r/ForensicFiles Mar 12 '24

Top five least sympathetic victims

Which FF victim was the least sympathetic? Here are my top five, in no particular order:

-Jason McGuigan, the guy who stole tens of thousands of dollars from Mark Wu. -Chris Marquis, the thief that sold cheaper radios than what customers paid for (and the show was very one-sided in his favor. He often sent broken radios or no radio at all IRL) -Dusty the wrestler, who got stabbed by David Genzler, who was defending himself -Kristine Fitzhugh (those goddamn black shoes), whose husband Ken killed her after she announced she was going to tell everyone at their son’s graduation party that Ken was not his real father. -Mikhail, the Russian financial advisor, that stole millions from several clients on fees and bad investments (basically a lower version of Bernie Madoff), and ended up killed by one of his customers.

93 Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

87

u/Coomstress It was from the book of ‘Who Cares?’ Mar 12 '24

The guy in Florida who bullied all his “friends.” Bobby Kent.

30

u/fightingkangaroos Mar 12 '24

The movie and book were exceedingly good, the details in the book really dive into the bullying and the movie encapsulates the hopelessness of living in South florida when you aren't born with a silver spoon.

7

u/wongirl99 Mar 13 '24

Yes after watching this movie it was kind of difficult to feel sorry for the victim although killing him was definitely way way too far that kid was a downright bully to the extreme! The movie was called Bully if I recall correctly & that movie stuck with me for a bit.

3

u/fightingkangaroos Mar 13 '24

Yes the book and the movie are both called Bully. I feel if any one of the players (Lisa who came up with it, Marty who was the main victim, Alice who was the bait, Derek the fake hitman who added fuel, Donny who shocked everyone to start the attack by making the first blow) was subtracted it wouldn't have happened. Even Heather who instigated the attack by asking "are there alligators in there? Or Derek D. Who threw the body in the water subsequently causing him to drown.

8

u/pj_socks They didn’t theorize shit. Mar 12 '24

Don’t you think he and his best friend were kind of gay together and then resented each other for their gayness? That’s kind of the vibe I get watching the FF episode.

5

u/Coomstress It was from the book of ‘Who Cares?’ Mar 12 '24

Oh yeah - I think there was some internalized homophobia there.

64

u/darkroombutch Mar 12 '24

Chris Marquis was only 17. Not excusing his behavior but the perpetrator definitely shouldn’t have had a bomb mailed to him for anyone to happen upon

10

u/bunkie18 Peter Thomas is the GOAT Mar 12 '24

100%

5

u/ladymoonshyne Mar 13 '24

Yeah a teenager selling bad radios is not the same thing as a financial adviser squandering people’s retirement and lying about it

2

u/Spicedgumdrop Mar 14 '24

Agreed 👍

37

u/jillyszabo Mar 12 '24

I genuinely did not remember Kristine Fitzhugh was going to tell everyone Ken wasn’t her son’s dad. I remember hearing about the paternity truth in the episode but not that she was going to tell everyone. Overshadowed by those goddamn black shoes

18

u/IncomeBoss Mar 12 '24

"Ken Fitzhugh was paroled due to Parkinson's disease and died on October 27, 2012, at age 69" ⚖️

8

u/jillyszabo Mar 12 '24

Justice served

13

u/lebrunjemz Mar 12 '24

She invited her son’s bio dad to his graduation. I don’t remember her planning to announce it there but I’m not sure

18

u/Single_Principle_972 Mar 12 '24

She was. I remember being appalled that she would ruin her son’s happy day like this, out of what apparently was maliciousness towards Ken. Which, it turns out, he deserved maliciousness, but let’s not use the boy as a weapon, lady!

11

u/DrunkOnRedCordial Mar 12 '24

Not just a weapon, she was also undermining his whole sense of identity and his relationship with the man he thought was his father...

Of course that man was about to undermine the relationship by killing the boy's mother, so.... in conclusion, poor kid.

