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Snuff

The nastiest of all nasty porn films is the snuff film, where the actress is murdered.

Snuff film mythology began in 1973 with Raymond Gauer, the president of the Citizens for Decency through Law, an anti-pornography organization. "I've never seen one," Gauer told Adam magazine, but "my undercover guy, though he's never seen one, has talked to enough people to be convinced they exist. Another source is convinced that they exist in quantity, and that they've been screened in the very 'In' circles in Hollywood." (www.xmag.com)

Over the past 25 years, dozens of people like Gauer have claimed to have known people who've known people who've seen a snuff film. In 1975, New York cops and the FBI investigated rumors of snuff films. Tabloid newspapers, the Post and the Daily News, ran stories of the ongoing investigation with banner headlines like "Snuff Porn-The Actress Is Actually Killed."

According to the tabloids, numerous snuff films could be purchased for private viewing at prices ranging from $100 to $500. One story in the Post quoted a police detective who said, "I am convinced that these films actually exist and that a person is actually murdered. I suppose you could say they are the ultimate obscenity."

Amidst these wild rumors, producer Allen Shackleton acquired the rights to a low budget film by Michael and Roberta Findlay, The Slaughter, which was filmed in 1970 in Argentina but was so bad that it was never released. The stories in the tabloids frequently claimed that snuff films came from South America.

Shackleton retitled the film Snuff, and added ten minutes of "reality" footage. A young woman on the crew tells the director the stabbing scene turned her on. The director asks her if she would like to act out her fantasies. She  complies and gets into bed with him. When she realizes the crew is still filming, she protests. He picks up a bloody dagger and cuts her to pieces. The film appears to run out as the screen goes black and a voice over says, "Did you get it all?" "Yeah, we got it. Let's get out of here."

End of Snuff! No credits roll. (From the 2/97 www.xmag.com. Article by Bob Armstrong)

Shackleton released Snuff! in 1976 with such tag lines: "The picture they said could NEVER be shown," "The bloodiest thing that ever happened in front of a camera," and "The film that could only be made in South America where Life is CHEAP!" A poster showed a woman's neck between the sharp blades of a clapper board.

Shackleton never claimed authentic snuff, but allowed the viewer to speculate the on-camera murder was real. His ad campaign worked. The New York City District Attorney investigated the film and interviewed the actress who was supposedly murdered in the final segment.

It's an "interesting bind," Shackleton told Variety. If it was a real murder "I'd be in jail in two minutes... I'd be a damn fool to admit it. If it isn't real, I'd be a damn fool to admit it."

Though Snuff! had a short run, and though no snuff film has ever been proved to exist, the notion of snuff films still haunt the public imagination.

During the 80's movies like Videodrome, 52 Pick-up and Last House on a Dead End Street used the snuff mania theme. Several TV shows featured snuff themes, including a Miami Vice episode featuring Don Johnson beating a pathological artist who views his murder on film as an aesthetic statement.

In 1994 a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle, Rider McDowell, spent six months trying to find a snuff film. During his investigation he interviewed FBI agents, cops, underground film makers, porno directors, proprietors of adult stores and owners of mail order houses. Results: nothing. "I've endured watching a myriad of horrible fake snuff films -- some ridiculously fake, the others deemed unauthentic by experts -- with titles such as Cannibal Holocaust and Man Behind the Sun 731. I've poured over dozens of unsolved murders around the country, searching, always searching. To no avail," writes McDowell.

Many people have speculated that the "Son of Sam" serial killer, David Berkowitz, made snuff films to distribute within the Church of Satan. But no films of his killings have ever surfaced.

In his 1977 book The Film Maker's Guide to Pornography, Steven Ziplow writes:

"Snuff films are those in which the final sexual act is murder. No hard evidence has ever been presented that such films do exist, but rumor has it that there are a very few 8mm films to be had at a very high price. The major trouble with producing this sort of film is that you are constantly forced to be on the lookout for new talent."

4/99

German Duo Convicted of Making Snuff Film

Two men in Germany were recently sentenced to life imprisonment for committing murder while producing a snuff film. It's the first such conviction ever. The men filmed themselves sexually assaulting and torturing a 21-year-old woman for a snuff film they had hoped to sell in America for $16,000. Frankfurt-based prosecutor Job Tillman says there's a ready market for films depicting violence against women and children -- especially in America. Although one of the men is appealing the ruling, the other says he views jail as an opportunity to work on himself and his problems.

