This movie made me very sad because it was a true story. Patty Duke's acting in this film is absolutely excellent and at times gave me a lump in my throat, what an incredibly strong character, to have lost her only child to murder then have to fight for her son's widow to be brought to justice and to seek custody of her grand-daughter, what an incredibly strong woman. Dusty was very lucky to have such a sweet, loving, caring husband and to have him murdered was an evil act and I am glad she got what was coming to her. At the end of the film where Dusty is sentenced and when Mary and Jack are alone in the courtroom, I had tears in my eyes when Mary turned to Jack and said : "I wish Chris was here, I want to hold him in my arms and say you can rest now Mum and Dad have taken care of everything", poor Mary and Jack losing that precious boy, but at least they have little Christine to help them go on and at least they got the justice they needed, this was an excellent film with great acting especially from Patty Duke.

... I just perused these comments for the first time ... to ALL of you who doubted the validity of these characters and events-portrayed ; you could NOT be more wrong ... this movie is dead-nuts ACCURATE ... one possible stray-from-truth : a slight negative pallor was assigned upon Ada,OK ... the town itself was neither mean-hearted nor an obstacle to justice ... just a small group of residents (mostly her family and misguided friends) ... other than that, this movie is ALL TRUTH and ACCURACY throughout ... right down to that dishwater-haired older sister of hers ... the actress looked exactly like that sister ... you only got a "glimpse" of her mean-spirited angst ... but , trust me ... every fact in this movie is just that: FACT ... how do I know ? ... my name was mentioned in a courtroom scene mid-movie ... they had caught her in lies about her past ... an attorney questioned her about "forest" ... "dusty" was my ex-wife ... I was fortunate enough to win custody of our daughter when she was six-months old ... "dusty" then decided to join the Marines and move to Carolina ... the rest is history ... 'nuff said ,,, "forest"

I just finished watching this movie on Lifetime. I must have seen it 15 or 20 times, but it is truly one of those movies that seems to get better each time. Patty Duke, and the program itself, were not only robbed of Emmys, but also of nominations. It is an ongoing injustice with the TV Academy. A miracle of some sorts was made with this movie. It was produced in the middle of the true crime tv-movie phase, where one movie looked like another, but this one stands apart on its own.

If you are a fan of Ms. Duke's or of real gutsy characters, check this one out!