NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal serves as an executive producer on Investigation Discovery’s new series Game Day Murders. The true crime series focuses on cases involving murder and sports and will premiere on July 27, 2026.
New episodes of the six-episode season air on Mondays at 10pm ET/PT on ID.
“I’ve been a true-crime guy my whole life, so working with ID on Game Day Murders was a natural fit,” said O’Neal. “Sports create obsession—I’ve seen it firsthand. But when that obsession breaks the wrong way, it’s something else entirely. People aren’t ready for this show.”
The series is produced by Lion Television, an All3Media Company, in association with O’Neal’s production company, Jersey Legends Productions. Sports broadcaster Lindsay Czarniak serves as host.
“Through firsthand accounts from families, teammates, and those closest to the cases, each episode of Game Day Murders paints a vivid cultural portrait of the inner workings and emotional stakes of teams, fanbases, and communities faced with tragic consequences.
Spanning the gamut of the sports world, the premiere season explores high-profile cases including the tragic home invasion of NFL star Sean Taylor, featuring commentary from former Washington Redskins teammate Santana Moss; the robbery-turned-murder of MLB player Dernell Stenson, with insights from his friend and former teammate Mike Gallo; the arrest of NHL player Mike Danton in a murder-for-hire plot, with an interview from former professional hockey player and teammate Joe Goodenow; and more, with each case revealing how the pursuit of greatness can collide with tragedy in ways that continue to reverberate years later.”
GAME DAY MURDERS EPISODE GUIDE
A Killer Recruit
Monday, July 27 at 10pm ET/PT
The series premiere revisits the story of Baylor University basketball player Patrick Dennehy, who went missing in 2003. For the first time ever, his teammate Ellis Kidd, Jr. shares his personal account of the murder investigation that led to exposing one of college basketball’s biggest scandals.
Ice Cold Conspiracy
Monday, August 3
When St. Louis Blues player Mike Danton is arrested immediately following the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it sends shockwaves through the hockey world. Could an NHL player be involved in a murder-for-hire plot?
Million Dollar Motive
Monday, August 10
When former NBA Memphis Grizzly player Lorenzen Wright is found murdered, whispers of unpaid debts and cartel connections lead many to question how well they knew their hometown hero. But a mother’s fight for justice reveals a truth more shocking than the rumors.
Last Chance High
Monday, August 17
In the competitive landscape of Dallas High School basketball, a rising star, Troy Causey, is murdered under suspicious circumstances. Homicide detectives unearth hard evidence of a shocking conspiracy that ripples throughout the school district.
A Future Cut Short
Monday, August 24
When Cincinnati Reds player Dernell Stenson goes missing during the Arizona Fall League, teammates demand answers. An investigation turns up a shocking murder and the possibility of a killer hunting professional baseball players.
Blindsided by Tragedy
Monday, August 31
Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor is killed during a home invasion, leading many to wonder if it was a crazed fan, a targeted hit, or an inside job. But after media speculation runs wild, an anonymous tip reveals the shocking truth.
First, a quick disclaimer: this is not a comparative study of Homer versus Hollywood. Anyone looking for a deep literary analysis should look elsewhere. This is strictly a review of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey as a movie – and on that front, it is a monumental achievement.
While three hours is a big ask, The Odyssey absolutely justifies the trip to the theater. This isn’t something you want to watch on your couch with a phone as a distraction; you need a giant screen and a room full of people. The scale of the battles is seismic, and it needs that theatrical horsepower to really land.
Nolan’s take on the Trojan Horse is an absolute marvel of production design. First glimpsed half-submerged on a beach, this towering monolith is a far cry from a simple wooden statue. The way this giant structure is transported and then actually deployed to trample Troy is one of the most inventive, jaw-dropping stretches of the entire film.
Even with Odysseus at the center – played with career-defining finesse by Matt Damon – Nolan’s script doesn’t let his sprawling ensemble get lost in the shuffle as the story tracks the decade following the sacking of Troy. Odysseus’ journey unfolds in flashbacks as Calypso (Charlize Theron) urges him to remember what happened to his fallen men.
