Not far outside Boston, a criminal investigation unfolded in relative quiet. An arrest was made. Then the accused woman’s friend reached out to a loudmouthed local blogger who goes by Turtleboy. The rest was almost too ridiculous to be believed. For The Atlantic, Chris Heath brings his considerable powers to bear on a tale of citizen journalism—a tale that also suggests just how much our society is currently ruled, above all, by repeating things as often and as loudly as you possibly can.
A few hours later, Kearney published his post, several thousand words long: “Canton Cover-Up Part 1: Corrupt State Trooper Helps Boston Cop Coverup Murder of Fellow Officer, Frame Innocent Girlfriend.” (Two of the many ways that Kearney’s work practices deviate from conventional journalism are his speed to certainty, and his full-throated advocacy.) From this first outpouring, he was all in: “Karen Read is a completely innocent woman, wrongly charged by corrupt cops who would see her rot in prison in order to cover up a murder of a fellow officer.”
More picks about True Crime
“That Guy is Still Out There”
“Five years after Anthony Broadwater was belatedly cleared for the sexual assault of Alice Sebold, the questions of how he came to be wrongly convicted and how one or more serial rapists operated for years with little consequence have only deepened.”
Tunnel 13
“A botched train robbery in Oregon’s Siskiyou Mountains left four men dead, led to an international manhunt, and helped usher forensic science into the modern age.”
The Wrong Stalker
“He was locked up for a dangerous infatuation. Nothing was as it seemed.”
The Car-Crash Conspiracy
“High-speed accidents, crooked lawyers, and poor people desperate for cash—it was the kind of scheme that could have been cooked up only in the Big Easy.”
The Mansion, the Heiress, the Jewel Heist, and Me: A Bel-Air Fairytale
“Sixty-five years ago, my grandfather masterminded a robbery at a historic Los Angeles estate.”
The Search
“More than thirteen years ago, Araceli Salcedo Jiménez’s daughter, Rubí, was disappeared from a bar in Orizaba. Since then, Araceli has led an effort to dig up hundreds of clandestine graves looking for the victims of Mexico’s drug war. She is still digging.”
