‘My Killer Father’, Inside The Dark Truth Of Two Daughters, Three Dead Wives And Zero Evidence

My Killer Father: The Green Hollow Murders has been released on Paramount+ as a three part docuseries. It follows the story of Lucy Studey McKiddy who has alleged that her late father, Donald Studey had murdered a number of women and forced her to help dispose of the bodies as a child. However, now the questions have arisen: where are these bodies, if there were ever any at all?

What drew attention to the twisted tale of Lucy and her late father?

While initially, the film’s director, Aengus James admitted that he wrestled trusting the story from the beginning, as he dug deeper, he found out there was more to the story than met the eye, making it much harder to walk away. According to reports, the case first caught his attention when it made national headlines. However, it was the claims of “dozens of women” that had him hooked. James found himself intrigued by the pattern surrounding Donald’s wives’ demise. While two were ruled out as suicide, the third one raised questions. In a conversation with Gold Derby, James said:

“What really stuck for us immediately was that there were these three wives. All died, and he had made the 911 call for all three of them. We were in this position of, well, do we really become the investigators in this story? If we weren’t going to do this, it might not happen.”

Crossing ethical lines to get answers

Aengus James further admitted that his decision to make the film pushed them into unusual territory, including helping fund the exhumation of one of Donald’s wives. He revealed that to get to the bottom of things, he had to cross all sorts of lines, which was not something he was used to. However, it also helped them answer some of the key questions, including whether there was something to look into. 

Lucy’s compelling, polarising and unpredictable involvement in the film

The story revolved around a claim made by Lucy, while compelling her testimony was deeply polarising, even as it raised doubts. James admitted that Lucy was told she was liar most of her life, which made giving her a voice kind of amazing. However, working with her was far from simple. James recalled, “A lot of it…was absolutely infuriating. She’s incredibly demanding, incredibly distrustful.” The tension further boils over at the end of Episode 1, when Lucy explodes in anger, leading James to reassess her credibility. He stated:

“We were really on the receiving end of a lot of anger. It was like a switch…exactly the way people described her dad.”  

The difference between the trauma and the truth

He further added how separating trauma from truth proves to be difficult in this case. James shared how Lucy’s memories are vivid as to what happened, without fully understanding what she was doing. However, it often lack verifiable details like names or confirmed victims. 

Lucy’s claims have driven a wedge between her and her family

If Lucy is assertive her father was a serial killer, her sister, Susan, is certain that the entire story is fabricated, who according to James, “looks you in the eye and says, ‘He never even had a temper.'” The opposing statements by the two daughters was what made the entire situation even more confusing “for both to be seemingly at times inaccurate.” What further deepened the ambiguity was when a man came forward claiming he helped Donald carry a body into the woods. However, even he couldn’t identify the victims. The final blow came when Donald’s sister, Marilyn who once defended him delivers what she calls a “deathbed confession,” backing up parts of Lucy’s story while also making sweeping claims of her own allegeding “he might have killed a hundred.”

Myth, legend, and the Monster of Green Hollow

Stories about the Monster of Green Hollow had been circulating for decades, speaking to the mythology surrounding Donald Studey. James expressed how his biggest concern was to find out which parts of the legend were true. What was further interesting was the fact that Donald loved the lore around him, the result of which was a case where facts, memory, and exaggeration are nearly impossible to untangle. Even the investigation didn’t find much proof, despite days of excavation, the team is unable to locate the well Lucy insists contains bodies.

Additionally, the historical records confirmed that wells once existed on the property, but the terrain has changed significantly over time. The lack of answers raised another question: was something overlooked or intentionally ignored back then? Still, there are lingering unknowns, including a 612-page FBI file on Donald Studey that remains unreleased and accounts from family members who say they were told to “leave it alone.”  The docuseries touches on the possibility of a coverup with James explaining:

“I tend to believe that this was incompetence. They didn’t cross records…they didn’t look into it further. It was a different time. I tend to agree with what you said.”

The final confrontation between the sisters

The uncertainty and pileup comes to a big bang in the final episode when Lucy and Susan sit for a deciding chat. The scene is chaotic, emotional and revealing. However, he feels like there was more to the screaming that what met the eye. James encouraged the confrontation, knowing it might have forced the two sisters to engage directly, as he felt their stories were solid in isolation, but he wanted to see what would happen when they press each other. Unfortunately for James, neither backs down from their version of what happened. Nonetheless, the signs of fatigue in Susan were evident as she said, “Well, even if he did, you can’t prove anything.” It was at that moment that the story stopped being about the truth and became about “whether or not you’re proving it.”

all images: RedCarpetTrailers/YT

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