An Introduction

Welcome to The Phoenix Files, a blog dedicated to in-depth storytelling of all things true-crime and the unspoken. I am Emery Phoenix, a writer living in Mississippi with a background as a Cold Case Analyst. Surely, this piece won't receive much traction at first, but, after people find my upcoming articles to feed their true-crime obsession, I would like to leave a piece, at and from the very beginning, to outline what I hope to accomplish with my project.

As always, oddly enough with me, it starts with journaling.

Most of the writers that I know– or the people who can't seem to stop the thoughts and ideas in their heads– journal. For people like me, who feel the compulsive need and drive to put pen to paper (or finger to screen, I guess), the storytelling never ends. You are caught in this endless game of trying to figure out how the seemingly pointless ideas connect. As an artist, most of my most cherished works came, and still come, from digging through countless pages of unrelated ideas, opinions, and occasional paragraph of prose here or there. Each page looks the same at first, with paper that is just three shades away from eggshell, followed by the decoration of scraggly ink dripping as I frantically try to follow the train of thoughts in my head, and the occasional break to watercolor. That's my secret: when the ink traces words that are too heavy and too real, I leave behind a page of art that brings me joy. Weird? Yes. Human? Completely.

It seems to me that as humans, we focus on the beautiful, the easy, and the pleasant. It wasn't always this way, but, as a society, it seems that every story we tell or consume, circles back to the hero standing in the sun by the time the curtain falls. We don't shy away from the dark and ugly, but we want the reassurance that it won't be forever. The saying, ignorance is bliss can apply here, but I'm told cliches are a sign of bad writing.

Personally, I want to tell stories that reflect the macro and the micro– the universe reflected in the individual. Without referencing another cliche, I'll turn to this: as above so below. In my eyes, artists capture the beauty of the world around us and reflect it in their own individual talents, right? My fear, however, is that, as a society, we will collapse inwards from our fear and turn away from the realities around us. It seems we are afraid that the beauty will be lost. To that, I argue this: how could it ever leave?

I feel I owe the world an apology. Not for anything I have done, but what I, as an artist, have neglected to do: tell the stories as they should be told, with the light and the dark. After all, everything that the light of beauty touches casts a shadow. Even when you stand in the sun, hero or not, there is still a shadow behind you, and, as we all know, running from your shadow is child's play.

Picture this: stories that acknowledge the light and dark, that don't leave out the details that are too "unsavory." Picture stories that exist solely to make you uncomfortable by informing you of what the news leaves out, that face the shadows unapologetically so that every victim is heard, and storytelling that holds the mirror up to society to question our own inner demons. Maybe then, when everything is out in the open, those responsible can be held accountable.

This does not mean we dredge up the worst of humanity to fetishize the pain, hurt, and trauma of victims. Reality and true art should not be torture porn. As a society we shall not idolize or glorify the shadows. No, instead we chase the beauty and strength that comes from survival and healing, which can only happen when the story is completely told.

The plan from here, for me, is The Phoenix Files, a collection of articles written with the intention to shed a light on each corner of the reality of cases, unsolved or not. Some are taken from headlines around the nation and others found on social media. It is my hope to focus on one case at a time, consider it a season of a true-crime podcast or procedural/murder mystery television show, and release a series of articles that cover the basics, key players, evidence, theories, and unanswered questions.

If you want to support The Phoenix Files, a Patreon will be created that will offer in-depth video essays, notes and files, as well as two Patreon-exclusive stories a month. More details will be announced in the coming months. But for now, writing...