Why is Elkland, Missouri so murdery?

Elkland is a farming town of 1,956 people in Webster County, southwestern Missouri, about 35 minutes from Springfield. Seven miles away is Marshfield, where the court sits and where the Trans-America bicycle trail meets Route 66, the only place it does so. The town took its name from the elk present when settlers arrived, and its post office has run since 1870.

One episode carries most of the weight. Episode 582 covers seven killings on 25 September 1987, in a story that turns on two dairy farming families related by marriage. The rest of the count comes from episode 449, 24 miles away in Willard, with two victims and a case dating to 1989. So nine murders, two episodes, and a gap of about two years between them: not a rash of cases down the decades, just two old ones the show decided to tell.

The ranking counts the show's cases, not crime statistics. The show picks the towns, and Elkland's place at 133 overall and first in Missouri says more about the podcast's map than about Webster County.