Why is Anniston, Alabama so murdery?

Anniston is the county seat of Calhoun County in north-east Alabama, over by Georgia, and the hosts put it there in a sentence. Incorporated in 1883, it was largely unpopulated ground before that, until iron was found and a Confederate furnace was built where downtown now stands. It now anchors a small cluster of show towns: Jacksonville 10 miles away, Talladega 24.

The 18 murders arrive in four episodes, and the years bunch tightly: 1975, 1977, 1979, 1985 and 1986. Two episodes are set in Anniston itself, one in Jacksonville, one in Talladega. This is not many small cases adding up. Episode 627 alone accounts for 10 of the 18, while episodes 21 and 199 carry two each and episode 248 four. Take out that one episode and the tally drops to eight.

It is a count of the show's cases, not of crime in Calhoun County. The show picks the towns; the towns do not apply.