Michael Leidig writes 4/13/99 from Vienna for the Daily Telegraph, a London newspaper:

Ernst Dieter Korzen, 37, and Stefan Michael Mahn, 30, [videotaped] themselves sexually assaulting and torturing a 21-year-old woman in 1997. The victim died before the production was complete and the pair kidnapped a second woman to finish the video. But she escaped and alerted authorities, who arrested the men.

Wolfgang Rahmer, the chief prosecutor, told the court: "From my experience this represents a new depth in perversion. You see the victim begging for her life, pain being inflicted and massive sexual torture."

The court was told that the murdered woman, Jueleyha Akpinar, was working as a prostitute in Cologne when she met the two men in November. They offered her drugs and money to go with them to the remote bungalow in Kierspe-Roensal, near Hagen. A lack of direct evidence had previously led to widespread scepticism over the existence of a snuff movie industry, with many writing it off as an "urban myth". But Wolfgang Rahmer said he had no doubt that such an industry existed.

Both men were jailed for life in a secure psychiatric institution. Judge Hoerst Werner Herkenberg said Korzen should not expect his case to be re-examined for at least 18 years, and that Mahn would have to wait at least 15.

Cassandra Brown wrote 11/9/98 for the London newspaper Daily Telegraph:

FILMS in which baby mice, hamsters and chickens are stamped to death by women wearing high-heel shoes are being smuggled into Britain to satisfy an audience whose bizarre tastes are now attracting video producers here.

Customs officers discovered the grisly trade a year ago after raiding a house in the South-East. They found tapes containing animal "snuff" - or "squish" - movies, child pornography and illegal firearms. In Britain it is illegal to import or distribute the tapes, but not to possess them.

In one confiscated video, seen by The Telegraph, a woman wearing stiletto shoes is shown stamping on a hamster. After she steps on the immobilised animal, the camera zooms in to show the terrified hamster which, despite its broken back, struggles to escape. The woman stamps on it five times before it dies and she grinds it into the floor.

In another, a 22-year-old blonde called "Michelle" is shown talking about her hatred of worms, snails and bugs before being shown "squishing" them into the floor.

...Jeff Vilencia, of Squish Productions in California, was one of the first to make this type of movie commercially available. He said the product appealed particularly to men, who found them "stimulating".

Mr Vilencia's videos feature baby rats, goldfish, bugs and mice and go under names such as Death In The Afternoon. Promotions for his series of Squish Playhouse films include descriptions of women such as "Ms Tiffany" and how viewers can see several of her "tiny pink friends [mice] crushed to death on her black and white tile floor".

Some British "fans" were now making their own movies, rather than pay up to $100 (£65) for each tape. "These activities, except for bugs, are highly illegal in Britain," he said. "But I know some people over there are now making their own films."

Mr Vilencia defended his business. "I tell the models they can squish anything in the pet shop as long as it is part of the food chain of another animal - that's my criteria," he said. Underground film-makers in Britain and Germany were often less discriminating, he argued. "In Germany there's a big black market for these films and there seems to be no limit to the size of the animal," he said. "They use cats and dogs and also, I'm told, have filmed different kinds of films with horses, which are ridden bareback until they are exhausted then shot dead on camera. I would not do that."

Mark (not his real name), from the north of England, said he and his wife made their own movies, usually confining the victims to bugs. "We film her squashing bugs and pinkies, which are baby mice. But we keep this aspect quiet, because we have children. I think my interest began as a small child when I watched my older sisters and their friends squashing ants." Mark confirmed there was a ring of people in Britain who produced their own videos. "People keep it very quiet," he said.

Caroline Lees writes for the Daily Telegraph 6/29/97:

BRITISH police have banned a home video of a recent public execution by the Taliban in Afghanistan which shows a man having his head hacked off with a blunt knife.

The video, which was smuggled into Britain by opponents of the Taliban and given to the Afghan ambassador in London, has been classified as "obscene". Police are worried that the graphic film, which spares the viewer no detail of the killing, could achieve cult status as a "snuff movie".

Wali Massoud, the Afghan ambassador, had intended to show the film to Government officials, human rights organisations and the public to increase opposition to the Islamic fundamentalist army, which controls nearly two-thirds of Afghanistan. But last week he was warned that if he allows anyone to watch the video, or circulates any copies, he would be breaking the law.