As those memories resurface, specific key moments spring to life in all their violent glory. Athena (Zendaya) serves as his spiritual guide and moral compass while he struggles to make sense of everything that’s somehow been wiped from his mind. A rush of stunning sequences from Odysseus’ perspective follows, including the sacking of Troy, a terrifying, almost gruesome encounter with a Cyclops in a sheep-filled cave, and the creeping dread of horrifying prophecies he fought so hard to avoid.
While Matt Damon carries the film’s heavy emotional weight with a grounded, weathered performance, the star-studded supporting cast is what keeps the three-hour runtime from dragging. Anne Hathaway brings a quiet resilience to Penelope, struggling to keep Ithaca from falling to a horde of parasitic suitors desperate to have Odysseus declared dead.
Tom Holland plays Telemachus, Odysseus and Penelope’s only child, with a desperate, youthful grit. Playing a son forced to step up before he’s ready, Holland lets us see the lingering kid underneath the heavy armor of someone forced to grow up too quickly. Holland nails Telemachus’ struggle to find his footing in a home with almost no allies left.
John Leguizamo is perfectly cast as Eumaeus, Odysseus’ fiercely loyal friend who serves as a heartbreaking link to Odysseus’ ancient hound, Argos. Nolan’s remarkably deep supporting bench of actors makes the absolute most of their limited screen time, with Lupita Nyong’o handling dual roles as sisters Helen and Clytemnestra and Jon Bernthal delivering battle-hardened gravity as Menelaus. An unrecognizable Benny Safdie, an imposing Ryan Hurst, and an intense Himesh Patel help make Nolan’s The Odyssey feel fully populated by memorable characters.
Yet even in this absolutely loaded cast, it’s Robert Pattinson and Samantha Morton who threaten to run away with the movie. Pattinson, continuing his streak as one of the most impressive actors of his generation, plays the rotten-to-the-core suitor Antinous with a menacing, magnetic arrogance. Meanwhile, Morton is far more understated but no less unforgettable, radiating a chilling, quiet authority as the enchantress Circe, punishing Odysseus’ men for their brutish behavior.
Nolan has assembled a powerhouse behind-the-scenes team to bring The Odyssey to life and separate it from past sword-and-sandal epics. Ludwig Göransson’s haunting score lingers after the credits, practically demanding a second screening just to appreciate how seamlessly it blends with the film’s striking visuals. Ellen Mirojnick’s stunning costumes feel lived-in, conveying both the beauty and brutality of the Bronze Age. But it is production designer Ruth De Jong who is all but guaranteed to be kept busy during the upcoming awards season. Her outstanding visual world-building – including a genuinely nightmare-inducing take on the Cyclops – ensures that even the film’s most mythic heights remain heavily grounded in a physical reality.
Predictably, The Odyssey has already drawn the ire of internet purists, sparking bad-faith debates over two-time Oscar winner Christopher Nolan’s diverse casting, the costumes’ historical liberties, and the cast’s American accents. None of that matters. Nolan didn’t set out to film a dry, sterile history textbook. He made a commanding, uncompromising cinematic epic, and audiences are all the better for it. The cast is flawless, the costumes are spectacular, and if you’re spending three hours distracted by American accents, you are entirely missing the transportive magic of Nolan’s film.
GRADE: A
Rating: R for violence and some language
Runtime: 2 hours 52 minutes
Release Date: July 17, 2026
Studio: Universal Pictures
Prime Video’s Murder 101 episode three (the finale) answers the big question: will Mr. Campbell’s sociology class be able to piece together the clues and determine if Jerry Johns was the Redhead Murders killer? If so, Johns could officially be labeled a serial killer.
The docuseries finale opens with a chilling fact: truckers are considered the number one profession of killers in the United States. Retired FBI Behavior Analyst Scott Barker speaks with Mr. Campbell’s class and describes low-risk victims, high-risk victims, and how lifestyles can determine which one a victim is. With the number of bodies turning up along the highways, the FBI believes there are more people out there doing the killings and not just one serial killer.
“I think it would be naive to say that Jerry Johns is the only serial killer we’ve had in Tennessee,” says Barker. “There’s a lot of Jerry Johns out there.”
