He said, `Well, it's 4:30 now. Dear Zachary was a hit at Slamdance! Andrew assured his filmmaker friend Kurt that the 40-year-old was a passing fancy. We did have him for a little while, she said. And this is where director Kurt Kuenne is really smart. I, Mr. BAGBY: (Audio recording) Look, we will do what is best for Zachary. I extend my deepest thanks and greatest respect to MP Scott Andrews, his associate Ken Carter, Senator Tommy Banks, his executive assistantThrse Gauthier, MP Peter Stoffer, Senator Anne Cools, Gord McIntosh and everyone in Parliament who saw across party lines to support this bill's passage into law. Add a bio, trivia, and more. The news and opinions youll love for only $10 for 1 year. Kate answered the phone, and she couldn't get off the phone for an hour. It opens with a gushing montage of the friends of a doctor named Andrew Bagby, none of whom have one real bad word about him. Man #14: I admire you and respect you so much for two things. I'm tired of this. Kuenne finished his documentary and dedicated it to the memories of both Bagby and Zachary. Kate and David Bagby traveled to Ottawa last week to speak as witnesses for the bill before the House's Standing Committee on Justice & Human Rights. "We had to do something.. Cpl. But something kept me going, and. Mr. BAGBY: He's now engaged to this lovely girl, and he's going to go to med school. But he was moved to honor his friend the best way he knew how, by making a film. And that's when she said, `He loves you, more than me. We had negotiated a one-hour-a-week visitation in family court. See details above! He was the whole world to them. in honor of his beloved friend Andrew, and then for Andrew's son, Zachary. This report aired Dateline Friday, July 23. The Bagbys still hold a bitterness when they talk about how they were failed by a legal system that let Turner out on bail and allowed her to retain custody of Zachary. Hello. I'm just curious Ms. TURNER: (Audio recording) Yeah, and I wanted to know for safety. RELATED:California filmmaker remasters documentary on the lives and murders of Andrew Bagby and Zachary Turner. dropping Shirley and their grandboy off at her son T.J.'s home (Photo of Zachary sleeping in car seat; streets passing), KATE: She said, `Wake up, Zachary and say goodbye to your grandparents.'. They quit their jobs and moved from California to Newfoundland. (Newfoundland; Shears driving; photo of Shirley and Zachary; water at night; Mr. SHEARS: She said Zachary was being fussy and that just driving him, around would calm him down. I thought if I do that, I go to prison, maybe Kate. Mr. BAGBY: That's one of the options, and that's the one we hoped for. -, "Some of the week's biggest flicks aren't at Sundancefilmmakers have praised Slamdance film. Mr. BAGBY: (Audio recording) You don't like this answer, but I'm going to, give it to you again. At least he might have asleep when she went in. I said, `Andrew,' I said, `be serious. Its a muddled structure, and the film makes frequent aesthetic missteps as well, with frenetic editing, canned music, and heavy-handed imagery. (Kate and Zachary; judge in court; Shirley being escorted from court), Mr. KUENNE: I don't know. MORRISON: Andrew's body was discovered the following morning with bullets lodged in his face, buttock, chest, the back of his head. The pair planned to take care of the minutiae of dealing with a lost loved one, fly back to California and kill themselves. Turner shot Bagby two days after he broke up with her at a Pennsylvania airport as she was set to fly back to Iowa. MORRISON: But was that what you assumed had happened? Ms. TURNER: (Audio recording) This is Shirley Turner, yes. And Turner had said he was a, MORRISON: But there were some caveats. Bring lots of kleenex and prepare to be equally angry and emotionally drained as you watch real, so-called justice in action. It was like Andrew died and then was reborn for a second chance. On December 15, 2010, Governor General David Johnston gave Royal Assent to Bill C-464: An Act To Amend the Criminal Code (justification for detention in custody), making it law in Canada. ), DEAR ZACHARY 10TH ANNIVERSARY HD REMASTERED EDITIONNOW AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY, DVD, and DIGITAL, For the film's 10th anniversary, Kurt Kuenne remastered "Dear Zachary", its epilogue, and its bonus features for HD, converting the original standard definition elements to HD shot-by-shot, while remixing the film in 5.1 surround, so that it now looks and sounds as originally intended on today's platforms. he was fussy at all. KATE: You get a different kind of relationship with God after this kind of. Both screenings were sold out and received sustained standing ovations, an exceptionally rare event in the 14 year history of Slamdance. And he'd be like(turns. How dreadful the knowledge of the truth can be, wrote Sophocles, when theres no help in truth.. September 28, 2008: She landed a residency at a hospital in Iowa, several states away but still close enough to allow occasional weekends with Andrew in Pennsylvania. And now it's just. MORRISON: But Shirley would make it tough for Andrew to do that. 1 Photo. Because she didnt know love either. Instead, the film's dramatic nodes are scenes such as the one in which Bagby's parents, David and Kate, recall going to identify their son's body. After arriving home, she drove 900 miles back to Pennsylvania to kill the man who rejected her. MORRISON: A couple of hours later, there was another knock at the, Mr. BAGBY: Told us what happened. Andrew came to St. John's. ', KATE: (Audio recording) Yeah. That's what Kurt does, he's an independent filmmaker. And then we'd do it through the lawyers. They watched the legal proceedings grind, infuriating and slow. "One of the best documentaries I have ever seen in my entire life a film that will rock you to your core. David was a . She was here.' MORRISON: When another of Andrew's best friends, Kurt Kuenne, heard about the murder, he also went into a tailspin. The reason we go through the lawyers is so that we. -, "It's Kate