Family seeks justice in Puerto Rico slaying
Posted: Friday, March 14, 2008 10:46 AM by Dateline Editor
Filed Under:
Crime, Investigations, Behind The Scenes
A special Dateline on the murder of American businessman Adam Anhang, "The Pink Skirt Murder," airs on NBC Friday, March 14, at 10pm ET. Click here for the full story with video.
By John Block, Dateline Producer
I have been tracking Adam Anhang's case for over a year and a half, along with the rest of the Dateline NBC team. In the course of it, I have come to know, like, and respect Adam's family as well as Adam himself. It may seem strange hearing that I feel as if I know and care about someone who has passed on, but I feel as if I do -- at least a little bit.
I've been introduced to him through his family's recollections as well as those of his many friends. I admire very much the kindness that he showed to them all, as well as many of his other strengths.
The family was initially very wary about telling their story to a television audience. They were, and continue to be, in a lot of pain. And like most of us, they are very private people. I think that they finally agreed to be part of our report because they hope it will somehow lead to more answers.
I think also it was a way to highlight some of Adam's substance.
From the beginning, however, I explained that our first priorty was to serve Dateline report and not them. I was not their producer. I told them that our agenda was to tell the story as best we could. All questions related to Adam and the murder were fair game, and we would track the facts wherever they would lead. To the family's credit, they did not back down.
Prior to the broadcast of any report, we screen it -- sometimes several times -- for various news executives. At the conclusion of the first screening of this report, I got a number of 'atta boys -- "good job," "compelling story." Certainly, that is music to this producer's ears. In this case, however, I nearly burst into tears. At that moment, I was just feeling especially bad for the Anhang family.
Dateline correspondent Sara James blogged about the similarities between Adam Anhang and his murdered son Abe.
