Murder on Middle Beach. Loss, lies, murder, and love
Murder on Middle Beach traces the Hamburg family story; At the heart, the cold-case of Barbara Hamburg, brutally murdered in front of her home in 2010
The individual story of Barbara Hamburg’s, Madison Hamburg’s mother’s, murder in 2010 at the home she rented on the water, is Madison’s opus. Murder on Middle Beach, the true story of the Hamburg family, is available on HBO and HBO Max. It is a one-of-a-kind documentary, which chronicles the timeline of his mother’s life and the family’s immense loss.
A devastating tale I’ve re-watched a few times now, and still can’t get over. The opening montage family footage of Barbara Hamburg and an adolescent Madison overlaid with audio from long ago. The rest of the series opens with the same audio laid over the buried depths of the family, literally, a family timeline/tree that unfolds as small figurines buried deep underground.
In the first of four segments, Madison explains to his family what he has been doing since his mother’s death, trying to find out what happened. It’s titled ‘Mom’s Dead.’ He taps his father Jeffrey Hamburg first, who was suspected in his mother’s death, never completely cleared but not held accountable nonetheless. Initially met with obstinance, and claiming the ongoing investigation and legal matters, Jeffrey is irritated Madison wants to talk about his mother. Eventually, they do talk — all of it documented in audio by Madison’s team — Jeffrey blames a scam she was involved in, which Madison was unaware of, for her death. Through their hard-knock relationship Madison re-lives the memories surrounding 2010, the year the family distanced and disconnected around the uncertainty and tragedy of Barbara’s death.
Madison untangles his mother’s life via interviews with relatives. They re-visit photographs and memories from the past dappled with questions about that day. News clips montage with his grandma, Conway, his sister Ali, and his Great Aunt.
The mystery around gifting tables is perhaps the most profound piece of the puzzle Madison uncovers. A pyramid scheme run by housewives in the nineties and early aughts. It’s revealed Barbra had a hand in the tables, and while it is unclear if there are any connections, it seems impossible that there aren’t. Anytime one human takes advantage of another over with money involved, things get ugly.
Barbara wasn’t the only one in the family involved in the gifting tables, her sister was too. Conway, who has a majority of the footage of the family, was involved in the schemes as well. Moreso though, she and Ali are the ones who discovered Barbara’s body on the morning she was murdered. Conway’s thoughts on who could have killed her sister are heavy and hard to watch and you can see how the family devolved around suspicion and blame.
Madison’s investigation into the investigation of the cold case concerning his mother crosses over with the official investigation. Madison records every conversation with law enforcement, as they were unwilling to give an actual interview for the documentary.
When he sets up the first interview with detectives on the case the second after he hangs up he says, “what if we record it.?”
Off-camera the producer says ‘risky.’ Madison grins.
Cops get stymied where journalists and documentarians, more recently podcasts, have had huge successes.
The documentary ends up gaining Madison his family back. Countless interviews about his mother’s murder and their shared trauma reconnected his entire family. The painful chapter that’s still not closed. An extreme accomplishment, incredibly hard to do in the best of times.
When you lose someone without saying goodbye, it haunts you. To lose a parent to murder is an endless poltergeist for those left behind. The investigation on Madison’s end didn’t complete with the airing of the documentary. He has been working on the case still, and you can follow his work on his Facebook page.
