Some crimes are so heartbreaking or shocking that they earn the label crime of the century.

But the stories that made headlines in decades past are necessarily remembered today.

I'm Amber Hunt, a journalist and author.

In each episode of this show, I'll examine a case that's maybe less known today, but

was huge when it happened.

This is crimes of the centuries.

Elaine Whitty was a woman in her 70s living alone in her home in a retirement community

in Michigan City, Indiana when she decided to trade in her day-to-day peace and quiet

to help out her daughter-in-law who was in a jam.

Marie Whitty needed a place to live.

Marie was, like Elaine Widowed.

Unlike Elaine, however, when Marie's husband Elaine Stepson Paul had died, Marie had two

boys still living at home, boys who were unquestionably traumatized by the untimely

death of their father.

In fact, one of those boys, the older of the two, had actually been the cause of Paul's

death.

Eric Whitty had been 15 years old when he said he found a gun in the house, a gun that

he had accidentally fired, killing his dad while he slept on the living room couch.

Understandably, Eric hadn't seen the same after that.

He didn't talk much about the accident, but when he did, he said things that made it clear

he blamed himself.

Things like, I killed my best friend.

...