9/27/00

NAPLES, Italy, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Police said on Wednesday they had arrested eight Italians suspected of belonging to a child pornography ring that traded videos over the internet, including film of Russian children who were abused to death.

The material, which was ordered over the internet, cost between $400 and $6,000 for each video or disc depending on the type of film the customer wanted -- and the more horrific the more costly.

The most gruesome, police said, was code-named ``Necros Pedo,'' in which children were raped and tortured until they died.

7/24/01

Porn writer Rodger Jacobs (rdjacobs@concentric.net) writes: Luke: In response to Legs McNeil's assertion that snuff films do not exist and are just another part of our rich urban mythology, I submit the following article, "Snuffed Out", that I wrote for the June 1999 issue of Eye Magazine.

David Moye writes: "I interviewed Legs McNeil and he refused to consider the German Snuff case. First, he hadn't heard of it. Then, he said his report focused on America."

RPM writes: "Legs McNeil makes the same mistake as most newbies, which is to go along with the FBI's definition of a snuff film as footage that's made "commercially available." The porn industry relies on that dopey definition, too. It sounds like Legs McNeil's knowledge of the industry is mainly based on reading the AVN website. Once again, some gullible goofball will turn out another crappy work on porn that would benefit from your skepticism."

Ian writes: "Hi Luke, I think it's silly for Legs McNeil to insist that there are no such things as snuff movies. He covers himself by insisting that, in order to qualify, they must have been made for 'entertainment'. I would have thought it was enough that they were made to show others and not just look at oneself. I belong to pictureview.com, a site which hoovers up the movie clips and pictures submitted to internet newsgroups and publishes them. A lot of it isn't porn at all, though a lot is. The site owners don't pre-censor the pics and clips, though they say they will respond to complaints. Over a couple of years I have come across a number of pics which might well have been extracted from snuff movies, and two movie clips (which I immediately trashed in horror) certainly classifiable to that genre. In one, an unconscious oriental woman is deliberately shot by a silenced gun, and quite obviously expires from the resulting hole in her chest. In the second one (labelled 'decapitation') I saw the first few seconds of a man having his head cut off with a large knife. The participants looked like soldiers and their prisoner, and the movie might well have been taken during the Chechnya war. If I (someone definitely not looking for this kind of stuff) can accidentally come across examples of it, is it plausible that those kinds of people for whom it is meat and drink are not having it deliberately made for them?"

“SNUFFED OUT” ONE REPORTER’S PERSONAL DECISION TO STAY OUT OF THE DARKNESS

“Snuff films are those in which the final act is sexual murder. No hard evidence has ever been presented that such films do exist, but rumor has it that there are a very few 8mm films to be had at a very high price. The major trouble with producing this sort of film is that you are constantly forced to be on the lookout for new talent.” --- Stephen Ziplow, “The Film Maker’s Guide To Pornography”

It’s like walking into that seedy bar on the wrong side of town. The stench of stale beer, spent cigarettes, and moral decay assaults your nostrils. All eyes are on you with suspicious and hostile glares as you push through the door, bringing with you a momentary glimpse of the sun outside, the harsh rays spilling over the darkened room and illuminating the nasty bit of business going down in the corner. There’s a sudden sharp pain at the back of your head and seconds before you slump to your shaking knees to embrace the piss-stained floor with your face you realize that someone had come up from behind and struck you with a blackjack. God only knows what they have planned next.

That’s how I felt upon receiving the ominous warning; like I had stepped into a sordid establishment I had no business being in and it was time to back out the door, pretending I never saw the place before. Forget the address, forget the street it’s on, forget even what city it’s in.

“Stay away from the snuff film angle,” the strongly worded advisory from Henry, a fellow journalist, began. He sent me the e-mail on May 11, less than a week after I began probing into a ghastly tale that debunked the widely held notion that snuff films are nothing more than an urban myth. “Stay away from the topic completely as a journalist, in conversation, and in every way you can think. Just stay away from it.”

Henry is a trusted friend and advisor, a seasoned writer with keen insights and a few friends in law enforcement. If someone like that tells you to back away from a story you had better do as told or ponder the reality before proceeding any further that you may spend the rest of your life living in fear.

