Why is Murdock, Nebraska so murdery?

Murdock is a village of 227 people in Cass County, Nebraska, area code 402, established in 1890 when the railroads reached it and named after a Rock Island railroad official. It got a newspaper and some churches, and James and Jimmie take care to say the name as MUR DOCK.

The show's four murders within twenty-five miles are not all Murdock's. They are spread over three towns and three decades. Episode 373 is the local one, in 2006, with two victims: a couple married since 1968, shot in an upstairs bedroom of a farmhouse two miles west of the village. Episode 325 brings one victim in Alvo, seven miles away, in 1980, and episode 622 one in Yutan, twenty-three miles away, in 1999.

So half the count comes from a single farmhouse and the other half from two neighbouring towns the show reached for their own reasons. This is a tally of the show's cases, not a crime rate. The towns get picked; a village of 227 with one very bad night will outrank a city. Rank 303 overall, second in Nebraska, is a quirk of the map rather than a warning.