Christmas Killers

True crime documentaries have been captivating audiences since the advent of the genre. In the modern era of streaming content, they have become ubiquitous in popular culture, with whole streaming platforms and podcasts all dedicated to the genre. True crime documentaries also carry the dubious distinction of being created to sensationalize violent crimes to entice audiences, while often utilizing tactics that can cause harm to victims and families of victims as well as society by normalizing these tactics. This documentary not only avoids these tactics, but attempts to derive some of the underlying societal factors that contribute to psychological conditions of violence.

Dayton, Ohio celebrates Christmas like most small cities in America. The city decorates downtown, and there are holiday festivities happening all over the area. Family values of time spent together with joy and happiness were realized in a lot of Dayton households at Christmas in 1992, just like most of America. Talking Barney toys, Gameboys and Sega were on the tongues of many children as they hurriedly told shopping mall Santas everything they wanted for Christmas. A lot of kids in Dayton got their wishes too, but also like much of America, many children will never get their wishes…

In the early morning hours of Christmas Eve in Dayton,Ohio 1992, the first of a six body, sixty hour killing spree is reported in the city’s west side. Dayton homicide detectives begin to find compelling evidence to link the murders, as killing after killing is reported over the holiest Christian holiday, Christmas. The city is gripped in fear as the body count rises. December 24, eighteen-year-old Danita Gullette is shot seven times and robbed of her coat and shoes. December 25, eighteen-year-old Richmond T. Maddox is found dead in his wrecked car with a bullet in his head. December 26, Sarah Abraham, murdered employee and mother of two is found dead, shot in the face and chest, along with customer Jones Pettus, shot and wounded during the robbery. Later on December 26, Joseph Wilkerson is found dead, tied to his bed in his home with only his underwear, shot in the head and chest. December 27, two teenagers, a boy and girl, are found murdered execution-style in a remote gravel pit in West Dayton. With quick action and some old-fashioned police work, the killers are caught within sixty hours of the first reported homicide; however, the city doesn’t rest easy as the details of the crimes are revealed,only to expose even more relevant and painful questions.

What happened to these young people to commit such brutal acts? We ask the questions: Are they truly evil? Are they born this way? Or made this way?