The macabre story of Ernst Dieter Korzen and Stefan Michael Mahn, both sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for committing murder during the production of a snuff film, fell into my lap quite by accident. On the morning of Thursday, May 6, 1999, I stumbled bleary-eyed to my computer and went on-line to summon up my daily dose of porn industry gossip from L-ke Ford’s website. Luke, a porno outsider, is the leading purveyor of tabloid journalism targeted at the billion dollar smut industry. His reporting is often sloppy and inaccurate and he has been rightfully accused on several occasions of running with a story before pausing to verify the facts, which is why I immediately phoned him after seeing the story on his website that morning.

“Where the hell did you get this story about the German snuff film, Luke?” “A source sent it to me last night,” Luke replied lazily in his soft Australian accent. I could hear him clacking away at the keyboard while we talked, no doubt adding more salacious chunks of gossip to his website from the modest bungalow he occupies literally in the shadow of the monolithic structure of glass and steel that houses Larry Flynt Publications in L.A.’s Wilshire District. “I think they pulled it off a wire service.”

“Is it a reputable wire service? Send me everything you have on this. I need to verify that the story isn’t a hoax.”

“Why?”

He seemed bored and distracted, still banging away at the keyboard, unaware or indifferent to the gravity of the story. Over the years gallons of ink have been shed in magazines and newspapers to discredit the existence of snuff films, most naysayers citing the lack of direct evidence as proof that the trade is as mythical as Hydra. No such film had ever been discovered by any police force in the world --- until now.

“I want to run with this, Luke,” I said through a burst of adrenalin, that certain surge all writers get when pursuing The Big Story. Six weeks had passed since I turned in my last feature article for Hustler magazine; titled Beyond Extreme, the 3,000 word dispatch was a dark and gritty expose of the underground porn market. The article only vaguely touched upon the subject of snuff films. Now, with this horrific story filtering out of Hagan, Germany, I might have the perfect follow-up piece: SNUFF FILMS EXIST.

“I find it hard to believe that there are people that get off on seeing other people murdered in a sexual situation. I think it’s a myth. Of course, it makes a good story.” --- Larry Flynt, Premiere Magazine, March 1999

Three months of research for the Hustler article on underground porn led me into some dark alleyways that should never see the light of day.

Discussion groups on the World Wide Web are perhaps the best venue to locate purveyors of taboo pornography like bestiality and rape videos but be careful where you step because there are some twisted souls posting missives of perversion beyond your imagination. In a discussion group devoted to sexual sadism I followed one very busy and popular conversation thread devoted to “building the perfect guillotine to slice off a woman’s breasts.” A fan of the rather unpleasant subject wrote, “I can think of nothing sexier than seeing the sharp blade of a guillotine cutting through a plump breast.” If anyone ever needed the Lorena Bobbitt treatment it’s this group of gleeful psychopaths. Moving on to another subject in the same discussion group I stumbled upon a posting from a demented contributor who wanted to know if anyone shared his fantasy of “seeing naked young women burned alive at the stake.” Backyard barbeques must offer up some intriguing fare at his house.

There are demons walking among us, far too many to count, and I pored over their maniacal writings for weeks on end. Some of their fantasies are simply unspeakable, played out on the Internet in a blazing Heironymous Bosch-like tableau of sexual mayhem, mutilation, and torture. On a bad day Hell can look a lot like the World Wide Web.

Within this context it was hard for me to believe that snuff films produced for a commercial profit did not exist --- certainly there are monsters out there who would buy the product --- but my editor at Larry Flynt Publications urged me to “stay away from snuff films” in my article “because LFP’s editorial position is that they are an urban myth.”

But if the laws of science and metaphysics have taught us anything it’s that you cannot discount the existence of something just because you can’t see it. Through a discussion group devoted to underground videos I happened upon the man who calls himself Snuff King, a Denmark-based collector of esoterica and a student of the snuff film phenomenon who assured me that “a few real snuff films exist.” While he has never seen the films himself Snuff King avows that “one (of the movies) showed a young, Asian female being strangled to death in a hotel room. It was impounded by the police before it reached the public. The other case that I know of is from the Bosnian War and was apparently recorded in a Serbian prison camp. It showed the rape, torture, and murder of several Bosnian women.”

I believed Snuff King. After three months of reading a laundry list of sadistic lust to prepare for my article I had more reason to accept his word than to dismiss it.

