Why is Kawaihae, Hawaii so murdery, by episodes?

Kawaihae is a dot on the north side of the big island, in Hawaii County, with a population the show puts at 742. It ranks 385 overall and third in Hawaii. The numbers come from one episode and one murder.

The case sits in a single fortnight: a musician and coconut weaver was killed between 30 November and 17 December 2013, and episode 706 aired in 2026. That fortnight and the episode are the whole of it.

There is more range here than the count suggests. The hosts open with a king's rival cousin arriving with a great many followers, most of them killed and sacrificed to fulfil a prophecy, an event that cleared the way for the conquests that unified the islands in 1810. Later the town stood in for somewhere wetter in a large film. A place can hold a founding massacre and a film crew and still keep its murder count to one.