It is definitely a good thing that the golden age of serial killers is over with technological advances since the 1980s such as the internet, mobile phones, camera surveillance and, not least of all, DNA testing. Any would-be murderer today would have to circumvent these in order to avoid detection like Clyde Hedrick did. The victims would have been found much sooner and the evidence still intact, if they had just been dumped in a field.
While the series honours the families by granting them a lot of screen time, it only cast a cursory glance at the poor policing and lax attitudes towards missing persons at a time which was the height of serial killings. Even the coroner who was responsible for examining the remains of Ellen Beason somehow neglected to note the massive fracture in her skull that could not be explained by anything other than severe blunt force trauma. This allowed Hedrick to roam free, and continue his terror on Marla and countless others.
While psychopaths like Reece and Hedrick were cast down their murderous paths by what are mostly likely impoverished childhoods that taught them nothing about morality, it was the failure of law enforcement to perform their duties to a sufficient standard and keep others safe from such deranged people. This is the criminal negligence of law enforcement back then and the documentary missed an opportunity to shine a light on that.
While the series honours the families by granting them a lot of screen time, it only cast a cursory glance at the poor policing and lax attitudes towards missing persons at a time which was the height of serial killings. Even the coroner who was responsible for examining the remains of Ellen Beason somehow neglected to note the massive fracture in her skull that could not be explained by anything other than severe blunt force trauma. This allowed Hedrick to roam free, and continue his terror on Marla and countless others.
While psychopaths like Reece and Hedrick were cast down their murderous paths by what are mostly likely impoverished childhoods that taught them nothing about morality, it was the failure of law enforcement to perform their duties to a sufficient standard and keep others safe from such deranged people. This is the criminal negligence of law enforcement back then and the documentary missed an opportunity to shine a light on that.