Murder Ordained

I know Tom Bird personally, he has been going to my church since he got out on parole. It came as a shock to me that we had a convicted murderer in my church when i found out in early high school. I don't know about Lorna, but Tom currently works at a catering business owned by a couple at church. He and his wife were also teaching the Sunday school class for high schoolers, i haven't been for a while so i don't know if they are still doing that or not. His wife is also the principal of the private school at the church. It is up to you to decide if he is innocent or guilty, and i don't have all the information, i haven't even read the whole book or seen the movie, but he is a very very weird man and i would not doubt he was guilty. He gave me the creeps from the very first time i met him, even before i realized who he was. It is some pretty freaky stuff to have a felon in your church.

I spent ten years working at the correctional facility where both Tom Bird and Lorna Anderson did their time. Lorna was transferred when the female inmates were all sent to Topeka, but Tom Bird remained at Lansing Correctional Facility for his entire incarceration. The resemblance between the real Tom Bird and the actor was amazing. However, the children, especially the youngest girl could have been related. I remember one time feeling especially bad when the children flew in from another state to visit their father, I was working the visiting room at the time, and saw that the movie was playing on a local channel about the time the kids probably got to their motel. They would visit their father for 5 days in a row since they were so far away. The actors that played Tom Bird's parents were uncanny in their looks and actions as well. I suppose this did much to explain my high marks for the movie. I have seen many docu-dramas depend on sensationalism, but this one played it close to the vest, and really did get the point across about the relationship between the two. Unfortunately the movie was made before Lorna Anderson was convicted of her husband's death or before Tom Bird re-married. He was paroled just last year. I am hopeful there will be no cause to make a sequel about the murder of yet another Sandra Bird. Keith Carradine and Kathy Bates were excellent as well in the movie. Their performance was every bit as good as a huge production rather than a made for TV movie. They should all be commended for such good work. It is just sad that no studio will release this excellent work on DVD and the only way to see it is to catch it on late night TV.

I went to college at Emporia State and actually had classes with someone involved with the case. After watching the movie it made it seem more real and close to home. I would recommend it to those who think all religious people are perfect. This one goes to show even the mighty can fall. The city still has not gotten over the popularity and close knit ties that are still there in Emporia. The movie was a sore spot to a lot of people and to mention anything about the case will draw a lot of undue attention. The places are real and accurate except for the offices where the Sheriff Dept is. I would recommend this movie because it is accurate to a point and very real and really happened.

I think this movie is excellent. I have followed this case for many years now and I have spoken to Dave Racer thru e-mail who wrote the book about this case and he was strongly trying to get me to see the other side. I read the book, I have seen the movie and I still feel the movie was accurate. I often wondered what the trooper, John Rule thought of the book caged bird and I just finished reading a newspaper article from 2004 that stated he did in fact read the book and he said he was even more convinced of what he believed to have happened. I warred with myself for years over Tom Bird's guilt or innocence and I personally believe he was somehow involved if not directly. The movie is dramatized in places but I think anybody can tell by watching it, that some places are speculation and not fact but I think it was pretty darn accurate even with the dramatization.

This movie, I feel, is so true to life. It is one of those movies that grips you so deeply that is stays with you long after you have seen the movie. I keep wanting new information on the real people who committed this crime and I feel a movie that causes someone to do that is excellent. I thought some of the acting in it was a little over done, but all in all I think this movie deserves a 10 rating.