In 2014, twelve-year-olds Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser stabbed their friend Payton Leutner nineteen times in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Their motive: proving their loyalty to Slender Man, a fictional monster born on an internet creepypasta forum.

In 1993, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode ‘Ship in a Bottle’ asked what happens when a holodeck simulation becomes self-aware and Professor Moriarty walks out of the program.

In the Season 1 finale of The Prime Detective, we connect those two moments and finally find the word for what we’ve been tracking all along.

Credits:

This episode of “The Prime Detective” was produced and hosted by Grayson Thagard.

Music for “The Prime Detective” is composed by Ben Wise: https://benwise.bandcamp.com/

Website and publishing support thanks to David Moody, Producer: “Let’s Talk About Treks” The Podcast.

Original artwork for “The Prime Detective” by Julie Hendrickson.

Buy me a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/theprimedetective

Special thanks:
Izaak Brown: Trek 365
Open Pike Night
Crusher Convo
Captain Goodwill: Trekkin Up North
Battlestage Theatrica
My Figure Universe – Boosting the Signal podcast

OK Boomer: What are creepypasta?

The Link Between Quantico, Hannibal Lecter, and Deep Space Nine

Trace the evolution of criminal profiling from its gritty origins in the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit to its transformation into a definitive pop-culture trope.

This episode explores the thin line between reality and fiction, connecting the revolutionary work of John Douglas and Robert Ressler to the haunting Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Field of Fire.” By analyzing the parallels between Hannibal Lecter, Ezri Dax, and the real-world tragedy of the Columbine High School shooting, the story examines the seductive power—and the documented limitations—of the profiler narrative. It is a journey through the psychological maps used to understand monsters, highlighting how profiling can contextualize the horrors of the past while remaining a deeply imperfect tool for predicting the violence of the future.

Credits:

This episode of “The Prime Detective” was produced and hosted by Grayson Thagard.

Music for “The Prime Detective” is composed by Ben Wise: https://benwise.bandcamp.com/

Website and publishing support thanks to David Moody, Producer: “Let’s Talk About Treks” The Podcast.

Original artwork for “The Prime Detective” by Julie Hendrickson.

Buy me a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/theprimedetective

In Oshawa, Ontario, everyone knew Ken Chopee as “the Star Wars guy.” A lifelong collector of memorabilia, comics, and film artifacts, his identity was built around a galaxy far, far away — until his life came to a violent end in January 2023.

In this episode of The Prime Detective, we examine the real-life killing of Ken Chopee, the man behind the nickname, and the events that led to his death inside a micro-housing unit. Drawing on reporting from The Globe and Mail and Oshawa This Week, this story explores addiction, loss, and the fragile line between fandom and identity.

But this isn’t just a true crime story.

It’s about what we collect.
What those collections say about us.
And what happens to them — and to us — when we’re gone.

Credits:

The killing of Oshawa’s ‘Star Wars guy’ has residents wondering what’s happened to their city by Marcus Gee (The Globe and Mail)

‘Live with this regret’: Man sentenced in fentanyl killing of Star Wars memorabilia collector by Jeremy Grimaldi (Oshawa This Week via DurhamRegion.com)

‘RIP, Ken’: Friends post tributes to Ken Chopee, victim of Oshawa murder by Jeff Mitchell (Oshawa This Week via DurhamRegion.com)

“The Prime Detective” is produced and hosted by Grayson Thagard

Music for “The Prime Detective” is composed by Ben Wise: https://benwise.bandcamp.com/

Website and publishing support thanks to David Moody, Producer: “Let’s Talk About Treks” The Podcast

Original artwork for “The Prime Detective” by Julie Hendrickson

Buy me a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/theprimedetective