Murder 101

In a small Appalachian town, sociology teacher Alex Campbell turns his classroom into an unlikely crime lab. Tired of standardized lessons, he challenges his students to investigate a 40-year-old string of unsolved murder known as the Redhead Murder.

The second chapter opens with a voice that has lived inside the case for 40 years. Linda Schacke, the only known survivor of suspected killer Jerry Johns, agrees to speak with the class. The students watch in stunned silence as her face fills the screen. She recounts the night she was strangled and left for dead along a Tennessee highway-how a torn leather jacket saved her life, how she crawled toward traffic, and how she still bears the scars on her neck.

Back home, the students are restless. If the killer isn't clear, maybe the mission can be. Campbell challenges them to transform their research into action-to bring awareness back to the community that forgot. In brainstorming sessions that feel part newsroom, part startup, they develop Operation Transcend: a grassroots campaign using radio, church partnerships, and one bold idea-a car wrapped with Tracy Walker's face and the words You can kill the girl, but you can't kill the truth.