and David Bagby who are the moral center of this film. Unidentified Woman #11: I love them very much. because it's hard to get off Newfoundland. MORRISON: Police got Shirley Turner on the phone back in Iowa. Read the DocuWeek Q&A with writer/director/composer Kurt Kuenne HERE. It brings its own special brand of. Because this is foreshadowing. You know when you see pictures of some of your friends and then pictures of their parents as kids and they look identical? That one comes back a lot. her. Mr. BAGBY: The police didn't give us very much information, but they started. At one point, one friend says that if he had one tenth of the people who cared about him half as much as they do about Bagby, he would be happy. That gave her a chance to do something useful for some people who needed it, said David. David bagby, left, and kate bagby, right, celebrate with their son andrew bagby at his graduation from medical school at memorial university of newfoundland in june 2000. contributed by david and kate bagby. Dear Zachary has been announced as the first film to launch the newly formed MSNBC Films division of MSNBC. Hoping to gain custody of the child, the Bagbys moved to Newfoundland. Based on the title alone, it sounds like one of those saccharine documentaries that only the filmmaker and the subject would ever really care about. thing, because up until Andrew was murdered, I was a Pollyanna. `You gave me a lovely son, and now it's over.'. MP Andrews was inspired to create Bill C-464 after seeing Dear Zachary for the first time in March; he and Senator Tommy Banks distributed DVDs of Dear Zachary to every member of the House of Commons for their review immediately following the December 4th discussion. Cpl. MORRISON: As Kurt tracked down Andrew's friends for the documentary he was making, he discovered that not a one had anything favorable to say about Shirley. Ad Choices. MORRISON: So different from who Andrew really was, a kind, devoted son who made Eagle Scout at 15. I said, `This woman was in town. One of those forgettable pieces of solipsistic pseudo-art that is essentially just a scrapbook that was released to the public and then everyone just said it was good because no one wanted to hurt anyones feelings. with a supervisor, and we had to be searched. But that didn't erase their unease, or a remarkable feeling, (Shirley and Zachary at birthday party; David), Mr. BAGBY: I considered killing her myself, seriously considered it. (A number of his male friends say that they asked, or would have asked, him to be their best man.) Mr. KUENNE: I think he was a little scared of me when I first came up. Mr. BAGBY: And part of Andrew's problem was, I think, he was just too nice to say, you know, `Get the hell out of my life. Ms. TURNER: (Audio recording) Then I can't consent to more time right now. For those who've asked how Kate & David Bagby are doing now, here's a lovely article from Diane Crocker at Newfoundland's The Western Star. Mr. BAGBY: Without those cell phone records, they couldn't formally charge. She would never go away. They still have friends in the province, people Kate said they wouldnt have survived without. -, "When this haunting, shattering film made its premiere at Park City's Slamdance Film Festival, it received the most sustained ovation of any film I saw this year in Park City. Former Production Manager at Mountain Gospel Radio. She. You take it with you, but you move on, said David. August 5, 2008: There are things to do, he said, and they try to enjoy life as much as possible. The committee passed the bill unanimously, which is how it came to be heard in the House for a final vote this week. (Photo of Andrew; cell phone towers; photo of Shirley; maps; suburban street; photo of house; newspaper clipping; photo of Shirley; maps; cell phone tower; Shirley in court; court documents; flashing police lights; American flag. This is the kind of couple, themselves beloved by hundreds, that produces the kind of son who is beloved by hundreds. Mr. BAGBY: Oh, yeah. In the early years, that included David writing a book, Dance With the Devil, about his sons and grandsons murders, and Kuennes documentary. Now that Zachary was starting to walk, he was free to make a beeline to. Both screenings received sustained standing ovations, and the Toronto audience applauded yet again when director Kurt Kuenne announced that he had sent letters to every member of Parliament requesting the opportunity to screen the film for them. We were done," Kate Bagby said, finishing her husband's thought, a quirk of their relationship that became apparent during a several-hour recount of how their lives spiraled out of control after that phone call from police. Dear Zachary had its Canadian premiere at the Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto, where it was welcomed by a line down the street and around the block to get in. MORRISON: It was almost two years after Andrew Bagby's murder, when Shirley Turner's eldest son T.J. drove home to his girlfriend after an. Andrew's parents say he tried, frequently, to ease out of the relationship altogether, but Shirley wouldn't buy it. unforgivable and that's just the way it's going to be for the rest of my life. None of his friends liked Turner because she was often inappropriate and even harassed one of Bagbys exes and just generally appeared to be an incredibly unstable, crude, and unlikeable personbasically Bagby's exact opposite. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. With that kind of goodness, there is no limit to the possibility of transcending all manner of evil. And one, of the first to see her there was T.J. Shears, the eldest of Shirley's three. When Kate reached down to wipe one away, she accidentally knocked out the plug used to mask his facial wound. This was the situation with Andrews son Zachary. decision. to let out hints that Shirley Turner was the prime suspect. MORRISON: When you did find out that she was pregnant, what was your thought? But he was accepted here, St. John's, Newfoundland, the easternmost point in North America.