What can you do when the "All-American boy" in your town turns into a vicious murderer?
That's the dilemma the poor folks in Conway, South Carolina, faced in the early 1990s when they got the shocking news about Ken Register. Heck, this was one of the nicest kids in town, a "poster boy," as City Confidential calls him, for Conway. A good athletic, musician, a kid who seemed to care about helping others.....almost too good to be true.
He WAS too good to be true.
One night the rage inside him led him to rape and stab to death a nice Conway girl, Crystal Fay Todd. Crystal had been best friends with Ken for a number of years, like a good brother and sister. He always looked out for her, and her mom. However, having his request for some sex in the car one night brought out all the hidden demons inside him. She had been stabbed over 30 times and nearly decapitated with one brutal slice across her neck..
He wasn't caught right away because he was one of the last people anyone thought could do this horrible crime. When he was caught and tried, some things came out in the trial that were clues to the real Ken Register, among them being a fascination with violent pornography. In one snuff movie he bought or rented, the killer did exactly when Ken did to Crystal. Later, others - like the high school football coach - revealed some shocking violent threats the kid had made but nobody thought much of it at the time. The signs were there, as they often are, but went ignored.
In addition to the crime story, we get a nice look at this genteel town which borders Myrtle Beach. Boy, City Confidential did the latter no favors, painting that golf-resort area as about as wholesome as Sodom & Gomorrah. Conway is as clean and nice as Myrtle Beach is as tacky and crude, according to narrator Paul Winfield in this program. But since Highway 501 has to go through Conway in order for the millions of tourists to make it to Myrtle Beach, Conway is not as calm and peaceful as it would prefer to be. That especially held true in the days of this shocking murder case.
That's the dilemma the poor folks in Conway, South Carolina, faced in the early 1990s when they got the shocking news about Ken Register. Heck, this was one of the nicest kids in town, a "poster boy," as City Confidential calls him, for Conway. A good athletic, musician, a kid who seemed to care about helping others.....almost too good to be true.
He WAS too good to be true.
One night the rage inside him led him to rape and stab to death a nice Conway girl, Crystal Fay Todd. Crystal had been best friends with Ken for a number of years, like a good brother and sister. He always looked out for her, and her mom. However, having his request for some sex in the car one night brought out all the hidden demons inside him. She had been stabbed over 30 times and nearly decapitated with one brutal slice across her neck..
He wasn't caught right away because he was one of the last people anyone thought could do this horrible crime. When he was caught and tried, some things came out in the trial that were clues to the real Ken Register, among them being a fascination with violent pornography. In one snuff movie he bought or rented, the killer did exactly when Ken did to Crystal. Later, others - like the high school football coach - revealed some shocking violent threats the kid had made but nobody thought much of it at the time. The signs were there, as they often are, but went ignored.
In addition to the crime story, we get a nice look at this genteel town which borders Myrtle Beach. Boy, City Confidential did the latter no favors, painting that golf-resort area as about as wholesome as Sodom & Gomorrah. Conway is as clean and nice as Myrtle Beach is as tacky and crude, according to narrator Paul Winfield in this program. But since Highway 501 has to go through Conway in order for the millions of tourists to make it to Myrtle Beach, Conway is not as calm and peaceful as it would prefer to be. That especially held true in the days of this shocking murder case.