Wednesday, April 4, 2012

In A Child's Name

1991's Lifetime original true story "In a Child's Name" follows Angela, who fought with the parents of her brother-in-law, Ken, for custody of her deceased sister's baby when she learned that it was her brother-in-law who murdered her sister, Theresa.

The movie starts with Theresa talking with her sister, Angela, while waiting for Ken to pick her up to go out. She then sees Angela later and shows her the diamond ring Ken gave her. Theresa's family has Ken over for dinner. He seems to be a really nice guy but Angela just gets a bad feeling about him but sees that Theresa is happy so she doesn't say anything. Ken and Theresa get married.

At the airport, Angela and her father wait for Ken and Theresa who were flying back from their honeymoon. They didn't show up. Angela gets worried. Her father calls the hotel where they're staying in Acapulco. The hotel manager tells him that Theresa is in the hospital and that she was beaten up by Ken. When Angela and her father arrive at the hospital, they see the horrible shape Theresa is in. She is bruised all over, wearing a neck brace and unable to speak. Ken comes up with a story that they were robbed in the middle of the night. He says four men, wearing ski masks, attacked the both of them but they just kept beating up on Theresa. Before he could explain what happened, the police right away thought it was him that beat her. He tells them that he didn't do it. Theresa believes him. Angela doesn't.

Angela starts getting suspicious of Ken. She calls his ex-wife to find out if he ever hit her. She looks a little scared but she tells Angela that he never hit her. Theresa is recovering from her injuries. Angela keeps asking her if she remembers anything about what happened. Theresa tells her that Ken couldn't have done this. Her family keeps thinking he did. She comes home from the hospital. As time passes, Ken starts doing drugs and treating Theresa badly. She finds out she is pregnant. They have a baby boy, Andrew.

Theresa finds out that it was Ken who beat her up on their honeymoon. She confronts him, they argue and then he picks up a dumbbell and starts hitting her over and over. He kills her. He cleans the house. He calls Angela and tells her that Theresa left him and he doesn't know where she went. He takes Andrew to his parents house and tells them to raise him if anything was to happen to him. While driving back, Ken stops and dumps Theresa's body on the side of the road. Angela reports Theresa missing. The police find Theresa's body. The police investigate Ken's home and its very clean so they spray Luminol and find traces of blood all over. Ken is arrested and convicted.

Angela now wants custody of Andrew but Ken won't allow it. He wants his parents to have Andrew. They have a huge custody battle. After they receive temporary joint custody, Andrew travels back and forth from New Jersey to Indiana to stay with Angela and Ken's parents until the custody hearing is finished. Ken demands that his parents fight to keep Andrew. The parents listen and go as far as to adopt Andrew behind Angela's back. Angela is furious and tries to fight harder to get him back. After considering all the facts in the case, the judge makes the decision to give full custody to Angela.

Andrew comes home with Angela and her family. Andrew has been legally adopted by Angela and her husband. Kenneth has been stripped of all parental rights to his son.

Lizzy   =)



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