I thought How I Caught My Killer, on Hulu, would be paranormal, victims returning from the grave. But it's true crime: clues left by the victim allow the police or loved ones to track down the murderer. Out of six episodes, the only one that looked like it might have gay content is about Jesse Valencia, a 23-year old history major at the University of Missouri, Columbia, who was murdered on June 5th, 2004. He had a "had a dark secret," code for gay identity, So I gave it a shot.
The first two minutes consist of photo after photo of Jesse with his arm around girls, or his head pressed against a girl's to demonstrate straightness, accompanied by breathless, over-the-top "sinister secrets!!!! that ripped this college town wide open!!!!!" Then we get to the case:
On the morning of June 5th, the body of a young man was found near Mizzou campus, naked except for boxer shorts, his throat slashed by a serrated knife. Inquiries identified him as Jesse Valencia. He was from the small town of Perryville, Kentucky, planning to become a lawyer, and "openly gay." Aha! The 5,000 girl-boy photos were a misdirection. Wait -- if he's "openly gay," that couldn't be his secret.
The tiny town of Perryville, an hour from Lexington, with five streets and two fundamentalist churches, is bound to be homophobic. But Jesse's stepfather paints an idyllic picture of his childhood on a horse farm, with doting parents and loving friends and "not an enemy in the world."
The bartender at the (straight) bar he frequented continues the idyllic story: tons of friends, no enemies, "just a fun-loving kid dancing his butt off."
These true stories all start out with "the victim had a seemingly perfect life....but there was a dark side." I hope it involves drugs or gangsters, not being gay.
Jesse's neighbor remembers hearing an argument and "Stop it!" about 3:00 am on June 5th. Then it got quiet. Maybe a hookup or secret boyfriend got violent, and chased Jesse out into the street and slashed his throat. I hope not -- that would key into the myth that gay men are exceptionally violent, and end up being murdered or murderers.
Then comes the phone call that reveals "a shocking secret that shakes the town to its core." A girl tells the police that Jesse was at a party at her house on the night of June 4th. He brought two guys she didn't know, "roommates" Eric and Edward. They all left around 2:30 am. A college student went to a party? How shocking!
Eric and Ed were interrogated to reveal "sordid" details of their various hookups. DNA samples taken to match with the hair and skin found on the victim's body. And the story moves on to another phonecall that "turns the investigation on its head!!!"
A commercial break, a recap of the "sordid details, and the phoe call: Jesse had a boyfriend: A cop! Who was married! And a "family man"! On the downlow!
Next, they interview Jesse's former boyfriend, Andy. Last May they were in bed together, when a uniformed cop knocked on the door. Of course, Andy was afraid of harassment or arrest (the Supreme Court invalidated the sodomy laws in 2003, but the police often don't know that -- or pretend not to know). But the cop was cool; they proceeded to have a three-way.
Andy never got his name, but he recognized him at the police station: Officer Steven Rios.
Commercial break, repeating the whole "shocking" story, and more whining: "But he was married! A family man! How could he do...that? Murder someone, or have downlow sex? Investigators discovered that, six weeks ago, Rios arrested Jesse for insufficient groveling. So they knew each other. Plus, Rios was the one assigned to guard Jesse's apartment after the murder, so he could have removed any incriminating evidence.
Rios eventually admitted that he had sex with Jessee six times, the last time a week before the murder: "But I didn't kill him! I'm a family man!"
A gay rights advocate is interviewed: "Sometimes people think that if you are gay, you are bad or immoral." Close-up shots of gay people holding hands.
The police want to keep Rios' potential involvement from the press to avoid the humiliation of having a gay cop on the force, but word leaks out anyway, so he threatens suicide and is remanded to a mental hospital. Ugh. I can't even react to that. Then he escapes and threatens to jump off a roof. The narrator asks: "If your deepest, darkest secret were revealed to the world, how would you react?" Being gay is still a deep, dark secret in 2004?
Then Jesse's best friend, whom they haven't gotten around to interviewing yet, reveals a "shocking secret." I haven't been shocked yet. Disgusted, maybe..
Remember the arrest for being insufficiently groveling? Jesse believed that sexing up the cop would get him to pull strings and have the charge dropped. If not, he would inform the police chief that Rios was gay and get him fired. Sure, blame Jesse for his own murder. "You should have known that threatening to reveal such a dark, disturbing secret would drive Rios to this!"
Commercial break, recap the whole "shocking story," recall that Ed and Eric are also suspects. But the DNA comes back: it was Rios after all! He got life in prison. The end.
Wait -- what was Jesse's "sordid secret"? The cop? And how did Jesse catch his killer? It was all police investigation. None of this makes any sense.
Other sources, like Wikipedia, tell a different story. Rios was making a habit of arresting people in order to coerce them into sex. It was not a consensual relationship, it was stalking and sexual harassment. When Jesse told his mother, she suggested that he contact the police chief in order to protect himself. He was a victim, not the hypersexual blackmailer that this series depicts.
I don't know about 20 years ago, but today being gay is not a "dark secret" at Mizzou, or in the City of Columbia. There are 9 LGBTQ groups on campus, a gay community center in town, an annual Pride Fest, and a variety of LGBT non-discrimination protections.
By the way, there are two more LGBTQ victims in the series. The lesbian was killed by her ex-lover, apparently the producers believe that this occurs in 100% of gay relationships. The trans woman was killed when a hookup went wrong; apparently the producers believe that most people on dating apps want to kill you.