All actions have consequences. Victims rights are being overshadowed a bit right now with people clamoring for perpetrator forgiveness and redemption, but Investigation Discovery aims to address the effects that crime has on people in real life in the new series, Impact of Murder.
In our exclusive video below, we see the sister of Bill Freitag talk about the crime scene as he was burned alive in his family’s upstate New York farmhouse in what appeared to be an accident.
What the Impact of Murder clip does not show is that the childhood friend, Lawrence Tutt, assumed Bill’s identity to commit drug crimes and instead of coming clean, decided the best way to beat the charges he was facing was to kill Bill.
During the sneak peek, Bill’s sister, Carrie Freitag discusses the “tell” when she knew that the death was a murder and was not accidental.
While Van Jones may be riding the redemption wave on CNN with tales of reuniting criminals with the people they hurt in a movement called “restorative justice,” many high profile IDCon attendees were critical of the premise and off-the-record expressed to Monsters & Critics a lot of doubt as to the usefulness of having murderers ask victims’ families to forgive them.
Putting the victim at the forefront, Investigation Discovery’s new series Impact of Murder flips that script and utilizes the emotionally harrowing victim’s impact statement delivered in court as the driving storytelling technique.
How the show is structured
Through a victim’s own words, viewers are walked through the horror they endured or the significance of the life that was taken.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelThis is crucial because all the “I’m so sorry’s” of a criminal will not restore a life, an earner for the family or a loved one never to be seen again.
The series gives an acute understanding of the collateral damage – emotional and financial – of murder. It can be ruinous to a family and often times is the lead cause of throwing children into poverty.
What other crimes are covered?
The second episode (air date Sunday, July 21) is of the brutal murder of Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter, Lacie, and the attempted murder of her 3 -year-old son, Nicholas.
Evidence pointed to a neighbor’s boyfriend, Pervis Payne, of the crime. Charisse’s mother, Mary Zvolanek altered the judicial system. In 1991, Payne vs. Tennessee was the first case where the impact statements were allowed in the courts prior to sentencing. The result was described by ID as “seismic.”
Extras
There is a digital series, Impact Of Murder: After The Statement where lead contributors do a post-mortem from each episode and discuss how their lives have changed since facing down the killer.
The six to seven-minute episodes will publish on IDGO immediately following the linear premiere on Sundays at 11/10c, beginning on July 14.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js-couruCM0
Impact Of Murder premieres on Sunday, July 14 at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.