How Cynthia Hill’s ‘Burden of Proof’ Docuseries Unpacked the Mystery Surrounding Jennifer Pandos’ 1987 Disappearance

variety.com:

Addie Morfoot Contributor In 2016, documentary director Cynthia Hill received a LinkedIn message from Stephen Pandos, a man who believed that his parents were responsible for the 1987 disappearance of his 15-year-old sister, Jennifer Pandos.

Hill remembers reading the message and thinking, “there must be a story there.” So the director of “Private Violence” and “What Happened, Brittany Murphy?” began filming Stephen. “When you start a project you are never sure if there’s going to be anything there or not,” she says. “But we thought it was at least worth doing a test shoot.” That test shoot was followed by seven-and-a-half years of filming Stephen as he launched his own investigation into what might have transpired at his parents’ house the night his sister vanished.

While the investigation into the case threatens to destroy Stephen’s family, new leads emerge, calling into question everything that he believes.

Stephen’s strenuous journey for the truth is captured in Hill’s four-part HBO docuseries, “Burden of Proof.”  The director spoke to Variety about using recreations, tracking down subjects and acting as both a director and mediator on the project.You said that you don’t watch true crime docus, so what drew you to this one?What drew me to the story was this emotional rollercoaster that Stephen had already been on and that he was continuing to be on.Why do you think Stephen reached out to you 29 years after the disappearance of his sister?He really wanted to find out what happened to his sister, and he was convinced that his father was responsible.