Family Sins

While the acting isn't superb in this made-for-television movie, the events occurring in it are excellent. This true story involves a prominent woman in the community, played by Kirstie Alley, that betrays single, struggling mothers. She manipulates one woman and has her and her daughter live in her rental property and she turns around and burns the house down, getting the woman to move into her own home. She locks the woman in the basement and raises her daughter as her own, teaching her to lie to social workers and steal from department stores. When the girl grows up, and has the baby of Kirstie Alley's son, she then goes to the police to help free her mother. But the story doesn't end here. Even in jail, Kirstie Alley wreaks havoc upon the lives of this mother, daughter, and grandson, both mentally and physically. Excellent movie, a must-see true life story.

That was the best movie I have seen on TV in a very long time. We were just discussing this at work. I hope we see Kirstie Alley in more made for TV movies. She played a very convincing part and made us all very afraid of her. I must say that I haven't seen anything like it in a long time. I would like to see something on what has happened to this family since then. I really hate to find out that there are things like this going on and yet I realize that it does happen. I am really proud of the family members that stood up to her in the end. It was very courageous. Thank you for making us more aware of this type of thing and I hope everyone involved in this is doing well.

Hi..I am from Rhode Island and watched the movie. I vaguely remember hearing about this when it was discovered.

BUT what surprised me the most was....in 2001 I hired a contractor to build an addition for me. He seemed like a nice enough guy and price was reasonable, (I called 7 companies and only got 3 prices..seemed like no one wanted to work).

I had no idea who Raymond Burt was....well I found out at the end of the movie when I saw him and his family on the clips of them in the court room. What a shock that was.

It was hard to imagine what the hell his life must have been like with a mother like his. He was pleasant and friendly and I would never have guessed what his family life was like. I can only hope he did what he did because his mother made him and not because he truly wanted to.

The completed job was OK...a couple of things were not to my liking but that was subcontractors faults and Ray made up for them.

Don't know where he is now or if still in business..but I hope he's not with his mother.....she is one scary BITCH!!!!!!

This is a very horrible sad and depressing TRUE STORY, which makes it even worse to view. Kirstie Alley,(Brenda Geck),"Back by Midnight",'02, put her heart and soul into this horrible role and made you hate her over and over again. Will Patton,(Philip Rothman),"The Agency",'01 TV Series, acted his usual calm ways and was soft spoken, but very powerful in his building a case against Brenda Geck. It is a shame that such a person did exists and did so much mental and physical harm too so very many people's lives. It is a great film to alert the general public as to what can actually happen in their own neighborhoods or even your next door friend. It was nice to see Kirstie Alley give such a great performance in this very sick TRUE STORY!

This was such a terrible story. If it hadn't been Kirstie Alley playing this despicably cruel character, I don't think I could have watched it.

This seemed like a normal family, respected by the community because of their charity efforts, and because the parents took in so many foster children. But the Geck children, and the foster children, were forced to steal, and the Gecks owned apartment buildings which mysteriously caught fire when certain tenants didn't pay rent. And the disabled mother of one foster child was kept locked in the basement.

Kathleen Wilhoite did such a good job as a girl treated so harshly she apparently couldn't feel pain any more. She seemed almost happy with her life because she didn't know any better. That was just sad.

I'm not sure which would have been worse: that these people were real, or that someone could have been sick enough to make up this story. The story, unfortunately, was true. I wish it hadn't been. Still an entertaining presentation.