Then there's Conway Beach, Barbara's sister. There was sort of shame attached to that, telling someone that with the connotations around murder and true crime. Zach Murdock can be reached at zmurdock@courant.com. HBO's new true-crime docuseries "Murder on Middle Beach" premieres Sunday, November 15. After the Police Department appealed a commission order to the release the records, a trial court in August 2021 upheld the commissions decision. This issue warrants appellate scrutiny.. But even if the central question at the center of the case remains a mystery, Murder on Middle Beach solved at least one question that had long plagued the decade-old case. I went to rehab and when I came back to school I was a year behind everybody, and I didn't tell anyone what had happened to me cause I didn't want that label of the kid whose mom was murdered. When my mom died, I took a year off from school. When she's not reporting, you can find her hiking Shoreline trails and eating her way through New Haven. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. 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. When Barbara Hamburg was brutally bludgeoned to death outside her home on Middle Beach Road in Madison, Connecticut in 2010, her sister Conway Beach publicly mourned her loss. It found police had offered only speculation that the disclosure of records responsive to the complainants request would be used in a prospective law enforcement action arising out of the investigation into the death of Barbara Hamburg, according to the commissions decision. Madison Hamburg On the Middle Beach Finale, India Oxenberg Finally Feels a Sense of Peace, More Coverage of the Documentaries That Matter, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Ashlie D. Stevens is Salon's deputy food editor. According to Schulz, the Madison Police Department took a completely inappropriate approach to deciding which documents to release. 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. Someone sent me this beautiful essay about their loss and feeling alone, feeling that like they weren't grieving correctly, and the guilt and all these things that come with grief, with something unresolved. 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. We also have to honor the victims and their families. Emilia Otte covers health and education for the Connecticut Examiner. That said, in the final episode Ali's alibi is confirmed: her mother dropped her off at school the morning that she was killed. The police department initially provided two boxes of materials to the filmmakers late last year which the pair said were incomplete before the department reversed course and appealed the commissions decision in Superior Court. The latest true crime series Murder on Middle Beach just hit HBO. But after watching the entire series through again on Monday morning, I realized that's obviously the point one that I had lost sight of while tuning in week-to-week for the last month, eager to see how the case concluded. I assume he has, but I'm not sure. On the morning of March 3, 2010, Beach Hamburgwas found dead in the front yard of her home by her sister, Conway Beach, and Ali. The medical examiner later ruled her death a homicide, noting that she died as a result of "multiple blunt and sharp force injury.". Years before she was murdered, Madison Hamburg 's mother Barbara Hamburg gave him a gift that would shape his life forever. But first here are the facts: According to the doc, Barbara Hamburg was a 48-year-old single mother who was bludgeoned and stabbed to death in the front yard of her Madison, CT home on the morning of March 3, 2010. "Murder on Middle Beach" premieres Sunday on HBO at 10 p.m. It should be noted that this was at the height of the recession, and participants many of whom Barbara recruited from her Alcoholics Anonymous meetings were discouraged from telling their husbands or partners about their participation in the Tables. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. 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. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Initial buy-in was about $5,000 and, under leaders like Barbara, women would liquidate savings accounts or refinance their homes for a chance at entering the more lucrative circles of the group. 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.. That is unbelievably gratifying, so I don't know, there's a lot of mixed things swirling around in how I feel right now. As made evident in the series, Conway Beach is just one of the few family members who hasnt been able to move on from Barbaras murder no matter how much time has passed by. Madison Hamburg is in the unique position of being both the director of HBO's new documentary series, "Murder on Middle Beach," and the son of its subject, Barbara Beach Hamburg. 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 documentary follows Madison as he investigates the shocking murder of his mother Barbara Beach Hamburg. Where homicides involved I think the interest is too great not to err on the side of not disclosing.. Then, the public would never have any way of knowing whether [the police] were doing their job appropriately, said Schulz. A list of additional records submitted to the court includes surveillance video, recordings of specific voicemails, non-police tape-recorded conversations and copies of items seized from Barbara Hamburgs bedroom safe. And what we were selling was a personal approach that wasn't a whodunit but more a story about identity, the duality of humanity, and the layers of what we share with each other, how open we are, and just me kind of coming of age and understanding my mother and in turn understanding my identity. The medical examiner's office soon concluded that Hamburg died from "blunt and sharp force injuries." Madison Hamburg. His father, Jeffrey Hamburg, quickly became a person of interest. "There have been corroborating leads, correcting things, things that we didn't know about," Hamburg told Esquire. I left him a voicemail. I started in 2013 really fresh and very amateur to documentary. But just because the finale has aired, that doesn't mean the story is over. In one example, Justice Steven Ecker asked Dugas about the competing interest of uncovering police corruption or incompetence. Instead, we're left with questions. And I was just desperately trying to understand how to take the next step with something so personal and not sacrifice anything. In 2022 Otte was awarded "Rookie of the Year," by the New England Newspaper & Press Association. Judge Daniel Klau upheld the commissions decision that the files must be turned over in a ruling of his own last month, but last week the police department appealed that decision, too. Prior to her death, she'd been engaged in a legal battle over child support with her ex Jeffrey Hamburg, who's also the father of Madison and his younger sister Ali. The episodes also addressed skepticism about the police departments initial investigations and even included surreptitious recordings of Madison Hamburgs discussions with detectives at the department. The case was then brought to trial in the Superior Court of New Britain, which last month upheld the Freedom of Information Commissions ruling. I know the case is still open. