3 Billboards Outside Vidor, Texas (From the Vault)

True Crime Creepers

We are still on vacation this week but didn't want to leave y'all hanging, so we are releasing an episode from the vault! This was one of the first bonus episodes we ever released, and still one of Kristin's favorites :)

Martin McDonagh was driving through Vidor, Texas when he saw a series of billboards with a dramatic message: Raped While Dying. Still No Arrests. From Day One Police Knew Who Did It. These billboards left a very emotional impression on him. Such an impression that, without knowing the full story behind those billboards, he wrote a screenplay inspired by what he saw called 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which he would also go on to direct.

Some of the billboards in the movie came word for word from the billboards he’d seen in Vidor. And in the real case, 30 years later, there have still been no arrests in the murder of Kathy Page, even though those billboards say the case is solved and police know who the culprit is. So today I’m telling you the true story behind the movie. This is the story of 3 Billboards Outside Vidor, Texas, where the more I dug, all I found were lies upon lies, and at the center of it, heart ache. The more I read about this case, the more I realized - nothing was what it seemed.

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