hi walter & the internet sleuth

This video begins with the story of Kayla Berg, a 15 year old from Antigo Wisconsin who told her mother she was spending the day at a friend’s house and was never seen again. 

It was a case that went cold over the course of ten years, but was later reignited by a nebby netizen who wrote a blog linking Kayla to an old YouTube video. The internet then did what it does best, gathered the sisterhood of the true crime elite and spun pages of investigation and allegation.

Hi Walter & The Internet Sleuth lightly trots through the digital division of internet sleuthing - careful not to disturb any sleeping bobbies - it asks who this pseudo investigation work truly serves, and why a portion of the internet feel so empowered to take part in its practice. The virtuous, salt of the proverbial cyberspace kind. A digital eye for a digital eye..

Under the same semi raised eyebrow we look to the media old hats, who croon at the earliest sign of internet games spilling out into the real world. Martin from The Times would be the first to write off web sleuthing as amateur witch hunting hour and ‘digital play’. More to the point it is meddling in the affairs of crime victims for fun.

But is this really fair Martin? The lights have come on and they’ve been caught playing, let’s at least give them a chance to explain.

“Often clumped together, internet sleuthing is technically distinct from cancel culture or the social media mob. There’s some overlap and they’re both post-truth, but sleuthers are generally a more cultivated, somewhat withdrawn crowd. They think through every piece of information they present, dissect irrelevant details and dabble in pretence”