On covering my first homicide

A UK-based true crime magazine called Foul Play debuted a few years ago and was described “zine seeks to satiate our fascination with real-life murders without resorting to sensationalism.” Foul Play was edited, designed, and published by Emma Hardy and Grace Harrison, and the pair put out three issues before apparently closing shop.

I had a piece published in the third issue, which came out in early 2019. The article discusses the first murder I covered as a reporter, which happened to be a double-homicide that occurred in Yellow Springs in January 2017. The crime was obviously extremely shocking and I found myself in the difficult and surreal position of being on the scene not long after it happened and trying to speak with law enforcement and distraught family members.

The article is written in first person (which I ordinarily really don’t like to do) and takes a look at what it was like to be there, to experience the family’s grief firsthand, and to be utterly stunned by a startling revelation that unfolded right in front of me. My deepest sympathies will always go out to the families involved for the unimaginable difficulties they had to face.

Foul Play‘s website is offline and the magazine doesn’t appear to be readaily available anymore, and so below you’ll find a link to download the entirety of issue 3. My article, entitled “Hot Off the Press,” starts on page 44. The entire magazine is beautifully laid out and has a lot of interesting content and it’s a shame that Foul Play was so short lived.

A 2018 profile of the magazine’s creators and editors appeared in Vice and can be found here.

Issue 3 of Foul Play can be downloaded here.