Sourcing methodology
Last updated 12 July 2026
The case record
Every timeline entry links to a single source document. We prefer primary material: court filings, transcripts, judgments and dockets, and statements from courts, prosecutors and police. Where public docket access is thin, established reporting is used instead and the entry is shown in the timeline rather than the official record.
Only entries linked to a court, prosecutor, police or government source with a confirmed date appear in the official record table on a case page.
Link health
Source links are re-checked automatically. A link confirmed dead across two checks at least 24 hours apart hides its entry from the public timeline until the source is replaced. Links older than a week are re-validated before anything is approved.
The coverage catalogue
Coverage items are podcast episodes, documentaries and docuseries, factual specials, journalism and non-fiction books. Each links to the publisher, platform or store page for that item. Generic homepage links, signed or tokenised media files and raw audio enclosures are never used as the public link.
Dramatised films, scripted TV dramas, reenactments and novelisations are out of scope — we index factual coverage only: documentaries, docuseries, factual specials, journalism and non-fiction books.
Multi-case anthologies, numbered 'true crime stories' volumes and print-on-demand compilations are out of scope — a work must be substantially about one case to be listed.
Candidates are proposed by monitored feeds and searches, then approved by an editor. Nothing publishes automatically, and every card description is written here rather than copied from the source.