In the series, Hamburg asks his family members if they had anything to do with his mother's murder, including his father . Barbara B. Hamburg was born April 29, 1961 in New Haven, Connecticut. 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. Unlike other true-crime documentaries, "Murder on Middle Beach" doesn't focus exclusively on Beach Hamburg's death. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. 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. 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. 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. Beach Hamburg and Hamburg married in 1989, but divorced in 2002. 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.. When her body was found by her sister and daughter it was covered with outdoor furniture cushions. And we ended up pitching to Lisa Heller, who was one of our last pitches at HBO and it was just incredibly emotional. 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.. Beach also alleges that Ali killed Barbara, claiming that the then-high schooler acted bizarrely at the scene of the murder by declaring it a crime scene before any evidence of a crime was observed. The show follows director Madison Hamburg as he investigates his mother's murder, and talks to his family members about how they were affected. The first is to further understand his mother as a person because, as he says early in the first episode, children rarely know who their parents actually are. And more importantly, should tuition go toward supporting bars around the XL Center? But as soon as I started asking questions I realized it was much bigger than that. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Beach Hamburg's sister, Conway, and her great-aunt, Jill Platt, are featured prominently in "Murder on Middle Beach," as is her mother. We have to maintain the integrity for them, he said. The people in the States Attorneys office who oversee the cold case reviews agreed with them that there were no new leads to follow. Im not trying to suggest anything was done improperly here, but theres no way to know without seeing what they did. 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. At the time of her death, Beach Hamburg had primary custody of Madison and Ali, while their father received visitation rights. 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. But Madisons is not a traditional true crime documentaryhe didnt want to fetishize or agonize over the gory details of the murder. 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. 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. ET. According to David Schulz, a lawyer representing the plaintiff, the department was only withholding the information on the off chance that new information about the case should come to light, and that there really was not an ongoing investigation. 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. Retracing the path of controversial Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe includes many stops in Connecticut. The case isnt closed. While her murder and its aftermath are explored on the show, it also paints a vivid portrait of who Beach Hamburg was before her death, and how her family is managing to cope with their loss 10 years later. I really didn't want my mom's story or my story to be told by someone else. Beach was also accused of threatening an anonymous member of the Gifting Tables by leaving dead animals in her yard. Barbara Beach Hamburg, Madison's mother, was killed in 2010 in Madison, Connecticut. 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. Her cover photo, quite fittingly, is one of her and Barbara, and the first thing youd see when you go to her profile is the headline GRATEFUL Conway may not have a concrete alibi for her sisters murder, but no one can deny that she loved and still misses her. She also suffered numerous stab wounds to her face, chest, and hands. It was she who recruited Barbara into the tables, but the latter's ambition eventually caused problems for Platt. 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. 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. That all falls out of your test, doesnt it?. On the other hand, Dugas, the attorney for the Madison Police Department, argued the case was very much active. Who called Barbara to tell her that her court time had been changed from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. the day of her murder (ostensibly making time for the crime to be committed)? According to the doc, Platt believed Barbara was inviting too many unqualified people into the scheme, thinking that these peoples' lack of funds would lead the tables to collapse. Hamburg, for his part, said Beach Hamburg was behind on mortgage payments for their property. Barbara's sister had a rocky relationship with her sibling. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. Barbara Hamburg was found murdered outside her familys 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. 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. Madison Hamburg looks back after the finale of "Murder on Middle Beach," the docuseries about his search for his mother's killer. It premiered on November 15, 2020, on HBO. 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. That said, in the final episode Ali's alibi is confirmed: her mother dropped her off at school the morning that she was killed. And I was just desperately trying to understand how to take the next step with something so personal and not sacrifice anything. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. I started in 2013 really fresh and very amateur to documentary. Especially my sister, she's the person closest to me, who can empathize the most. But even if the. November 30, 2020. Madison, now 29 years old, talked to Esquire before the finale of Murder on Middle Beach airs on HBO this Sunday. 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. Its an amazing thing as someone who's created something, because the conversations extend week to week and to see the effects that it has and the momentum that it causes is really beautiful. Madison Hamburg and his late mothers sister, Conway. 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 . Madison Hamburg has been transparent in interviews about wanting to produce "a different take on true crime. But one thing that surprised meI remember the first message I got after the release of episode one. Back in 2010, in Madison, Connecticut, a quiet town on the shoreline, on the serene Middle Beach West, a crime occurred that shook the community to its core - Barbara Hamburg's murder. Its been twelve and a half years since my mother was killed, he said. 