Students Hannah, Andrew, and Crimson meet at a local diner on the weekend. The three not only discuss the class but also their lives. Mr. Campbell’s class and the investigation they’re involved in have made these three classmates into actual friends.
The class talks about Elk Valley and the trek to even get to where they discovered the remains of Tracy Sue Walker. It’s safe to say they don’t believe Jerry Johns did this and that maybe they should broaden their horizon and look at multiple serial killers. But someone in Elk Valley knows something about Tracy’s case. All the class needs to do is come with an idea big enough to smoke them out.
Agents from TBI will be coming to visit the class, and they need to prepare a presentation for them. “Think about the 2018 class. You’ve got big shoes to fill,” Mr. Campbell tells his 2025 students to fire them up.
Tracy’s brother, Randy, sends a video to the class, and Hannah’s enthusiastic about watching it. In a gut-wrenching video, with tears streaming down his face, Randy states, “The hardest part is probably saying that we’d never find her. I never did forget about her.” Then two years ago he was told about the Jane Doe cold case, and that’s when he learned his sister was dead. He pleads with the public that if they know anything, to please speak up. It’s been 40 years and he’s still certain somebody knows something.
Randy thanks the class for working on his sister’s case. Hannah leaves the classroom in tears.
The TBI team arrives and the class makes their presentations for “Operation Transcend.” The project’s tagline is “Transcend time, transcend silence. Someone knows something.”
The class offers a variety of ways to spread the word, including having Tracy’s family speak out, speaking at local community events, and hiring a plane to fly around with a banner about Tracy. They also believe passing out flyers and posters, a direct mail outreach to community members, and getting a car wrapped with information could generate interest. The most off-the-wall suggestion is to have someone on the streets dressed as the Grim Reaper holding up a QR code that takes people to a page asking for information about the case.
One of the TBI members suggests they visit retirement homes since many of the members of the community that could have witnessed something will be elderly at this point. The meeting ends with the TBI members confirming they’re impressed by the students’ hard work.
Lacey went to North Carolina to see if she could find out information on her mom’s death. She didn’t, and she was out of school for so long that she most likely won’t graduate with the senior class. Mr. Campbell found a report that states her mom passed away at the hospital a few hours after being brought in. Lacey’s surprised because she was under the impression her mom died quickly at the scene.
Mr. Campbell was also able to find the number of the detective who worked on the case. Lacey tries to reach him, but he doesn’t return her call.
The class is placed into groups to work on the mailer, car wrap, and Grim Reaper ideas. They brainstorm over several days and there’s a lovely moment when the class surprises Crimson with a birthday cake. Meanwhile, Lacey tries the detective again.
Days later, the students’ ideas come to life, and they receive lots of attention. The wrapped car is driven around with Tracy’s picture and a QR code for people to scan. Two students visit a radio station to plead with the public for information. A plane flies around with the banner, and students hit up news stations with TBI Agent Elkins.
And amid it all, prom time arrives, and Andrew wins prom king. Mr. Campbell’s sociology class students put aside working on the case for one night and just relax like teenagers.
Agent Brandon Elkins pops into the class with news about the students’ campaign for answers. He asks how many views the students think their site has gotten internationally. The highest guess is 50,000. They are shocked to learn the numbers are over 24 million. It’s aired everywhere and been covered by international outlets.
Mr. Campbell is proud to show the class that while Tracy used to be referred to very generically as not even a real person, now articles talk about Tracy as a 15-year-old with a life that was taken far too early.
After numerous calls, Lacey finally gets to speak with the detective. According to him, her mother and the boyfriend got into a fight, and her mom jumped from the moving vehicle. He confirms that he can’t prove a crime was committed.
Lacey credits Mr. Campbell for letting her know she has the right to know what happened. Meanwhile, Crimson goes to court, hoping that her foster parents can be awarded permanent guardianship until she’s 18. Fortunately, the court grants it.
Mr. Campbell has obtained some of the yearbooks of the victims and one of the final projects for the class involves answering a question: if they could go back in time and leave the victims a message, what would they say?
