Here, we see how that leads him to investigate his own father, a pyramid scheme The Gifting Tables that his mother was involved in, his sister, and his aunt, Conway Beach. 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. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. 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. We may earn a commission from these links. HBOs Murder on Middle Beach, from first-time filmmaker Madison Hamburg, is a four-part documentary series that examines the life and death of his 48-year-old mother, Barbara Beach Hamburg. 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. Many ancient pipes in CT aren't up to the task of draining storm water, yet officials just seem to shrug. I want checks and balances.. 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. Have you spoken to him since the scene where he hangs up on you in the final episode? From the jump, the suspect list was long. 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. Drumm also said that he hoped the Chief States Attorneys Office and that Attorney General William Tongs Office would file amicus briefs on their behalf. Conway and Ali are the ones who discovered the body and Conway said Ali acted "strangely." 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. My whole family wasn't speaking to me.". 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. HBO's 'Murder on Middle Beach,' from first-time filmmaker Madison Hamburg, is a four-part documentary series that examines the life and death of his 48-year-old mother, Barbara Beach Hamburg. Allowing that type of information to come out may be more likely to help them solve the crime [rather] than keeping everything secret. Madison. He never forcefully denies killing Barbara in the series. The case was then brought to trial in the Superior Court of New Britain, which last month upheld the Freedom of Information Commissions ruling. Jeffrey, who was an exorbitantly wealthy former CEO of Southern Electric International, and Barbara had an incredibly acrimonious divorce. 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. We still don't know who killed Barbara Hamburg, but with the renewed attention paid to the case thanks to Murder on Middle Beach, we could one day find out. 'Ted Lasso' Season 3 Dropped Its First Trailer, 'Outer Banks' Season 4 Is Already In the Works, 'The Last of Us' Ep. Drumm told CT Examiner that the Police Department had gone through all the files relevant to the case. Madison's's father, Jeffrey Hamburg, was presented as a main person of interest throughout the series. Updated: 10:25 AM EDT October 19, 2022 MADISON, Conn. There are new developments in a Connecticut cold case that was the subject of the HBO documentary "Murder on Middle Beach." One of the. So I was at film school when my mom died, in this doc class, and I told my immediate group. 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. Because of the case's mysterious nature, the Internet is full of theories pondering who killed Barbara Hamburg. Hamburg, for his part, said Beach Hamburg was behind on mortgage payments for their property . There's a double-edged sword in the fact that the episodes are released weekly. Precisely how much time should pass between a case going cold and when the files should be accessible to the public is up for debate, Klau conceded, but he kicked that decision to the legislature, arguing state lawmakers are in the best position to set out in writing a clear timeframe for when and how such records should be made available. Its not a normal father-son catch-up scene. 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. "There have been corroborating leads, correcting things, things that we didn't know about," Hamburg told Esquire. 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. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Niemeyer appealed the decision with the Freedom of Information Commission. 7: Caught in a Bad Romance, Brandon Sklenar is the Baddest Dutton of Them All, The 'Outer Banks' S3 Finale Is Intense as Hell. Barbara Alexandra Hamburg, who now goes by Ali, is the youngest member of the Hamburg family. The last time I talked to my dad was on camera. The brutal crime was committed in 2010 when Madison was 19-years-old. 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. The only way we can have oversight or accountability for law enforcement is to know what theyre doing.. 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. An anonymous witness also revealed that she was scared of Conway as she had allegedly threatened her by leaving dead animals on her doorstep, implying that she had the guts and the motive to commit a murder. In HBO's latest true crime docuseries, Murder on Middle Beach, director Madison Hamburg tries to uncover every clue in the unsolved murder of his mother, Barbara Hamburg . Ever since then, Madison has been looking to uncover every clue and secret so as to solve her case. The Madison Police Department is appealing a court ruling upholing an order by the state's Freedom of Information Commission that the department release all records except signed witness statements related to the unsolved murder of Barbara Beach Hamburg. If a department cannot show there is a prospective law enforcement action and that disclosure of the records would be prejudicial to such an action, then the publics right to access the records wins out, Harmon said, arguing the Madison Police Department failed to meet its burden of proof in this case. 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. 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. by Johnny Brayson Dec. 4, 2020 HBO The HBO series Murder on Middle Beach has. After the Police Department appealed a commission order to the release the records, a trial court in August 2021 upheld the commissions decision. In setting out to do this, I didn't have an expectation that we would solve my mom's case, but there are many goals I have had throughout this process and they sort of evolve. And we ended up pitching to Lisa Heller, who was one of our last pitches at HBO and it was just incredibly emotional. 