I am from the area where these gruesome murders occurred and watched it all play out in real life. Keep that in mind as you read this.
First... this documentary did an excellent job of telling this story. The filmmakers laid it out exactly how it was. They could have dived more into the "voodoo" (ie satanic panic) that was already prevalent in Central VA at the time and got worse because of the murders, but otherwise, the facts were told well.
Second...John Grisham had nothing to do with this case. His presence in this documentary was pointless. Other than to establish some random celebrity support for Jens.
Third.... Jens and Elizabeth were both convicted. Elizabeth ultimately owned at least part of her involvement via plea deal. Jens was guilty by conviction. The vast majority of locals at that time, believed both parties were at the murder scene and actively participated in the crime. Locals continue believing that to this day. That is not an unreasonable belief. Locals still remember because it was the worst murder to date that we had ever seen or heard of.
Fourth...it's important to remember that in those days, there wasn't DNA analysis, forensic units everywhere, cameras everywhere. While it is considered that some of the police work was shoddy by today's standards, they likely did the best they could given the year, their training, and the absence of anything like that ever happening in Central VA prior to 1985.
Overall this documentary was done well. *Personal thought*.... It disturbs me that Jens has become some kind of falsely imprisoned folk hero in Germany. I would have liked for no part of that to have been included in this documentary. Jens did it. Elizabeth did it. They are both extremely manipulative and intellectually brilliant people who comitted a horrible crime. They never should have been paroled.
Recommend watching.
First... this documentary did an excellent job of telling this story. The filmmakers laid it out exactly how it was. They could have dived more into the "voodoo" (ie satanic panic) that was already prevalent in Central VA at the time and got worse because of the murders, but otherwise, the facts were told well.
Second...John Grisham had nothing to do with this case. His presence in this documentary was pointless. Other than to establish some random celebrity support for Jens.
Third.... Jens and Elizabeth were both convicted. Elizabeth ultimately owned at least part of her involvement via plea deal. Jens was guilty by conviction. The vast majority of locals at that time, believed both parties were at the murder scene and actively participated in the crime. Locals continue believing that to this day. That is not an unreasonable belief. Locals still remember because it was the worst murder to date that we had ever seen or heard of.
Fourth...it's important to remember that in those days, there wasn't DNA analysis, forensic units everywhere, cameras everywhere. While it is considered that some of the police work was shoddy by today's standards, they likely did the best they could given the year, their training, and the absence of anything like that ever happening in Central VA prior to 1985.
Overall this documentary was done well. *Personal thought*.... It disturbs me that Jens has become some kind of falsely imprisoned folk hero in Germany. I would have liked for no part of that to have been included in this documentary. Jens did it. Elizabeth did it. They are both extremely manipulative and intellectually brilliant people who comitted a horrible crime. They never should have been paroled.
Recommend watching.