'Murder on Middle Beach' Episode 3: Barbara Hamburg's sister Conway Beach once planned to hire hitman to kill her
HBO's mini docuseries, 'Murder on Middle Beach', is nearing its end and as it does so, the circle of those who are suspected to have killed the filmmaker, Madison Hamburg's mother, Barbara Hamburg keep increasing, and yet, the circle still just includes members of the family. To recall, Barbara Hamburg was a 48-year-old woman, who was found bludgeoned to death outside her home on Middle Beach Road. The docuseries is a chronicle of Madison's return to his home as he is determined to understand the life of the mother he had lost and to uncover the truth about her death. The family's troubled history is explored and Madison questions whether learning the truth will provide closure or just more grief.
That grief is multiplied with this week's episode which is titled 'Sisters'. The title is possibly not just in reference to Barbara Hamburg and her sister, Conway Beach, but also Madison's sister, Ali Hamburg. That is, both the suspects featured in the episode are sisters of the mother and son respectively. One accuses the other, while the other refrains from doing the same. As we learn more about Conway Beach and her addictions, viewers might think it more likely that she could be the one who killed Barbara.
It was Conway who found Barbara's body after bringing Ali home from school when the latter said her mother was not responding to her texts. Conway recreates the scene as she explains to the camera what they first saw and how Conway came across her body. As they walked to the front door, they noticed that the dog statue placed in front of it was knocked over and broken. Ali notices her mother's purse and keys and when Conway reaches out to take them, Ali tries to stop her, saying it is a crime scene.
Perhaps this is why Conway suspects Ali of murdering Barbara, but Conway's own history with Barbara is not so clean. We already know that Barbara had been a recovering addict at the time she died. The sisters' father, Sandy Beach was also an alcoholic, who helped others recover after he himself recovered. Conway did not escape alcoholism herself -- so much so that her son, Tyler Benishek was neglected and remains grateful to Barbara for rescuing him. Tyler tells the camera that if it wasn't for Barbara, he would not know what would have become of him, and that he would not lead his kids down the same path his mother led him.
In 1996, when Conway's alcoholism was out of control, Barbara and her then-husband, Jeffrey Hamburg (Ali and Madison's father), drove down to Conway's house when she didn't respond to calls. They found that she was living with a pimp and using drugs, remaining very close to death. Jeffrey recalls that nearly all of the family told them to "let her die."
After the Hamburgs took Tyler home, Conway was resentful to her baby sister to whom she was once the closest. She was homeless and wanted to get the money out of her 401k for one purpose: to hire a hitman to kill Barbara, Jeffrey, and even Ali and Madison. She even went so far as to meet a supposed hitman at a hotel, but she got blackout drunk and woke up in her room sans her clothes and what little money she had. Conway believes that she snapped, and she tells Madison that she's not proud of it.
When Madison asks her how the sisters grew close again, she tells him that she went to live with Barbara and the kids (divorced from Jeffrey at this point) after she had surgery to remove a brain tumor. While Conway does not delve further into this, both Ali and their great-aunt, Jill Platt thinks that Conway was taking advantage of Barbara. We also learn that Barbara started taking part in the Gifting Tables scheme to cover for Conway.
When Barbara asked Conway to leave, the latter was resentful and went to live with Jill Platt's aunt, where she says she was when Barbara was killed. Madison asks his aunt if he killed her, but she says no and breaks into tears saying she protected his mother her whole life as best as Conway could. After the Gifting Tables scheme was investigated, we learn that Conway was accused of leaving dead rabbits on a victim's doorway. The victim also believed that Conway killed Barbara because Conway wanted her sister's life
Before the episode ends, Conway says if Ali did murder Barbara, Conway wants justice. She also breaks down and admits that she can't look at Ali because the latter looks too much like Barbara. Conway also tells Madison that for years after Barbara was killed, she would keep a hammer nearby.
'Murder on Middle Beach' airs on HBO on Sunday nights at 10/9c. The final episode will air on Sunday, December 6.