Volume 5 of Unsolved Mysteries hits Netflix with 4 episodes, the least amount since the series was rebooted with the participation of original creators Terry Dunn Maurer and John Cosgrove alongside exec producer Shawn Levy ( Stranger Things ). This time around, episodes of Unsolved will delve into a rash of unexplained cattle mutilations across the US, profile a paranormal researcher who believes a ghost is his partner, and return to Roswell, the 1947 incident that still has people crying UFO almost 80 years later. But for the first episode of volume 5, we travel to Ohio, where a mysterious double-murder remains unsolved.
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UNSOLVED MYSTERIES – VOLUME 5 : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? Opening Shot: “Two friends, shot to death on a sunny afternoon, while sitting on a park bench at Cleveland Metroparks.” The news report plays over aerial footage of the nature preserve, which rings the city in green.
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The Gist: Who approached Carnell Sledge and Kate Brown from behind as they sat, shot Nell twice and Kate once, and left them to die alongside a picaresque river bank in the middle of the day? That is the question that has remained unanswered since June 2019, as local police and the FBI continue their investigation. As Unsolved Mysteries includes interviews with Kate Brown’s parents and sisters, Carnell Sledge’s parents and brother, and authorities familiar with the incident, it sheds new light on what has become a cold case. But the series can’t bring the victims back on its own.
“Both of these people are definitely dead.” From the chilling initial 911 call, to footage from dash and body cams as police established a crime scene in Rocky River Reservation, Unsolved benefits from access to definitive primary sources that differentiate from its blurry re-creations. And while the original 911 callers are interviewed, as are Detective Lieutenant Don Sylvis of Cleveland Metroparks Police Department and Todd Krajek, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI field office in Cleveland, what no one walking around the park where it happened today can seem to explain is how the shooter managed to get away.
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With the reconstruction of the victims’ movements, authorities do have a time window. “Within a 14-minute window, the assailant approached Kate and Carnell as they sat on the park bench, fired three shots at close range, and killed them both.” But that’s all they know, and interviews with Sledge and Brown’s families offer a mixture of sadness and speculation. Were Nell and Kate considering becoming more than friends? Was this a racially-motivated hate crime? Which of them were the target? Years after the crime, and even after they increased the amount of reward money for anyone with answers, the double-murder remains a mystery. “It frustrates me because nobody is being held accountable.”
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? So. Much. True. Crime. It’s everywhere. On Netflix, the streamer’s Unsolved Mysteries reboot joins a new take on Cold Case Files , the recent two-part series Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter , and the docuseries Files of the Unexplained .
Our Take: The first episode of Unsolved Mysteries Volume 5 leaves the veering into conspiracy theories and the chasing of specters of the paranormal for other installments. Instead, what transpires is a straightforward telling of a tragic double-murder surrounded by questions of its own. In this day and age, with all of our electronic devices logging locations and all kinds of cameras capturing our every move, how did two people with no known history of violence wind up shot and killed by an unseen attacker? It’s the classic setup for a cold case, and one that feels appropriate for Unsolved Mysteries , since the series reboot has retained one of its legacy features: a hotline that viewers can call or click with tips.
“Get the story out there again.” That’s how Kate Brown’s sister Alexandra characterizes her family’s decision to sit for interviews with the docuseries, and you can feel their resentment over the inaction of local law enforcement leaching through the screen in the same way you can see the cops deflecting in real time. In a way, Unsolved asking for viewer input is like a pointillistic approach to the trend of podcasters and true crime enthusiasts performing their own research. Would Darby Hart, Emma Corrin’s brilliant amateur sleuth from A Murder at the End of the World , have been able to solve the slayings of Kate Brown and Carnell Sledge? Unsolved Mysteries is platforming another cold case because a Darby Hart-type could be out there with answers, and answers would mean closure.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: “By finding the person who did this,” Kate Brown’s sister says, “I’ll know that that person can’t inflict this on someone else, and they’ll have to live with knowing the wreckage they caused to our lives.”
Sleeper Star: Since its 2020 return, Unsolved Mysteries has done a good job of making the establishment of a timeline portion of a true crime-style episode stand out. Volume 5 of the series continues Volume 4 ’s application of sharp onscreen graphics that plot the victims’ movements on a clear timeline, add information about their mobile device use, and establish what police were doing in the area around the crime scene.
Most Pilot-y Line: “At five o’clock, there’s so much traffic going down that causeway. I mean, 75 feet from this…from this bench. How could it happen that nobody heard or saw anything?” The frustration Kate Brown’s father Tom expresses about the sputtering investigation extends to Carnell Sledge’s family, too.
Our Call: Stream It. With Volume 5, Unsolved Mysteries continues to impress in its rebooted-for-Netflix form. Of course the series wants to capitalize on the current popularity of true crime. But it also stands on its own as a legacy title in the genre.
Johnny Loftus ( @glennganges ) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.
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