“Soon ... hardcore films will be medical films. People will be jerking off to women laying around with open wounds. There’s nowhere else for it go.” --- from the screenplay “8MM” by Andrew Kevin Walker

“Even the people involved around the fringes of that crap are extremely dangerous,” Henry’s e-mail warning me off the snuff film story continued. “You don’t want to be on their radar, not at all. Even as a journalist you don’t get a free pass with those types of people.”

To underscore the danger inherent in pursuing such a story Henry invoked the account of a New York City newspaper reporter who disappeared while investigating a similar story.

With Henry’s warning bouncing around in the back of my head like a wild pinball I contacted one of two reporters who contributed to the snuff film story for the news service bureau referenced on L-ke Ford’s web site. It was after midnight in Vienna, Austria, when the very British and baritone voice of Nigel Glass, a frequent contributor to the BBC and London Times, came on the phone. I explained that I was a freelance journalist in the States looking for more detailed information on the murder trial of Korzen and Mahn.

“What exactly do you want to know?” Glass asked in a most accommodating fashion.

“Is it true? Did they actually make a snuff film?”

“Oh, it’s quite true,” Glass replied placidly.

The gruesome nightmare began on a November evening in 1997 when 36 year old Ernst Dieter Korzen and 27 year old Stefan Michael Mahn picked up Juleyha Akpinar, a 21 year old prostitute, on the streets of Cologne, Germany. Wolfgang Rahmer, the Chief Prosecutor in Hagan, Germany, would later describe Korzen as “a very dangerous man” known to police for his history of sexual violence, but the authorities had been unable to snare him because his victims were too terrified to testify against him.

Korzen and Mahn took their victim to a bungalow in Kierspe-Roensal, near the city of Hagan, where they repeatedly raped and tortured her while a video camera recorded the details. And then the story takes an even darker twist: the intended “star” of their snuff film died too quickly, strangling to death by the rope knotted around her neck, so the would-be producers of the most heinous film on earth were forced to procure another player for the grim drama that they hoped to sell in the United States, according to prosecutors, for the odd sum of $16,000.

“The second woman that they captured to complete the video managed to befriend one of the men” Nigel Glass related to me, “and as a result was able to escape and alert authorities.” Mahn and Korzen were promptly arrested. Police withheld details of the crime for over six months while embarking on an international investigation into the snuff film trade, an industry that prosecutor Wolfgang Rahmer believes exists, telling the London Sunday Times: “We know that there is no sexual perversion that cannot be marketed, and you would be amazed at the sums offered for such perverse videos.”

“The greatest harm buyers of these films do is to provide incentive for producers to continue having innocent victims murdered.” --- Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices

“This is a major story, Rodger. This is the first time that police have direct evidence of a snuff film being made for profit.” David Buchbinder, features editor at Larry Flynt Publications, judiciously considered my proposal to interview the key figures in the case --- mainly police and prosecutors --- before putting a damper on the whole affair by suggesting that I step deeper into the shadows.

“The only way I see this as a feature story,” David said, “is if you can interview the perpetrators, the girl who got away, and maybe the family members of the victim.”

That’s when that small inner voice started speaking to me, the same voice that suddenly begs you not to get on an airplane, for instance; you follow the voice’s commands, even though it seems paranoiacally illogical at the time, only to turn on the TV news two hours later and learn that the plane burst into flames after making a crash landing in a remote farm field. “All passengers and crew were killed upon impact,” the news anchor says in somber tones as you stare transfixed at the TV and try to wipe the sweat away from the palms of your hands.

I lived in Munich, Germany for two years, 1972 and ‘73. I watched the Olympics massacre unfold on television, a bloody and tragic episode occurring no less than half a mile from where I was living. Furthermore, the rabidly anti-American terrorist group The Baader-Meinhoff gang was merrily setting off pipe bombs all over Munich during this time. And if that’s not enough, I had Thanksgiving dinner in 1973 at a U.S. Army facility outside the gates of the notorious Dachau Prison Camp.

I have the misfortune to associate Germany with death and tragedy, and suddenly the idea of traipsing around the Deutsche countryside poking and prodding with a journalistic stick at things better left alone had a smell of bad fate about it. On an instinctive level I knew that snuff films had to exist even before I ever heard the names of Ernst Dieter Korzen and Stefan Michael Mahn, so what benefits could I possibly derive from pursuing the story any further? They don’t award the Pulitzer Prize for this kind of journalism --- it’s the kind of story people do not want to know about, a little bit of horror that everyone wants to believe is an urban myth, evidenced by the fact that American news services have been slow to respond and offer coverage of the apprehension and trial of Korzen and Mahn.

