Pausa – Episode 116: “El true crime no es lo que parece”

Host: Marta García Aller
Guests: Bea (Beatriz García, escritora y guionista), Cruz Morcillo (periodista de sucesos)
Date: April 30, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Marta García Aller delves into the current frenzy around true crime: what fascinates us, what we ignore, and the ethical risks of turning suffering into spectacle. The conversation with Bea—an expert in storytelling and the author of an essay on the Black Dahlia case—and veteran crime reporter Cruz Morcillo, interrogates the narratives we consume, the victims and criminals we choose, and the standards of journalism and entertainment in recounting real-life tragedies.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Why Are We Obsessed with True Crime?

• True crime content has exploded: books, podcasts, films—especially those about young, attractive, white women.
• Marta challenges whether this is for self-protection (“lo vemos para aprender cómo no acabar así”) or for comfort, as if disasters happening to others makes our own lives feel less tragic.
  • Quote (Marta): “Un buen true crime, un buen crimen, necesita una víctima y un asesino perfectos, con la mezcla ideal de morbo, belleza y misterio, y a ser posible, de culpa e inocencia.” [01:00]

The Black Dahlia: Real Person Versus Myth

• Elizabeth Short, the “Black Dahlia,” is explored as both a real woman and a constructed icon.
• Bea notes how the media, especially in the 1940s, needed a striking victim for a “pelotazo” and turned Short into an emblem—inaccurately mythologizing her as an aspiring actress.
  • Quote (Bea): “No hay pruebas de que fuera una aspirante a actriz. Así de callo. Al final era una chica corriente de 22 años que casi no estuvo en Hollywood... era la víctima perfecta...” [05:47]
• Sensationalist coverage blurred the line between fact and narrative, with the press even breaking the news to Elizabeth’s mother under false pretenses before confessing her daughter's murder.
  • Quote (Bea): “A la madre de la víctima le dicen... esto no es lo que veníamos a contarle. Veníamos a contarle que su hija ha muerto...” [18:07]

Patterns in Media Representation of Femicide

• True crime favors certain narratives: young, beautiful, white, middle-class women as victims.
• The “efecto callejón”—the idea that women are most in danger from strangers in isolated places—contrasts with reality (most femicides are by partners/ex-partners).
  • Quote (Marta): “¿Y por qué se sigue retratando a los desconocidos y los descampados como el mayor peligro para una mujer cuando la mayor parte de feminicidios los cometen parejas o exparejas?” [01:38]
• U.S. “White Woman Syndrome”—disappearances of white women receive disproportionate media attention (ex: Gaby Petito) over women of color or lower class.
  • Quote (Bea): “Hay como muchas teorías al respecto... en Estados Unidos se conoce como el síndrome de la mujer blanca.” [09:00]

The Role of the Victim and “Aliviadero”

• Victims often become mere “triggers” for storytelling—details of their lives get warped or erased, and they are sometimes blamed or “consoled” according to cultural scripts.
  • Quote (Bea): “A veces parece que se lo merecía... y nosotros también nos cebamos con ellas, incluso cuando... queremos ser los detectives de sofá y solucionando el caso, la convertimos en lo que nosotros necesitamos que sea.” [10:54]

Media Spectacle and Ethics: Alcàsser, Asunta, Vaninkoff

• Spanish cases (Alcàsser, Vaninkoff, Asunta) show how sensationalist TV and press can revictimize families, distort investigations, and feed mass hysteria.
• Shocking questions (e.g., about autopsies, brutality) posed live on TV to grieving families expose the limits of journalistic empathy and ethics.
  • Quote (Marta): “Se mete las cámaras hasta dentro. Lo más profundo del dolor de las familias.” [14:58]
• Fads and formats amplify pain and mistakes, often privileging “show” over truth or justice.

The Power Struggle: Narrative Ownership

• The fight to “own” the story—by media, police, amateur detectives, or the powerful—is a recurring theme.
• True crime “en tiempo real” (e.g., Daniel Sancho case) blurs the roles of journalism and entertainment, sometimes aiding narratives that benefit the privileged.
  • Quote (Bea): “¿Cómo se puede hacer un true crime en tiempo real? No tiene sentido... Como si esto fuera TikTok.” [19:38]
• Marginalized suspects (Dolores Vázquez in the Vaninkoff case) are more readily villainized.

Gender, Identity, and Consumption

• Most true crime audiences are women over 30 in Spain, consuming content about female victims—possibly for self-protection or (worryingly) to ritualize or vicariously experience vulnerability.
  • Quote (Bea): “Nos estamos alimentando nosotras mismas, revictimizando, disfrutándonos... como en un círculo que nunca acaba.” [36:57]

The Danger of Spectacle: From Románticizing Criminals to Pop Culture

• Serial killers like Dahmer, Bundy, and the “Night Stalker” are romanticized; memorabilia and fandom develop around them.
  • Quote (Bea): “Como era tan guapo [Bundy]... las tías la esperaban en las puertas del juzgado... y dándole su apoyo. ¿Cómo se explica eso?” [43:04]
• Bea describes a visit to L.A.’s Museum of Death, where victims’ and killers’ artifacts are displayed side by side, underscoring the commodification of both.

