Murder on Middle Beach: Who Killed Barbara Hamburg?

Close to one year after America grew captivated by Tiger King, yet another documentary has captured the attention of viewers across the nation.

But this one is even more disturbing than anything Joe Exotic or Carole Baskin has said or done.

Murder on Middle Beach centers on the mysterious death of 48-year old Barbara Hamburg.

A single mother of two, Hamburg was bludgeoned and stabbed to death in the front yard of her Madison, Connecticut home on the morning of March 3, 2010.

Her body was discovered by her sister, Conway Beach, who arrived at the home with Hamburg's teenage daughter, Ali, after picking the child up from school.

The police were called... the crime scene was studied... DNA was collected.. and an investigation got underrway.

However, to date, no one has been charged with Barbara's murder.

Murder on Middle Beach

Murder on Middle Beach, which airs on HBO, chronicles this investigatiion and analyzes first what led to Hamburg; and, second, who may have killed her.

So... who did it?

We don't know, of course, or else this individual would be in handcuffs.

But one obvious suspect is Jeffrey Hamburg.

Jeffrey Hamburg

Jeffrey is Barbara's ex-husband and someone who went through a difficult divorce from the victim.

He was due to appear in court -- opposite Barbara -- on the day she was killed in order to sort out the issue of hundreds of thousands of dollars he allegedly owed her and their two kids.

Jeffrey was eventually arrested for failing to make these payments in 2012 -- and, as of 2018, he was still fighting in the courts to avoid paying.

Might he have killed his ex to avoid shelling out all this money?

Of note: DNA found at the scene of the crime also did not match his own; and he was in court at the time of the murder.

hamburg

Conway Beach?

Yes, she was Barbara's sister... but she also admits in the documentary to hiring a hitman to kill her sibling years before Barbara's death.

Conway was living with Barbara when the latter was killed, although Barbara reportedly wanted her to move out.

Elsewhere, Conway has been accused of threatening an anonymous member of a pyramid scheme known as The Gifting Tables by leaving dead animals in her yard.

Of note: Conway says she was helping a neighbor clean out her basement at the time of the murder, but no witness has corroborated this alibi.

hambuerg image

Ali Hamburg?

Only a teenager in 2010, Barbara's daughter did not have a great relationship with her mom.

She's actually been accused of the murder by her aunt, who recanted this take after learning Ali was in school at the time of the killing.

Beach maintains, though, that Ali acted in a strange manner at the scene of the murder by declaring it a crime scene before any evidence of a crime was observed.

Barbara Hamburg snapshot

Jill Platt?

Barbara's aunt, Jill (pictured below) recruited her niece to the aforementioned pyramid scheme.

The relatives eventually clashed over the number of people Barbara was bringing in, though, and Platt was arrested on fraud charges related to the Gifting Tables in 2012.

In the documentary, she denies killing Barbara ...while showing little to no remorse for her past crimes.

platt

Are there other suspects?

No one specific.

The whole Gifting Tables thing became a chaotic mess, prompting many viewers to wonder whether a member of this pyramid scheme committed the grisly crime because he or she owed Barbara money.

Speaking of money.... we return to Jeffrey.

hamburg picture

Could he have hired a hitman to take out his estranged wife?

Maybe.

However, Barbara was killed in very violent fashion, likely with a hammer, which police believe points more to a crime of passion than a crime executed by a professional.

So... who do YOU think murdered Barbara Hamburg?