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Glittering-Bad-7802 t1_j3sroq3 wrote

Where did you begin first in starting your investigations for the documentary? How did you pick which students you focused on besides Andy?

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abcnews OP t1_j3ssxa8 wrote

We started by compiling a list of cases that weren't just random murders of college students, but where the college environment, culture, location, relationships, etc had played a significant role. We then started by reaching out to the families or representatives for the family to gauge interest, and see whether they saw potential value in sharing their loved one's story (often focusing on families who, like that of Yeardley Love or Samantha Josephson, went on to start foundations or nonprofit organizations). We only wanted to pursue cases where the family was in support of what we were doing.

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Nina-Del-Rey4230 t1_j3swebd wrote

How do you deal with the families that do not want to be involved due to it being for media yet are critical to your investigation.?

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abcnews OP t1_j3sxm9f wrote

In most cases, if the family didn't want to be involved we chose to shelve that story and pursue others instead. Out of the six episodes in season one, there is only one episode where we didn't interview family members, which is Michael Deng. In that case, it was our understanding through family representatives/contacts that the parents are supportive of efforts to share their son's story, but just personally are no longer able to handle the stress of interviews. So we still moved forward with the story, and just leaned on people like Doug Fierberg, who worked with the family during that time.

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