...and they think they can get away with it!

American Murder series
The Family Next Door (2020)
Laci Anderson (2024)
Gabby Petite (2025)

Watching true crime dramas, I am convinced that there can never be one perfect crime or one perfect murder. The audacity of it all is that people still commit crimes, thinking that they can get away scot-free. Forget the fact that God is watching their every move. Anyway, He is not going to be summoned to give His evidence in the court of Law. Even though we were taught that no one can escape God's justice, every day we are persuaded that justice can be bought with the best money one can afford to lose. In the immortal words of Swami Nithyananda, who was caught on CCTV misbehaving with his female follower, "It is not God that one should fear, my friends, it is the CCTV that one has to answer to!"

In the digital age, one cannot escape being captured by digital technology. Even if one can dodge the viewfinder of a paparazzi or the mobile phones of friends, acquaintances, or bystanders, one cannot escape being recorded by public monitoring devices. The mobile devices we own make it extremely easy to track our every movement, either to prove our innocence or, conversely, to put us in the spotlight, caught with our pants down. 

Suppose traditional police investigative work involves visiting the crime scene, collecting evidence, and interviewing potential witnesses. In that case, the first thing the police would do is seize the hand devices of all involved and review all available CCTV footage in the vicinity. 

In the first of the American series, 'The Family Next Door' (2020), Chris Watts called the police, reporting that his wife and two children were missing. He put up a straight face, fooling the police and joining the search team. Unbeknownst to everyone, a mistress is involved, and Chris finally confesses to killing his pregnant wife and his two daughters. The wife's fixation on documenting everything that happened in her life online helped investigators gain insight into her domestic life.

In the second offering, 'Laci Peterson' (2024), an 8-month pregnant wife is reported missing by her husband on Christmas Eve 2002. She had apparently gone out to walk her dog and never returned. The husband, Scott Peterson, was in the midst of things, searching for his wife. His suspicious demeanour prompted the police to investigate and discover another woman at the scene. Scott had apparently killed his wife and dumped her in the river. Her decomposed corpse and her expelled fetus were eventually found.

 In the third documentary, Gabby Petito and her boyfriend decided to invest all their little savings in a van and go travelling around America. Gabby chose to keep a travelogue, updating it with all their travels. Trouble was first detected when someone in Utah spotted them and reported a physical alteration to the local police. Almost two months into their travel, Gabby went missing, and her mother made a police report. The boyfriend became the person of interest. Gabby's remains were found later, determined by the forensics to have been strangled. The boyfriend was on the run and was later found dead by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, leaving a confession in his notebook.

Two things stand out in the cases above. All that we see on social media is fake. Those seemingly happy, smiley faces that we see are often masks that cover inner unhappiness. We may scream till our throats go dry that we value our privacy and have drafted laws to protect it. In fact, we can all be read like an open book. There is no deception involved. As a matter of principle, we signed it all away in the fine print of the online agreements that we never read anyway.

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The story behind the unkindest cut!

Lorena (4-part Documentary, 2019)
Amazon Prime.

All this while, Bobbitt' case, in my mind, was about slicing off a part of body-part quite dear to the heart of a man by a wife scorned. More often than not, Bobbitt's name is invoked in jocular, tongue-in-cheek conversations rather than anything serious. The truth of the matter is that this case bares open the hypocrisy of a society that considers itself advanced. It also exposes the nation's fixation on sex and how the community uses people's misery for personal gain.  It reveals the various deficiencies in the American law about domestic violence and women empowerment.

At that time in June 1993, when Lorena Bobbitt, a 23-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant, in an apparent fit of rage, sliced off her husband's penis and threw it into a field, I never really got the whole picture of what actually caused the entire fiasco. The media was also biased in painting a picture of a deranged woman of South American descent acting in an un-American way rather than the drama surrounding the whole debacle.

Lorena came to the USA with a student visa, met John Wayne Bobbitt, a US Marine, and got married. She was 20, he, 22. Just a few weeks into their marriage, John Wayne started becoming abusive towards his timid wife. There were even accusations of marital rape and bodily harm. John had left the Marines, and Lorena was the sole breadwinner, working as a nail salon artiste. The torture went on, with multiple police reports and counselling until the fateful day.

