Madison. My whole family wasn't speaking to me.". The two had gone through a rough divorce and were not on good terms at the time of Barbara's death. 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. Do you know if your dad has watched or is watching? 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. Years before she was murdered, Madison Hamburg 's mother Barbara Hamburg gave him a gift that would shape his life forever. It's like if you have a piece of popcorn in your teeth, finally getting that piece out. 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. It's revealed in the "Murder on Middle Beach" epilogue that in October 2020, Madison was granted that case file and that he and his team had started reviewing it for additional information about the murder. 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. While Tyler appreciated it, it made Conway furious. Additionally, releasing records that reveal who provided police with information about the crime could prompt witness intimidation, Dugas said. Conway remembers taking a bag of money to a Florida hotel to meet someone who presented themselves as a hitman. From the jump, the suspect list was long. The case isnt closed. 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. 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. I started the project in a documentary film class. The Connecticut Supreme Court will decide whether the Madison Police Department must release records compiled in its investigation of the 12-year-old unsolved murder of Barbara Hamburg. So I pressed everyone pretty hard, and I ended up with 160 hours of footage. Madison, now 29 years old, talked to Esquire before the finale of Murder on Middle Beach airs on HBO this Sunday. 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. Director Madison Hamburg's relentless pursuit of the truth throughout his quest to find his mother's killer turned over a lot of stones, and even though the TV series has concluded, Madison's work continues off-camera. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. But just because the finale has aired, that doesn't mean the story is over. Like I really didn't want to create caricatures of my family members. Police Commission Chair Ed Downing warned at the meeting that the appeal could require significant legal resources that could be costly for the Town of Madison. 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. 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. 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. 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. He also said that he had new evidence on the case that he did not want to share. 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. But one thing that surprised meI remember the first message I got after the release of episode one. Unfortunately, because of that, when her parents divorced in 2002, she suffered the most. The medical examiner later ruled her death a homicide, noting that she died as a result of "multiple blunt and sharp force injury.". Beach also alleges that Ali killed Barbara, Jeffrey Hamburg hired someone to kill his ex-wife. 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. Hamburg, for his part, said Beach Hamburg was behind on mortgage payments for their property. On March 3, 2010, Barbara Beach Hamburg, 48, was found murdered in the backyard of her Madison, Connecticut, home. She remained in class until Conway picked her up. June 3, 2021 8:00AM. The courts justices challenged both Dugas and Harmon with questions. 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. Barbara Beach Hamburg, Madison's 48-year-old mother, had been bludgeoned and stabbed to death, her body hidden under a pile of lawn-furniture cushions outside their Connecticut home. And we ended up pitching to Lisa Heller, who was one of our last pitches at HBO and it was just incredibly emotional. 5 Her body was discovered by Madison's aunt Conway and his sister, Ali. 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. They didnt make any efforts to review their files to see what could be released, because it was already known, for example, Schulz told CT Examiner. So I was at film school when my mom died, in this doc class, and I told my immediate group. Barbara's husband Jeffrey Hamburg was the suspect in the case, though he was never charged with her murder, he was jailed for monetary frauds. You can watch the trailer below. NOW WATCH: We break down 'Chernolbyl's' Emmy win, the new 'Rambo,' and what we know about 'Birds of Prey' so far, Visit Insider's homepage for more stories, ruled her death a homicide, noting that she died as a result of "multiple blunt and sharp force injury. November 30, 2020. Harmon, however, said police did not say whether the new information led to new activity. Have you found anything surprising in the new police files that you received last month? 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 . When my mom died, I took a year off from school. 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. Beach Hamburg's sister, Conway, and her great-aunt, Jill Platt, are featured prominently in "Murder on Middle Beach," as is her mother. We work on this case weekly, we have a states attorney assigned to us who works on this weekly. 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. 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. Barbara Hamburg was found murdered outside her family's Middle Beach Road home on March 3, 2010, but the case went cold and no one has ever been charged in connection with her death. 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. We got a lot of questions like, how does it end? The Connecticut Supreme Court will decide whether the Madison Police Department must release records compiled in its investigation of the 12-year-old unsolved murder of Barbara Hamburg. Instead, we're left with questions. He also works to eliminate several of his family members as potential suspects in his mother's murder. 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. One suspect was definitively eliminated from consideration. It is more than a reasonable possibility, pun intended, that the Connecticut Appellate or Supreme Court will review this decision. Madison Hamburg has been transparent in interviews about wanting to produce "a different take on true crime. 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. 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. 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. Who do you think did it? 