Although it seems like Conway is living a quiet life, she has mourned her sister publicly over the years, holding vigils and vowing to keep her memory alive. Throughout these four episodes, Madison Hamburg, and us, learned the truth about the life Barbara Hamburg really lived - that she was a recovering alcoholic who, at the . Barbara was found dead on the morning of March 3, 2010, in the yard of her rental house on Middle Beach Road in Madison, Conn. Police responded at 11:25 a.m. to a 911 call reporting an injured . We also have to honor the victims and their families. I got my crew together, but before at that point I was very much a family member asking these questions with a camera in the room. So I pressed everyone pretty hard, and I ended up with 160 hours of footage. But it's also really challenging for both my aunts, my sister and my family, so we've had a lot of conversations. While the Madison Police Department has released some records, including the 911 call that led police to Barbara Hamburgs body, it challenged the commissions decision in court. "Thank God that HBO saw the potential and the rest is history.". Valicia Harmon, a staff attorney who represented the Freedom of Information Commission before the court, said the statutory provision making certain law enforcement records exempt from release balances two consideration: the right of law enforcement to conduct their investigations in private, and the right of the public to have insight into these long, cold investigations.. Madison's's father, Jeffrey Hamburg, was presented as a main person of interest throughout the series. 5 She frequently cried when talking about her sister, and more than once, displayed anger towards what happened. And the series has certainly accomplished that. Platt was eventually arrested on various fraud charges related to the Gifting Tables in 2012, and she served 30 months in federal prison, according to the New Haven Register. I think the hidden conflict is the sacrifice of the act of making this, having over 1000 hours of footage and over 200 shooting days. Drumm said in the meeting that, along with the request from Madison Hamburg and Neimeyer, the department had received three other requests from media outlets from the other coast for the full case files. This theory does seem to make a lot of sense, except when you consider how Barbara was murdered. It's unknown just how many people Barbara had under her at the Gifting Tables, but she was accused of recruiting members from her AA group. There are strong public policy reasons for denying the general public unfettered access to investigation files, while the police are actively investigating a crime and continuing to collect new evidence and pursue new leads, Klau wrote in his decision. But they're in a really good spot now. We have the tip line, BarbaraHamburgTips.com, and I've requested a reward with the state, and the amount of tips, the amount of messages that we've received, and you never know what small detail is going to make a difference in an investigation, that's been really surprising. In late December, Niemeyer filed another complaint with the FOIC over the missing records, and the department responded by appealing the commissions original order to release any of the documents in the first place. Emilia Otte covers health and education for the Connecticut Examiner. The last time I talked to my dad was on camera. Killed them all, of course.". Beach had also moved in with Barbara prior to the murder while she was recovering from brain surgery, and the documentary alleges that Barbara wanted her to move out. So I was at film school when my mom died, in this doc class, and I told my immediate group. Madison Hamburg, right, during a candlelight vigil and memorial service for his mother, Madison resident Barbara Hamburg, a 2010 slaying victim in an unsolved case, at the First Congregational Church in Madison on Feb. 29, 2020. Do you know who did it? My college was really supportive of me, Savannah College of Art and Design. Alex Murdaugh Faces Life In Prison For Allegedly Killing His Wife & Son, Heres What Happened To Riley In 'The Last Of Us' Video Game, Twitter Is Losing It Over Succession Ending With Season 4, Everything To Know About 'And Just Like That' Season 2, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. More than a decade after Barbara Hamburg was murdered outside her Madison home, the fight over whether the public should have access to the investigation into her death is continuing to escalate a fight that could have broad implications for access to cold case files across Connecticut. What were the reactions of Ali and Conway like? We filmed a lot and the story just kept going and going, and my professor realized we weren't gonna finish this project. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. The day Barbara was found killed, she and Jeffrey were actually due in court to discuss Jeffrey's claim that he could not afford his child support and alimony payments. However, when law enforcement has effectively exhausted all efforts to arrest and prosecute a suspect, and when the statistical data show that the probability of a prosecution resulting from long-unsolved cases approaches zero, it is difficult to understand how denying public access to criminal investigation files in perpetuity serves the public interest in solving crimes and bringing perpetrators to justice. But just because the finale has aired, that doesn't mean the story is over. A hearing was held in February 2020, where Detective Christopher Sudock testified on behalf of the department that the release could jeopardize a prospective law enforcement action, such as a search or arrest warrant, but could not