CrimeCon 2026 Draws 6,500 as Epstein Survivors Win Top Award

2 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jun 20

CrimeCon 2026 brought 6,500 people to Las Vegas, where survivors, victims’ families, podcasters and prosecutors mixed at an event that now markets itself as advocacy-focused true crime.
Three Jeffrey Epstein survivors and their nonprofit won the Clue Awards’ Crimefighter of the Year honor, while booths from families such as Gabby Petito’s and missing-persons groups pushed awareness and fundraising.
Attendance has climbed from 800 at the first 2017 event, with some visitors paying more than $1,600 for VIP access and others spending thousands more on travel, badges and merchandise.
That growth has sharpened the event’s central tension: organizers promote ethical fandom and victim-centered programming even as meet-and-greets, branded gifts and celebrity hierarchies underscore the commercial side of true crime.
For families with unsolved killings or disappearances, the convention remains a rare national platform—despite discomfort with its spectacle—to publicize cases, seek media attention and press for justice.