As the third and final episode ends, we see the seniors on graduation day and Andrew’s final interviews with the students in Mr. Campbell’s sociology class. Andrew believes they left the next class in a pretty good spot, and he thinks it could possibly take just one more class for the case to get solved.
It is noted at the end of the docuseries that as of October 2025, DNA evidence has been submitted for testing on two of the six unsolved Redhead Murders. TBI has received many tips on the Tracy Walker case, but they’re still waiting for the big one.
Fox’s fall 2026 primetime lineup includes the return of Best Medicine, Doc, Animal Control, and season 25 of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. Fox’s popular Animation Domination roster also returns for the 2026-2027 broadcast season, with The Simpsons, Universal Basic Guys, and Grimsburg filling spots on Sunday nights.
Game shows The Floor, 99 to Beat, Celebrity Name That Tune (with Robin Thicke joining as bandleader), and Celebrity Weakest Link will return in September, along with season five of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.
Additional 2026-2027 primetime series include Baywatch, Memory of A Killer, Murder in a Small Town, and The Interrogator. American Dad!, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, and Krapopolis are also joining the lineup later in the broadcast season.
Premiere dates are still to be announced for new seasons of Crime Scene Kitchen, Don’t Forget The Lyrics, Extracted, Fear Factor: House of Fear, Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service, LEGO Masters, Marriage Market, Next Level Baker, Next Level Chef, and The Masked Singer.
FOX FALL 2026 PREMIERE DATES
Monday, Sept. 21
8:00-9:00 PM Celebrity Name That Tune (Season Six Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM Celebrity Weakest Link (Season Two Premiere)
Tuesday, Sept. 22
8:00-9:00 PM Best Medicine (Season Two Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM Doc (Season Three Premiere)
Wednesday, Sept. 23
8:00-9:00 PM The Floor (Season Six Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM 99 to Beat (Season Two Premiere)
Thursday, Sept. 24
8:00-9:00 PM Hell’s Kitchen (Season 25 Premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test (Season Five Premiere)
Fridays (Beginning Sept. 4)
5:00 PM PT – 8:00 PM ET Fox College Football Friday
Saturdays (On Going)
4:00-7:30 PM PT / 7:00-10:30 PM ET – Fox Sports Saturday
Sunday, Sept. 27
7:00-7:30 PM NFL On Fox
7:30-8:00 PM The OT / FOX Animation Encores
8:00-8:30 PM The Simpsons (Season 38 Premiere)
8:30-9:00 PM Animal Control (Season Five Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM Universal Basic Guys (Season Three Premiere)
9:30-10:00 PM Grimsburg (Season Three Premiere)
Ryan Murphy’s latest drama, The Shards, is set to premiere on August 5, 2026 at 9pm ET/PT on FX. The series is based on Bret Easton Ellis‘ 2023 bestseller, and the official trailer introduces the very mature-looking high schoolers at the heart of the drama, setting up a story of sex, drugs, and danger.
Igby Rigney, Kaia Gerber, Homer Gere, Hayes Warner, and Graham Campbell star. The ensemble also includes Yellowstone‘s Wes Bentley, Westworld‘s Evan Rachel Wood, and Jordan Roth.
Poster for ‘The Shards’ (Photo Credit: FX)
FX offers this synopsis: “Set against the vivid backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles, the series follows a group of privileged high school seniors at an elite prep school as they navigate identity, sex, jealousy, obsession, and the dangers lurking beneath the surface of American adolescence.
At its center is Bret (Rigney), an aspiring writer and keenly observant teenager whose reality begins to unravel with the arrival of a mysterious and magnetic new student, Robert Mallory (Gere). Transferring in just before his senior year, Robert’s appearance coincides with the growing terror of The Trawler, a serial killer targeting teenagers across the city.
Alongside Bret is his elite social circle, which consists of Susan Reynolds (Gerber), Debbie Schaffer (Warner) and Thom Wright (Campbell), a glamorous and deeply entangled group drawn into a life of wealth, beauty, parties, and excess. The promise of their youth is contrasted with the dark and cynical world of the adults surrounding them: Terry Schaffer (Bentley), Liz Schaffer (Wood) and Steven Reinhardt (Roth).”
