For the second year in a row, pop culture junkies of the region will come together for Death Becomes Us, the festival dedicated to all-things true crime hosted by local media company Brightest Young Things. And this year, two familiar names—Amanda Knox and Lorena Bobbitt, now known as Lorena Gallo—will headline the event for a live recording of Knox’s podcast, The Truth About True Crime with Amanda Knox.
Knox, now 31, is known across the world as the American woman who spent almost four years in an Italian prison following her conviction for the murder of then-roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007. The two were foreign exchange students in Perugia, Italy when the event took place, leading to years of hearings, trials and headlines on a global scale. Today, Knox is considered an activist and writer whose podcast centers on the justice system and those affected by it.
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This Sunday, Knox will interview Lorena Gallo, a Manassas resident who was propelled into the media spotlight 14 years earlier than Knox after she cut off her then-husband John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis with a kitchen knife in the middle of the night. The tale was the focus of tabloid headlines and comedy skits across America, yet recently Gallo has opened up about the years of domestic violence that led her to act on that night in June of 1993. Today, Gallo still lives in Manassas with her partner of more than 20 years David Bellinger and their 13-year-old daughter.
While their stories differ, the personal lives of Knox and Gallo were both publicly narrated by the media, and in recent years the two have been given the opportunity to share their own truths, via Netflix and Amazon Prime documentaries, podcasts and in-depth profiles.
To hear Knox and Gallo discuss the justice system, the media and their individual experiences at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC this Sunday, Nov. 10 at 5:15 p.m., click here.
The festival officially begins Friday, Nov. 8, continuing all weekend long with presentations hosted by podcasters from “BuzzFeed Unsolved,” FBI agents who solved the DC sniper case and more. For a full list of speakers, click here.
