Strangers, let's open this episode with a thought experiment, shall we?

Imagine something hideous has happened in your community.

Now picture an array of teenaged archetypes in a police lineup.

The jock, the nerd, the homecoming queen, the goth.

Based on impression alone, with a complete lack of evidence, who are you most suspicious of?

Consider your answer and, more importantly, why you chose it.

In the search for answers to the unimaginably evil,

why do we scapegoat and how different is the root of that evil to the root of one's impulse to kill in the first place? Welcome to strange and unexplained with me, Daisy Egan.

I've been putting off doing this story for a few reasons.

One, and probably the most obvious, is that it involves horrific violence to children,

which is always uncomfortable, to say the least.

The second is that I've met one of the main characters in this story,

and it just brings into stark relief the reality that these are real people

for whom this case has shaped their lives.

And I know rehashing it can be traumatizing.

On the other hand, stories like these also help shape our culture in general, which is why,

of course, we keep coming back to them.

Underneath the horrific crime that was committed, or perhaps surrounding it, is the story

of incredibly weak police work, a broken justice system, and a media frenzy that fed off fears, prejudice,

and misinformation. I was largely unaware of this case when it happened. I was 13. My mom died

four days after the triple murder, and my attention was solidly not focused on this story.

For the most part, I have avoided this story altogether in the ensuing 30 years.

...