Ryan Murphy, Bret Easton Ellis, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Eric Kovtun, Scott Robertson, Nissa Diederich, Tanase Popa, Nick Hall, Michael Uppendahl, Max Winkler, Kathleen McCaffrey, and Brian Young executive produce.
Kenneth Branagh rescues Ryan Reynolds and then teams up for a daring escape behind enemy lines in Apple TV’s Mayday. Described as an action-packed buddy comedy, the official trailer highlights Branagh as the Oscar-winner transforms into a fighting machine.
The cast also includes Marcin Dorocinski, Maria Bakalova, and David Morse. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the duo behind Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, co-wrote, co-directed, and served as producers.
Mayday‘s landed a September 4, 2026 premiere on Apple TV.
Poster for ‘Mayday’ (Photo Credit: Apple TV)
“When hotshot U.S. Navy pilot Lieutenant Troy ‘Assassin’ Kelly (Reynolds) is sent on a top-secret mission into Russian territory at the height of the Cold War, the operation implodes, leaving him stranded behind enemy lines,” reads Apple TV’s synopsis. “Discovered by Nikolai Ustinov (Branagh), a gruff ex-KGB agent with a penchant for American culture, Troy thinks he’s toast—but could an unlikely alliance between the two lead to Troy’s rescue and a bond neither saw coming?”
Producers include David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Ashley Fox, and Johnny Pariseau. Reynolds, George Dewey, and John G. Scotti executive produce.
Peacock’s showing off the first teaser and a batch of photos from the upcoming Friday the 13th prequel, Crystal Lake. Linda Cardellini stars as Pam Voorhees in the series created by Brad Caleb Kane (IT: Welcome to Derry) and premiering just in time for Halloween 2026.
The series also stars William Catlett, Devin Kessler, Cameron Scoggins, and Gwendolyn Sundstrom. Callum Vinson, Nick Cordileone, Joy Suprano, Danielle Kotch, and Phoenix Parnevik appear in recurring roles. All eight episodes will premiere on October 15, 2026.
Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees in ‘Crystal Lake’ (Photo by: Matt Infante/PEACOCK)
“A prequel to the Friday the 13th franchise, the series follows single mother Pam Voorhees who has been unable to shake her grief after her young, sickly son Jason tragically drowned in the town lake almost a year before,” reads Peacock’s synopsis. “When two strangers arrive at Pam’s door digging into her past, a disturbing chain of events is set into motion, leaving the townspeople of Crystal Lake wondering: just who is Pam Voorhees?”
Brad Caleb Kane serves as showrunner and executive producer. Additional executive producers include Marc Toberoff, Victor Miller, Robert M. Barsamian, Robert P. Barsamian, Stuart Manashil, Tyson Bidner, Michael Lennox, and Roy Lee. Lennox, Celine Held & Logan George, and Quyen Tran are the directors.
Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees (Photo by: Peacock)Welcome to Crystal Lake (Photo by: Matt Infante/PEACOCK)Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees (Photo by: Peacock)
Prime Video’s Murder 101 episode two takes us further down the path of possibly discovering whether Jerry Johns was a serial killer. Picking up where episode one ended, the students in Mr. Campbell’s sociology class ask Linda (the surviving victim) questions. She talks about her life back then and how Jerry seemed so nice. Even when he was tying her up, he would make sure she was comfortable. Linda reveals that the jacket she wore got stuck in the makeshift ligature and she believes that’s what saved her life.
(The following is a recap of episode two and there are spoilers.)
Linda recalls giving repeated interviews to the police and notes that the dead girls looked like her. She’s certain there are bodies the police haven’t even found yet. Linda testified against Jerry Johns because she believed he was a serial killer and didn’t want more women to die.
After the video call with Linda, Alex confirms that it was very difficult for her to talk about what happened to her 40 years ago. Linda’s memories of Jerry are incredibly important because she’s the only one with first-hand knowledge of his MO.
Mr. Campbell feels that, if they are going to categorize Jerry Johns as a serial killer, the class needs to look at the most recent Jane Doe to be identified, Lorie Pennell. The class’s FOIA request paid off and they’re able to get their hands on the Pennell police report. Pennell had an incredibly difficult life and went missing from a truck stop.
