Dive deep into true crime cases and follow the latest headlines with HuffPost’s Suspicious Circumstances newsletter. Sign up here . Unlike many mystery-of-the-week hosts, Erin Moriarty, a lawyer turned true crime luminary on the CBS series “48 Hours,” has followed cases for years, sometimes decades.
While viewers like a well-constructed mystery with a beginning, middle and end, she’s learned that not all cases are that tidy. “You may not get a resolution the first time you go out and shoot something,” Moriarty told HuffPost, and she appreciates that “48 Hours” has given her the opportunity to continue to follow up on those cases. In her 24 years with the show, she’s developed strong bonds with people falsely convicted of crimes and exposed official misconduct that resulted in shaky convictions.
She’s now returned to a case that she’s been covering since 1999, and she says it is the one that’s troubled her the most. “ Murder in the Orange Grove ,” her podcast, which debuted on Sept. 18 and is releasing episodes weekly, takes a new look at the conviction of Crosley Green.
It’s all in keeping with the good she believes true crime coverage can do: serve as a watchdog for police investigations, support victims of violence or injustice and help regular people understand the reality of the U.S.’s powerful criminal justice system.
“There are negatives, no question,” she said, nodding to criticisms that the genre can exploit tragedy for entertainmen.
