The Hope-College produced documentary "Who Killed Janet Chandler?" will be rebroadcast on WGVU-TV of Grand Rapids on Monday, March 1, at 10 p.m.
In addition, the WGVU program "Newsmakers" will present a half-hour segment about the documentary on Wednesday, March 10, at 6 p.m. and on Sunday, March 14, at 10:30 a.m. The "Newsmakers" program will feature interviews with Dr. David Schock of the Hope communication faculty and junior Jonathan Johnson of Fremont concerning the creation of the documentary.
Chandler, a Hope senior from Muskegon, was abducted on January 31, 1979, after 1 a.m. while working the night desk at the former Blue Mill Inn near U.S. 31 and 16th Street in Holland. Her body was found almost 24 hours later by a snowplow driver in a wooded turn-around on Interstate 196 seven miles south of South Haven. Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies all became involved in the investigation, but the crime was never solved.
The 80-minute documentary discusses the crime, Chandler, the investigation and the aftermath. It was developed throughout the fall, 2003, semester by a Hope documentary class taught by Schock, with Schock and lead videographer Phil Blauw of the Hope staff continuing to collect material and edit the program subsequently.
In addition to Johnson, the Hope communication students, all juniors, who participated in the documentary project included: Olim Alimov of Tajikistan; Tyler Basler of Auburn; Sarah Hartman of Richmond, Ind.; Wes Hollendonner of Akron, Ohio; Amber Ross of Schiller Park, Ill.; Amy Schlusler of Lapeer; and Kyle Shepherd of Oak Forest, Ill.
The documentary premiered on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the college's Knickerbocker Theatre, where it continued the next two evenings. It was also presented on WGVU on Sunday, Feb. 1, at 1 a.m., 25 years to the hour of the discovery of Chandler's body.