Campbell challenges the class to identify similarities in Linda’s and Lorie’s cases that connect Jerry Johns to both. Receipts show Jerry was in Mississippi when Lorie was murdered, and body hairs and fluids could have been tested against his samples. However, for an unknown reason, all the evidence was thrown away two years after the murder.
Hannah, the student who seems most interested in the case, is putting together a map/murder board of where Jerry Johns was when each of the murdered women were taken. Her murder board starts with Jerry in 1978 in Rockford, Illinois, and the first victim, Tracy Sue Walker, was found near an abandoned coal mine next to Knoxville. It turns out that Jerry worked for a trucking company that handled coal-mining materials. Tracy went missing from a mall on Jerry’s route and her body was discovered near a coal mine Jerry frequented.
In 1984, the second victim, Tina Farmer, had Jerry’s DNA on her body and was taken from an area near where his family lived. Her body was found near Lorie’s.
In a surprising—or not so surprising—discovery, Hannah and Andrew uncover that these victims were not only on the routes Jerry was taking, but their bodies were also found on those routes. A business card from a hotel in Texas was found near a murder victim in Tennessee, and a gas receipt shows Jerry was near that hotel.
Hannah knows these are not coincidences. Plus, all the murders took place before Jerry’s arrest. Hannah and Andrew note that the victims were in a triangular area and near major highways that Jerry Johns traveled.
Crimson, a student in Mr. Campbell’s class, is getting her nails done when she receives a phone call from her father, who is currently in prison. She’s currently in foster care and that’s how she ended up at Elizabethton High School. For that reason, she feels like she can relate to the victims, especially Lorie.
Another student, Lacey, opens up to Mr. Campbell that although she was initially unsure about staying in his class, now she wants to investigate her mother’s death. Her mother passed away in a car accident caused by a boyfriend. It was all very suspicious, and Lacey doesn’t believe her mom ever got justice. She asks Mr. Campbell for advice on what she needs to do to investigate it. He promises to help her get the answers she deserves.
The class get their hands on Tina Farmer’s autopsy report. Tina’s the only victim who was officially determined to have been murdered by Jerry. Alex explains to his class that Lorie Pennell’s strangulation doesn’t match the method Jerry used to strangle Tina or Linda.
A student also points out that while Tina was hit in the left eye, Lorie’s right eye was injured. Jerry was right-handed, so hitting Tina in the left eye makes sense. Mr. Campell has also discovered that Lorie’s killer’s blood type was A. Jerry’s blood type was O. The class is feeling that Jerry did not kill Lorie.
Mr. Campbell reveals he would love investigators to talk to his class, but all his calls to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation go unanswered. So instead, he sets up an exercise with his class and former student Will about how they think differently and how being in his class has affected them. His students think they’ve really advanced their life skills and look at people from a different perspective now.
School breaks for winter and we see more of Lacey and Austin’s relationship and dive more into Lacey’s life. She reveals she and her sister were both born addicted to drugs, and her dad was in and out of prison. She doesn’t want to be like her parents, but she does want to know what really happened the night her mother died.
Lacey decides she doesn’t want to stay at school; she wants to go find the answers.
TBI Agent Brandon Elkins admits he wasn’t quite sure what Mr. Campbell’s sociology class was about but after learning more, he thinks the class is fascinating. Elkins’ job involves investigating cold cases, and he loves it. (Alex is astonished when Elkins says he has 479 cold cases.) Agent Elkins finally agrees to meet Mr. Campbell and his class.
Agent Elkins believes any publicity about the cases would help, and he talks about one of the victims, Tracy Sue Walker, and how in her case he found only one piece of paper in her case file. When his neighbor, who had been the ex-chief of police, passed away, his wife gave him a box. It contained evidence from Tracy’s case, including photos of where her remains were dumped.
Her body was found in 1985, and because of genealogy, years later they were able to figure out who she was. (Prior to that, she was called Baby Girl Jane Doe; she was just 15 at the time of her murder.) She was abducted in Indiana and killed in Tennessee. Tracy’s and Tina’s bodies were discovered just seven miles apart. The agent would like to take the class on a field trip to where Tracy’s remains were discovered.
