Investigation Discovery’s ‘Southern Gothic’ Digs Into Law Enforcement in the South

There is a place where deep-rooted tensions and skeletons in the closet are thickly veiled by generations-learned etiquette and hidden agendas, and behind every sun-worn smile there’s a dark secret. A place that can be just as shadowy as the muddy waters that run through it, especially when it comes to planning, committing, and covering up a crime.

The new true-crime series Southern Gothic premieres Monday, April 27 on Investigation Discovery.

While highlighting how law enforcement in the South is a personal business, this series explores the duplicitous characters, unique settings, and boundless mystery of murder in the American South.

Courtesy of Investigation Discovery

On the premiere episode, “Call Me Animal,” after three young friends go missing after a day on the lake in May of 1986, a small town’s worst fears are realized when their dead bodies are found during a volunteer-driven search. With no witnesses and highway roadblocks that fail to turn up any new leads, it seems the case might go cold.

But details soon emerge of a terrifying robbery in the area where the teens were last seen, resulting in an arrest. But after a rattling jailbreak, and the kidnapping of a law enforcement officer, the oil-drilling town of Hawkins, Texas must mobilize the largest manhunt in state history to nab the dangerous criminal, known as “Animal.”

Southern Gothic, Series Premiere, Monday, April 27, 10/9c, Investigation Discovery