Caroline Muirhead’s whirlwind romance with a Scottish farmer soon took a turn when she discovered his dark secret. This Netflix docuseries is a tale of her bravery, and the shocking stupidity and neglect it was rewarded with
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here are some truly amazing women in the world. The fact that this thought most often crosses my mind when I am watching a true crime documentary and hearing about the female victims of men’s crimes and learning how much suffering they endured while raising children, holding down jobs, keeping friends and parents happy and safe from knowledge that would upset or endanger them is so bleak that I’m going to put it away lest rage overwhelm me for good.
Let us focus instead on another name to add to the list of extraordinary women, again brought to public attention by the terrible act of a man she knew. The three-part Netflix series Should I Marry a Murderer? tells the story of pathologist Caroline Muirhead who, at the age of 29, meets and falls in love with a Scottish farmer she meets on Tinder. His name is Sandy McKellar.
She was just out of a bad relationship and Sandy seems like a sanctuary, even if he does become “dark” after a lot to drink, and his twin brother Robert warns her at a party that his brother’s “not right in the head”. He’s open, affectionate, loves her ebullience, loves her. He proposes after a whirlwind romance and she accepts. Her parents and friends are muted in their enthusiasm, but, as Caroline recalls thinking at the time, “What’s the worst that could happen?” Which was probably the point at which the slumbering giant of the Netflix true-crime commissioning department started snuffling at the air and rising towards consciousness.