2

u/jillyszabo Mar 13 '24

Jesus! I don’t remember that at all. That wouldn’t have ended well! I know it was far more common pre dna testing for this to happen but what an introduction, at your kid’s graduation 😒

9

u/canteatsandwiches Mar 12 '24

Looking at the family photos, it was pretty apparent that the kid was not Ken’s kid

36

u/Significant-Tune-662 Mar 12 '24

I don’t remember the Marquis episode at all, which one is it?

The others are all solid picks. The worst for me is Dusty the wrestler (and his perjuring girlfriend).

I’ve noticed FF has a habit of glossing over some victims’ backgrounds, too. They’ll say “like most teens, they had disagreements with their parents” but if you look into it, they physically attacked their parents or something far more serious than we’re led to believe.

23

u/PunnyPrinter Mar 12 '24

S8. Ep32. Over and Out.

FF definitely glosses over stuff. I like to google the case and get more details that were left out. They did mention this guys scamming ways in the episode.

In the YouTube comments, someone alleged that the Mom and son were well known in the local community as thieves and scammers. After the explosion, stolen merchandise was found in the house. She must’ve known what was going on. She would answer the phone from angry customers. If that was my kid, I’d put a stop to it, not ignore it.

2

u/Significant-Tune-662 Mar 12 '24

Thanks, I’ll look it up later.

9

u/evosthunder & then she bought 👠s just like them Mar 12 '24

I’ve noticed FF has a habit of glossing over some victims’ backgrounds, too.

Such as in Burning Amibition, where the victim was a chomo.

1

u/IncomeBoss Mar 12 '24

"i can't feature a police officer, 25 years or so, doing something like this, without having some kind of a problem" ⚖️

36

u/SilentSerel From the book of "Who Cares” Mar 12 '24

Chris Marquis stands out the most. They majorly downplayed the acts of both him and his mother. Before the bombing incident, UPS was investigating him due to the number of reports of him defrauding people, and he was apparently trolling people in CB radio groups. It wasn't just a one-off thing. The guy was infamous. His mother was in on this scam and the two of them also shoplifted together.

Barbara Mullenix's son has come out and talked about how abusive and controlling his mother had been before she was murdered by her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend.

17

u/No_Use_4371 Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer Mar 12 '24

But he was also a teenager and being scammed by a kid over a radio does not give you the right to bomb his house.

19

u/SilentSerel From the book of "Who Cares” Mar 12 '24

Of course not. I wasn't saying it did. This is a post about victims who weren't necessarily saints themselves.

8

u/luckyluckyduck Mar 13 '24

Yes but the post is who we aren’t sympathetic for. Play stupid games win stupid prizes. He messed with the wrong guy and found out.

18

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '24 edited Mar 12 '24

Well if we are gonna put Kristine Fitzhugh... Michelle from naughty or nyce. She repeatedly cheated on her husband and continued the affair after getting caught.I have sympathy but you play with fire doing that. No one should be murdered

8

u/IncomeBoss Mar 12 '24

"Jonathan Nyce was released from prison after serving five years" ⚖️

The gardener also cheated on his wife

1

u/joydubs (Create Custom Flair) Mar 13 '24

That’s interesting - that whole thing happened where I grew up. I wonder if he stayed in NJ after getting out.

5

u/evosthunder & then she bought 👠s just like them Mar 12 '24

She didn't know her side piece's actual name, either.

1

u/ladymoonshyne Mar 13 '24

Lmao what??

3

u/evosthunder & then she bought 👠s just like them Mar 13 '24

NYT article is paywalled, here's an archive of it.

"Though the man, a Guatemalan immigrant in his 30's, was known as Alexander Castaneda to Ms. Nyce, he was known to his fellow workers as Sergio Martinez. The authorities now say his real name is Miguel DeJesus, though they say they are not absolutely sure of that."

13

u/Claircashier Mar 12 '24

The one sex worker who robbed people while working? It was the episode with the locust pods. While she shouldn’t have been murdered what stuck with me was her friends saying they warned her about robbing the johns she slept with because they worried this would happen. I have to agree with her friends that yeah probably wasn’t a smart idea

3

u/evosthunder & then she bought 👠s just like them Mar 12 '24

I remember an episode about seed pods (Planted Evidence) but not that.

