Transcript: Luigi Mangione, Murder & Movies

Rob Long on the know-it-alls drawn to hot topics — and Hollywood

This is Rob Long with Martini Shot for The Ankler.

A few years ago at a family holiday dinner, the conversation drifted from Christmas presents to upcoming travel to where we’re spending the summer to, finally, the brutal murder of four University of Idaho students that had taken place a few weeks before.

This was before Idaho police and the FBI had identified and arrested a suspect, when it seemed like the murders might go unsolved and that perhaps six members of my family — ranging in ages from 14 to 83 — with only a cursory understanding of the details of the crime and zero experience in homicide investigations could, probably between the main course and dessert, solve the case.

We weren’t alone in this delusion. Walking through the airport a few days later after that dinner, a small clump of glum-looking travelers were glued to the Official News Network of America’s Tense, Unhappy Airport Terminals, CNN, watching people from Idaho and neighboring Washington tell reporters that they were nervous and scared and unhappy with the lack of progress in the investigation.

“Those local police departments don’t have enough experience collecting crime scene evidence,” a man next to me said to no one.

Well, I think he was talking to me, though it was hard to tell because he was wearing one of those cushions around his neck that’s shaped like a toilet seat, and his face was mostly blocked by an enormous Cinnabon.

“They blew it,” another CNN viewer muttered. “The trail’s cold now. If you don’t catch him in the first 48 hours, it’s all over.”

A lot of nods around the group. It was clear that the gathering of Crime Scene Investigation Experts at Gate B23A were in agreement.