Why is Denio, Nevada so murdery?

Denio is a census-designated place of about 47 people pressed against the Oregon border in Humboldt County, north-western Nevada, at almost 4,100 feet. The state line is the main economic fact: after the Second World War businesses moved south of it to enjoy Nevada's looser laws on liquor, gambling and tax. The town was named for a settler who arrived in 1885, and it has been small ever since, somewhere between 20 and 47 people depending on who is counting.

Its entire murder league tally comes from one episode. Episode 499 accounts for all five victims, and the case is dated June 1978, with the episode ranging across 1980 to 2005. The murders did not happen in Denio. They happened out in the Black Rock Desert at Pinto Hot Springs, with Denio the last town on the road in, which is how a place of 47 people ends up with a body count.

That is worth being honest about. Five murders in one episode is one bad night in the desert, not a crime rate. The show picks the towns; this one just happens to be the last place you pass before the road runs out.