Stefanie Rengel’s murder not appropriate for E! special, family argues

The reason TV is filled with "ripped from the headlines" and "true crime" dramas is simply because we like to watch them.

But most of us give no thought to the fact an hour or so of vicarious immersion in a horrible act of violence is an hour of torture for a family somewhere.

Patricia Hung is pleading with NBC Universal, owners of the E! Entertainment network, to drop plans to recount the stabbing death of her 14-year-old daughter, Stefanie Rengel, in a segment for a special entitled "Teens Who Kill."

Rengel was stabbed to death outside her Toronto home on New Year's Day of 2008 and left to die in the snow a few steps from her door.

Her killer, 17-year-old David Bagshaw, attacked her after months being taunted by his girlfriend, 15-year-old Melissa Todorovic, who was jealous of Rengel, though they barely knew each other. She pestered Bagshaw and threatened to withhold sex unless he dealt with the girl she saw as a rival.

Bagshaw was convicted of first-degree murder as a young offender but received an adult life sentence with no parole eligibility for 10 years. Todorovic began her first-degree murder sentence in a youth detention centre but last year was moved to an adult prison when she turned 20.

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The Toronto Star reported Hung first learned of plans for "Teens Who Kill" — presumably a followup to E!'s "Girls Who Kill" that aired earlier this year — when she got a letter from a producer at NBC Universal.

In a post last week on her blog Joy In the Aftermath, Hung pleaded for help in pressuring the company to drop the segment, and for anyone connected with the case to refuse to co-operate in the making of the show.

"They have chosen to profile Stefanie's story and have refused to cancel even after I begged them to respect our wishes," Hung wrote.

"My feelings are that it cheapens her life and all she suffered for ratings and profit. The re-enactment of her death, should any of her siblings see it, now or in re-runs, would be more than upsetting."

Hung noted that Quebec's Canal D aired a similar true-crime piece on her daughter's murder earlier this month.

"None of the people interviewed asked us how we would feel if they participated and I can only thank God that it has a limited viewership in Quebec and is in the French language," she wrote. "I hope that none of our children ever see it. It will haunt my nightmares for some time."

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The Star said officials at E! Entertainment, which is better known for sniffing out celebrity baby bumps and fashion failures, confirmed the network was working on a segment about Rengel's murder but that the final lineup for the special, with a tentative air date of Oct. 30, was not set.

"We're smack in the middle of production — nothing's been edited, nothing's been put together yet," publicist Kristen Osborne told the Star.

Hung isn't the first crime victim to fight against the exploitation of her pain for profit.

Families of the victims of killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka spoke out against the release of the movie Karla as it was in production, unsuccessfully trying to prevent its release in 2006.

And a fictionalized version of the crimes of Vancouver serial killer Robert Pickton, called Killer Pickton, caused a stir in 2006 because it was released while Pickton's murder trial was still underway. The film was not released in Canada but relatives of Pickton's victims were still appalled.