But I can understand why nobody wants to hear about this story. Let’s face it: if we have evolved as a species to the degrading point where sexual murder caught on film or video tape is considered entertainment to even a small percentage of the population at large then it’s time to change your name to Noah and start building an ark because a hard rain is gonna fall, baby.

I’ve been in the darkness far too long. When your work and research can compel you to make the casual conclusion that such acts of barbarism as snuff films do indeed exist then it’s time to lighten your load a bit, maybe bury your head in the sand with the rest of the human race and pretend that there is indeed some limit to human cruelty.

“There are some stories that really aren’t stories, but something for law enforcement,” my friend Henry wrote to me the day I decided to back off of the story.

Henry is right. Korzen and Mahn will spend the rest of their days rotting behind bars in a German penal institute, and hopefully they won’t spawn any imitators. If they do, I won’t be there to cover the story.

5/5/05

A Life Snuffed Out

From ACurrentAffair.com:

Unlike most college students, Natel King didn’t work in restaurants or retail. She worked in the adult video business. It was fast money. Anywhere between $300 and $2000 per day. But one night, Natel went to make a movie in a basement studio that looked more like a dungeon. When her roommate called to check in, Natel expressed concern over her safety. Tragically, her intuition was right. Police suspect Natel was killed on camera, during the making of a snuff film. Her shocking story unfolds…tonight on A CURRENT AFFAIR.

FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY?

Natel’s friends and associates often worried about her. As a freelancer, this 23-year-old performer would frequently go to shoots alone. The night she died, Natel may have been lulled into thinking she’d be safe due to the presence of her accused murderer’s girlfriend. But if cops are right, Natel was dead wrong. Although she’s pled not guilty, the police believe the girlfriend Jennifer Mitkus witnessed the fatal stabbing, and helped Anthony Frederick scrub up the crime scene and dispose of the body.

GRISLY TRAIL OF EVIDENCE

For three weeks, nobody knew what happened to Natel King. Then, a passing pedestrian spotted King’s body dumped by a river, and police began to unravel the case. They surmise the killer stashed the murder weapon and bloody clothes in the trash cans behind a local convenience store. A search of Frederick’s basement and car yielded forensic evidence. Although the crime scene was thoroughly cleaned, a bit of blood on a receipt allowed authorities to link Frederick to King’s slaying.

Here's a partial transcript of May five's show:

Natel's porn agent Stephen Sirrard (who used to work in law enforcement): "Several times I would tell her, 'Natel, you are putting yourself in danger.'"

Host Tim Green: "She was freelancing in the hardcore world where bad guys play for keeps."

Luke: "This was definitely a pornographic shoot that went all the way to murder."

Tim Green: "Snuff movie. It was a term invented 30-years ago and most people thought it was a fictional tale from the crypt. The sickening idea that there would be a market for a film where someone was actually murdered seemed too remote even in an era of hardcore like Deep Throat. But since then, there has been a market for videos like Faces of Death, which show all kinds of death scenes. So the likelihood that there is a market for snuff movies becomes a frightening reality."

Reporter Harris Faulkner: "Nobody can prove she was killed on tape because no tape was found, but all the circumstances have convinced her friends that was exactly how she died.

"For all the warnings about the adult film industry, there are few as extreme as the legend of the snuff film. The notion of being killed for entertainment was surely the furthest thing from Natel King's mind when she decided to get into the 21st Century Sex business. She wanted to pay for college, perhaps become a star. Cops say she may have become a victim of the industry's worst fate."

Attorney Jan Rostal, public defender who is an expert on sex crimes: "If the market is there for simulated snuff films and torture films, then the market is there for snuff films."

Natel King's story begins in her small town in Ontario. "The kind of place a pretty, young ambitious woman can't wait to leave."

Natel on tape: "I like to go clubbing, dancing. I like to work-out."

Natel set her sights high. She aimed for Toronto. She paid for her course [towards a psychology degree] by posing for sexy pictures. She took on the name Taylor Summers and thrived as a new brand of adult star who advertised on the internet and did X-rated modeling for the right price.

As a freelancer, Natel, 23, was making $300-$2,000 a day.

