THE ever-expanding killing fields have given birth to several series this month. That maxim of truth being stranger than fiction couldn’t be more frighteningly true when watching the shows Obsessions: Dark Desires, Serial Killer Profile and The First 48.
And this time, viewers are again taken through a myriad dark paths that trigger the shock factor with the sinister findings.
In Obsessions: Dark Desires, real-life accounts of victims who have been stalked come to the fore. The details of their untimely deaths and ill-fated journeys pull back the covers on the twisted actions of their unstable stalkers.
Tomorrow night, 19-year-old Sarah’s story is told. A petrol station manager, she finds herself targeted by an unknown person after discovering her colleague has been brutally murdered – and that she could meet with a similar fate.
Then there is Mary McIntyre, who, while conducting a job interview at her family business, couldn’t imagine the ramifications it would have on her life after it triggers a dangerous obsession.
For fans of the gripping TV series, Criminal Minds – Serial Killer Profile is a must-see.
The series features profilers Jim Clemente: a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent and former New York City Law Department prosecutor, who served as a consultant and writer on the aforementioned crime drama; as well as Laura Richards, formerly from Scotland Yard before taking up a post at the UK’s Association of Chief Police Officers; and, James Fitzgerald, a former police detective and FBI Supervisory Special Agent.
Their combined years on the job has seen them exposed to some truly sinister individuals.
In the series, they relive former cases and shed light on how the serial killers were eventually caught.
Some of the notorious individuals featured include Bobby Joe Young, a serial killer who murdered 10 women in seven months; Gary Heidnik, who kept women captive in his basement before dismembering them; the elusive Israel Keyes, whose rap sheet reads like a novel – serial killer, rapist, arsonist, burglar and bank robber; Ronald Dominique, who, in being shunned by the gay and straight communities, went on a killing rampage of more than a dozen men.
Other tales of childhood friends using their love of hunting to prey on humans for sport and of more warped and elusive individuals complete the series.
Lastly, The First 48 for the couch detectives concludes the highlights this month.
In this fast-paced, adrenalin-rush of a series, detectives work hard to solve their cases within the first 48 hours before the trail starts to get cold.
If you thought suspense-filled blockbuster movies were nerve-racking, you need to watch this.
• Obsessions: Dark Desires airs on Tuesdays at 9.55pm, with Serial Killer Profile starting tonight at 9pm. The First 48 airs on Thursday, February 27 at 9.55pm. All air on the Crime & Investigation Network (DStv channel 170).