Guilty Hearts-Dr. Stephen Carrow question
M.Heiding
I watched the mini-series Guilty Hearts on CBS this week and I am wondering if
this was based on a book? I saw that it was a true story but never saw any
credit given to a book. Anybody know?
Thanks!
Patty
For picture of real doctor, go to
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-miniseries0208.story
CBS Film Based on LI Murder Case
By Verne Gay
Newsday
February 7, 2002, 5:46 PM EST
Here we go again: Another sensational Long Island murder is about to
become the basis of another television miniseries, this one focusing
on the 1990 murder of Bayport resident, Marilyn Reza.
Viewers who studied Newsday or watched Court TV a decade ago will
recall the particulars of this murder, but CBS' "Guilty Hearts" --
airing Sunday and Wednesday -- will not make it easy. The TV movie
uses fictional names for both Robert Reza, the pulmonary specialist
who was convicted of the murder of his wife, as well as other key
figures in the case. In addition, the miniseries is set in Illinois.
Reza was tried and eventually convicted in State Supreme Court in
Riverhead, while Kathy Senese, his onetime mistress who became a star
witness against him, had first met Reza in a Sayville church where she
was an organist.
Stephen Siegel, a Smithtown resident who co-wrote the screenplay said
Thursday, that Reza's lawyer had threatened legal action against CBS;
a spokeswoman for the network confirmed the names had been changed
"for legal reasons." Siegel, 40, an adjunct instructor in
screenwriting at New York University, said CBS "hired me specifically
to develop the real life story," and added that in his research, he
discovered that Reza -- serving 25 years to life in an upstate prison
-- brought a lot of intimidation in the form of [members of] the
church congregation" on Senese not to testify.
Reza, an elder at Sayville's New Community Church, was highly regarded
there, though his efforts to force Senese not to testify ultimately
failed.
In the telefilm, a person named Jenny Moran (Marcia Gay Harden)
becomes infatuated with Stephen Carrow (Treat Williams). He later
murders his wife, is caught and pleads temporary insanity.
The murder case: Senese became infatuated with Reza, who treated her
father for cancer in 1985, and their affair began in 1990. She briefly
left her husband, and then returned after Reza's arrest. Reza later
confessed that he had strangled and shot his wife of 22 years as she
slept in her bed on Dec. 12, 1990. He also pleaded insanity.
M.Heiding
>http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-miniseries0208.story
Thank you for the information! Seems there wasn't a book ever written about
the crime.