Rubbernecking

Here's my confession: I have a morbid fascination with death. I'm not into the gore and guts, but I find myself wondering about a person's last moments, the afterlife and most importantly, who's going to find my private journals after I'm gone. (Jeff, you know what to do!)

I work for a newspaper and we get hundreds of stories everyday that are full of tragic tales like Anne Pressly and Jasmine Fiore. But what we don't always get is the human side - the pain of those family members who have lost a loved one. That's why shows like this are a must see for me. It's the chance for mothers and fathers, friends and lovers to share their stories.

"TV Murders: Jasmine Fiore and Anne Pressly" (TLC, Sun., 9:00) recounts the details of the brutal murders or two blond beauties. Both of these stories have local connections for me. Anne Pressly was a popular TV anchorwoman in Little Rock, Arkansas, the capital city of my home state. I grew up about 30 minutes outside of Little Rock and my whole family still lives there. Jasmine Fiore's killer triggered a manhunt across Washington state. I live in Seattle and was working in the newsroom the night they thought they had Jasmine's killer cornered at the Canadian border in Blaine.

Jasmine was a 28-year-old bikini model whose whirlwind romance with a reality TV contestant may have cost her her life. Jasmine's body was found stuffed in a suitcase in a garbage bin with her fingertips and teeth removed. Police identified her by the serial number on her breast implants. Rewind: This is called the "CSI effect". People were so surprised when police said that's how they learned her identity, but they've been doing that on "CSI" for years. After learning that Jasmine was last seen with her estranged husband, Ryan Jenkins, police immediately turned their attention to finding him.

Ryan had just wrapped up a stint on the VH1 reality show, "Megan Wants a Millionaire" where he earned the nickname "Smooth Operator". He took meticulous steps to cover up Jasmine's murder (as if removing her fingers and teeth weren't enough). He then escapes to Canada after eluding the police, but later commits suicide by hanging himself in a motel closet. VH1 underwent much scrutiny about its background checks for reality contestants after it was discovered that Ryan Jenkins already had a record that included assault charges.

Anne Pressly, 26, was savagely beaten, raped and left for dead in her own home. Word of her attack left Little Rock in a state of shock, especially when details of how she had been beaten beyond recognition began to spread around the city. I was home visiting family for the holidays when Curtis Vance was arrested for Anne's murder. At that point I had only heard about the story through the national wire at the paper. It was quite strange hearing all the conspiracy theories from the locals, but there were some details that I found very hard to believe. The day of his arrest, I caught myself calling all of my sisters telling them to watch the news, even though I knew nothing about Anne Pressly or the suspect.

As sad and impersonal as it is, I think most people were fascinated with this case because of how badly she was beaten - this beautiful, blue-eyed blond whose entire face was broken. The way her face was described was left up to your own interpretation. Some people speculated that Anne had died that first day, and police were telling people she was alive until they had a suspect. Everyone was clamoring for a glimpse of the medical examiner's report, and a number of doctors and nurses were either fired or reprimanded for looking at Anne Pressly's medical records.

I think there's that morbid curiosity in all of us. We all rubber-neck at car accidents. We all want to see Michael Jackson's autopsy report. We all want to know the cause of death when we read the obituary of a young person. I don't think there's anything wrong with that as long as we remember that we are intruding on someone else pain.

For those of you who want a second look, this show will air again on Jan. 26, on the ID channel. Check your local listings for times.