Published: September 8, 2025
Over the summer, Maine went into a panic following the murder of Sunshine “Sunny” Stewart. Speculation that Stewart was the next victim of the “New England Serial Killer” quickly arose. Starting in March of 2025, there have been more than thirteen bodies found across New England. However, the New England police have come forward, stating that there is no evidence that a serial killer is operating in New England. Following the case and seeing the fear that is coming out of it, I would like to share some thoughts about it and why the public should be less trusting of headlines in news articles.
Stewart’s case was originally classified as a homicide. Days before the news declared the case a murder, Fox News published an article stating it was a “terrifying” murder, despite authorities calling it a homicide at the time. An important thing to point out is that homicide and murder are not actually the same thing. Murder is a type of homicide, but homicide is not necessarily murder. The definition of murder is an act of unlawfully killing another person with the intent to do so. Homicide is just the act of killing another person. Accidents like drunk driving or leaving a child in a hot car for a little too long are considered homicide, but not necessarily murder. One can argue that people in the military commit murder when killing an enemy combatant, but it is considered lawful and not legally considered murder. What Fox News was doing was making an article a little more enticing for people to read by saying things like “terrifying” and “murder” in the headline. But that was a lie. This came out days before it was even considered murder. At the time, authorities had no clear indication that Stewart was killed on purpose. When saying that something is murder, it sparks a fear and an image that something was brutally killed, while Stewart certainly was, there was no rational reason for Fox News to say such a thing. All it did was put more Maine and New England civilians on edge, which a good portion already are.
Headlines like these can tend to lead people into a more fearful state. They can easily cause a moral panic. Moral panic is when there is widespread fear that a person, group, some kind of entity is threatening a community or society. Remember the killer clown epidemic? I was in 7th grade when that was happening. Despite there being no cases of killer clowns in my area, the news and media made me completely terrified that I was going to come across one. I remember waking home from school and I basically begged my older sister to walk with me because of how scared I was. The whole United States was scared of this, and widespread media coverage was an important part of this fear.
So when an entity like Fox News blatantly lies in order to get more readers, all it does is cause panic and fear. When people are scared, they can be led to do some horrible things that they wouldn’t normally do. Clearly, people should be aware and vigilant of anything going on that might cause themselves or others harm, but there is no need for media outlets to jump to conclusions when there is no evidence yet that points a case in one direction or another. As journalists and reporters, one of the most important things you need to do is remain ethical and not publish misleading headlines.
