Episode Guide
Episode 1: Andrea DelVesco Episode 2: Christian Aguilar Episode 3: Yeardley Love Episode 4: Michael Deng Episode 5: Samantha Josephson Episode 6: Katie Autry True Crime cases are chilling enough already, given they involve the retelling of crimes that take place in real life where human beings are responsible for killing human beings. Death in the Dorms is one such docuseries but what makes it much worse is the fact that young students who are at the prime of their lives could be cold-blooded murderers. Death in the Dorms is a six-episode true crime documentary that narrates the stories of six youngsters who were brutally murdered in their college/University dorms by fellow students, either fuelled by revenge, greed, rage or other extreme emotions. The show shines a spotlight on the story of four female victims and two male victims who had promising careers in front of them had they graduated. All six episodes follow a similar format where the next of kin of the deceased students talk about the victims. Family, friends, as well as fellow students of the university explain the deceased’s personality and share how they got into University. Following the introduction, the victims’ attorney as well as other people on the homicide investigation team share the process of discovering the truth behind the deaths of these innocent students. This one is a little painful to watch considering the crimes were actually committed by students who were peers of these victims. In the case of Andrea, it was a random theft and arson that causes her death while Michael was brutally murdered after a fraternity hazing incident went too far. These murder cases are not pretty, to say the least, but the show spares viewers the gory visual details of the murders. The aim here is not to emphasise how these innocent victims were killed, softening the blow on viewers who could relate to the victims. The makers decided to put their focus more on the investigation of the murders as well as the execution of the crimes instead. The show is interesting as the nature of all these crimes are not identical and the suspense lies in the fact that one could never expect who the killer is until it was narrated to us. The storyline of Death in the Dorms is crisp and does a good job of narrating the incident in the best format possible. One thing that may be triggering is the fact that the victims in the story are mostly minorities, with four girls and two boys who were of Hispanic and Asian origin. The nature of each crime being different also highlights the different reactions of each of the victim’s families. On one hand, some parents could not bear the loss of their child and hoped for severe punishment for the murderers while on the other hand, some parents showed tendencies of anger and revenge despite severe punishment to the murderers.This also highlights the different ways in which the victims’ families were dealing with the sudden loss of their children. Death In The Dorms is really well executed. It’s an interesting watch and a shocking true crime series well worth a watch.
