 2005, but only learned of the concept for this show in 2006. I've been sitting on it and everything to do with it ever since. Funny enough, when it was finally cool for me tell everyone, I was initially stuck as to what to say.

The best thing to say is watch it. I turn 40 just 4 days before the special airs, so if you watch it and get the word out, you can consider that your "Lordy, lordy, Steve is 40" b-day present.

I don't want to give too much away, but these links might give you a few hints about the story explored in the premiere of MyCase.com: link 1, link 2.

And yes, I will be posting reminders, and perhaps more links, in days to come.

*****

One of Optomen's recent true-crime-related productions was Most Evil.

Most Evil is one of the most original, visually stunning documentary-style productions I've ever seen. It explores Dr. Michael Stone's "Scale of Evil," and killers Stone felt ranked near the top of his scale.

When I realized I was working with the same company and some of the same people responsible for a series as brilliant as Most Evil, it became harder than ever to keep quiet about MyCase.com. But for a blabbermouth like me, I did OK. Close friends and family knew, but that was about it.

*****

While I'm at it, I have to refer you to some awesome news for a fellow crime blogger, Laura James of CLEWS, The Historic True Crime Blog.

Sarah Weinman mentions Laura's news here at her own site, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind. Laura has been too modest to say much about it outside of telling fellow bloggers and authors. Just go read.

It was early 2005 when this lawyer-lady from Michigan e-mailed me wondering if we were the only two people on the Web calling ourselves crime bloggers, and I wrote back saying I didn't know, but she was the first person to write me with a clue as to what "crime-blogging" was. The Trenchcoat was actually doing it well ahead of the rest of us, but he wasn't calling it a "crime blog."

Since then, Laura's blog has become a favorite for anyone with a deep and intellectual interest in the history of crime. It remains one of the classiest destinations on the Web for true crime aficionados. Congratulations, Laura.

*****

I'm now a contributor (along with Jules Hammer and Michelle Gray) at The True Crime Blogroll. If you want regular updates about events involving true crime authors who also blog, like Gregg Olsen, Ron Franscell, and Corey Mitchell, owner of In Cold Blog (where some of your favorite crime bloggers are contributors along with some the brightest stars in the genre as a whole), then you need to check out The True Crime Blogroll every chance you get.

*****

I'm recording a segment today that will be aired Sunday night, October 27, 2007 at 10:00 p.m. ET on The Lineup on Fox News, hosted by Kimberly Guilfoyle. We'll be talking about signal true crime cases from the past, like the Manson Family murders. Also on the panel will be Dr. William July. Be sure to check it out.

*****

One more time, with gusto:

• WHAT: MyCase.com
• WHEN: 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time, November 7, 2007
• WHERE: Court TV
• WHO: produced by Optomen TV (USA)

Thank you in advance for watching, setting your DVRs, sending a link to this entry out to friends. Thanks also for reading this entry even if you already received a MySpace bulletin about this or got an e-mail I sent out to a number of people.

And seriously -- thanks for reading my various blog incarnations over the last 2+ years and sticking around even when blog A went kerflooey and blog B didn't get an update for months. I'm never able to adequately express my gratitude to people who read my writing, especially the many screen names that pop up in comments over and over with their own insights, ideas, tips, and tricks. I've been this close to not doing this anymore many times, and you all have always kept me at it. Your patience with your peripatetic host is greatly appreciated.

Arsonist Sought in Connection with SoCal Wildfires

The worst natural disaster to strike the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina may not be entirely natural, after all. At least one of the major fires decimating woodlands and suburbs in Southern California in the last week or was allegedly set on purpose.

FBI agents and California law enforcement have already served a search warrant on one Orange County home, seeking evidence in relation to the Santiago Canyon wildfire.

The LA Times reports that the Santiago fire covers almost 20,000 acres. MyFoxLA.com says the fire is about 30% contained. According to an on-air report by CNN, authorities have identified and secured 2 possible ignition points for the blaze, which began Sunday. KNBC out of LA stated that there were 3 possible places where the fire was deliberately set.

The stunning scope of the fires in Southern California and some of the apocalyptic images arising out of the coverage of the event (a fire tornado, for instance, videotaped near a military base) make the hunt for the arsonist even more intense that it would normally be. After all, in less than 5 days nearly 3000 homes have been destroyed or damaged in Orange and San Diego Counties. Most watching the progress of the wildfires are certain the destruction isn't over.

These wildfires arose out of a combination of extremely dry weather and severe Santa Ana winds. Wind gusts have reached hurricane force several times in recent days.

At least 6 people, maybe more, have died since the fires began.

To see just how massive this disaster truly is, follow this Google Maps link set up by TV station KPBS.

This entry may be revised and updated.

UPDATE

And then things got weird.

The LA Times reports that a man in Hesperia has been arrested for arson -- he was apparently caught in the act -- and another man, described only as 27 years old and from Arizona, was caught trying to set a fire in San Bernadino. Police gave chase. The man was cornered in his vehicle, and he attempted to ram a police car. So San Bernadino PD shot him.

No word yet on whether either man was connected to any of the current fires making life hell in Orange County or San Diego.

Additional references:

• Reuters;
• The Associated Press;
• KNBC.com (linked above, here too as the station is providing comprehensive, detailed coverage).