I’ve had the pleasure to meet and talk briefly back and forth for a few months with WRONG TURN director Rob Schmidt. He was going to teach the Senior Advanced Film Course at my film school but he then got an incredible gig directing RIGHT TO DIE for MASTERS OF HORROR and left.
His new film THE ALPHABET KILLER, written by Tom Malloy and based on the true story of a double homicide in Rochester, NY has inspired the real Rochester authorities to re-examine the case that was left unsolved for over 30 years.
A Florida man was arrested Tuesday and charged with the 1976 murder of 7-year-old Michelle McMurray, who was raped and strangled in Rochester after her mom left her home alone at 2 a.m. to go buy a pack of smokes.
Three decades later, James Pressler, 64, was allegedly tied to the cold case by a cigarette butt he casually flicked into the gutter. He had no idea cops were waiting to pick it up to compare his DNA to evidence left on Michelle’s body.
In 1976, Pressler was the caretaker in Michelle’s building and cops considered him “a person of interest.” But they could never tie him to the crime.
Michelle’s murder was the fourth and last of the “Alphabet murders” of little girls in Rochester whose first and last names started with the same letter.
Hey, horror films can do some good right? To read the full article, click here.
Schmidt’s film, based on the case, stars Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Timothy Hutton, Tom Malloy, Bill Moseley and Michael Ironside. To watch the teaser trailer, click here.