Katie Green and Carlye Rubin’s documentary, which aired on Investigation Discovery, tells the story of an incomprehensible tragedy. The focus is on Charity Lee, a restaurant worker in Abilene, TX, whose life was shattered in February 2007. While Lee was working a night shift on Super Bowl Sunday at her Buffalo Wild Wings job, she received a telephone call from the police informing her that her 13-year-old son Paris had choked and stabbed his 4-year-old sister Ella to death. This was not the first time that violence destroyed Lee’s family: when she was a child, her father was murdered and her mother was arrested under suspicion of being behind the crime. Paris, who has a 141 IQ, initially claimed that his sister was demonically possessed, but later admitted that he had also considered killing his mother. Lee, who maintains a strained relationship with her mother, had another child after Ella’s death. Paris, who is incarcerated, will be eligible for parole in 2027, and Lee—who is still in touch with him—worries about how he will react to a new half-sister. Both Lee and Paris are remarkably articulate in their interviews, detailing the horror of the past while voicing apprehension over what the future will bring. A provocative and often disturbing portrait of grief and suffering, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)
The Family I Had
(2017) 80 min. DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $24.95. FilmRise (avail. from www.amazon.com). Volume 33, Issue 5
The Family I Had
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