The Ethics of Reporting: Lines Not to Cross

• Cruz Morcillo sets clear boundaries:
  1. Never cause additional harm to victims (e.g., avoid unnecessary identity or sexual details).
  2. Never interfere with an investigation.
  3. Acknowledge one’s limits as a reporter (not an investigator).
  • Quote (Cruz): “Yo no hago de investigadora... yo cuento el mal. Porque alguien tiene que contarlo, porque existe y alguien tiene que contarlo.” [50:30]
• The El odio (Bretón case) book controversy highlights the difficult balance between the right to report and the right to privacy, with Cruz advocating that courts—not publishers—should decide limits.
  • Quote (Cruz): “Yo creo que el libro se tenía que haber publicado y luego que un tribunal, que un juez, quien correspondiera, dictaminara si vulneraba algún derecho…” [51:52]

Good Versus Bad True Crime

• Good true crime (e.g., Carlas Porta's Crims) contextualizes cases, educates about the justice system, and humanizes the marginalized.
  • Quote (Bea): “Para mí Scrims es un programa que te enseña cómo funciona el sistema judicial...” [30:02]
• Bad true crime chases spectacle, distorts victims, or indulges in amateur “detective” fantasy—what Bea and Cruz call “detectives de sofá”.
  • Quote (Bea): “Estos señores que escriben True Crime sobre el caso de la Dalia son algo así como detectives de sofá.” [47:47]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (With Timestamps)

• On sensationalist victim selection:
  • Marta: “Cuanto más pobre y menos guapa sea esa gente, menos nos suele importar.” [01:00]
• On turning suffering into spectacle:
  • Bea: “En ese documental de Alcàsser... la hermana de Toñe... yo creí que estaba ayudando, pero ahora me veo a mí misma y no sé qué estaba haciendo allí.” [13:36]
• On media intrusion:
  • Marta: “Hasta el velatorio, hasta lo más íntimo de la familia se retransmite el entierro, se meten las cámaras hasta dentro.” [14:58]
• On amateur obsession:
  • Bea: “Varios de estos detectives aficionados dicen que su padre es el asesino de la Dalia, que es una cosa espantosa y muy edípica.” [47:59]
• On ethics in reporting:
  • Cruz: “Nunca hay exclusiva que merezca cargarse una investigación... yo cuento el mal. Porque alguien tiene que contarlo, porque existe y alguien tiene que contarlo.” [50:30]
• On the cycle of fear and true crime:
  • Bea: “Nos estamos alimentando nosotras mismas, revictimizando... como en un círculo que nunca acaba.” [36:57]

Timestamps for Major Segments

• True crime and comfort/identification – [00:35–01:30]
• Elizabeth Short / Black Dahlia reconstruction – [02:41–07:14]
• Patterns in victim media coverage (race, class, beauty) – [08:04–10:31]
• White Woman Syndrome & Gaby Petito – [09:22–10:07]
• Attitudes toward victim “worthiness” – [10:31–12:18]
• Parallels: Black Dahlia and Spanish cases (Alcàsser, Vaninkoff) – [12:18–16:20]
• Media ethics and spectacle (Alcàsser, live TV, shock questions) – [13:45–15:35]
• Modern true crime reporting failures (Daniel Sancho, Asunta, speed & ‘live’ coverage) – [18:35–21:13]
• Vaninkoff case: lesbofobia and media prejudice – [23:11–25:47]
• True crime formulas, arquetypes, and clichés – [26:29–27:58]
• Crims and the undercovered story of vulnerable victims – [29:13–30:36]
• Cruz Morcillo: 30 years of crime reporting & observation on attention patterns – [31:12–34:41]
• True crime’s main audience: women and cyclical victimization – [35:33–37:12]
• Serial podcast as paradigm shift & contrasting US/Spain trends – [38:53–41:20]
• Fandom and the romanticizing of criminals (Bundy, Dahmer, etc.) – [41:27–43:35]
• Journalistic lines not to cross; “I tell the evil” – [49:27–51:12]
• Book censorship (El odio) and balancing reporting/privacy – [51:33–54:39]
• Holistic approaches to crime narratives & the pitfalls of true crime tourism – [55:32–56:40]
• Audience interaction: why we watch, the morbo, and the need for human storytelling – [58:01–59:27]

Tone & Takeaways

Reflective and self-critical, the episode unfolds like a live forensic dissection of the true crime genre and its socio-ethical ramifications. With wit and directness, the guests move between empathy, critique, and a call to higher standards—reminding the audience that behind every sensational case is real suffering, and that the stories we tell say as much about us as about the crimes themselves.

Essential Listening for

• True crime fans wanting to reflect on their consumption habits
• Journalists and media students interested in the ethics of storytelling
• Anyone curious about the power of narrative to shape public fears and empathy

“Lo importante al final es la ética. Ella lo dejaba muy claro: tengo muy claro que ninguna exclusiva vale que se entorpezca una investigación y que primero están los investigadores y yo cuento el mal. Me ha parecido brutal eso de encargarse: al final el trabajo es contar el mal que hay en el mundo.” — Bea [51:12]