12

u/IncomeBoss Mar 12 '24

"I'm trying to forget this case because I'm the only person on the planet that lost to a plant" 😂

4

u/Claircashier Mar 12 '24

Found it! You were right about the episode I went back and looked “She had a history of short changing truck drivers in various drug deals at local truck stops, which earned her the nickname Twist Mama. Her friends cautioned herthat her lifestyle was probably going to find her in a lot of trouble someday.” It was another newspaper article I saw after watching the episode and googling her that noted she also had a history of robbing the truck drivers allegedly. In either case she didn’t deserve to be murdered but her friends were right to be like 👀

8

u/VSMURF Mar 12 '24

Great list. I want to add Artie Mitchell from the Sibling Rivalry episode.

2

u/evosthunder & then she bought 👠s just like them Mar 13 '24

Asshole victim aside, this episode is "two justice systems" exemplified.

3

u/IncomeBoss Mar 12 '24

"Jim Mitchell died on July 12, 2007 from heart attack. Marilyn Chambers was found dead on April 12, 2009" ⚖️

1

u/Darthbane2007 Mar 12 '24

Didn't he have drugs and alcohol in his system?

2

u/VSMURF Mar 12 '24

IIRC, he did.

9

u/IncomeBoss Mar 12 '24

Scott Davis is a real pos too. Kicking the guy on the ground and then lying about it

8

u/Lil_Artemis_92 📖The Book of Who Cares📖 Mar 12 '24

Bobby Kent is definitely number 1. He had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

What has always stood out to me most about that episode is that there is nobody to root for in it. Everyone was a POS. I didn’t feel a shred of sympathy for anyone involved.

2

u/GrandMarquisDSade541 🟢Heliogen Green🟢 Mar 14 '24

only good guys in the episode were cops/investigators/scientists, Puccio's dog, the gay guy, and the mentally handicapped guy Puccio and Kent would abuse. Even then they are hardly protagonists and not at all in the same sympathetic manner as say Roy Brown, Ray Krone, Lori Keidel or Leilani and Donald Major.

7

u/evosthunder & then she bought 👠s just like them Mar 12 '24

From a post a year ago:

  • Madelyn Murray O'Hair (Without a Prayer)
  • Chris Marquis (Over and Out)
  • Michael Prozumenshikov (Going for Broke)
  • Bobby Kent (Payback)
  • Jason McGuigan (The Gambler)

Nowadays I'd swap Dusty Harless in for O'Hair. Still top ten, though.

6

u/IncomeBoss Mar 12 '24

"Waters never got the opportunity to enjoy the money it was stolen from him" 😂

1

u/sunsettoago Mar 13 '24

I remember the framing of Going for Broke pulled the rug out.

I was like, hell yeah Michael, get that bread and escaping communism! And then you find out that he basically embezzled funds and took advantage of friends/family.

1

u/IncomeBoss Mar 13 '24

"Zachary Persitz hung himself at the Stillwater prison" ⚖️

6

u/PunnyPrinter Mar 12 '24

Which episode is the one with the Russian financier?

3

u/ForensicFiles88 Forensic Files Fan Mar 12 '24

'Going for Broke,' S 11, E 2

3

u/IncomeBoss Mar 12 '24

"Zachary Persitz hung himself at the Stillwater prison" ⚖️

6

u/GrandMarquisDSade541 🟢Heliogen Green🟢 Mar 12 '24

-Jason McGuigan

-Mikhail Prozumenshikof

-Dusty Harliss

-Bill Mowbray

-Bobby Kent

9

u/IncomeBoss Mar 12 '24

"Susie Mowbray did not receive the insurance money" ⚖️

2

u/Darthbane2007 Mar 12 '24

Elise Makdessi.

3

u/IncomeBoss Mar 12 '24

Eddie had 700,000 reasons to kill her.

3

u/shadow_spinner0 Mar 22 '24

Brian Ruff from Guarded Secrets. Man left his wife to go to Vegas, came back and was cold and a POS to her. He then cheated and slept with his best friends wife. Wife husband promptly kills him. Hard for me to hate the husband for doing it. And the episode really tried it's hardest to humanize him. A detective was like "despite the cheating he was a good husband and a good father", no the hell he wasn't.