MTV Investigates Shocking Crimes in “True Life” Spinoff hosted by Dometi Pongo

Hosted by award-winning journalist and MTV News host Dometi Pongo, True Life Crime is an eight-episode docuseries covering high-profile murder cases and harrowing crimes affecting young people. The debut finds Pongo in his hometown of Chicago investigating the circumstances surrounding the mysterious death of Westside teen Kenneka Jenkins. Her lifeless body was found in a walk-in freezer at a hotel in Rosemont, Illinois.

The fallout sparked a viral frenzy with internet sleuths spending countless hours searching for answers.  Community activists led protests in Rosemont following concern among Kenneka's family and friends that law enforcement was not giving this case the attention it warranted. Asked why he decided to take on this project when it came across his desk in 2018, Pongo said:

 "Long before I knew I'd be doing this kind of work, I made a promise to myself to champion relevant Black media and authentic narratives. I got my start in broadcasting at a Black-owned radio station on the Southside of Chicago so I had to be intentional about keeping that promise when I moved on to other networks. This series provides a unique opportunity to highlight issues relevant to the community most viscerally affected by this case. In fact, the victims in almost each one of these cases come from marginalized communities in one way or another. Part of my work's mission is to show the world that all of our stories matter."

The series premieres commercial-free on Wednesday, January 8, 2020, at 9/8c on MTV and VH1.

Other cases this season:

• Suicide or Sinister Scheme? The Sarah Stern Case – Neptune, NJPolice discovered a car belonging to 19-year-old Sarah Stern abandoned on a bridge but she was nowhere to be found. They suspected suicide, but why would she withdraw thousands of dollars before she vanished? Sarah’s ex-classmate goes undercover to reveal the truth and discovers a twist no one could have expected.

• Gang Target or Mistaken Identity? The Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz Case – Bronx, NY15-year-old Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz leaves home to meet with a friend but ends up brutally murdered. The violent crime is recorded by security cameras and bystanders causing the story to go viral on social media driving a community to seek #JusticeForJunior.

• Runaway or Targeted Runner? The Jerika Binks Case – American Fork, UT24-year-old Jerika Binks disappeared while out for a jog in a Utah canyon and no one hears from her again. As a recovering addict, did she relapse and runaway or was she another tragic victim of violence against women? A surprising discovery during the investigation changes everything.

• Skipping School or Silenced Forever? The Mujey Dumbuya Case – Grand Rapids, MI16-year-old Mujey Dumbuya leaves her home to catch the bus for school and vanished. Days later, her body resurfaced in a wooded area 45 miles from her home. The search for her killer reveals a shocking twist that devastates her family, friends and investigators.

• The 5-million-dollar HackWhen 5 million dollars goes missing from dozens of unsuspecting victims, police uncover a massive case of identity theft committed by a 20-year-old hacker in order to bankroll his lifestyle of partying, lavish trips and designer clothing. This case reveals the extreme dangers facing everyone with a phone.

• The Kedarie Johnson Case- Burlington, IAShots ring out in the middle of the night and minutes later the body of 16-year-old Kedarie Johnson, a gender fluid teen, is discovered. Was Kedarie a target because of their gender identity or did the teen have a secret connection to the killer? The hunt for answers leads to a shocking discovery.

• Mom Gone Missing: Runaway or Murder Victim? The Hanna Harris Case- Lame Deer/Billings, MTHanna Harris, a 21-year-old mother went out to celebrate the Fourth of July with friends, but never returned home. Hours after, police discovered her car abandoned and five days later her body is found in a remote field. What happened to Hanna Harris?

MTV’s ‘True Life Crime’ host Dometi Pongo talks to Daily News about breaking the mold

Original source: New York Daily News

I want my, I want my, I want my true-life crime.

Shows on real legal cases are everywhere these days, even on a most unlikely outlet, MTV.

The host of “True Life Crime” on the network that begin as a home for music videos says that channel’s entry into the fray is not just a broken record in the crowded crime competition.

“The main thing that this show brings that I don’t see in other crime shows as often is a focus on elevating the voices of marginalized [people],” host Dometi Pongo, 30, told the Daily News earlier this month. “People that society has forgotten about, or that society, for whatever reason, hasn’t covered their stories with the same level of attention and detail and care that we do for stories that appeal to the general market. ... In fact, you know, you wouldn’t think that stories this heavy on a network like ours would even be as successful as this.”

A spin-off of the network’s “True Life” docuseries — which originally ran from 1998 to 2017 and followed people dealing with everything from addiction, debt, life as a sugar baby or having parents in the porn industry — this incarnation premiered last month and explores crimes against predominantly marginalized teens and 20-somethings.

This niche has always attracted Pongo, a first-generation American born in Chicago to Ghanaian parents, who kicked off his career at WVON, an African-American-owned radio station formerly utilized by Martin Luther King Jr.

“That’s how steeped that station is in history,” said Pongo, who worked his way up from intern to news director and would find himself thinking, “Does the rest of the world care about the stories that I care so deeply about?”

Investigating the disappearance and murder of 21-year-old Indigenous woman, Hanna Harris, “True Life Crime” host Dometi Pongo, center, reflects with Harris’ sister, Rose Harris, left, and mother Malinda Limberhand. (Courtesy of MTV)

Pongo’s personal connection to certain cases helps him determine, along with MTV’s production team, which stories the series will cover.

For instance, both Pongo and Kenneka Jenkins, the teen at the center of the series’ premiere, hailed from Chicago.

It wasn’t the Ghanaian roots shared with Mujey Dumbuya that “really tormented” Pongo when covering the teen’s case for the fifth episode, but the multiple rapes she endured.

“I learned a lot about how sexual assault may impact the psyche of the victim, and the feeling of hopelessness,” he explained to The News. "And I thought it was even more harrowing because the ... family was so conservative ... that they don’t even use the word ‘rape.’

“They would say, ‘This thing was done to her;’ ‘This thing happened;’ ‘This incident...’” Pongo recalled, noting the vague language left authorities uncertain of the gravity. “That story really messed me up. But all of them messed me up deeply in different ways. ... Every single case hits differently.”

The eighth and final episode of the first season airs Wednesday and focuses on the 2013 disappearance of mother and indigenous woman, Hanna Harris, a 21-year-old member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe.

Like many of the featured cases, Harris’ has already been solved, which will likely satisfy audiences but creates a slight complication for Pongo.

“[With solved cases] you have to be delicate in guiding the viewer through the timeline of events in real time, even though by the time it airs, these things are public,” he said, noting that unsolved cases make it easier to “take the viewer down the rabbit hole."

If the show renewed for Season 2, Pongo already has potential cases in mind, starting with Sandra Bland and Kendrick Johnson.

Pongo would love to “see what really happened” with Bland, the 28-year-old African-American woman found dead in her jail cell just days after a traffic stop arrest, and many fans have requested coverage of 18-year-old Johnson, whose body was found in a rolled-up gym mat with his organs missing.

“I don’t think anything is off the table," Pongo said. “I think first and foremost ... we’re thinking about what we can do to elevate conversations that need to happen. So anything that allows us to do some good and give some folks some closure.”