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Girl On The Run: The Hunt For America’s Most Wanted Woman is a three-part docuseries, directed by Sebastian Smith, about the manhunt for Sarah Pender, who got a 110-year sentence for the 2000 murders of Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman, but ended up escaping prison in August, 2008.
GIRL ON THE RUN: THE HUNT FOR AMERICA’S MOST WANTED WOMAN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: An overhead shot of Rockville Correctional Facility in Indiana.
The Gist: After her August 2008 escape from Rockville, Sarah Pender ended up being on the run for over four months, only being caught when a neighbor recognized her on an episode of America’s Most Wanted. Pender, who maintains her innocence for the murders to this day, sits down for an interview, along with Richard Hull, who was her boyfriend at the time and got 90 years for pleading guilty to the killings.
All of the law enforcement people who are interviewed for the docuseries discuss how persuasive Pender was, describing her as a “female Charles Manson.” She could get people to do anything she wants, including convincing a corrections officer to drive her out of the prison gate in exchange for money and sex. She also persuaded a former cellmate and another former inmate that became her closest friend to help her both escape and stay hidden.
The docuseries is concentrated mostly on the escape and pursuit of Pender by the US Marshals, as well, but it also delves into Pender’s history, how she got involved with Hull, and the doubts that have crept in about her conviction.
Photo: ABC News StudiosWhat Shows Will It Remind You Of? Girl On The Run: The Hunt For America’s Most Wanted Woman is similar to other ABC News Studios docuseries, like Little Miss Innocent.
Our Take: The key to Girl On The Run (a truly terrible title, by the way) is the interview with Sarah Pender. For those who are familiar with her case, it shows people what she’s like now, seventeen years after her escape from prison. But to those not familiar with the case, it shows how utterly normal Pender seems. In essence, she looks like a middle-aged woman from Indiana, who might be working in the cubicle next to you or going to middle-school PTA meetings.
It’s hard to believe that this woman could be the Svengali-like persuader that law enforcement — and the news media, which initially made the Manson comparison — portrays her as. However, she was also able to get a corrections officer to torch his career and risk prison time — as well as get former fellow inmates to risk arrest — to help her escape and stay hidden.
It feels like Smith’s purpose is to show how resourceful Pender could be while she was on the run, but also cast doubt on her ultimate involvement in those murders as well as how a conviction was attained. It’s a lot to cover in three 45-minute episodes, and at times the take on the layers involved in the initial case and Pender’s escape feel like they could use more exploration.
Photo: ABC News StudiosPerformance Worth Watching: Without a doubt, the interview with Sarah Pender is fascinating to watch, mainly because she seems so, well, normal.
Sex And Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Sarah remembers hiding out in a motel room and hearing an unexpected knock on the door.
Sleeper Star: Rick Hull manages to quote the movie version of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas while discussing the drugs he used to deal out of his car. That was unexpected.
Most Pilot-y Line: The series leans too heavily on reenactments, especially given how much news footage there is from this case.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Girl On The Run: The Hunt For America’s Most Wanted Woman takes on a bit too much in its relatively short runtime, and doesn’t really go into much depth about Sarah Pender or the murder case. But the interview with the supposedly Manson-like Pender is fascinating enough to keep us watching.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
English (US)