Comments on: 5 Horrific Murders (and the TV Movies made from them)

By: Kara

Kara — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:22:43 +0000

@Jean: That mother-in-law was Lee Goldsmith of Boca Raton, FL. She served 5 1/2 years and was paroled in 1995 at age 73.

By: jean

jean — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:49:58 +0000

was wondering what the names were of the people in the movie ‘Mother knows best” on Lifetime. The mother-in -law hired a hitman to kill son-in-law. She was sent to jail for I think just 5 years.

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:51:30 +0000

There was a 2-part TV movie made back in the mid to later 80s. I think David Soul (or a lookalike actor)was in it,but I can’t find it listed on IMDB website profiling David Soul. I’m hoping somebody here remembers it.

Part one details a quiet neighborhood where a brutal murder has occurred in somebody’s home. The David Soul character is arrested and though he claims that he is innocent, he is eventually convicted based on eyewitness testimony putting him at the scene of the crime around the time of the murder. In prison, he tells his wife that he wants her to divorce him so she can move on with her life. Part one ends when David Soul gets a postcard with the enigmatic message:
“I’m sorry you went to prison for the murder that I committed. Signed,Mr. X”

Part 2 eventually reveals that a black man saw another guy in the neighborhood the day of the murder, and this guy bears a striking resemblance to our hero, which is why several witnesses mistakenly identified our hero as being in the neighborhood. It should also be noted that the other man resembling our hero is ALSO NOT GUILTY of the murder either, but this is enough to free our hero from prison.

IT ends there but the crime remains unsolved, at least at the time of this broadcast. I cannot think of the name of it nor of anybody else that may have acted in it, and now I’m not even sure that David Soul was the actor but I sure thought it was him. Any help on this as well as the true details on the actual crime would be appreciated.

By: Kim Call

Kim Call — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:09:39 +0000

There was this gripping made-for-tv movie about that real-life story regarding that mother in Texas who hired a hitman to kill her daughter’s friend so that her daughter would make the cheerleading squad. The one I’m thinking about is NOT the one with Beau Bridges. I would LOVE to see that movie again, but I can’t find it. Also, there was another made-for-tv movie called something like Dead Silence that was great. It was about a group of friends who did a hit-and-run, and then couldn’t move on with their lives because of the guilt. I think one of them even commits suicide. Both are based on true stories, and I’d really like to track them down.

By: Ivana

Ivana — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:40:52 +0000

This is not a Lifetime movie but it is based on a true story.
“Suburban Madness” the real story of Clara Harris who made headlines in july 2002, Houston Texas when she killed her adulterous husband by repeatedly running over him with her car in a hotel parking while cameras taped it all.

By: Kayley

Kayley — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:16:17 +0000

I do not like Lifetime televison for the reasons that they are phony. NOW, the “Lifetime Movie Channel” used to be awesome as they adopted films which originally aired on other channels and I know every single one of them which came from the other stations. I like TRUE stories much better than the formidable garbage of the soccer and her sex life, which I really do not care for. I wish that they would just dedicate a channel for True Stories only to escape the complaints of others who want to watch this phoney woman from the suburbs who becomes powerful and bitchy. I can’t stand those types of films. In the 1990s, Lifetime was a channel for everyone and aired the very best, it is now so, YUCK! As for the battered and beaten women, this is a fact of life and that is why these films were popular because they revealed the side of life which where these things actually happen. The NEW Lifetime channel is directly catered to this happy go lucky bunch and they ought to be happy now since Lifetime has sanitized the hell out of the entire genre of films which so many millions of people are now watching on “You Tube”. I have boycotted Lifetime altogether because the films are so cheezy and dull. If you want to watch what is real and compelling, your best bet is to visit You Tube for the movies that they “used” to air. This includes “Unsolved Mysteries” (and not that terrible version with Dennis Farina) with Robert Stack and the spooky cases.

Msg. for Tina Anderson: It was Courtney Thorne-Smith who starred in “Midwest Obsession” and not the whiny Kellie Martin. Courtney played the heck out of her role and was very effective, if Kelly Martin were to star, I would never have watched it. Tracy Gold was the victim and was well casted as such as she is pretty whiny and annoying as well. I’m with Thomas Wyatt (the commenter way above me). By the way Thomas, not one of those movies were “Lifetime” movies. The reason that the films you listed were so effective were that they originally aired from channels ABC, NBC, and CBS. The Lifetime movies are weak and without texture. The ones you mentioned were excellent and were mini-series with actors who are talented and had the budget for the material of a True Story. Any movie made in the 1980s-1990s aired on Lifetime are not “Lifetime” films, rather, they were films brought to Lifetime when Lifetime had the balls to air these films and were not so “soap-opera, hyper female and candy apple”. Lifetime became a weak and whiny slop fest for the weak and uneasy of reality. If you want meatier and ballsy entertainment, go to You Tube or order the great True-Stories from Amazon and other collections on-line. I had to build own Library of True-Story films that they have not shown again after this decade.For some reason, they began to cater to a weak ass audience of queasy folks who just cannot handle true reality (not reality television as this killed the true-story mini-series replaced by junk the like which is pathethic and bemoaning). 10 thumbs down for Lifetime and the sloppy mini-series aired in this generation as the actresses are so lame and one dimensional. YUCK!

By: Tina Anderson

Tina Anderson — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 11:21:04 +0000

I think the movie I’m interested in is called Midwest Obsession staring Kelly Martin.

By: Lesley

Lesley — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 04:59:08 +0000

There was one that has been stuck in my mind for years that I saw once and have never seen on TV since. It was called “A Killing in a Small Town” and has Barbara Hershey as a woman who sleeps with a neighbor’s husband and when the wife finds out and confronts her, she kills the wife with an axe. She claims it was self defense because the wife attacked her first. It was pretty graphic, showing blood all over the laundry room. It was based on a true story and not much was changed except names and even the killer’s first name remained the same. The real case is that of killer and Texas housewife Candy Montgomery and the victim, Betty Gore. The court scene was pretty memorable too; Candy wouldn’t show any emotion at her trial until they bring out the axe, then she freaks out. Crazy stuff.

By: thomas wyatt

thomas wyatt — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:32:52 +0000

IN A CHILDS’S NAME was one of the better Lifetime movies: everyone loved the luminol scene and the insane trial in Indiana. The film is based on a NY TIMES series on the case. DEADLY MATRIMONY, with Brian Dennehy, Treat Williams, and Embeth Davitz (afterward on SCHIBDLER’S LIST!), was another excellent one. FATAL VISION is another fact-based classic…CHILD OF RAGE is also simply amazing: some of these are as good or better than theatrical movies.

By: carolann

carolann — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:53:09 +0000

I have been trying to find the movie called NIGHTMARE IN COLUMBIA COUNTY. True story of killer Larry Gene Bell. It used to be popular on LMN or Lifetime, which I don’t either in Canada. Anyone know where I can find it????