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These Stories About Murderous Siblings Are The Stuff TV And Movies Are Made Of
Heinous, high-profile true crime stories are often brought back to life through books, films, TV shows, and other media.
When it comes to true crime stories, including the gruesome tales told in Oxygen’s "Killer Siblings," a conviction and sentence are rarely, if ever, the end of the story. Heinous, high-profile crimes go on to be retold through films, TV shows, books, podcasts, or some other medium.
In advance of the sophomore season of “Killer Siblings,” airing Saturdays at 6/5c on Oxygen beginning November 7, we looked ahead to Season 2 and back to an unforgettable Season 1 episode to consider the ways all-in-the-family crimes have spawned multimedia relatives. If you’re looking for more about these deadly crimes after watching “Killer Siblings,” these are the books, movies, and shows you’ll need.
“Fryers,” airs Nov. 13
Origin Story: In November 1973, five adolescent friends from Sioux Falls, South Dakota hanging out in the Gitchie Manitou State Preserve in nearby Iowa were targeted for bloody violence by three demented brothers. Four teenagers were mercilessly murdered; one survived.
Killer Siblings: Allen, David, and James Fryer, three brothers in their 20s, had gone to the park area to poach deer and spotted the group of kids around a campfire. When they realized the five teens had marijuana, the brothers posed as narcotics officers and opened fire on the adolescents, eventually killing everyone except one, who they brutally sexually assaulted. The crimes have become known as the Gitchie Manitou murders.
Tale Told: The crimes inspired two books: “Gitchie Girl,” published in 2016 and told through the surviving victim’s viewpoint, and “Gitchie Girl Uncovered,” a 2019 follow-up that focuses on the murderers’ motives. Both books were co-authored by Sioux City writers Phil and Sandy Hamman. In a 2018 kelonland.com interview, Phil Hamman, who knew the victims, said, “There’s some strange and bizarre twists to the investigation.” The Hammans also shared their insights in Oxygen’s “Killer Siblings.”
Also, the mass murders “were crucial” to Season 2 of TV’s “Fargo,” set in the 1970s, inspiring a critical episode, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Suhs,” airs Nov. 20
Origin Story: In 1990s Chicago, a manipulative sister, who’s dubbed a Black Widow, convinces her 19-year-old brother to kill her fiancé.
Killer Siblings: First-generation Korean-Americans Catherine and Andrew Suh are the siblings at the heart of this tale. Their mother was murdered six years earlier, and Catherine was a suspect. Her fiancé was her alibi — but as the relationship curdled, she decided he needed to go, and she convinced her brother to help her.
Tale Told: Director Iris Shim’s documentary “The House of Suh ” traced the narrative of first-generation Korean American siblings and horrible, haunting family secrets. Shim met Andrew Suh in prison, Psychology Today reports. “A friend of hers had developed a pen-pal relationship with him through a church group, and they both went to visit him,” the magazine noted, adding that both “wondered how this person got into this situation.”
The story also spawned a film: “Bad to the Bone,” a 1997 TV movie starring Kristy Swanson and Jeremy London that seized inspiration from the Suh family tragedy. In the flick, a heiress uses her brother to off her unwanted lover.
“Brileys,” aired Dec. 15, 2019
Origin Story: During a seven-month period, three brothers commit a series of random and increasingly brutal crimes across the city of Richmond, leaving behind a growing body count.
Killer Siblings: Linwood, James, and Anthony Briley, who went on a killing spree in 1979 with Duncan Meekins are the murderers in this tale. Eight years earlier, 16-year-old Linwood shot and killed a neighbor, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. He landed in reform school — but it didn’t curb his appetite for murder. Together the trio brutally slaughtered at least 11 people in gruesome ways, including stabbing someone before setting them on fire, according to the Richard Times-Dispatch.
Tale Told: “The Briley Brothers,” a 2016 audio book co-authored by Dwayne Walker and Jack Rosewood, puts the siblings’ evil doings right between your ears. In 2019, Rosewood got another whack at the grisly Briley massacre in “Serial Killers True Crime Box Set.” Descriptive copy notes that the Brileys were “as mentally unstable as they were bloodthirsty.”
