Primary-source investigations drawn from newspaper archives, public records, and original research. Every case documented with the articles, persons of interest, and physical evidence behind it.
A growing archive of researched cases. Open any file to read the full investigation — original sources, timelines, the cast involved, and the evidence on record.
Estranged wife Brenda Andrew and her lover James Pavatt — the insurance agent who sold Rob Andrew an $800,000 policy — were each convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 shotgun murder of Rob in his garage. Brenda, the only woman on Oklahoma's death row, won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2025 over the prosecution's "sex-shaming" tactics.
Highway officer E. Percy Merrick empties a .45 into family houseguest Henry Downs at a filling station. The press called it an "honor slaying," but the judge reminded the jury that "the unwritten law is not in effect in Oklahoma." Merrick was convicted of first-degree manslaughter.