The field trip takes place, and the students are introduced to a couple who are long-time residents of Elk Valley. The couple describe an area of Elk Valley they call ‘the back door’—the seedier side of town. Tracy was seen in Elk Valley for many years … until she wasn’t seen again.
The location where her remains were found does not match the MO of other victims found near highways. The class doubts that Jerry Johns is her killer.
Hannah seems to be taking this trip the hardest, since she was very invested in Tracy’s case. She had opened up about times in her life where she tried to run away, relating to Tracy because she was a runaway.
Episode two ends with Hannah in tears, saying, “I just want to find out the truth before it’s too late.”
Oxygen’s Unknown Serial Killers of America returns for season two on August 2, 2026, with cases that take place in cities including Maryland, Miami, Phoenix, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. New episodes will air on Sundays at 10pm ET/PT.
“Unknown Serial Killers of America takes viewers across the nation to take a closer look at some of America’s most prolific, unfamiliar killers,” reads Oxygen’s synopsis. “This season, viewers will discover several of the utmost heinous killers that shocked communities across the nation with some of the most sinister slayings to this day.”
The true crime series is produced by Pantheon Media Group. Executive producers include Steve Michaels, Ariel Brozell, Steffanie Siebrand, Elvia Van Es Oliva, Brad Bernstein, David Karabinas, James Macnab, and Matthew Watts.
Poster for ‘Unknown Serial Killers’ season 2 (Photo Credit: Oxygen)
Unknown Serial Killers of America Season 2 Cases:
• When four women are found murdered across four states, police race to track down a charismatic drifter whose charm conceals a deadly rage toward women.
• After a mother is found murdered, investigators launch a manhunt for a long-haul trucker whose killing spree leaves a trail of victims.
• When police discover a string of deaths at an upscale retirement community, they uncover what could be one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.
• After bodies are dumped across Miami, a rising body count fuels a desperate hunt — until one woman’s escape exposes the predator.
• As bodies of gay men appear along I-95, each marked by the same chilling signature, the FBI tries to corner the predator before he strikes again.
• As Phoenix reels from a wave of violence, a rapist turned murderer and a random sniper plunge the city into fear—forcing detectives to hunt two deadly predators.
Poster for ‘Murder 101’ (Photo: Amazon MGM Studios)
Prime Video takes us on a compelling three-part journey into the “Redhead Murders” in the docuseriesMurder 101. Elizabethton, Tennessee high school sociology teacher Alex Campbell dedicated class time to delving into the series of murders, beginning with a class in 2018 and continuing with new classes for seven years. Alex fueled his students’ curiosity by asking them to work on decades-old murder cases, and what they learned about themselves and about life in general far exceeded the normal sociology class curriculum.
Alex’s classes have uncovered quite a few clues. When he began the project in 2018, it only generated a few newspaper articles at the time. The docuseries follows his 2025 class as they navigate the classroom and share their personal lives, revealing many students are underprivileged and at-risk.
(The following is a recap of episode one, and there are spoilers.)
Teacher Alex Campbell describes Elizabethton as an old-school small town in the hills of Appalachia. Episode one opens with Alex’s 2025 class listening to a police recording of an interview with Linda, a surviving victim. A very enthusiastic Alex Campbell asks his class when the victim was attacked and proving they’re paying attention, one student responds, “March 6, 1985.” Mr. Campbell points out it was during the night
The recording continues as evidence photos are shown of Linda following the attempted murder. As Linda describes her horrific attack and being strangled, one of Alex’s students points out she sounds young.
Linda told the police she was naturally a brunette but dyed her hair red. When she told her soon-to-be attacker this information, he looked at her strangely. Her reaction was to ask, “Are you mad at me?”
Linda is the only surviving victim of the Redhead Murders.
Mr. Campbell reveals he hadn’t heard much about the ‘Redhead Murders,’ stating, “These murders were happening in our own backyard. If no one remembers them, how are these cases ever going to get solved? That’s the reason I wanted to teach this case.”
