The story of a mother who used social media to find her daughter’s murderer is the subject of a new Netflix true crime documentary.
Crystal Theobald was killed aged 24 in Arlanza, California in February, 2006. She had been inside a car when it was shot at by gang members as retaliation for a previous attack.
It later emerged that neither Theobald nor anyone in the car with her at the time was involved with gangs, police said. She left behind two young daughters.
In the wake of Theobald’s death, her mother Belinda Lane used the now defunct social networking site Myspace to track down her murderers.
Lane created numerous fake accounts, which she used to contact potential suspects in order to report their whereabouts to the police.
In 2016, her efforts helped lead to the arrest of those responsible for Theobald’s murder.
William Sotelo was arrested in central Mexico, where he had fled after the murder, and extradited to the US.
On 23 January 2020, the 31-year-old was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in Theobald’s death.
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Theobald and Lane’s story is the subject of a forthcoming documentary by Netflix titled Why Did You Kill Me?
“The line between justice and revenge blurs when a devastated family uses social media to track down the people who killed 24-year-old Crystal Theobald,” reads its synopsis.
Why Did You Kill Me? will arrive on Netflix on 14 April.
