The gripping docuseries, Murder 101, under the direction of Stacey Lee, dives deep into a chilling investigation led by high school students in Elizabethton, Tennessee. The series follows Alex Campbell’s sociology class as they delve into the Redhead Murders—a grim case from the mid-1980s involving several unidentified women, all with red hair, found deceased in Tennessee over a span of six months. The mystery had long gone cold until Campbell’s class reignited the investigation in 2018, prompting renewed interest from law enforcement.
MURDER 101: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: The series opens with the haunting sound of a recording. A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent begins documenting an interview with a woman who narrowly survived a brutal assault. The camera captures the starkness of the interrogation room, focusing on an ashtray and a jacket adorned with the TBI emblem.
The Gist: Viewers are then introduced to Alex Campbell’s students at Elizabethton High School, who are intently listening to the recording. Campbell swiftly interrupts the audio to underline the immediacy of the post-attack context to his students, immersing them into the stark realities of the case.
Despite growing up in Elizabethton, Campbell knew little of the Redhead Murders. The vague details were largely due to the anonymity of the victims and the absence of DNA or genetic genealogy techniques in the 1980s. Driven by a meticulous eye for detail and a passion for hands-on education, Campbell launched an investigative effort with his students starting in 2018.
The docuseries captures the progression of this investigation through the eyes of Campbell’s 2025 class. Among them is William McDuffie, who documents their journey through film. His classmates share their insights and progress as they strive to unravel the mystery. Hannah Metcalf returns to the class for a second year, fueled by her determination to solve the case. Meanwhile, newcomer Crimson Lashorne navigates the dynamics of her new school, quickly finding herself absorbed by the intrigue and complexity of the unsolved murders.
Along the way, Campbell teaches his class about making FOIA requests and how frustrating they can be, but also tries to get them to see the reasons why the case remained cold for over 30 years. A lot of it was because media coverage at the time concentrated on the lives the identified victims led — prostitutes or drug users — instead of seeing the victims as people with lives.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Murder 101, based on a podcast of the same name, feels like a bit of a cross between American High and Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer.
Our Take: The most fascinating thing we found about Murder 101 is that, for seven years, Campbell and his various classes have been trying to solve this extremely complex case in 45-minute bursts. We’re not sure if every period he has with this particular group is all about what they know and what they want to find out about the Redhead Murders, but they certainly spend a good amount of their time investigating. At least some of the students also continue to work on it outside of class.
If you’re wondering what investigating a serial killer has to do with sociology, you won’t after watching the first episode of this series. The students are being led through what law enforcement and previous classes have uncovered, including the identities of about a half-dozen victims and a person linked to not only one of the deaths but to the attack of Linda Marie Schacke, the only woman who survived. They’re building a profile of the killer given what they know about previous serial killer cases.
But they’re also learning skills that will help them in just about any facet of life. There’s a scene where the students call various county offices to make FOIA requests for law enforcement records, and they’re shunted to various voice mails or disconnected. This helps them learn to be more forthright in transactions, even if it’s just making a doctor’s appointment on the phone.
Most importantly, though, Campbell is making them see exactly why the victims were seen in such a poor light back in the ’80s, and tries to get them to look at the victims and their loved ones with the empathy they all deserve. As we watched, we were impressed with Campbell’s ability to get the teens interested in this case and how effectively he was able to teach the lessons he wanted to impart to them via the various things they had to look into in order to move this case forward.
Performance Worth Watching: Campbell seems to be a bit of a renaissance man, who built a huge log cabin for him and his family, makes costumes for historical reenactments, and more. He equates himself to being a rat in the bowels of the Titanic, with the lumbering and doomed ship symbolizing public education.
Sex And Skin: None.
Parting Shot: After sending Linda Schacke a video where the students talk about how much they care about the victims in this case and want to hear her side of the story, she sits down on a Zoom call with the class, talking about her attack for the first time in about four decades.
Sleeper Star: Hannah Metcalf is not only completely dedicated to this case, but she’s also extremely smart and very insightful for someone so young. We also liked Wil Bowers, who was in the original 2018 class and was the students’ spokesperson when they had a press conference about the case.
Most Pilot-y Line: None that we could find. Though we will cite how grating the class bell at Elizabethton High School is. It sounds like an out-of-tune harmonica.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Murder 101 is a fascinating look at how a sociology teacher gets his class to learn via one of the most interesting projects we’ve ever seen a class take on. But it’s also a treatise on why cases like the Redhead Murders go cold for decades.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.