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.”