Through interviews with and secret recordings of his immediate family and the police, Madison and his crew tell the story of Barbara Beach Hamburgs full life and tragic death. What it did do, though, was bring light to the case and start a conversation around it. The decision also said police failed to prove that, even if there was a prospective law enforcement action, disclosure of the requested records would be prejudicial to such action.. According to the doc, Jeffrey allegedly owed Barbara and their two children hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the two were due to appear in court together on the day Barbara was murdered to sort it out. I didn't necessarily fit the mold, but SCAD agreed to a really unique deal with me where they funded 10 weeks of production and we shot all of our master interviews. 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. Where homicides involved I think the interest is too great not to err on the side of not disclosing.. While Beach's husband (and Madison's father) Jeffrey was questioned early on about his ex-wife's murder, there . Then there's Conway Beach, Barbara's sister. Barbara B. Hamburg was born April 29, 1961 in New Haven, Connecticut. Then, there is the still-plausible idea that Barbara was killed by someone she had crossed through her participation in "The Gifting Tables," a pyramid scheme wherein potential members would "gift" existing members of the organization money in order to join, then recruit new members for their own eventual pay-outs. Barbara's sister had a rocky relationship with her sibling. To this day, the case that shocked a wealthy, idyllic seaside town has remained unsolved. ", "My ulterior plan was to get all my money out of my 401(k) plan and get revenge against my baby sister, your mother, your father, and both of you, even Ali," she told Madison. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. He claimed to have been told time and time again that the case is cold and investigators are stuck, and argued releasing the records could only help solve the case. Drumm, however, told CT Examiner that his reasoning for appealing the decision was two-fold: the potential of damaging what he said were ongoing efforts by the department to solve the case, and the need to protect the interests of the family. I'll admit, on my first watch of the finale, I was a little frustrated by the lack of answers. And if they can keep it closed forever, youll never be able to hold them accountable or give them an incentive not to cover something up.. "Murder on Middle Beach" adds to the genre as well. That's essentially a thousand more opportunities to discover not just what happened to his mother, but to find another slash in the family tree. The medical examiner's office soon concluded that Hamburg died from "blunt and sharp force injuries." Madison Hamburg. We may earn a commission from these links. According to her own accounts, after Ali chose to live with her father, Jeffrey Hamburg, he became "super controlling" and implanted "a lot of fear" in her. Police never made an arrest in the case, though Floyd Dugas, the attorney representing the department in the records dispute, told the court Wednesday the agency long has had a prime suspect. It doesn't have a tidy ending, but grief rarely does. Barbara was killed very violently, likely with a hammer, and detectives have called it a crime of passion and theorize that the killer knew Barbara and had a personal stake in the murder. In addition to the Beach family, Hamburg makes several appearances in the series as well although he's never formally interviewed. From the jump, the suspect list was long. In a genre that so often luridly dehumanizes its victims, specifically women, as a means for salacious storytelling, "Murder on Middle Beach" is less about clinically dismantling family secrets for their evidentiary value, than it is about assessing how those family secrets bond and tie us and what it means when those bonds are severed. And we ended up pitching to Lisa Heller, who was one of our last pitches at HBO and it was just incredibly emotional. Have you found anything surprising in the new police files that you received last month? Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. Seeking a way out of making those payments or seeing the inside of a jail cell could allegedly have been a motive for Jeffrey to kill Barbara. In August 2020, the Freedom of Information Commission ruled that the Madison Police Department needed to release the requested records, including investigatory records, interrogation recordings, and crime scene recordings, including photos and videos, with the exception of signed witness statements. There's already inherent bias from my point of view. Dec. 10, 2020 HBO The HBO true crime documentary series Murder on Middle Beach has reached its conclusion, without any grand reveal regarding who killed Barbara Hamburg. The HBO true crime documentary series Murder on Middle Beach has reached its conclusion, without any grand reveal regarding who killed Barbara Hamburg. We made a pitch deck and we pitched the networks. In the following years, they appeared in court together numerous times after Beach Hamburg said her ex-husband failed to make alimony and child support payments. The Madison Police Department is appealing a court ruling upholing an order by the states Freedom of Information Commission that the department release all records except signed witness statements related to the unsolved murder of Barbara Beach Hamburg. At a Freedom of Information hearing in February 2020, Madison police Detective Christopher Sudock said he regularly reviewed the case and that the agency had received a phone call about it the week before. There's been a lot of mistakes and a lot of successes throughout this whole journey, but