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‘Confronting a Serial Killer’ shows how journalist Jillian Lauren gave voice to marginalized victims

By Candice Williams Apr 14, 2021 | 12:00 PM
Courtesy of Starz

New York Times best-selling author Jillian Lauren teamed up with Emmy-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger and producer Po Kutchins for the shocking new Starz true-crime series Confronting a Serial Killer.

Centered on the most prolific serial killer in American history, Samuel Little, the five-episode series follows Lauren’s unrelenting pursuit to not only get Little to reveal his many crimes, but also his victims. Lauren tells ABC Audio Little was able to avoid justice for so many decades because his victims, who were marginalized women, were seen as “less than human” by the justice system.

“They weren’t humans to start with,” she explains. “It’s not just in death — their education system, the healthcare system, the way that we serve marginalized communities.”

It’s this specific examination of the flawed justice system that attracted producer Kutchins to the series. She says she felt an “enormous responsibility” to tell the victims’ stories.

“To give them this platform… to make sure that it’s told in a way that both shines light on what happened [and] allows that victim to be a whole person again,” Kutchins says. “Because [Little] erased that person… And they want the rest of the world to remember them not as a victim — but as that full whole human being.”

Berlinger agrees, applauding Lauren’s ability to get Little — who recently died in prison at the age of 80 — to divulge his crimes, which ultimately led to solving cold-case murders.

“I just was compelled by how Jillian was able to get this guy — who denied his crimes for decades — to feel comfortable to start revealing secrets,” Berlinger says. “The story itself is just such a window into problems that need fixing.”

Confronting a Serial Killer premieres Sunday, April 18 on at 9 p.m. ET. on Starz.

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