For these which might be keen on true-crime tales, Netflix is a veritable cornucopia of documentaries within the style. Should you’re in search of a must-see, although, the place do you begin among the many dozens of entries on the streamer? For each acclaimed documentary, like Worst Ex Ever, there is a dud, like Worst Roommate Ever. One which simply falls into the previous is Woman within the Image, a 2022 entry by acclaimed director Skye Borgman, who helmed the well-received, chilling 2017 documentary Kidnapped in Plain Sight. It options the tragic story of Tonya Hughes, a younger lady who died in 1990, the sufferer of a hit-and-run, and how her dying opened up an investigation right into a horrifying, deeply disturbing historical past that may take many years to uncover.

A Easy Hit-And-Run Is Something however in ‘Woman within the Image’

The documentary begins with the aforementioned hit-and-run case, the place 23-year-old Tonya was discovered on the aspect of a service street off of Oklahoma Metropolis’s I-35 in April 1990, and additionally serves because the entry level in actual life into the twisted historical past of Tonya, her 41-year-old husband Clarence Hughes, and their 2-year-old son, Michael. Clarence hadn’t been anxious about her, given her irregular schedule as a stripper, and promptly added an indication saying “No Guests” to the room door. That in itself was odd, however when docs caring for Tonya famous the presence of pre-existing accidents along with the anticipated cuts and bruising that may have come from such an occasion, Clarence discovered himself beneath suspicion. After Tonya’s dying a number of days later, Clarence, per E! Information, positioned Michael in foster care and fled, turning suspicion into one thing extra. How way more would slowly be uncovered after a few of Tonya’s pals referred to as up her household to pay their respects, solely to be taught from her mom that her Tonya had died 20 years in the past as an 18-month-old. Tonya wasn’t Tonya, nor was she 23, however 20, and Clarence, most decidedly, was not Clarence.

Clarence was truly ex-convict turned fugitive Franklin Delano Floyd, who was arrested in June 1990 for violating his parole. Two years later, Franklin, launched in 1993, would resurface when the foster household who had taken in Michael started adoption proceedings. He fought for custody earlier than storming into Michael’s elementary college on September 12, 1994, taking Michael at gunpoint and fleeing within the principal’s truck. FBI Particular Agent Joe Fitzpatrick, who’s interviewed within the documentary, was introduced in to steer the kidnapping investigation and realized that Franklin was a suspect in Tonya’s dying. Footage of Tonya, Michael, and Franklin have been launched publicly. Solely folks did not know them as Tonya, Franklin, or Clarence, however as Sharon Marshall and her father, Warren.

The Investigation Finds Twists and Turns Relationship Again Years in ‘Woman within the Image’

What’s initially placing from this level is how the documentary would not play out in a linear style, however that’s much less a creative resolution than it’s a mirror of how the investigation itself unfolded, and to search out out who Tonya was become discovering out who Sharon Marshall was. As Jenny Fisher recounts, Sharon was a good friend of hers at highschool in Georgia, an exceptionally vivid younger lady, an honors pupil who had earned a scholarship to Georgia Tech. She additionally knew firsthand in regards to the abuse Sharon suffered by the hands of her “father,” recalling an occasion the place he raped Sharon at gunpoint one evening when Jenny was sleeping over, with Sharon telling her afterward, “Daddy’s identical to that. I am OK, you are OK, simply let it go.” Shortly after, Sharon and her father moved to Tampa, the place Warren pressured Sharon into intercourse work, ensuring she was accessible for events at an area grownup membership, and telling her to supply intercourse providers to males for 50 {dollars}. Tampa is the place Sharon gave delivery to Michael (her “dad” was not the daddy) and can be the place a good friend of Sharon’s on the membership, Cheryl Ann Comesso, was murdered, which might be traced again to Floyd, who was charged in 1997 and sentenced to dying in 2002.

It was in 1989, Fitzpatrick explains in Woman within the Image, that Warren and Sharon Marshall, father and daughter, received married in New Orleans as Clarence and Tonya Hughes, husband and spouse, however it would not be till 2014 when the final two items of the puzzle have been put into place. Per The Unbiased, FBI Particular Agent Scott Lobb, in a heated trade with Floyd in jail, would hear Floyd confess to killing Michael after the kidnapping and, lastly, disclose Sharon Marshall’s actual title: Suzanne Sevakis. In 1974, Floyd, beneath the title Brandon Williams, met single mom Sandi Chipman at a truck cease in North Carolina. The pair married and moved to Dallas, however after a quick stint in jail for passing unhealthy checks in 1975, Sandi returned residence to search out Brandon had taken her 4 youngsters. Three have been discovered, however the fourth, 7-year-old Suzanne, would not be discovered till that fateful day in 1990.

Should you’re anticipating to look at Woman within the Image and discover out about Franklin Floyd, you will not. Director Borgman, with nice care and respect, leaves the give attention to the victims of Floyd’s crimes, largely leaving any exposition about Floyd to the info. It is a distinctive perspective that’s tied to a lady telling the tragic story of one other lady, recognizing that no matter influences led to Floyd’s sickening acts are insignificant compared to the pains he inflicted. It is undeniably respectful in that regard: a monster is simply that, a monster, and nothing can, or ever will, justify that.