While it’s not exactly Law & Order‘s “ripped from the headlines” approach, it looks like the CBS show Cold Case will be basing a future episode on the 1993 West Memphis murders of three young boys.
Maureen Ryan, television critic for the Chicago Tribune notes the resemblance between the Cold Case plot and the West Memphis case, which resulted in the conviction of Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin, also known as the West Memphis Three. The murders and subsequent trials have been the subject of two documentaries and several books. The West Memphis Three have become something of a cause celebre among well-known musicians and many others who believe Echols, Misskelley, and Baldwin were wrongly convicted.
The Cold Case episode, scheduled to air on September 23rd, is called “Thrill Kill” and will follow the investigation of a 1994 case of two “seemingly nihilistic” teens who were convicted of murdering three 10-year-old boys.
The episode will also feature eight songs by Nirvana.