Why is Minden, Nevada so murdery?

Minden sits in far western Nevada, close to the California border. It was founded in 1906 and named after a town in Germany, laid out on ranch land, with most of its early buildings put up by a commission and a post office arriving the same year. In 2025 it held 3,335 people, the sort of number that makes thirteen murders sound like a lot.

Those thirteen, within 25 miles, come in just five episodes and are spread very unevenly. Two episodes at South Lake Tahoe, episodes 11 and 12, twelve miles away at the southern end of the lake, carry five victims each, so ten of the thirteen come from that one town. Minden's own contribution is a single case, episode 660, from 2008. The remainder are one each at Incline Village in 1998 and Dayton in 1993.

The years run from 1981 to 2008, so this is a thin line of cases rather than one terrible season. And it counts the show's cases, not crime statistics: James and Jimmie pick the towns. Rank 70 overall and second in Nevada is a respectable showing for a place this size, built largely on Lake Tahoe's side of the ledger.