Autumn Rayne became friends with Natel during a shoot in Florida. "She didn't have the wherewithall to know that it wasn't safe to travel alone like she did."

Natel agreed to take a job near Philadelphia and headed off alone. The adult industry's deadly urban legend was about to become a tragic reality.

Harris: "Internet journalist L-ke Ford wrote the landmark book, A History Of X."

Luke: [Thirty years ago] you first began getting reports that there were snuff films out there. That people were getting killed on camera and these were being sold and isn't this terrible.

"[Alan Shackleton's film Snuff] was set in South America, where, according to rumor, snuff films were made."

Harris: But police believe that Natel may have been lured into filming an all-too-real snuff film.

Natel agreed to meet photographer Anthony Frederick at this hotel in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

Harris: "She posed for bondage shots. We can't show you even the tamest of them."

They leave there and go [somewhere] and take a second set of pictures. They left there and moved on to Anthony's house where cops say they were joined by Frederick's girlfriend, 30-year old Jennifer Mitkis. She was the photo assistant.

They did their shooting in a studio in the basement. That's where something went wrong. We know because during the shoot, Natel took a cell phone call from her rooommate.

Natel said she was concerned for her safety.

Frederick says they argued over money and that was when the fatal stabbing took place.

Her body was found almost a month after she went missing.

Stephen Sirrard said he cried when he heard the news. "I was sad, especially when I found out it could've been a snuff movie."

Harris: "This crude hand-written contract included the terms, 'snuff vid.'"

No photos or video remain from Natel King's last shoot.

Anthony Frederick has pled guilty to murder in the third degree. He faces 50-years behind bars. He has agreed to testify against his girlfriend.

James DiGiorgio writes on simplyjimmyd.com:

I've been in this business a pretty long time--not as long as some, but longer than a lot of people and I've never heard of anyone producing a snuff film. I've never seen a snuff film nor has anyone ever offered to show me a snuff film. I don't even know anyone who knows anyone who knows anything about snuff films. I wouldn't have a freakin' clue as to how to go about getting my hands on a snuff film, assuming I wanted to get my hands on one... which I don't.

We'd Never Make A Snuff Film, Right?

Mike South writes on MikeSouth.com:

What struck me is how most porners act appalled that A Current Affair would even consider accusing us of being low enough to make a snuff film. We are far above that, right?

Fact is there's more than a few porners who would make a snuff film if they thought for a split second that they could get away with it and I guarantee you everyone in Porn Valley including the almighty AVN would jump up and say it was protected free speech. I hear you guys now saying..nonsense. Wanna Bet? I have proof!

See it isn't so much that porners would or wouldn't make a snuff film, its that many have actually tried, though they probably would claim that it was by accident. You see choking became all the rage in porn not long ago...it still happens too...all too often. So naturally some dumb porn stud figures that if choking is good then choking the girl till she passes out is even better.

Now what did AVN have to say about it? Not ONE WORD. This site and a few others rallied to raise awareness and indeed that curtailed the practice some...some. And that ain't the only behaviour that we as an industry practice that could kill of our own, the practice of ass to mouth has laid low many a pornchick and has caused many infections that left untreated could well lead to death. But hey it's just some dumb porn chick right...no great loss there so long as it isn't Rocco or Jules or someone important.

So when the porners act all self righteous over these kind of stories like the one that ran on A Current Affair..just remember...It's only a matter of time.

Jack writes:

I got one worth looking at-the girls being kidnapped and left dead on roadsides in Juarez. there are something like 400 12-18 raped, tortured, killed and dumped in under a decade, hundreds more missing. the police are extracting confessions by torture, lawyers are getting gunned down, supposed perps are in jail and more bodies turn up. One of my best friends from undergrad was an obscenely-rich Mexico-city Jew who seemed pretty convinced it's a handful of drug dealers. If you haven't been paying attention, Mexico's become the home to some of the richest and most violent ones now that all the island landing strips and speedboat routes are closed up leaving the Colombians to need the border more. They own the cops, and everyone suspects them of basically hunting the factory-workers as sport. I know Salon, the NYT, and a bunch of other people started covering it. you'll probably have luck using any kind of combination of the words Maquiladora, Juarez, murder, girl/women, Mexico in Google.

Tell me the person or people doing that hasn't made some videos, it actually suggests a collection, given they must be getting sick of the same old drill and know they can't get caught.