identify any specific actions investigators had planned. The resulting documentary series was picked up by HBO, and the four-part Murder on Middle Beach premiered late last year. It's a sobering, overwhelming realization. It was she who recruited Barbara into the tables, but the latter's ambition eventually caused problems for Platt. The courts justices challenged both Dugas and Harmon with questions. [1] Contents 1 Production 2 Episodes 3 Reception 4 References Production [ edit] The documentary series began as a student film while Hamburg was in college. Schulz said that the plaintiffs would be thrilled if the police were able to solve the crime, but he said that this wasnt a reason to keep a case open forever. Her cover photo, quite fittingly, is one of her and Barbara, and the first thing youd see when you go to her profile is the headline GRATEFUL Conway may not have a concrete alibi for her sisters murder, but no one can deny that she loved and still misses her. In past cases in which the exemption was upheld, police showed the commission they were interviewing witnesses, in the final stages of an investigation or working on it weekly, according to Harmon. Beach Hamburg's sister, Conway, and her great-aunt, Jill Platt, are featured prominently in "Murder on Middle Beach," as is her mother. The story sort of chronicles and parallels my journey in making this. The. Before joining the Register, she worked on an independent journalism project about migration in Berlin, Germany. While their outing is filmed from a hotel window across the street from the bar, Madison prods his father on details about his marriage to Madisons late mother. When my mom died I really was kind of orphaned and Savannah became like a home, and I turned to faculty, people I worked with, people in the community as surrogate parents in a way, and so I kept in touch. How has it been for you with it finally out in the world after all those years working on it? That was mandatory to me, I wanted everybody to see how they come across and have a conversation about it to prepare them for what it's gonna be like when we release this thing. "When my mom died, I didn't tell anybody," says Hamburg. "We miss her dearly, and it is a great loss to not have her with us," she said at a 2011 vigil, the New Haven Register reported at the time. Madison Hamburg and his late mothers sister, Conway. HBO's new docuseries "Murder on Middle Beach" is a moving exploration of one woman's life and murder, and how her family dealt with the aftermath of her death. What if theres concerns about corruption or incompetence and now its five years, now its 10 years a reporter wants to know or a family member wants to know. Throughout the mini-series, the main suspect seemed to be Barbara's ex-husband and Madison's father, Jeffrey Hamburg. The police could have an incentive to just not become the focus of second-guessing, Ecker said. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. "I can't get into details, but it's been extremely illuminating.". And sort of realizing that what I wanted as a character in the story and as a person is to know what happened to my mom, but I think what I need, and my sister said so beautifully as the beginning of the last episode, is peace. Especially my sister, she's the person closest to me, who can empathize the most. I think the pendulum swung really hard in that direction when we started to really dig in in 2016 and I didn't really hold back with my family members, but once we partnered with HBO, that's when I started realizing that this could have adverse affects on my family. In 2022 Otte was awarded "Rookie of the Year," by the New England Newspaper & Press Association. The 48-year-old mother of two lived on Middle Beach Road in Madison, Connecticut. The pace picks up in the fourth episode in such a way through the confirmation of Ali's alibi and the discovery of Jeffrey's financial records that it felt like we were rocketing towards a last-minute reveal that would position "Murder on Middle Beach" as the next "The Jinx," the shocking 2015 HBO docuseries, which shows Robert Durst in the final moments of the series mumbling what sounds like a confession on a still-hot lapel microphone: "What the hell did I do? I really didn't want my mom's story or my story to be told by someone else. Hamburg was only 18 years old when his mother's body was found in 2010 outside of her Connecticut home when her sister, Conway Beach, arrived back at the home with . Yeah, I reached out to him before our promotions started because I wanted him to hear a fuller context from me instead of seeing it on television or as a commercial somewhere, but I didn't reach him. . This may be a long journey, and that may cost a lot of money I would appreciate it if the Attorney Generals Office would take it up, because its in the interest of law enforcement state-wide, not just the Town of Madison, Drumm told commissioners. HBO's new docuseries "Murder on Middle Beach," directed by Madison Hamburg, focuses on the death of Hamburg's mother, Barbara. The television series, Murder on Middle Beach, documents the story of Madison Hamburgs search for the story behind his mothers murder. He said it was also important to preserve the rights of victims and family members, who he said he didnt believe would want information released while police officers were still working on their case. I'm in awe of my sister. However, Jeffrey did have a very solid alibi of being in court at the time of Barbara's murder, which seems to make it physically impossible for him to have committed the crime personally. Ali had always maintained her innocence, claiming that she had been dropped off at school by Barbara on the morning of