Leading up to the release of Jim Sheridan’s true crime series Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie, the biggest talking point that Sophie’s family had asked was Toscan du Plantier Sky to remove their contributions.
When they agreed to participate in the program, they believed it could help achieve the long-awaited justice for their murdered loved one, but instead felt it was too focused on Ian Bailey – the man who joined was convicted of voluntary manslaughter by a French court and sentenced to 25 years in absentia, despite a lack of concrete evidence.
Podcasts and documentaries about true crime have been accused of exploiting victims and their families by simply recounting events that were already known and offering nothing new.
In an interview on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne yesterday, former garda assistant commissioner Pat Leahy admitted that Sky and Netflix played a part in the decision to conduct a full reassessment of the murder of Mrs du Plantier outside her holiday home in Schull, Co Cork, in December 1996. New witnesses came forward with information after the series aired.
It’s the third time such a review has been announced in 20 years, and amateur sleuths will no doubt take to social media to solve yet another one of Ireland’s greatest murder mysteries.
But can Netflixs? Sophie: A murder in West Cork and Sky’s controversial series join the list of productions that have made a difference?
From podcasts that led to arrests to films that destroyed assassinations, true crime shows around the world have seen cases reopened, new witnesses come forward, and even new trials ordered.
Released in 1988, movie The thin blue line looked at the life of Randall Dale Adams, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a Texas police officer. His sentence was based on the testimony of a teenager named David Ray Harris, who was suspected by many as the actual perpetrator.
Six months after the film aired, Mr. Randall was released from prison after 12 years and his sentence was overturned. Harris was later executed by lethal injection for another unrelated murder.
A murder trial is currently underway in Australia after a man was arrested on the back of a successful podcast that uncovered new evidence.
Hosted by Hedley Thomas, The teacher’s pet looked into the disappearance of Lynette Dawson, who disappeared in 1982. The podcast became a huge hit, reaching the number one spot on the podcast charts in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Thomas investigated police reactions to the incident and then Mrs Dawson’s husband Chris Dawson was arrested and extradited to Sydney.
He is now on trial and pleads not guilty to the crime.
The lead investigator in the case told the court this week that he was concerned that Mr Thomas may have tainted evidence through his podcast, and was cautious about the reliability of witnesses who had appeared on or listened to the podcast.
Another US production that prompted the reopening of an investigation is podcast serial†
Hae Min Lee’s family, whose murder was central to serialThe first series spoke of “reopened wounds” as the convicted murderer sought a new trial after the podcast became a hit in 2014.
Adnan Syed was assigned a new trial in 2016 but that decision was overturned, while an appeals court overturned his conviction in 2018, ruling that he had received ineffective legal counsel. But that decision was also reversed in 2019.
Syed, who is serving life in Maryland for the 1999 murder of his girlfriend, still insists he is innocent and asks for a reduced sentence.
Forensic tests were later conducted as part of an HBO documentary series following the case, and the tests found no traces of Syed’s DNA on samples taken from Ms. Lee’s body and car during the investigation.
In March this year, prosecutors agreed to conduct new official DNA tests on the evidence used to convict him.
Some shows have also triggered a real-time response.
A day before viewers sat down to watch the latest episode of The Jinx on HBO, Robert Durst, the man who was the subject of the program, was arrested.
In 1982, the wife of the eccentric New York real estate company disappeared. She reportedly told relatives that he was abusing her emotionally and physically, but the case surrounding her disappearance went smoothly. Eighteen years later, the police received a tip and announced they would reopen the case, officially a missing persons case.
Investigators were supposed to meet Durst’s girlfriend, Susan Berman, but she was found dead in her Beverly Hills home after being shot in the back of the head.
The miniseries explored the unsolved disappearance of his wife, the murder of writer Susan Berman and the death and mutilation of Durst’s neighbor in Texas in 2001. He confessed to the latter but claimed self-defense and was acquitted.
The Jinx used security footage, media footage, police interviews and archival footage, but at the end of the fifth episode, Sareb Kaufman, Ms. Berman’s stepson, contacted the documentary makers asking them to view material his stepmother had left behind after her murder.
In it, he highlights an envelope from Durst to Ms. Berman that was sent in March 1999. [sic] Hills” misspelled as an anonymous envelope sent to the police in December 2000 to warn them of the murder of Mrs. Berman.
Durst agreed to be interviewed for the series, and after going to the bathroom, apparently unaware that his microphone was still recording, he makes a walking, off-camera statement to himself, ending with: ” What the hell did I do? I killed them all, of course.”
In October 2021, he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Mrs. Berman.