Director's Statement
Three years ago I realized that I had a great opportunity to make a documentary about the Witman case. My father is the courthouse reporter for my town’s local newspaper. He has been covering the Witman case since October of 1998. I was always intrigued by the story and often wondered about the pain that the Witman parents must be suffering. For the most part the coverage of the case was very biased toward Zachary and the Witmans despite the crime scene and investigation being absolutely mishandled. I followed the case as I grew up and never truly felt that the evidence against Zachary convicted him beyond reasonable doubt.
In 2010, my father published a 3-page spread in the newspaper called “Take a Second Look.” The article showed the Witmans side of the story for the first time in twelve years of coverage. I was 20 years old, and I remember thinking about the horrible possibility that Zachary could be innocent. My mother turned my attention to the Witman parents when she said, “I wouldn’t be able to go on after something like that.” Somehow they did and still are pushing through life, after suffering through the most horrible events one could suffer through as a parent.
I researched editorials in the newspaper archives and searched the internet in order to find things that people had said about the parents. I wanted to know what the community thought of these people. Some people were sympathetic saying things like “My heart goes out to those poor parents.” Others were not as kind, some would say terribly ignorant things, “Ron and Sue were raising those kids with their heads in the sand” or “the parents are even crazier then the son.” In my fathers article Sue was quoted talking about how people would tell her to “move on” or “isn’t it time to get on with your life?” I found these statements to be so unbelievable ignorant and uncaring to the pain that these two people had and still are suffering through.
I wanted to see what their lives were like. I wanted to get to know them the way that these people who were writing these horrible things didn’t do. I wanted to make a portrait piece of Ron and Sue, show the film and say, “look, these people are just normal human beings stuck in the most terrible situation a parent could ever be in.”
In 2010, my father published a 3-page spread in the newspaper called “Take a Second Look.” The article showed the Witmans side of the story for the first time in twelve years of coverage. I was 20 years old, and I remember thinking about the horrible possibility that Zachary could be innocent. My mother turned my attention to the Witman parents when she said, “I wouldn’t be able to go on after something like that.” Somehow they did and still are pushing through life, after suffering through the most horrible events one could suffer through as a parent.
I researched editorials in the newspaper archives and searched the internet in order to find things that people had said about the parents. I wanted to know what the community thought of these people. Some people were sympathetic saying things like “My heart goes out to those poor parents.” Others were not as kind, some would say terribly ignorant things, “Ron and Sue were raising those kids with their heads in the sand” or “the parents are even crazier then the son.” In my fathers article Sue was quoted talking about how people would tell her to “move on” or “isn’t it time to get on with your life?” I found these statements to be so unbelievable ignorant and uncaring to the pain that these two people had and still are suffering through.
I wanted to see what their lives were like. I wanted to get to know them the way that these people who were writing these horrible things didn’t do. I wanted to make a portrait piece of Ron and Sue, show the film and say, “look, these people are just normal human beings stuck in the most terrible situation a parent could ever be in.”