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 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. Drumm told commissioners that a number of agencies, including the Madison Police Department, had already released information about the case, and that releasing further evidence could compromise the ongoing investigation. The personal gruesomeness of the murder and covering her body like he regrets it feels too personal to be a hit man. I started in 2013 really fresh and very amateur to documentary. It would not be in the interest of our own investigation to release it any further, said Drumm. I wanted to give their stories justice and unfortunately that involves exploring these conflicts. I assume he has, but I'm not sure. 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. The series depicted how the investigation process caused rifts between the family and the secrets which suggested their involvement in the murder. I'm in awe of my sister. There are no corroborating witnesses for this alibi, according to the doc. Madison, now 29 years old, talked to Esquire before the finale of Murder on Middle Beach airs on HBO this Sunday. They've seen the documentary, we had family screenings before we even sent it out to press. 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. As long as an investigation is active without any impediments to prosecution, Dugas argued, the exemption should apply. Jeffrey appears in Murder on Middle Beach where he repeatedly refuses to talk about Barbara's murder and insists that his ex-wife had dark secrets that he can't discuss. He also said that he had new evidence on the case that he did not want to share. This was actually where the four-part series began, as first-time filmmaker Madison Hamburg set out to investigate the events surrounding the murder of his mother, Barbara Beach Hamburg, who was found stabbed and bludgeoned to death outside her home in an affluent Connecticut suburb in 2010. 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. 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. 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. Dugas acknowledged the court was dealing with competing interests, one of which was the publics right to know. 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. She totally got it and they made us an offer. 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. So Im not quite sure why theyre resistant, he said. 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. 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. 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. And one of them was, if we don't solve my mom's case, then the documentary becomes a tool for me to get my mom's story out there and provide some momentum. Where homicides involved I think the interest is too great not to err on the side of not disclosing.. Back in 1996, when Conway was out of control with her substance abuse, Barbara took her to court to get custody of her son, Tyler. Why did Jeffrey's financial dealings make Barbara feel like her family's safety had been compromised? November 30, 2020. It's funny cause I feel like those are some of the more authentic moments in the documentary, from the earlier footage. Both Ali's father, Jeffrey, and Beach accuse Ali of hating her mother in the documentary, which Ali denies. In 2016, he began to film a project reviewing the circumstances around his mothers death, interviewing family members and pursuing information from the Madison Police Department about its investigation. 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. In the series, Madison does some digging and is able to obtain school records that show Barbara did indeed drop Ali off at school on the morning of her death, confirming Ali's alibi and eliminating her as a suspect. Who do you think did it? However, later in the documentary, director Madison Hamburg Barbara's son and Ali's brother obtains school records that corroborate Ali's alibi of being at school at the time of the murder. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. A single mother of two, Hamburg was bludgeoned and stabbed to death in the front yard of her Madison,. 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. 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. Her body was discovered by Madison's aunt Conway and his sister, Ali. That is as it should be. The Madison Department of Police filed an appeal on September 2. Platt also cut off her relationship with Barbara, and drew hard lines on what areas were Barbara's Gifting Tables "territory" for recruitment and which were Platt's. The story sort of chronicles and parallels my journey in making this. Stay up to date with what you want to know. Do you know who did it? CORRECTION: An earlier version of this incorrectly statedAli Hamburg was diagnosed with bipolar disorder; she had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. 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. I was so angry. Every Theory About Barbara Hamburg's Murder Murder on Middle Beach calls a handful of suspects into question. ", 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. It was then Beach and Ali who discovered Barbara's body. Here's everything you need to know about Beach Hamburg's death and "Murder on Middle Beach.". 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. I cant. Beach also alleges that Ali killed Barbara, Jeffrey Hamburg hired someone to kill his ex-wife. At the time of her death, Beach Hamburg had primary custody of Madison and Ali, while their father received visitation rights. Years before she was murdered, Madison Hamburg 's mother Barbara Hamburg gave him a gift that would shape his life forever. Madison Hamburg has been transparent in interviews about wanting to produce "a different take on true crime. 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