Why is Forest City, Iowa so murdery?

Forest City sits in the top row of Iowa counties, on the Minnesota border, in both Hancock and Winnebago counties, about two hours from Des Moines and a little further from Minneapolis. It is four and a half square miles and around 4,000 people, platted in 1856 and first called Pucker Brush, a name since traded in. The motto promises that nature is close and friends are closer.

The show's seven murders within 25 miles arrive in just two episodes and two towns. Episode 144 covers a 1985 case in Forest City itself and accounts for two of them. Episode 645, 23 miles away in Mason City, carries the other five across two dates in 1993. This is not a long grind of cases adding up: one episode does most of the lifting, with eight years between the two.

It is worth saying plainly that this counts the show's cases, not Iowa crime. Forest City is described as quiet, with low crime; it ranks because the hosts chose to stop there. Third in Iowa and 186 overall, from two episodes.