There are team-ups in true crime after which there are team-ups that make you pause. Retired cold-case detective Ken Mains and former death-row inmate Invoice Noguera make up the latter — an inconceivable duo whose collaboration is the backbone of Oxygen’s new multi-part docuseries Dying Row Confidential: Secrets and techniques of a Serial Killer. The present follows their work unraveling the previous of Joseph Naso, a killer lengthy suspected of much more murders than the 4 for which he was finally convicted.
SpoilerTV chatted with each males to get past the cameras and into what drove them to work collectively, how they navigated belief and danger, and what they need viewers to remove. Their solutions are totally different in tone however aligned in objective: discover victims, give households solutions, and present that even within the darkest corners work will be achieved that issues.
“I felt obligated to assist” — Ken Mains on taking the tip
When Invoice approached Ken claiming he had detailed data of Naso’s crimes, Ken did what good detectives do: he vetted the supply. After confirming Noguera’s credibility, Ken says he “felt obligated to assist victims’ households get decision.” He was blunt about judgment, “I don’t choose anybody until I’ve walked of their footwear,” and about why he accepted the partnership: the knowledge had worth and victims deserved solutions. Ken, who spent years undercover for the FBI and has constructed a profession fixing chilly instances, leaned into that have when he accepted Invoice’s notes and testimony.
For Ken, utilizing prisoner-provided intelligence is acquainted tradecraft: small clues, correctly vetted, can crack chilly instances. “Invoice offered me with very small clues and that’s all a great detective wants,” he mentioned, and it was these small clues that began doorways opening.
From cellblock to sleuth: Invoice Noguera’s motivation
Invoice’s story reads like a redemption arc stripped of cliches. He befriended Naso whereas incarcerated at San Quentin and, over many conversations, took greater than 300 pages of notes detailing Naso’s admissions and recollections. Two frames are important to understanding Invoice’s selection to talk out: first, he believes in “residing amends,” motion that helps others now moderately than neat absolution for previous crimes; second, he says the danger to himself is definitely worth the potential closure for households. “I’ve a debt to pay, a residing amends, and danger to myself is outweighed by the victims’ households.”
That’s not the identical as asking for forgiveness. Invoice was specific: this work “is just not about Redemption… it’s not about me, moderately it’s about service and serving to others.” He frames his actions as pro-social, sensible steps. Compiling names, cross-referencing particulars, handing proof to somebody who may run with it. It’s a putting instance of somebody contained in the system utilizing their proximity to the reality to attempt to do one thing proper.
How they made it work: vetting, proof, and old school detective work
Throughout the interview, the procedural particulars recur: vet the witness, corroborate the main points, then hint the tiny threads. Ken described Invoice’s hands-on expertise residing round serial offenders as an asset: “If that palms on studying doesn’t make you an knowledgeable in serial killers, I don’t know what does.” From Invoice’s facet, it was about access- persistence, conversations, documenting all the things and the willingness to take private danger so these conversations may change into leads.
Collectively, they adopted results in beforehand unsolved instances and, in a number of situations, had been in a position to present households with concrete solutions. The present doesn’t simply current confessions; it reveals investigative rigor: checking alibis, finding corroborating details, and linking Naso to a sample of habits that investigators suspect spans a long time.
What they need viewers to know
Ken has just a few clear asks for the general public: acknowledge that small clues matter; that zeal and somewhat expertise can resolve chilly instances; and that individuals do care about victims and households. He even permits himself a hat-tip to his personal repute. He’s been labeled “America’s best chilly case detective” however emphasizes course of over reward. Invoice’s message is easier and humbler: it’s not about him changing into exemplary or forgiven; it’s about serving the general public and doing actual, generally harmful work to assist others.
Why this collection issues
True crime will be voyeuristic; this collection, as each males framed it, goals to be restorative. It’s a reminder that instances aren’t at all times solved by a single heroic second however by relentless assortment and corroboration of tiny particulars — generally provided from surprising locations. Oxygen’s Dying Row Confidential gives viewers each the procedural payoff and a human research of accountability, redemption-by-service, and the peculiar methods justice generally finds solutions.
Don’t tune in for thrills alone. Look ahead to the households who lastly hear a reputation tied to a reminiscence and for the unusual, uneasy collaboration between a retired lawman and a person who as soon as sat on dying row, each making an attempt to shine mild on a chillingly prolific case. In a style stuffed with darkish curiosities, this one tries, with actual grit, to provide individuals closure. Catch the ultimate two episodes Saturday, September twentieth at 9:00 p.m. ET on Oxygen.