Why is Layland, West Virginia so murdery?

Layland is a coal town in Fayette County, southeastern West Virginia, in the middle of the pan, population 307 as of 2020. Beckley lies 13 miles off, Victor and Pemberton 18 miles out, and one case happened in Layland itself. That is 17 murders across four episodes and four towns, 37th overall and second in West Virginia.

The years are scattered rather than clustered: 1969, 1983, 1988, 2011, 2016. Only one episode is set in the town. Episode 304 carries 13 of the 17 victims in a single visit, so the rank is one heavy episode doing most of the lifting, with a handful of single and double cases around it.

A coal county with a mine that killed 112 in 1915 knows about being counted in disasters. But this is a league of the show's cases, not of crime figures. James and Jimmie pick where to stop, and they keep stopping in these hills.