Campbell believes talking to his class about the victims might help identify the killer. In late 1984, early 1985, bodies of women were popping up, and the police noticed a pattern. Campbell breaks down with the class the similarities of these murders: race, age, and the way they were murdered (by strangulation). What started as a list of 22-24 possible victims was narrowed down based on the causes of death and location. Additionally, it appears the murderer was active from late ‘84 to March ‘85. When you take those pieces and put them together, it narrows down the victim list to six or seven.
Alex firmly believes all students should be involved in project-based learning. He wants them to really care about learning. Brittany Campbell, Alex’s wife, describes her husband as a man of many trades and hobbies, but once he sets his sights on something, he is all in. He will not take no for an answer.
Throughout the docuseries, Andrew, a student interested in videography, interviews other students in Mr. Campbell’s sociology class. He’s not a true crime fan but is fascinated by filmmaking, and Alex’s class is the perfect subject.
Alex talks to his class about FOIA requests and one thing his classes have never been able to get their hands on is the original medical examiner’s reports. He challenges his class to obtain the materials. (Tennessee law dictates they should be able to release the original police reports and the original autopsies.)
Andrew videos his fellow classmates as they try to track down the reports. Frustrations begin to mount when the students’ calls either go unanswered, police stations claim they don’t deal with FOIA reports, or official numbers are out of service.
Andrew interviews Will, a student of Alex’s in the 2018 class that started this investigation and he admits they didn’t get very far on the case. Will talks about trying to profile the killer and suggests that maybe there was trauma involving a redheaded woman. Will also believes the killer could be a truck driver because they found the bodies mostly near highways. Will’s father, a truck driver, says, “You could get away with being a murderer … you really can because no one was there to watch you.”
Armed with a suspect profile in 2018, the class held a press conference. Will spoke from the podium and did a remarkable job of addressing the press about this case.
Calls started coming in after the press conference suggesting the identity of the killer. But more importantly, callers provided leads on the unidentified victims. In the first break in years, DNA tests identified victim Tina Farmer’s attacker as the same man who attacked Linda. Jerry Johns was convicted in 1985 and died in prison in 2015.
Alex’s 2025 class’s FOIA requests pay off, and the class receives audio interviews that haven’t been publicly available.
Mr. Campbell discusses how people viewed Jerry Johns, who has not been connected to the other murders. His wife, Phyllis, made a shocking confession and claimed that when she met Jerry, she was unaware that he was her half-brother. It wasn’t until after she got pregnant that they were told. Phyllis talks about how intelligent and caring he was. She didn’t believe he was a murderer, but she admitted the female victims in the photos looked like her. All the women were white, small, and redheaded.
Jerry’s wife was 12 when she met him, which grosses out the class.
Mr. Campbell also plays audio from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations agent who interviewed Jerry and saw another side of him. He claims Jerry had no soul. You could label him anything, but the bottom line is that he was evil. It was also confirmed he was a truck driver, and Jerry’s timeline shows he could have been involved in the murders.
Alex asks his class if Jerry was evil or the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back. Linda, the surviving victim, might be able to fill in some gaps. Alex tells Andrew to put his camera to the test and send Linda a video asking for an interview.
Andrew, Hannah, and Mr. Campbell go through Jerry’s records and discover his last name on his original birth certificate was not Johns. When the courthouse was burnt down and his mother asked for his birth certificate, she said his last name was Johns. They also uncover a long history of crimes, including arson, confirming he didn’t start off with murder.
Andrew points out that when Jerry separated from his wife, the first redheaded victim was murdered. The class and Mr. Campbell put together a timeline, and Lisa was the only victim identified at the time. She was a prostitute, and her pimp saw her getting into a truck at a truck stop.
Mr. Campbell stresses that the news articles focused on Lisa being a prostitute. “When the media devalued these women, it seemed like the world did too, and maybe that’s why these cases have been cold so long,” says Alex.
Mr. Campbell also points out that it wasn’t until his class’s plea to the public in 2018 that things started happening in these cases. And in 2022 & 2023, victims were identified through DNA. Now the class’s task is to try to figure out if Jerry Johns was a serial killer.
The first episode closes out with the beginning of a video chat with Linda, the surviving victim who appears nervous.
