In the new ABC News Studios docuseries Murder Has Two Faces, hosted by Robin Roberts, each episode takes a look at a not-very-well-publicized murder case that was eerily similar to one that got a tremendous amount of publicity and news coverage within a few months or a couple of years. The publicized cases were ones we couldn’t avoid, like the disappearances of Laci Peterson and Chandra Levy, but the fact that they were similar to cases that happened a few months or a couple of years earlier was less publicized.
Opening Shot: Pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay. Then we see Robin Roberts walking along the bay, talking to Mayra Escobar, best friend of Evelyn Hernandez.
The Gist: In the first episode, the May, 2002 disappearance of Evelyn Hernandez, just days before she was due to give birth, as well as her 5-year-old son Alex, is examined. The famous case that it is similar to is the disappearance of Laci Peterson in December of the same year. Both women were pregnant, and both women’s bodies were found in the bay months after their disappearances. In the case of Peterson, her unborn son was found nearby; Hernandez’s baby was never found, and Alex is also still considered missing.
Hernandez’s case only got publicity via a concerted effort by her friends and family to get the word out about her being missing. Of course, we all know about Peterson’s case; over 20 years later, there are still docuseries being made about the explosive case, especially with regards to her husband Scott Peterson, who is currently serving a life sentence for her murder. When Laci disappeared, though, Hernandez’s case bubbled back up in the media because of the two cases’ similarities.
The second episode examines the disappearance and death of Joyce Chiang, who vanished after leaving her Washington, DC apartment in January, 1999. When Chandra Levy disappeared two-and-a-half years later, in May 2001, the similarities to Chiang case were publicized, to the point that there was speculation that there was a serial killer in DC. The problem was, according to Chiang’s brother Roger, when Joyce initially disappeared, the case didn’t get nearly the media or police attention Levy’s case did. The third episode compares the Tagged Killer to the more notorious Craigslist Killer.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Murder Has Two Faces pretty much has the same feel as ABC News’ signature true crime newsmagazine, 20/20.
Our Take: The first two episodes of Murder Has Two Faces don’t hesitate to examine the reasons why Hernandez’ and Chiang’s cases didn’t get nearly the amount of media attention that Peterson’s and Levy’s cases got. The episodes pay more than just lip service to the idea that the news media of the time was fascinated with cases involving the disappearances and/or deaths of young, pretty white women, and the coverage of cases involving women of color was lacking.
One of the experts interviewed in the first episode even calls the phenomenon out for what it is, saying it’s “missing white woman syndrome.” Laci Peterson was looked at as “innocent” and “in need of our protection,” while Hernandez was looked at as engaging in risky behavior that contributed to her fate. It didn’t help that Scott Peterson was out front with the press as the investigation into his wife’s death progressed, while the person of interest in Hernandez’s case, her boyfriend Herman Aguilera (who was never arrested; in fact, Hernandez’s case is still unsolved) never spoke to the media.
Roberts’ presence in the series is interesting, as she’s seen interviewing one key person in each case. In the first two episodes, it’s Hernandez’s friend Mayra Escobar; in the second episode, it’s Roger Chiang. She does her usual good job of connecting with her interviewee and empathizing with them while still asking thought-provoking, probing questions.
But she’s not in the rest of the documentary; all of the other interviews are done by the director, Lisa Cortes, or one of the other journalists who worked on each episode. In the “olden days” of true-crime docuseries, the presence of Roberts may have been needed to legitimize or bring attention to these stories, but in this modern era, where interviews are done by off-camera producers, seeing a star journalist on-camera feels weirdly old fashioned.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Escobar tells Roberts that “we want them home,” referring to Evelyn’s sons Alex and Fernando (the name given to the son that she was due to give birth to when she disappeared).
Sleeper Star: Amara Cofer, one of the experts interviewed in the first two episodes, had a really good perspective on just why coverage for the respective cases profiled was so different.
Most Pilot-y Line: Aside from the strange lack of Robin Roberts besides the one interview in each episode, we didn’t find anything.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Murder Has Two Faces succeeds in giving attention to cold cases that should have gotten more media and law enforcement attention when they initially happened, especially given how similar cases that happened in the same timeframe were covered.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
Read the full article here
