In this piece, Peter Holley provides an exhaustive account of the disappearance of Texas student Jason Landry. But this is more than just a narrative of the event—Holley also explores the fanaticism of the online sleuths who have spent years trying to solve this case. In doing so, Holley edges into the fanatical himself. A study of both a tragedy and a true crime obsession.
Online, Jason’s case is a puzzle to be solved, a tragedy whose befuddling details titillate as much as they trouble. But for the Landry family, it’s a nightmare with no discernible end. For Kent, the torment has lasted so long that well-wishers have begun to sound disingenuous. Sometimes it’s an acquaintance after a church service, other times someone who finds him online, but whenever he hears that his son is “okay” and “going to come home someday,” the compassionate man of God struggles to maintain his composure. “It’s been almost five years since my son went missing,” said Kent, who can always tell you the exact number of days Jason has been gone. “I want to ask them, ‘So is he being held against his will?’ Tell me a scenario that doesn’t make me want to go hurt someone.”
More picks on True Crime
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.”
The Shooting of Two Cornell Freshmen, 42 Years Later
“In 1983 six students were taken hostage in a Cornell dormitory. Two of them were killed. How have the survivors reckoned with what happened to them, and what made us forget about this act of violence?”
The Man Who Broke Into Jail
“In Nashville, a criminal-justice activist commits a baffling crime.”
He Called Himself an ‘Untouchable Hacker God’. But Who Was Behind the Biggest Crime Finland Has Ever Known?
“How would you feel if your therapist’s notes – your darkest thoughts and deepest feelings – were exposed to the world? For 33,000 Finnish people, that became a terrifying reality, with deadly consequences.”
Death by Duxelles
“This was a story of culinary disguise, of meat concealed in dough and murder masquerading as lunch.”
