MURDER OF INNOCENCE (TV)
Summary
This made-for-television film is based on the true-crime story of Laurie Dann. The story begins as dozens of armed policemen assemble outside a suburban home, inside which a frantic Laurie Wade has barricaded herself. Sometime in the past, Matthew Wade spots Laurie working as a waitress and asks her out. She seems nervous upon meeting his friends and family, but the relationship progresses happily and the two eventually marry. Laurie's behavior turns strange almost immediately, however; she panics when faced with simple tasks and invents a story about a car accident when she arrives late to babysit her niece and nephew. Her disturbing actions escalate as she prepares for a visit from Matthew's parents, and he comes home to find their bedroom wrecked with angry messages scrawled on the walls and Laurie hiding in the closet, threatening him with a knife. They meet with a doctor and she admits that she gets "confused," though Matthew protests that their problems go beyond typical marriage woes. She soon secures an office job and suggests that they should have a baby, though she has trouble socializing at work and deliberately destroys her keyboard. At a family picnic, Laurie plays happily with the children and Matthew questions her parents about her behavior, but they brush aside his worries, saying only that she was an "awkward" child and even had cosmetic surgery on her ears.
Matthew's sister Linda urges him to consider divorce, but he refuses, feeling responsible for her. Laurie soon tells her doctor that she "can't touch things" with her bare hands, and Matthew is surprised to learn that she quit her job after only two days. He confronts her and finally admits that he cannot cope with her behavior, and she moves back in with her parents at his behest. After some time, however, she returns home and vows to do better, and Matthew accepts her back, though matters do not improve and she soon begins placing threatening calls to Linda and filling drawers with soaked clothes. She obsesses over the number seven, the inverse of her first initial, and Matthew begins researching mental illness, trying to find an answer. Eventually she ends up back with her parents, and though Matthew assures her that her "imbalance" can be chemically fixed, she continues harassing Linda and finally breaks back into Matthew's home and stabs him non-fatally with an ice pick as he sleeps. When the police question her, she denies everything and claims that it is one of his "tricks." Frustrated, Matthew tries to convince Detective Kendall of her dangerous insanity, but no solid evidence can be found linking her to the stabbing.
Laurie then buys a gun after imagining Matthew assaulting her in public, lying about her psychiatric history when asked. She finds a new apartment, claiming that she is a grad student, and her breakdown continues as she makes a "hit list" and develops an obsession with rotten meat, carrying it around with her and placing it around her home. Her father tries to downplay the matter, and though a worried Kendall tells his chief all about her extreme behavior and her purchase of the gun, little can be done because she has not committed a clear crime. Despite the mounting evidence of her instability, she advertises as a babysitter and secures a job caring for the Stevens children. Kendall carefully questions her about the gun, but she falsely claims that she put it in a safe deposit box at the bank. Mrs. Stevens soon releases her from her job because of a visiting relative, though she agrees to allow Laurie to take the children to a carnival.
Laurie bakes poisoned Rice Krispies treats and leaves spiked juice boxes at the homes of her perceived "enemies," though the Stevens children spit out the food upon tasting it. She takes them to a local school, saying that she wants to bring her niece and nephew along to the fair, and she wanders the halls before spotting room number seven. Seeing it as a message, she enters the classroom and begins to panic, flashing back to her own painful childhood and feeling a desire to kill the children who mocked her, and then realizes that she has shot several of the real students in the room. She flees the school, and Kendall arrives on the scene and learns from the Stevens boys that Laurie is the culprit. She enters a random home and takes a woman and her son, Phil, hostage, and Phil attempts to calm her down, worried about the impending arrival of his sisters. He eventually calls Laurie's mother and begs her to intervene, but Laurie shoots Phil and runs upstairs. Matthew and Laurie's parents arrive, and upon learning of her crimes, Laurie's mother admits that it might be better if Laurie did not survive the ordeal. Laurie's father desperately tries to contact her by phone, but she does not answer, and Kendall eventually storms the home with an assault team and finds Laurie dead of a self-inflicted gunshot in one of the bedrooms. The film concludes by explaining that one child died at the school, but six others lived, as did Phil, and the poisoned food was recovered without incident. New laws were created in Illinois barring violent offenders from purchasing guns, though doctors are still unsure about Laurie's precise diagnosis. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 30, 1993 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:32:54
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:57740
- GENRE: Drama, suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, suspense; Mental illness; Marriage
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 1993
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Stu Samuels … Executive Producer
- Judith A. Polone … Executive Producer
- Carroll Newman … Producer
- Tom McLoughlin … Co-Producer, Director
- Philip Rosenberg … Associate Producer, Writer
- Burt Burnam … Line Producer
- Joel Kaplan … Based on the book by
- George Papajohn … Based on the book by
- Eric Zorn … Based on the book by
- Don Davis … Music by
- Valerie Bertinelli … Cast, Laurie Wade
- Stephen Caffrey … Cast, Matthew Wade
- Graham Beckel … Cast, Det. Frank Kendall
- Jerry Hardin … Cast, Mort Webber
- Millie Perkins … Cast, Edna Webber
- Justin Whalin … Cast, Phil Andrew
- Anne Ramsay … Cast, Linda Keaton
- Steven Banks … Cast, John Walt
- Trishalee Hardy … Cast, Little Laurie
- Frank Novak … Cast, Super
- Charles Carroll … Cast, Diner
- Megan Cavanagh … Cast, Mrs. Stevens
- Albert Ash … Cast, Gunshop Owner
- Ron Joseph … Cast, Chief Lawton
- Whitney Rydbeck … Cast, Principal
- Tony Reitano … Cast, Mover
- Jill Ito … Cast, Office Worker
- Jim Phelman … Cast, Neil Wade
- Joyce Meadows … Cast, Carol Wade
- Kevin Lowe … Cast, Detective #1
- Robert Harvey … Cast, Detective #2
- Cynthia Kania … Cast, Policewoman
- Jay W. MacIntosh … Cast, Mrs. Andrew
- Shane Sweet … Cast, Peter Stevens
- Taylor Nix … Cast, Kyle Stevens
- Zachary Freeman … Cast, Willy Keaton
- Cassandra Friel … Cast, Lynne Keaton
- Jessica Frank … Cast, Queen Bee Girl #1
- Sandee Van Dyke … Cast, Queen Bee Girl #2
- Victoria Fairbrother … Cast, Park Mother #1
- Natalie Zimmerman … Cast, Park Mother #2
- Juanita Jennings … Cast
- Nancy McLoughlin … Cast
- John Scott Clough … Cast