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. 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. Sign up for notifications from Insider! ', 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. 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. I was a drug addict at the time, and really fell into my addiction and hit my rock bottom. Weeks of back-and-forth ensued as the show premiered on HBO. And as the docuseries comes to a close there are a growing number of theories about Barbara Hamburg's death. 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. 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. I cant. She. Due to Conway's addiction, she lost custody of her son to Barbara, after which Conway attempted to hire a hitman to kill Barbara because she "snapped. This theory does seem to make a lot of sense, except when you consider how Barbara was murdered. Conway presents the situation like she simply was scammed; she and Barbara eventually came to terms, and Conway moved in with her prior to the murder (though the docuseries alleges that there was tension between the two because Barbara had asked her to move out). If I didn't ask these questions, the questions would go unasked, but I've tried my hardest to do this what I consider the right way. ", "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. It is difficult to understand how denying public access to criminal files in perpetuity serves the public interest in solving crimes and bringing perpetrators to justice, wrote Judge Daniel Klau in his decision. The. Alex Murdaugh Faces Life In Prison For Allegedly Killing His Wife & Son, Heres What Happened To Riley In 'The Last Of Us' Video Game, Twitter Is Losing It Over Succession Ending With Season 4, Everything To Know About 'And Just Like That' Season 2, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. The matter now is in the hands of the Connecticut Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments Wednesday. There have been corroborating leads, correcting things, things that we didn't know about. Who Is John Dutton's Grandfather in '1923'? I started the project in a documentary film class. And the series has certainly accomplished that. 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. There are strong public policy reasons for denying the general public unfettered access to investigation files, while the police are actively investigating a crime and continuing to collect new evidence and pursue new leads, Klau wrote in his decision. 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. Where homicides involved I think the interest is too great not to err on the side of not disclosing.. 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. 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 last time I talked to my dad was on camera. While Madison police initially questioned Hamburg after Beach Hamburg's murder, he was never formally charged with a crime, despite being named as a suspect. So I pressed everyone pretty hard, and I ended up with 160 hours of footage. The answer much like some of the details presented in "Murder on Middle Beach" is complicated. The pace picks up in the fourth episode in such a way through the confirmation of Ali's alibi and the discovery of Jeffrey's financial records that it felt like we were rocketing towards a last-minute reveal that would position "Murder on Middle Beach" as the next "The Jinx," the shocking 2015 HBO docuseries, which shows Robert Durst in the final moments of the series mumbling what sounds like a confession on a still-hot lapel microphone: "What the hell did I do? 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. As he revealed in a video update on Dec. 8 through HBO's YouTube channel, he is currently combing through these files for additional information that could eventually help solve the case. The case raises questions about exactly when a cold case is considered cold enough to release the investigative files publicly and likely is destined for much further debate by both the judiciary and general assembly, Klau reasoned. We now know they have that information, which led them to ask additional questions of us of information that we had not shared with the general public, Drumm told commissioners, adding that the department needed to retain the information to complete its investigation. 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. Allowing that type of information to come out may be more likely to help them solve the crime [rather] than keeping everything secret. Jeffreyrefuses to discuss the case or his marriage with Madison, except to point to Barbara's alcoholism and, prior to recovery, her pattern of black-out drinking as evidence that Barbara wasn't necessarily to be trusted a line he holds even once Madison finds boxes of documents in the final episodes that could potentially implicate him in unethical (and potentially illegal) business practices that made Barbara feel unsafe. I was so angry. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. Murder on Middle Beach didn't decisively eliminate any other suspects. Barbara Alexandra Hamburg, who now goes by Ali, is the youngest member of the Hamburg family. 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. June 3, 2021 8:00AM. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. The series makes other allegations relating to Beach and her sister's involvement in a pyramid scheme known as the Gifting Tables. 7: Caught in a Bad Romance, Brandon Sklenar is the Baddest Dutton of Them All, The 'Outer Banks' S3 Finale Is Intense as Hell. 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. Madison. 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. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. 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. "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. 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. She welcomes feedback and story ideas from readers. Would you do it? I don't know. 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. HBO's new docuseries "Murder on Middle Beach," directed by Madison Hamburg, focuses on the death of Hamburg's mother, Barbara. We did n't want my mom 's story or my story to be told by else. To follow Beach did n't decisively eliminate any other suspects the Madison Police Department, argued the case very... 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