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. Not looking into my mom's story would be the biggest regret of my life, so I don't know that I would do anything differently. Allowing that type of information to come out may be more likely to help them solve the crime [rather] than keeping everything secret. I wanted to give their stories justice and unfortunately that involves exploring these conflicts. So when she eventually got evicted, she moved to Florida, where she spent her days sleeping on park benches and just awaiting her death. 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? Upon hearing this new information, Beach alters her opinion of Ali as the murderer. 7: Caught in a Bad Romance, Brandon Sklenar is the Baddest Dutton of Them All, The 'Outer Banks' S3 Finale Is Intense as Hell. In a meeting of the towns Board of Police Commissioners on Thursday evening, Police Chief John Drumm said that if the courts ultimately ruled in favor of releasing the records, it could create a precedent that would affect police investigations across the state. The only way we can have oversight or accountability for law enforcement is to know what theyre doing.. The 48-year-old mother of two lived on Middle Beach Road in Madison, Connecticut. As her son, I want to know what was and wasnt done. Killed them all, of course.". 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. 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. HBO. On March 3, 2010, Barbara was found brutally murdered in the yard of their Connecticut home. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Meghan Friedmann is a reporter with the New Haven Register, covering North Branford, Guilford and Madison. But to date, no one has ever been charged with Barbara's murder. I don't know. "I can't get into details, but it's been extremely illuminating.". 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. 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. Conway and Ali are the ones who discovered the body and Conway said Ali acted "strangely." 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. Did she ever try to contact them again? 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. 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. 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. But even if the. Barbara's sister had a rocky relationship with her sibling. "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. She frequently cried when talking about her sister, and more than once, displayed anger towards what happened. 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. "Thank God that HBO saw the potential and the rest is history.". 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. But Madisons is not a traditional true crime documentaryhe didnt want to fetishize or agonize over the gory details of the murder. 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 her body was found by her sister and daughter it was covered with outdoor furniture cushions. 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. I really didn't want my mom's story or my story to be told by someone else. The medical examiner's office soon concluded that Hamburg died from "blunt and sharp force injuries." Madison Hamburg. 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. The old adage about a fresh pair of eyes is particularly apt. It really was a rollercoaster, especially because it is such a personal story, so trying to sell it was pretty interesting. That means that if you have a victim of a crime in your household tomorrow, they could start [submitting Freedom of Information Requests for] each and every single day in the investigation, said Drumm. The commission in August 2020 ordered Madison police to release all records responsive to the request except for signed witness statements. It was looked at routinely and remained a top priority of the department, he said. While Beach's husband (and Madison's father) Jeffrey was questioned early on about his ex-wife's murder, there . Directed by Barbara's son, Madison Hamburg, the docuseries is a chronicle of Madison's return to his home as he is determined to understand . 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. 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. It's like crack, I can't stop going through and analyzing and its incredibly rewarding. Barbara Beach Hamburg, Madison's mother, was killed in 2010 in Madison, Connecticut. The series examined the Hamburg familys relationships in the wake of Barbaras death and focused on suspicions both the police and family had about her husband and Madisons father, Jeffrey Hamburg. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. In addition to the Beach family, Hamburg makes several appearances in the series as well although he's never formally interviewed. Having access to these files and what the police are doing is one of the key ways we have to hold police accountable, which is a huge issue today. 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. As the pyramid scheme required a $5,000 "gift" to join, the thinking goes that Barbara could have recruited someone to the tables who couldn't actually afford to make such a payment. What details, if any, does Conway remember about the person she planned to hire to kill Barbara? Jeffrey was eventually arrested for failing to make those payments in 2012, and as of 2018 he was still fighting in the courts to avoid paying. 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.. We may earn a commission from these links. 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. 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. Before joining the Register, she worked on an independent journalism project about migration in Berlin, Germany. Would you do anything different now that it's aired? She welcomes feedback and story ideas from readers. Klau reviewed the case and found in August that the police department cannot use the mere theoretical possibility of a future law enforcement action to keep the investigative files secret but conceded there is little precedent for how investigators or the FOIC should determine what constitutes such a future action. as well as other partner offers and accept our. 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.. ------------------------------------------, details presented in "Murder on Middle Beach", killed by someone she had crossed through her participation in "The Gifting Tables,", "The Jinx," the shocking 2015 HBO docuseries, "true criminal justice" documentaries and docuseries. 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