If the glow of the burgeoning holiday season is giving you just a few too many warm fuzzies, ID has you covered with five straight days of true crime documentary premieres.
All too often, bad things happen to good people and sometimes, we never find out why. Watch the tragic truth behind four such cases unfold as ID dives into disappearances, unsolved murders, and families torn apart during True Crime at 9, premiering Friday, November 27. Sign up using the link below for $10 off your first month of Sling with ID!
‘Jessica Chambers: An ID Murder Mystery’
She was a preppy blonde 19-year-old girl in a small town, a former cheerleader, and a beloved friend and daughter. But when she was found stumbling half-dead from a burning car parked by the side of the road, the question was raised – who would want to kill Jessica Chambers?
Investigators tracked cell phone data and used video surveillance to pin down Jessica’s whereabouts leading up to her murder, but Jessica herself unwittingly complicated the investigation when, in her dying moments, she told EMTs that “Eric or Derek” had done this to her. According to her friends, family, and phone records, Jessica didn’t know anyone by either of those names. Her phone did reveal one suspicious person, however: A man by the name of Quinton Tellis, who couldn’t stop tripping over himself in testimony regarding his relationship with Jessica and the timeline of events during the hours in question.
Evidence was piling up, but investigators were still missing a few things: a motive, a verdict, and a conviction. Was a mumbled name from a dying girl enough to derail the case they had built? Tune in to Jessica Chamber: An ID Murder Mystery to hear all the evidence for yourself and see if you’re left as conflicted as the jury. Just remember that you can’t trust everything you see or hear – or can you?
Jessica Chambers: An ID Murder Mystery premieres Friday, November 27 at 9pm ET.
‘Who Killed the Lyon Sisters?’
40 years after the case in question went cold, on its way to the file room to be forgotten, an odd twist of luck caused the investigating officer to stumble across a red hot piece of testimony that he had never noticed before. A man said he had actually witnessed the Lyon sisters being abducted from that shopping mall parking lot back in 1975. And, unlike most of the suspects in the case, this man was still alive.
Statistics say that less than 1% of kidnappings are committed by a stranger. Even fewer involve more than one child being abducted. Katherine and Sheila Lyon were the tragic exception, having disappeared without a trace – and without a family member to blame. Investigators sought evidence on a known child trafficker, but to no avail. They combed the area, interviewed suspects, and kept the case open for 40 years in an effort to bring justice and closure to the family.
Who Killed the Lyon Sisters? follows the twisted trail of lies and misleading testimony given by Lloyd Lee Welch, implicating more and more people into the crimes and cover-ups surrounding the sisters’ kidnapping. From the suburbs of Maryland to the hill country of Virginia and a mountain with more dark secrets than any landmark should be allowed, the disturbing trajectory of this mystery details one horrifying fact: The odds aren’t always in your favor.
Who Killed the Lyon Sisters? premieres Saturday, November 28 at 9pm ET.
'Murder in Ypsilanti: Keith Morrison Investigates'
Time for a hot take: If a man is a suspect in the disappearance of your best friend, don’t start dating him. And definitely don’t move in with him. And absolutely don’t marry him.
The police in Ypsilanti, Michigan had been interested in Greg Agnew since his girlfriend Tammy Nivers went missing in 1993, shortly after the couple decided to separate. Despite finding some sketchy evidence in Greg’s apartment, they were unable to pin anything on him and the case went cold – for the most part. When another woman in Ypsilanti winds up dead, a local reporter gets an email from an anonymous source telling her that the cases are connected. And as it turns out, the stories never untwined themselves.
Murder in Ypsilanti: Keith Morrison Investigates dives into the destruction wrought on two families in the same community by a man who had perfected the sheep’s clothing he cloaked himself in. Call it a flaw in our justice system or a safeguard, but the fact remains: A person can be under the eye of investigation, and it still might not save their next victim.
Murder in Ypsilanti: Keith Morrison Investigates premieres Monday, November 30 at 9pm ET.
'The Witmans'
A teenager who discovers the body of his recently murdered brother should be wrapped in a soothing blanket and calmly taken to the station to give a statement. Zach Witman was handcuffed and taken into custody as the case’s main suspect. The 15-year-old called 911 seeking help, and ended up being tried as an adult for the murder of his 13-year-old brother.
There was no motive and no blood had been found in the house, yet the fact remained that Greg Witman had been stabbed over 60 times and the murder weapon was buried in the backyard. Zach’s parents never saw this as evidence that their eldest son had murdered their youngest, but the police saw it as an excuse to ignore other leads or attempt to find other suspects.
The chilling case of The Witmans highlights the failures of our legal system in cases involving juveniles, where life sentences without parole can force a child to grow well into adulthood while behind bars. This story follows the tragic path of parents trying to piece together their lives with no answers for their son’s murder, maintaining a firm belief that their remaining son has been wrongly accused. Given this, at what point does the question of who actually did it become irrelevant?
The Witmans premieres Tuesday, December 1 at 9pm ET.
ID’s True Crime at 9 starts November 27 at 9pm ET. Sign up for SLING Orange or SLING Blue to watch all of the premieres on ID!
