I tried to solve a murder – and almost had a nervous breakdown | Arwa Mahdawi

My true crime obsession led me to spend countless hours and thousands of dollars investigating a missing persons case. I didn't crack it. But I nearly cracked under the pressure

Admit it: you have listened to so many true crime podcasts that you think you could solve a murder.

That was how I felt, anyway. Several years ago, when true crime was at its peak, I developed a severe case of an affliction blighting millennial women around the world: amateur detective syndrome. I had immersed myself in so many murder mysteries that I figured it couldn't be that hard to investigate one. I have written about the ethics of true crime, but I didn't think much about the ethics of my decision to embark on a true crime crusade. I just wanted to find a juicy story.