I don't think I would do anything differently at this point. Conway and Ali are the ones who discovered the body and Conway said Ali acted "strangely." I left him a voicemail. So when she eventually got evicted, she moved to Florida, where she spent her days sleeping on park benches and just awaiting her death. Elizabeth Benton, communications director for the Attorney Generals Office, said the office was not involved in the case. I know what I've set out to do and tried like hell to fulfill that, to challenge the conventions of true crime and the way that we tell the story, and just to hear people think it's goodjust to think that people were watching and telling other people about it and it was a part of the conversation outside of the people in my immediate circle was just, I don't know, maybe it's silly, but it's something that is really gratifying. But as soon as I started asking questions I realized it was much bigger than that. At the end of the day, it's not really important that Murder on Middle Beach didn't solve the murder of Barbara Hamburg because that isn't what the documentary set out to do. The department claims the case remains active and releasing the file could hinder a prospective prosecution or even result in witness intimidation. 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.. We got a lot of questions like, how does it end? And they just thanked me for releasing this story, and it's really gratifying as someone who's gone through something so traumatic to hear that someone else can watch this and feel a little less alone. If Barbara dropped Ali off at 7:47 am and the court hearing was at 9:30 am, perhaps the father had enough time to commit the murder. ', 6,000 checks go out to Yale workers in class-action settlement involving wellness program, Police: Stolen car found riddled with bullets after gunfire in New Haven near Yale, West Haven mayor under fire after city is left without a finance director at start of budget season, Convicted DiMassa codefendant requests acquittal, new trial in West Haven fraud scheme case, The Best Private High Schools near New Haven, Guide to Legal Cannabis Dispensaries in CT, The Best Private Preschools Near New Haven. . The department denied the request, citing a portion of the state Freedom of Information Act exempting certain law enforcement records from release if the disclosure of such records would not be in the public interest because it would result in the disclosure of information to be used in a prospective law enforcement action if prejudicial to such action.. "I can't get into details, but it's been extremely illuminating.". The answer much like some of the details presented in "Murder on Middle Beach" is complicated. Hamburg, for his part, said Beach Hamburg was behind on mortgage payments for their property . But Murder on Middle Beach is not a normal documentary. 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. And, as Jeffrey alleged via a phone call to Madison, is there any evidence that the documents detailing his financial decisions had been fabricated? I was so angry. Meghan Friedmann is a reporter with the New Haven Register, covering North Branford, Guilford and Madison. The series makes other allegations relating to Beach and her sister's involvement in a pyramid scheme known as the Gifting Tables. Do you know if your dad has watched or is watching? The documentary follows the murder of a Connecticut woman, Barbara Hamburg. Barbara's daughter was a teenager in 2010, and was with Beach when Barbara's body was discovered. But it's been tough watching this go week to week and having breaks in between where people on the internet can react to my family. The matter now is in the hands of the Connecticut Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments Wednesday. It was a really tough thing to balance with telling a compelling story, but I think it was knowing that the goal was to subvert the genre in a way, to lean in to those more kind of compelling conventions in order to eventually break them. 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. In 2022 Otte was awarded "Rookie of the Year," by the New England Newspaper & Press Association. 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. According to the HBO docuseries, Beach Hamburg's body was covered with outdoor furniture cushions when it was found. Zach Murdock can be reached at zmurdock@courant.com. "Murder on Middle Beach" premieres Sunday on HBO at 10 p.m. We also have to honor the victims and their families. "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. Beach Hamburg had been expected in court, along with Hamburg, on the morning of her death, but never made it to her 9:30 a.m. appearance. During the last four minutes of of HBO's docuseries "Murder on Middle Beach," a black screen pops up with a single, heartwrenching sentence: My family still lives without answers about my mother's death. Yet the strangest thing was when Conway stated that Barbara, a week before she was slain, told her about a dream where she was violently murdered but refused to reveal who was behind it. I cant. Jeffrey, who was an exorbitantly wealthy former CEO of Southern Electric International, and Barbara had an incredibly acrimonious divorce. 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. 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. They successfully appealed to the Connecticuts Freedom of Information Commission, which ruled last year the police department had to turn over its files free of charge to the pair. I was most worried about Conway throughout this whole process and I think she's in a good spot. It was a. That said, in the final episode Ali's alibi is confirmed: her mother dropped her off at school the morning that she was killed. 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