Recap of Crime Con 2022 in Vegas
Us at our Mayhem in the Desert booth at Crime Con 2022 in Las Vegas.
Passion for the true crime genre was evident at Crime Con 2022 in Las Vegas. Thousands of true crime fans gathered for a convention at the Paris Las Vegas on the Strip last month for three days of events featuring some of the most notable names in the true crime community.
The conventioneers had an overwhelmingly positive energy that carried throughout the large ballroom that hosted dozens of booths featuring true crime creators from across the country. Our exhibit booth was situated near the front doors of the Podcasters Row, and we were fortunate enough to be right across from the fun folks at Magellan TV and I Said God Damn! Our next-door neighbors were the volunteers with the DNA Doe Project that works to identify Jane and John Does.
Scenes from CrimeCon 2022.
Us and author E.J. Hammon at CrimeCon 2022!
One of the highlights of the convention occurred as we made our way around the different booths and eventually ended up at the exhibit operated by Othram Inc., the genetic testing company that has worked to solve several cold cases across the nation, including the murders of Kim Bryant and Stephanie Isaacson in Las Vegas.
We spent months during late-2019 poring over old news accounts, court records, and other information about Kim Bryant’s 1979 abduction and murder in an effort to provide a detailed account of the events leading up to her death and the resulting investigation. While we remained hopeful that Bryant’s case would eventually be solved, we believed the chances were slim after 40 years.
Othram’s work was integral in solving the murder of Kim Bryant, whose case had remained unsolved for over four decades until 2021. We were able to watch a talk given by David Mittelman about Othram’s novel testing procedure that allows genetic evidence that is decades old to finally be processed. In the case of Kim Bryant, Othram’s work revealed that Bryant’s murderer was Johnny B. Peterson, a local Las Vegas contractor who was also linked to the 1982 murder of college student Diana Hanson. While Peterson died before he could face justice in 1993, the resolution of the case provided closure to Bryant’s surviving family members.
Meeting David Mittelman, PhD of Othram, Inc. We were able to discuss Othram’s work in solving the Kim Bryant case after over 40 years.
We always enjoyed the site Crime Library when we were younger, where we could spend hours reading in-depth articles about crimes and killers from around the world. Mayhem in the Desert was started with Crime Library as one of the inspirations to providing people with longform stories about true crimes from across the history of Las Vegas.
But as one of the only online publications present at CrimeCon 2022, our experience at the convention made us consider branching out into telling our Las Vegas true crime stories with a Mayhem in the Desert podcast. So, in the next few months we will be out with our first few episodes detailing the crimes that made Las Vegas.
In the meantime, keep coming back to our site for more new stories about historic Vegas crimes!
Crime Con 2022 Photos:
Entrance to CrimeCon 2022.
Getting ready for the convention and Mayhem on the CrimeCon line up of exhibits.
Photos from inside The Paris where CrimeCon was held.
Scenes from our exhibit booth.
The most emotionally impactful moments of the convention were meeting families seeking justice or answers for their loved ones. We met the family of Daniel Robinson, a geologist that went missing in Buckeye, Arizona. We also met the mothers of Sydney Lane and Neo Kaufmann, a couple whose 2016 murders remain unsolved.
Photos from the not-so-fun part of CrimeCon - waiting at the Lyft pick-up area in the heat. Our drivers were all really nice, including a lady that worked Lyft while waiting to pick her son up from his job on the Strip.
We are planning on attending CrimeCon 2023!