John had come home drunk. He forced himself upon her and performed anal sex against her wishes. She sliced his organ with an 8-inch kitchen knife after the act.

After much real-life medical drama, John's organ was successfully reattached.

All the media excitement started after that. Some women's rights activists thought the incident could lead to more awareness of domestic violence. Instead, the case became a tabloid sensation and fodder for comedians. Media publicists represented both parties. TV coverage was a rage. Even small-time entrepreneurs in Manassas, Virginia, made a killing selling memorabilia and T-shirts. Manassas, a sleepy satellite town to Washington DC, became alive with reporters.

One person's misery is another person's 

source of income. T-shirts bearing this

wordings were found sold outside

 the courthouse of Bobbitt's trial.

The Bobbitts were subjected to two trials. The first one was the accusation of marital rape. Because of the technicalities of law in the State of Virginia, John was acquitted. In the second case of Lorena's assault on John, things became complicated. It became a case of 'he says' versus 'she says' as John denied being physically abusive but instead accused Lorena of being the aggressor. Luckily, the previous police intervention and John's friends and neighbours' admission of seeing his darker side helped. 

The jury had a tough time deciding whether Lorena's assault was pre-meditated or due to temporary insanity, as there was a lapse between the abuse and the assault. Finally, the jury agreed that an irresistible impulse occurred after years of abuse and pent-up anger. She escaped imprisonment but spent 45 days in a hospital for mental assessment.

Both the Bobbitts' lives followed different trajectories. Lorena stayed on, became an American citizen, had a child with a new partner in 2006 and became a sort of a feminine icon against domestic abuse. She runs a charity organisation that creates awareness of domestic violence. John, however, spiralled down the rabbit hole of decadence. He became a porn star, got a disastrous penile extension and had a few brushes with the law for battery and theft. Despite all the publicity stunts and job opportunities, he became bankrupt.

Abducted, raped, burnt and
dumped into a pond by
a British police officer
in March 2021.

Whatever was said and done, the people who had the last laugh were the media people. They used the whole imbroglio to their advantage, laughing all the way to the bank. Despite all the ugly prejudices that this case highlighted to the world, almost 30 years on, the world is still fighting the same issues about gender equality, spousal abuse and media frenzy about bedroom issues.

(PS. Isn't it funny that the media is quick to highlight and discredit Eastern cultures when it comes to women empowerment and societal discrimination against ladies? The recent turn of events in the UK has shown that even women there are vulnerable to random killings by unknown assailants for no apparent reason. Women in the USA are not far behind living in fear of domestic violence and brutal beatings.)

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It is the message

Silence (Nishabdham, Tamil; 2020)

This film was initially meant to be a silent movie, one without dialogues. It would have probably done better. The dialogue was a killjoy and laughable. A significant proportion of conversation of the film was in English, and that is the one that looks so fake, especially the lines written for Hollywood actor Michael Madson. 

It starts off as a paranormal tale but later goes on to give a serial killer angle to the final story. It is predictable with many glaring loopholes in the narration. The cast comprises an ensemble of a few Indian actors (R Madhavan, Anushka Shetty and a few young actresses) and many amateurs. 

Forget the story. What fascinated me about this film is how Indians in this story blended into American society. Filmed amidst the lush landscape around the outskirts of Seattle, Washington, we see how the characters mingled seamlessly partaking in what is considered the culture of the local populace. They indulge in classical music (the main character is a cellist), art, (the other character is a mute painter) and appreciate all the things people in their newfound land hold in high esteems. 

This does hold true to many economic immigrants of the late 20th and 21st century who screwed their own form of governance set up in their respective countries. Their way of life failed them, but they still proclaim to know better. They run down their host, denigrate their behaviour, criticise their way of life but still want to reap maximum benefit from the social safety net that the new country had to offer. They bite the hands that feed them and behead the people who think differently from them.

It appears that these people are doomed for failure wherever they go.

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