Faith Jenkins of ‘Killer Relationship’ on Choosing Cases for the Show and the Crime That Shocked Her [Interview]
A young mother is found dead in her bed. At first, it appears that she died of natural causes. But as authorities dig deeper, they discover a complicated web of lies and betrayal, leading them to suspect that the woman may have been murdered.
The strange 2005 death of Melissa Henderson is one of the cases explored in the third season of Oxygen True Crime’s Killer Relationship with Faith Jenkins. The episode focusing on her murder, which airs Saturday, Oct. 12, will feature some shocking twists, Faith Jenkins told Showbiz Cheat Sheet.
Viewers will learn “what kind of secrets someone was keeping,” she teased. “That secret is going to be revealed at some point during the show. And there’s a question of who knew that secret. And when that secret was exposed, who had something to gain from keeping that secret a secret.”
Faith Jenkins on why people relate to the true crime show
Killer Relationship digs into all kinds of stories of relationships gone wrong. Sometimes, that means a spurned or jealous romantic partner taking revenge. But in season 3, the show has “branched out” to explore other relationships, Jenkins said.
“You see more than just former lovers,” she said. “You’re going to see some friendships. You’re going to see some professional relationships that go downhill.”
The variety of entanglements highlighted on Killer Relationship is key to its appeal, the former Divorce Court judge said.
“People relate to this show because they can relate to having a relationship,” she explained.
For some viewers, the show is a kind of education. “They want to see, ‘Were there red flags that people missed, that people should be looking out for?’ In some of our cases, there are some warning signs. But in others, there are not,” she said.
Often, people just want to understand what drives a seemingly normal person to murder.
“What people want to see is, why is it that when relationships go bad, why do they have to become deadly?” Jenkins said. “What happens to take someone from point A to point B? What happens in the middle? And that’s what I think is intriguing.”
‘Killer Relationship’ peels back the layers of a crime
Unfortunately, there’s no shortage of murders committed by a person close to the victim. So, how do producers decide which cases are featured on Killer Relationship? Getting the OK from the surviving family is key, Jenkins said.
“We only air cases where the family has given us their blessing to tell the victim’s story,” she explained.
Cases also need to have an element of the unexpected.
“We like to showcase cases where we’re peeling back the layers throughout the episode, and there’s always a twist,” she said.
That’s where Jenkins’ background as a prosecutor comes into play.
“I’m able to really look at these cases and pull from my own professional experience and offer an opinion,” she said. “Some other shows, they tell the story through a narrator who’s off camera, but I actually interject and talk about the investigation: What’s happening here, what this means, where this evidence is taking us.”
The cases that stand out
Telling stories of murder and betrayal can be difficult, Jenkins acknowledged. And since having a daughter last year, she’s gained a new perspective on some of the crimes featured on Killer Relationship.
“I see the cases with children who lose a parent through a new lens, and I’m much more empathetic and sympathetic to them,” she said.
What’s most shocking about the crimes featured in Killer Relationship is the way that a person can so coldly turn on a loved one. Jenkins mentioned the case of Jacquelyn Smith, which was featured in a season 3 episode that aired earlier this year. When Smith was stabbed to death in Baltimore in 2018, her husband blamed the crime on a panhandler. The case quickly generated headlines as an example of a senseless, random murder in a city where crime was out of control. But the reality was more complicated.
“A family member had set up her murder,” Jenkins said. “They had taken her to a party with them where they were eating dinner with her and drinking and dancing and laughing the entire night, knowing full well they planned to take her life an hour later after that party.”
“Cases like that always amaze me,” she went on to say. “Because what kind of person can look another person in the eye and have that kind of time with them, knowing full well that they don’t plan on them living two hours later. To have that kind of hatred in your heart, but to be able to flip it and act like you like this person and you’re on their side is just really next level, I think, in terms of the psychology of what a sociopath is and just the evil that can exist in the world.”
Killer Relationship With Faith Jenkins airs Saturdays at 8 p.m. ET on Oxygen True Crime.
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