the murder, and that she only returned home later that day with Beach, who picked her up from school after Ali's texts to her mother went unanswered. Beach also alleges that Ali killed Barbara, claiming that the then-high schooler acted bizarrely at the scene of the murder by declaring it a crime scene before any evidence of a crime was observed. It's really interesting. The first is to further understand his mother as a person because, as he says early in the first episode, children rarely know who their parents actually are. On March 3, 2010, Barbara Beach Hamburg was found dead in her Connecticut house. Schulz said the department had provided two boxes of information about the case, but that they were still missing key documents, including witness statements, notes, computer records and telephone records. Madison police step up fight to withhold, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Madison police step up fight to withhold Barbara Hamburg murder investigation files from HBOs Murder on Middle Beach filmmakers, Police track shooting suspect by following his footprints in snow in Bloomfield, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy defends giving Fox host Tucker Carlson Jan. 6 footage access, You cant trust sleep advice found on YouTube: study, Tom Sizemores family deciding end of life matters after actor suffers brain aneurysm, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Dowling said the Board of Police Commissioners and the Board of Selectmen were working on setting up a joint meeting, and that the lawsuit would be a topic of discussion for the meeting. His second goal was to absolve his family members of the crime, which dovetails with the obvious goal of discovering who actually killed Barbara. Conway presents the situation like she simply was scammed; she and Barbara eventually came to terms, and Conway moved in with her prior to the murder (though the docuseries alleges that there was tension between the two because Barbara had asked her to move out). And I've been really careful not to have hunches and not to express any opinions about what I think happened cause I think that's the biggest challenge with any investigation. The following year, Beach was present at another vigil, where she called her . Through Madison's eyes and camera lens, we watch as his relationship with his father crumbles, as he has to inform Ali that Conway believed she was capable of killing her own mother, as he has to badger his local police department again and again (before finally escalating to a formal Freedom of Information Act appeal) for a 1,600-page case file with details about their investigation into Barbara's death. Would you do anything different now that it's aired? We have to maintain the integrity for them, he said. I have to do my best to preserve what I have in that investigation so that I can charge the person or persons with the murder, said Drumm. In the doc, she admitted to having tried to hire a hitman to kill Barbara years prior over a custody battle involving her son, but the two were later able to make up. So he made a deal with us that he would give us an A if I never stopped working on it. We may earn a commission from these links. SALON is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. It would compromise the case investigation. he said. The following contains spoilers from the ending of HBO's "Murder of Middle Beach.". Hamburg, for his part, said Beach Hamburg was behind on mortgage payments for their property. And, as Jeffrey alleged via a phone call to Madison, is there any evidence that the documents detailing his financial decisions had been fabricated? Murder on Middle Beach didn't decisively eliminate any other suspects. Here are the most notable suspects. As long as an investigation is active without any impediments to prosecution, Dugas argued, the exemption should apply. Hamburg was 41 years old when she was found dead outside her home from what the medical examiners office called blunt and sharp force injuries.. In the series, Hamburg asks his family members if they had anything to do with his mother's murder, including his father . In addition to the Beach family, Hamburg makes several appearances in the series as well although he's never formally interviewed. Beach Hamburg is survived by her children, Madison and Ali, 27, as well as her mother, also named Barbara, and numerous siblings. Sadly, her life was taken on March 3, 2010 in Madison, Connecticut. The four-part HBO Max series, now available on Sky Crime and NOW TV in the UK, follows director Madison Hamburg as he investigates the unsolved murder of his own mother, Barbara Beach Hamburg, on . 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It would not be in the interest of our own investigation to release it any further, said Drumm. When my mom died, I took a year off from school. Her body was discovered by her sister, Conway Beach, who visited the home with Hamburg's teenage daughter Ali Hamburg after picking her up from school. Madison. According to Schulz, the Madison Police Department took a completely inappropriate approach to deciding which documents to release. The matter now is in the hands of the Connecticut Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments Wednesday. The Madison Police Department is appealing a state judges order that it must turn over its investigative files on Hamburgs 2010 murder to a pair of documentary filmmakers, including Hamburgs son, who examined the investigation in the hit HBO miniseries Murder on Middle Beach.. Been for you with it finally out in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a Trademark of Salon.com LLC... 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