This film contains several factual errors relating to the history and the events and how they played out.
1: The scene where he tells his girlfriend he fluked law school and is now flunking psychology. WRONG. He graduated with a degree in Psychology in 1972, University of Washington. While he took night classes at the University of Puget Sound law school, he ended up quitting over his perception that the schooling was not adequate; hence going to law school at the University of Utah 2: The scene in the high school parking lot. This is supposed to refer to Debby Kent, who did vanish in November 1975 from a high school parking lot. However, she was not a cheerleader and she was not murdered in the lot; she was abducted and a handcuff key was found in the lot but her body was never found.
3: The Utah arrest. In the film, it is shown as 1976. His arrest was dated August 16, 1975 and the initial charge was suspicion of burglary. His trial was February 1976 and he was convicted in a bench trial on March 1, 1976 for the attempted kidnapping of Carol DaRonch.
4: The sex scene by the jail water cooler. The woman in question is supposed to be Carole Boone. He did not marry her until February 9, 1980 and their child was born 2 years later 5: The Florida arrest. In the film, he is arrested in daylight while in a stolen van. In reality, he was arrested at night in Pensacola when Officer David Lee spotted a red VW bug driving suspiciously and observed the vehicle was stolen I think the movie did get it right in terms of his propensity for petty thievery.
However, the above miscues as well as showing him wearing a bow tie in his daily routine was just too egregious. The only known time he wore a bow tie was during the 1976 Utah trial.
Also (THE DELIBERATE STRANGER made this mistake as well), his appearance alterations were not shown much here. In Washington, he had average to moderately long hair; in Utah following his arrest, he had short hair. In Colorado during his incarceration there, he had a heavy beard and in Florida when he was arrested, he had a mustache. The only time we see his beard is when he first arrives in Florida.
1: The scene where he tells his girlfriend he fluked law school and is now flunking psychology. WRONG. He graduated with a degree in Psychology in 1972, University of Washington. While he took night classes at the University of Puget Sound law school, he ended up quitting over his perception that the schooling was not adequate; hence going to law school at the University of Utah 2: The scene in the high school parking lot. This is supposed to refer to Debby Kent, who did vanish in November 1975 from a high school parking lot. However, she was not a cheerleader and she was not murdered in the lot; she was abducted and a handcuff key was found in the lot but her body was never found.
3: The Utah arrest. In the film, it is shown as 1976. His arrest was dated August 16, 1975 and the initial charge was suspicion of burglary. His trial was February 1976 and he was convicted in a bench trial on March 1, 1976 for the attempted kidnapping of Carol DaRonch.
4: The sex scene by the jail water cooler. The woman in question is supposed to be Carole Boone. He did not marry her until February 9, 1980 and their child was born 2 years later 5: The Florida arrest. In the film, he is arrested in daylight while in a stolen van. In reality, he was arrested at night in Pensacola when Officer David Lee spotted a red VW bug driving suspiciously and observed the vehicle was stolen I think the movie did get it right in terms of his propensity for petty thievery.
However, the above miscues as well as showing him wearing a bow tie in his daily routine was just too egregious. The only known time he wore a bow tie was during the 1976 Utah trial.
Also (THE DELIBERATE STRANGER made this mistake as well), his appearance alterations were not shown much here. In Washington, he had average to moderately long hair; in Utah following his arrest, he had short hair. In Colorado during his incarceration there, he had a heavy beard and in Florida when he was arrested, he had a mustache. The only time we see his beard is when he first arrives in Florida.