When it was announced Zara McDermott<\/a> would be fronting a new documentary centred around the devastating Idaho murders case, it warranted the questions of if it was too soon for a documentary and if the former reality star was the best person to lead the documentary, but The Idaho Murders: Trial by TikTok isn\u2019t what you may think it is on first glance.<\/p>\n In 2022, four students at the University of Idaho were stabbed to death<\/a> at their house, leading to a social media frenzy of amateur sleuths and \u2018TikTok detectives\u2019 attempting to \u2018solve\u2019 the case, despite the police working round the clock to do just that.<\/p>\n The social media attention forced the police to set up a misinformation page on their website, to stop the spread of false narratives \u2013 and it is this that McDermott focuses on.<\/p>\n The 60-minute documentary attempts to \u201cuncover the story of the social media frenzy that sprung up following the tragic murders\u201d, and sees McDermott fly out to Idaho a little under a year after the tragic event and come face to face with some of the online sleuths and citizen journalists who trying to help \u2013 or at least thought<\/em> they were helping.<\/p>\n \u201cI started watching videos about this case and then my TikTok For You Page [was] all about this case for genuinely months on end,\u201d McDermott told RadioTimes.com<\/a> in an exclusive interview.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was building and growing as the case was evolving and more information was coming out and I\u2019ve just never seen anything like this before. So I thought making a documentary about this would just be really fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n The attention the case gained came in fast, with online sleuths questioning the police, stirring up conspiracy theories and blaming innocent people of crimes they didn\u2019t commit \u2013 and it wouldn\u2019t be the first time something like this has happened.<\/p>\n When British woman Nicola Bulley disappeared in 2023, TikTok was rife with \u201ctheories\u201d, and a 36-year-old man was arrested<\/a> after posting videos on the app of the search area.<\/p>\n While most people believe that this kind of sleuthing is far from OK, McDermott believes videos and conspiracies of this kind will continue to happen.<\/p>\n \u201cI think unless social media is heavily regulated in the same way that the mainstream news is, it\u2019s never going to be the same,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s great that people have the freedom to speak out about what they want on social media, especially with important issues. But when it comes to true crime cases, when it comes to a quadruple homicide [that] police are investigating, I\u2019m not sure how much of a help the social media world was in this case.\u201d<\/p> Six weeks after the Idaho murders, Bryan Christopher Kohberger was charged<\/a> with the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. He has pleaded not guilty<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kohberger is still yet to stand trial, which begs the question of whether a documentary like this is the right call in any form.<\/p>\n Viewers may find themselves perplexed at the lack of focus the documentary places on the actual crimes, but that was the point, according to McDermott.<\/p>\n \u201cThe documentary is not actually about the case,\u201d she told RadioTimes.com<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s not about the murderer, it\u2019s not about the trial. The documentary is essentially using this as a case study and it\u2019s really important, I think, to have a case that\u2019s ongoing for a documentary like this, because people are still in the thick of it.\u201d<\/p>\n McDermott explained that the documentary \u201cexemplifies how social media can be a benefit or a hindrance to a case\u201d and argues that it\u2019s \u201creally timely\u201d.<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cIt\u2019s looking at what the future of true crime and what the future of these types of cases look like in the social media space.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to accept that nowadays our young people are turning to social media to get their news. They\u2019re not turning to mainstream media anyone ,and if this is going to be the future, then what does it look like?<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a really important and timely film.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the documentary, McDermott meets a number of people, including Jonathan Lee Riches, better known as JLR Investigates. Viewers see Jonathan in action at the heart of the case \u2013 something which took McDermott by surprise.<\/p>\n \u201cI think seeing someone completely devote their life to true crime in that way was something that I\u2019ve never seen before,\u201d she said. \u201cThe commitment to posting that many things a day is just crazy\u2026 I think that\u2019s up for debate whether he is a real journalist or not, but to him, he\u2019s just as much of a journalist.\u201d<\/p>\n While the documentary itself isn\u2019t at the centre of the murder investigation, as McDermott says, it shines a light on a \u201ctimely\u201d issue, we are, no doubt, going to continue to see in future years.<\/p>\n The Idaho Murders: Trial by TikTok does a good job at portraying the extent social media sleuths go to \u2013 but isn\u2019t that already clear? For McDermott, it\u2019s important to show audiences just how much attention true crime is garnering, something she doesn\u2019t think is going to change.<\/p>\n She told RadioTimes.com<\/strong>: \u201cI think that this is a really important film to watch because this is the future of how true crime and how murder investigations and anything of that ilk is reported nowadays, on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to start understanding what we\u2019re consuming and what impacts that has not only on the families, not only on the victims, not only on the investigation but also, I suppose, on ourselves as well.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does that mean for us going forward? Can we all be sucked into this kind of true crime spectacle on social media? And should we be sensationalising and making celebrities of victims and killers as well?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Zara](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/03\/453629-02d4d8c.jpg?quality=90&resize=618%2C413\" "\\"453629,The")
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