Directed by Skye Borgman, the documentary film “Girl In The Picture: Crime in abyss” tells the mysterious story of a kidnapping victim who, despite herself, becomes the wife of her kidnapper.
In Netflix’s long list of – often sordid – documentaries, there are many surprises. One of the most recent is Girl In The Picture: Crime in the Abyss by Skye Borgman. A story worthy of the greatest thrillers and with multiple twists. The film focuses on a strange unknown case in France, that of a young woman with multiple identities and trapped by an executioner.
It all begins one April evening in 1990, when the body of a blonde-haired stripper is discovered on the side of a road in Tulsa, a city in Oklahoma. The 21-year-old victim was reportedly hit by a car. She leaves behind a son, Michael. The authorities reveal her identity, her name is Tonya Hughes.
All suspicion falls on her husband, Clarence, a man described as strange and violent. For the friends and colleagues of the young woman, it is a shock. For the police, it’s the beginning of a long, unbelievable investigation.
TONYA HUGHES OR SHARON MARSHALL?
When investigators contact her mother, she reveals that her own daughter died a long time ago when she was still a child. Tonya Hughes is ultimately only one of the many false names borrowed by the victim. The surprises continue, four years later, when his face is broadcast on television news. A former classmate this time recognizes her friend… Sharon Marshall. She remembers her and her abusive father, Warren Marshall.
netflix Tonya Hughes/Sharon Marshall during her teenage years.
It is indeed the same person. Only, Sharon – or Tonya – is the victim of an executioner who kidnapped her when she was 4 years old. This man first pretends to be his father – Warren Marshall -, before deciding, years later, to become her husband – Clarence Hughes.
A prisoner, the young woman has no choice but to follow her captor. To go unnoticed, they move and change identities by taking names spotted on cemetery graves. A way for them not to usurp the identity of people who are still alive.
Girl In The Picture – title which refers to this photo of the victim, child, sitting on the knees of her kidnapper – pays tribute to this woman, whose real name was Suzanne Marie Sevakis. Director Skye Borgman – who has already signed the documentary Abducted In Plain Sight, also available on Netflix – does not deliver a sensationalist and voyeuristic film. She decides, on the contrary, to do him justice by telling his story, the real one.
Girl In The Picture: Deep Crime is available on Netflix.