April 26, 2019
by Carla Hay
The third annual CrimeCon for fans of true-crime stories is set to take place at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans from June 6 to June 9, 2019.
The guest speakers include:
- Nancy Grace: Oxygen host; founder of Crime Online; former prosecutor; author; former HLN and Court TV host
- Maureen Maher: correspondent for “48 Hours”
- Josh Mankiewicz: correspondent for “Dateline NBC”
- Keith Morrison: correspondent for “Dateline NBC”
- Andrea Canning: correspondent for “Dateline NBC”
- Dennis Murphy: correspondent for “Dateline NBC”
- Kelly Siegler: former prosecutor; star of “Cold Justice”
- Tonya Rider: detective at Toledo Police Department; co-star of “Cold Justice”
- Steve Spingola: former detective; co-star of “Cold Justice”
- Paul Holes: former forensics investigator; star of “The DNA of Murder With Paul Holes”
- Matt Gutman: chief national correspondent for ABC News
- Dr. Henry Lee: forensic scientist
- Christopher Darden: defense attorney; former OJ. Simpson prosecutor
- Tom Lange: former LAPD detective in O.J. Simpson criminal case
- Debra Newell and daughter Terra Newell: survivors of violent con artist John Meehan, also known as “Dirty John”
- Matt Murphy: Orange County (California) senior deputy district attorney
- Rodie Sanchez: former homicide detective; former star of “Killing Fields”
- Jan Broberg: kidnapping/abuse survivor; star of the documentary film “Abducted in Plain Sight”
- Skye Borgman: director of the documentary film “Abducted in Plain Sight”
- Leslie Rule: daughter of the late author Ann Rule
Several of the guest speakers will be doing meet-and-greet sessions with CrimeCon attendees.
True-crime network Oxygen (which is owned by NBCUniversal) has signed as the event’s presenting sponsor, which explains the prominent presence of Oxygen stars Grace, Siegler, Rider, Spingola and Holes, as well as several correspondents from NBCUniversal’s “Dateline NBC.”
In addition to panels about famous crime cases (such as O.J. Simpson, John Meehan aka “Dirty John,” NXIVM, Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski, New York City’s “Cannibal Cop,” Adnan Syed, Daryl Pinkins and Roosevelt Glenn), CrimeCon will be a highly interactive event, with a courtroom experience with attendee participation, a K-9 search demonstration and a forensics demonstration.
Click here for a complete schedule of events.
CrimeCon, produced by Red Seat Ventures, is a rival to IDCon, an annual one-day convention in New York City for fans of Investigation Discovery (ID), the true-crime network that debuted in 2008 from Discovery Networks.
Here are the main difference between the two events:
- CrimeCon takes place over three days and has programming from various media outlets, whereas IDCon is one day only and focuses only on programming from one network: Investigation Discovery.
- CrimeCon takes place in a different city every year, while IDCon is in New York City.
- The cost of CrimeCon is much higher per day and is a much larger event. CrimeCon’s 2018 admission prices range from $229-$1,199, not including the cost of on-site meals. IDCon has one admission price, which includes on-site lunch. IDCon’s admission price for 2019 was $75. IDCon moved to a larger venue in 2019 and is expected to have about 600 attendees. CrimeCon has not yet released its attendance figures.