LET NOTHING TEAR US APART,
a documentary
A FILM ON THE MISSING AND UNIDENTIFIED
Barbara was in her twenties when her mother disappeared after a night out with friends. Her family approached local authorities for help and were told to go and search on their own. With few resources and no outside assistance, Barbara and her family searched. For years.
Ryan was ten years old when his pretty teenaged sister Vickie disappeared. Weeks later he and his mother were driving through town as they were flagged down by a crying relative. Vickie's body had been found in a rock quarry.
Rosemary was a young girl when her older sister stopped sending letters. The postmarks dotted the carnival circuit that her sister worked, the last one coming from Lexington, Kentucky in 1967. Rosemary and her family searched carnivals in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, hoping to find someone who may have recalled her.
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(Pictured above: Todd Matthews)
A generation in, it is easy to forget just how much the increasing availability of the
Internet in the early '90s
allowed for more open, rapid access and creative use of information
across the map.
Todd Matthews’ application of the Internet to
his ten year search for the Tent Girl's identity enabled him to solve
the thirty year old cold case in Kentucky. This event gave a lifetime
of answers to one family's search and sparked the volunteer movement of
cold case sleuthing.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Be a part of completing LET NOTHING TEAR US APART by choosing a PERK
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Spread the word about this campaign on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc. using this link: http://igg.me/at/letnothingtearusapart
TIMELINE IF GOAL IS MET
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HOW FUNDS WILL BE USED
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FINAL STAGES - THE FINISH LINE
So much work has gone into this film, it just needs this last push to finish. We have most of the material in place. The production phase can be completed in two months with funding, which includes shooting last interviews and other needed footage. Then the last phase of post-production can be completed by August, including grading (color correction) and completed sound design. See Budget Breakdown above.
LET NOTHING TEAR US APART has been made on a shoestring budget over many years of scheduling shoots in installments when financially able. It's time to finish. You can be a part of this film.
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A COLD CASE OBSESSION
In 1987, Todd Matthews locked eyes with a new girl in the high school cafeteria. Minutes into their first conversation, the new girl dropped the name "Tent Girl." The chilling name was for an unidentified woman found stuffed in a storage bag for circus tents.
Matthews became obsessed with the story and the pretty girl who told it, Lori Riddle. Each visit to her house, Todd urged her father to bring out a 1968 Master Detective magazine with its take on the story. Todd read as the elder Riddle gave details, facts left out of the article and pointed to his picture in its pages. It was Riddle who found her. Todd searched newspapers on microfiche, studied old maps, truck routes, always returning to Riddle's memory and the magazine. Then came the '90s and the Internet.
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(Pictured above: Ryan Allred)
INTERNET CHANGES SLEUTHING
The "Tent
Girl" was the first unidentified victim cold case to be solved utilizing the Internet. Matthews realized that
the process he used could be repeated to solve more Missing & Unidentified
requests. Todd encouraged a network of online friends to begin cyber
sleuthing cold cases across the nation and along with these volunteers
he co-created The DoeNetwork.
(Pictured above: Todd Matthews)
(Pictured above: Ryan Allred)
