Girl in the Picture

Who was Michael's father? DNA testing ruled out Warren Hughes. Who was Megan's father? It seems odd if Sharon was never allowed much freedom that she could have had 2 pregnancies by other men.

This is an utterly awful story and that is what makes it captivating. I didn't think the film itself was anything remarkable and am perplexed at the reviews that mark it out as a different way of presenting a real life tragedy. The film was well done and it did spend time trying to bring things together to give the subject respect and a sense of closure for the family but if I am honest I think that is a mechanism for making the voyeurism of this kind of film palatable.

It was not in and of itself a remarkable bit of film making.

I enjoy documentaries and am fascinated mainly by what motivates these crimes, how we can spot clues to these kind of behaviour etc but I am more than a little concerned that Netflix seems to be becoming known for glamourising this genre, reading reviews of how amazing it was left me wondering if we are so detached from the fact that it is real we are becoming numb to real life horror and are we getting used to dining out on other peoples misery?

A young woman dies in an Oklahoma City from the injuries she has received in a hit and run. The doctors and police suspect foul play, but it isn't until they don't find out that she isn't who she says she is that the mystery begins to unfold. Slowly, but surely, the horror of her life unfolds.

This is one of the best, and most well constructed, documentaries, I have ever seen. The director tells the story in the chronology that the police and the FBI a discover it. The result is the stomach churning story of sociopath and the damage he has done.

See it because his victims deserve to have their stories told, but, beware, that is disturbing.

It's a really disturbing story and you will lose faith in humanity if you watch it. And if you believe in God, you will question your beliefs on that too.

Yet the girl was admirable, to get a full scholarship to a top engineering program despite dealing with so much abuse.

Society failed her. If somebody at some point had intervened and asked the right questions and spoken to the law enforcement, she could have been saved.

Full credit to FBI for pursuing the case till the end. Teen pregnancies should be actively discouraged. If you cannot support your kids or give them a good life, please don't have kids. The mother is the real criminal here. She had no business having 3 kids living in a trailer and highly irresponsible marrying a stranger she just met. She should be jailed with the psychopath.

Netflix crime documentaries are usually too long, and spread needlessly over multiple episodes. This feature-length doc is too short, and could have done with an extra couple of hours too tell more about the real parents, Michael's possible father, and the little brother "Philip" who was abducted with the three sisters at the beginning, and who (according to Wikipedia) showed up in 2019.

A very good documentary, nonetheless, and one that I will remember for a long time.