In 2008, high school football star Billey Joe Johnson was pulled over for speeding in Lucedale, Mississippi. Moments later, the officer radioed that the Black teen had killed himself with a shotgun. “Mississippi Goddam: The Ballad of Billey Joe” is an eight-part series of PRX's "Reveal" podcast. Host Al Letson pokes at the conclusion the teen’s death was an accident.

FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "MISSISSIPPI GODDAM" GO TO MINUTE 27.

The sudden death in 2009 of a rising star shocked Hollywood. The HBO Max two-part series “What Happened, Brittney Murphy?” recalls the actor’s Hollywood climb and subsequent fatal backslide during her marriage to a gold-digging Svengali.

FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "WHAT HAPPENED, BRITTNEY MURPHY?" GO TO MINUTE 61.

In Crime of the Week: Don't be cruel.

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Mississippi Goddam and What Happened, Brittney Murphy?