PORTLAND, Maine — Why are Americans so fascinated by true crime movies and TV shows? For an explanation, one could do worse than ask Bryanna Fox, a former FBI profiler who is now an associate professor of criminology at the University of South Florida.
“I think in the end, their fascination is really close to the same as mine. It’s about trying to understand,” Fox told 207. “It’s like the ultimate whodunit. But it’s not about who, it’s about why.”
Fox occupies center stage in the new documentary series “The Lesson is Murder,” produced by ABC News Studios and Maine-based Lone Wolf Media.
From its home in South Portland, Lone Wolf Media, which has been around for more than 25 years, produces documentaries about history, science, and—especially in recent years—true crime.
When possible, the Lone Wolf Media crew likes to shoot close to home, and for “The Lesson is Murder,” the crew filmed re-creation scenes in and around Portland.
The premise of the three-part series is straightforward. Professor Fox and a group of criminology graduate students study three convicted murderers and their crimes with the goal of developing psychological profiles that will help police prevent such crimes in the future. And there are other considerations.
“I’m trying to bring closure to the victims’ families. They always want to know: Why did someone do this to my family members?” Fox said. “And the other thing is sometimes the family members of the offender want to know, too. ‘What happened? Why did this person do something like this?’ So, for a lot of reasons, we get the same question: Why? Why? Why? And we’re trying to bring some answers.”
You can watch the first episode of the docuseries on March 23 on Hulu.