Why is the Simsbury, Connecticut area so murdery, by episodes?

Simsbury is in north central Connecticut, in Hartford County, a town of about 24,000. Its hotspot claimed eight episodes and 16 murders across eight towns, fifth overall and first in Connecticut, a title nobody is racing for. The town's own history includes an 1859 explosion at a fuse factory near the centre, which killed seven women and one man.

The Simsbury area takes in the town itself plus Barkhamsted, New Britain, Middletown, Ellington and Bantam, and reaches over the state line to Agawam and Chicopee in Massachusetts. Hartford County sits at the centre of that radius, Litchfield County at the edge, and Massachusetts beyond.

The cases run from 1965 to 2015 in a steady drip. There are single murders in Barkhamsted, Agawam, Ellington, Simsbury and Chicopee, two apiece in Bantam and Middletown, then episode 613 in New Britain, which brings seven victims from 2003 and carries most of the 16. Strip that one out and eight episodes become seven, and 16 murders become nine.