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. If you say youre going to keep a file closed forever on the chance that something might develop, that means the public in most cases will never get to look at these files, Schulz said Friday. It's terrifying, and I think that something that was really important for me was naming and identifying the adverse effects of doing something like this in the documentary itself, because I just think that's one of the unique aspects of the point of view. Have you spoken to him since the scene where he hangs up on you in the final episode? 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. How did she contact them? That all falls out of your test, doesnt it?. 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. So he made a deal with us that he would give us an A if I never stopped working on it. 5 SALON is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. Barbara's sister, Conway Beach, makes a number of accusations in the series accusing Ali of murdering her mother, believing she did so before going to school on that day. In October 2020, they passed over 1,600 documents about the case which he is now poring over - and hopes it will give him a definitive answer about who killed his mother. The department denied the request, and Neimeyer appealed to the state Freedom of Information Commission, according to a Memorandum of Decision from the Superior Court in New Britain. Murder on Middle Beach didn't decisively eliminate any other suspects. 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. It would not be in the interest of our own investigation to release it any further, said Drumm. While Beach's husband (and Madison's father) Jeffrey was questioned early on about his ex-wife's murder, there have still been no arrests made in the case. Alaine Griffin, director of communications in the Office of the Chief States Attorney said that the department had no comment at this time. On March 3, 2010, Barbara was found brutally murdered in the yard of their Connecticut home. She. It doesn't have a tidy ending, but grief rarely does. Allowing that type of information to come out may be more likely to help them solve the crime [rather] than keeping everything secret. by Johnny Brayson Dec. 4, 2020 HBO The HBO series Murder on Middle Beach has. 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. She remained in class until Conway picked her up. I'm also so close to this, and I've seen it a thousand times over the past eight years that I don't have perspective as to what is objectively good or bad. Copyright 2023 Design by Julia Balfour, LLC, Federal Grant will Help Stamford Police Catch Auto Thieves, Hundreds of Elevator Malfunctions in Stamford and No Clear Fix, With Ambulance Response Times of as Much as 40 Minutes, Legislators Propose a Funding Fix, Researchers Target Housing in Pilot Program to Reduce Gun Violence, Firefighter in Rehab Calls on Department Leaders to Bolster Brotherhood, As More Weapons are Brought to Schools, Parents and Administrators Seek a Safe Path Forward. . 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. 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. It was looked at routinely and remained a top priority of the department, he said. We work on this case weekly, we have a states attorney assigned to us who works on this weekly. 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 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.. But as soon as I started asking questions I realized it was much bigger than that. Have you found anything surprising in the new police files that you received last month? 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. Conways Facebook page includes recent photos with them all, implying that despite her rocky past, she currently has a good and healthy relationship with them. On March 3, 2010, Barbara was found brutally murdered in the yard of their Connecticut home. Barbara was said to be involved in "gifting. The court has attempted to resolve a long unsettled question about the degree of certainty concerning a prospective law enforcement action that is required to withhold records. I can't get into details, but it's been extremely illuminating. By the end of the series, the only suspect who has a truly rock-solid alibi is Ali, anda number of questions about that, in my mind, remained unanswered: Who was the masked man who was allegedly seen lurking outside Barbara's window the day before she was murdered? Retracing the path of controversial Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe includes many stops in Connecticut. On March 3, 2010, Barbara Beach Hamburg, 48, was found murdered in the backyard of her Madison, Connecticut, home. As the series progresses, Madison gains new insight into his mother's life before her murder, including her troubled relationship with his father and Beach Hamburg's ex-husband, Jeffrey Hamburg. I want checks and balances.. Madison Hamburg, who was a teenager when his mother died, went on to study documentary filmmaking. Madison police have not yet filed a brief outlining the grounds of their appeal with the Appellate Court, and attempts to reach the department this past week were unsuccessful. And, as Jeffrey alleged via a phone call to Madison, is there any evidence that the documents detailing his financial decisions had been fabricated? ", "It wasn't a story about a murder, it's a story about identity and about my mom and that's a really hard sell," he told the Connecticut Insider. The. 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. Dugas acknowledged the court was dealing with competing interests, one of which was the publics right to know. 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. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. But one thing that surprised meI remember the first message I got after the release of episode one. The last time I talked to my dad was on camera. 'Ted Lasso' Season 3 Dropped Its First Trailer, 'Outer Banks' Season 4 Is Already In the Works, 'The Last of Us' Ep. But in 2016 the pendulum sort of swung to this other role I was playing as an investigative documentarian, and I thought it might be my only opportunity to ask these questions on camera and get these authentic reactions. HBOs four-part documentary series is the compilation of eight years of work for Madison, who was 19 when his mother was found bludgeoned to death outside their Connecticut home in 2010. 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 was most worried about Conway throughout this whole process and I think she's in a good spot. 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