We have to maintain the integrity for them, he said. 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. 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. I cant. ET. 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. Im hoping that this comes through sooner than later so that the town can hopefully work with these two other agencies and not foot a tremendous legal bill, he added. 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. Would I even do this if I teleported back eight years and said, you started this documentary, here are the sacrifices that you and your family are gonna make but here's what you have to gain. So many people had the opportunity, the motive, the means. Years before she was murdered, Madison Hamburg 's mother Barbara Hamburg gave him a gift that would shape his life forever. One suspect was definitively eliminated from consideration. Through interviews with family members and friends of his mother, Madison is able to come to a better understanding of who his mother was as a person. In a statement ahead of the hearing, Hamburgs son, Madison Hamburg, who helped make an HBO documentary series about his mothers death called "Murder on Middle Beach," called for the records release. The show is directed by Madison Hamburg, the 29-year-old son of Barbara Beach Hamburg, who was found dead outside of her Connecticut home in 2010. In 2019, Madison Hamburg and Niemeyer requested the departments investigative files under the states public records law, but the department refused, claiming the case remains an open and ongoing investigation. It was she who recruited Barbara into the tables, but the latter's ambition eventually caused problems for Platt. Since 2016 there have been multiple cold case reviews and none of those reviews have turned up a new avenue of investigation, a new lead to follow or new steps to take, she said. 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 . Murder on Middle Beach centers on the mysterious death of 48-year old Barbara Hamburg. The fight over the records now heads to the Connecticut Appellate Court, while the long-cold investigation into the murder itself remains at a standstill even in the wake of the popular TV series. 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. 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.. There's a double-edged sword in the fact that the episodes are released weekly. But they have had no new leads for years, he said. The department claims the case remains active and releasing the file could hinder a prospective prosecution or even result in witness intimidation. The story sort of chronicles and parallels my journey in making this. Instead, he draws just as much suspense and intrigue by looking hard at his family history and asking his loved ones tough questions, even when they dont necessarily want to answer them. The horrific 2010 murder of 48-year-old single mom Barbara Hamburg in front of her Madison, Connecticut, home remains unsolved, but there have been plenty of theories as to who could have. In the series, Hamburg asks his family members if they had anything to do with his mother's murder, including his father . 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. Unfortunately, because of that, when her parents divorced in 2002, she suffered the most. Moreover, allowing the public access to cold case files after an appropriate period of time is far more likely to improve the odds of an arrest and successful prosecution than it it is to prejudice that outcome.. ", initially questioned Hamburg after Beach Hamburg's murder, said her ex-husband failed to make alimony and child support payments, behind on mortgage payments for their property, primary custody of Madison and Ali, while their father received visitation rights, 'I'll Be Gone In The Dark' director believes we're drawn to true crime stories because 'you can close the book, you can turn off the TV, when in real life, you don't have that power', The 7 best true crime podcasts you can listen to right now, Watch the haunting new trailer for 'I'll Be Gone in the Dark', HBO's latest true-crime docuseries, The best true crime shows you can watch on Hulu right now. The only way we can have oversight or accountability for law enforcement is to know what theyre doing.. Over the course of the docuseries, which began as a student film when Madison was in college, Madison says that he has a few goals. Through interviews with and secret recordings of his immediate family and the police, Madison and his crew tell the story of Barbara Beach Hamburg's full life and tragic death. The theorists point out that Jeffrey had the most obvious motive while also having an alibi that was almost too perfect. 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've written before about the trend of "true criminal justice" documentaries and docuseries the kind wherein the narrative is less about solving a mystery and more about turning the magnifying glass on the legal proceedings that surrounded it are an opportunity for filmmakers to present a fuller picture of criminality and victimhood. And the series has certainly accomplished that. 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. . HBO's latest four-part docuseries, 'Murder on Middle Beach' delves into the gruesome murder of Barbara Hamburg, a 48-year-old woman, who was found bludgeoned to death outside her home on Middle Beach Road. 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. But Murder on Middle Beach is not a normal documentary. In October of 2019, Anike Neimeyer, the producer of Murder on Middle Beach, submitted a FOI request to the Madison Police Department on behalf of herself and Madison Hamburg requesting records of the case. 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. I think that when my mom died and I went to rehab and I decided to face a life without her, I made a decision that day that I was gonna live with as little regret as possible. He said the Board of Selectmen would have to determine how much the town was willing to spend on the lawsuit.Downing expressed hope that state agencies would take up the case and relieve the town of a potentially significant financial burden appealing the case. 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. 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. Barbara Beach Hamburg, Madison's mother, was killed in 2010 in Madison, Connecticut. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. 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.. Lauren Kranc is the assistant content strategy editor at Esquire, where she runs the brands social media accounts and covers pop culture and television, with entirely too narrow an expertise on true crime shows, .css-gk9meg{display:block;font-family:Lausanne,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding-top:0.25rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-gk9meg:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.15;margin-bottom:0.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}Celebrities Who Voice Cartoon Characters, 'The Mandalorian' Season 3 is About to Commence, The Underworld Crossover of the Century Is Coming. "Murder on Middle Beach" premieres Sunday on HBO at 10 p.m. None of that is the selling point of a true crime series. 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.. 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. 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. I'll admit, on my first watch of the finale, I was a little frustrated by the lack of answers. There have been corroborating leads, correcting things, things that we didn't know about. The HBO series Murder on Middle Beach has captivated audiences everywhere as filmmaker Madison Hamburg attempts to uncover the truth about what happened to his mother so many years ago. 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. At the end of the series, Madison wins his case with the Freedom of Information Commission to receive case files relating to his mother's homicide investigation. Drumm told commissioners he believed plaintiffs were led to ask the Madison Police Department for additional records after obtaining copies of evidence collected by other state agencies who were assisting on the case, such as the Connecticut State Police, who Drumm said processed evidence at their crime lab. This allegation feelscircumstantial at best. So he made a deal with us that he would give us an A if I never stopped working on it. The HBO true crime documentary series Murder on Middle Beach has reached its conclusion, without any grand reveal regarding who killed Barbara Hamburg. 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. This issue warrants appellate scrutiny.. Her body was discovered by Madison's aunt Conway and his sister, Ali; his father . Hamburg, for his part, said Beach Hamburg was behind on mortgage payments for their property. 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. Theyve done multiple cold case reviews. We may earn a commission from these links. I was living in Austin at the time with my girlfriend and we both moved to New York and just gave up everything in our lives to facilitate me doing this. 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. 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. Then, the public would never have any way of knowing whether [the police] were doing their job appropriately, said Schulz. Where homicides involved I think the interest is too great not to err on the side of not disclosing.. There was no stone they had left unturned.. I moved to Austin after school and found out there was this alumni artist residency that the president of SCAD was funding personally, and so I reached out to them about it. 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. It's also worth noting that at the time of Barbara's murder, she was set to receive $40,000 from her latest table, as the doc alleges. The department did turn over two full boxes of documents to Hamburg and Niemeyer in October 2020, but the filmmakers alerted investigators in early November that dozens of files were apparently missing from those records. It was Beach who discovered Barbara's body on the morning of the murder, but claims she was cleaning out the basement of a 90-year-old neighbor at the time of the murder. 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. 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