When Madison Hamburg was 11 years old, his parents Jeffrey and Barbara Hamburg bought him a Sony Handycam.
The gift arrived a day after they told Madison they were getting a divorce.
Although his parents didn’t know it at the time, that camcorder would change Madison’s life forever.
Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images
But Madison hopes viewers can look beyond the surface and see that this story is more than a whodunit.
While searching for answers about her life and her death, he ended up discovering himself.
“I don’t say this in the documentary…
HBO
I was a drug addict when my mom died,” Madison tells EW.
“First, I ran from accepting a world without her and then, I hit rock bottom.
But, I got sober.
I wanted to know who Barbara was.
Her body was found underneath outdoor furniture cushions by her sister Conway Beach and Madison’s younger sister Ali.
“I didn’t have a relationship with my dad when my mom died,” he explains.”
And when I came back to school [after her death] I was very much like an orphan.
In fact, he wouldn’t even meet with police as part of the investigation.
Desperately needing answers, Madison secretly recorded his father for the doc.
“I was aware of the consent laws in the states that I spoke to my father in.
It was a really tough decision for me,” Madison says.
Him not speaking to the police was an act of self-preservation, but I’m not the police.
I was offering him a unique opportunity but he didn’t take it.
There’s some ethical ambiguity there.
I did feel that without his voice the absence would be felt.
The relationship is in limbo at present, though he hopes it can be repaired in the future.
“And it’s really difficult to do because there’s a couple of different things going on there.
I want a dad.
My mom always wanted me to have a relationship with my dad.
I have his genetics.
This story is about identity and me finding what I’m most passionate about which is documentary filmmaking.
But it also helped me find empathy for family and understanding who my mom really was.
