The 2013 murder of Hartford teenager Jessie Blodgett is the focus of an upcoming episode of “A Killer Among Friends,” a new true-crime series narrated by Jennifer Love Hewitt on ID.
The episode, “Your Smiles and Your Lies,” debuts on ID, formerly known as Investigation Discovery, at 9 p.m. Central Time July 21. (ID is on Channel 139 on Spectrum cable in Milwaukee.) The show also streams on HBO Max.
Blodgett was a 19-year-old University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee sophomore when she was found dead in her bedroom in her family’s home in Hartford on July 15, 2013. The night before, she had attended a cast party for a community theater production of “Fiddler on the Roof”; an actor and musician who gave music lessons, she played the title character in the production.
Four months later, Daniel Bartelt, a classmate of Blodgett’s from Hartford Union High School, was arrested for her death. In 2014, he was found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Blodgett’s father, Buck Blodgett, later formed The Love > Hate Project, a nonprofit organization with a mission to “end interpersonal violence through love and forgiveness,” according to the organization’s website.
The promotional logline for the ID series episode: “A mysterious killer murders the star of a community theater production of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ the day after a cast party. As the town grieves young artist Jessie Blodgett, her friends grow concerned that the culprit is someone within their inner circle.”
“A Killer Among Friends” began its debut season on ID July 14. Hewitt, who co-stars in the franchise reboot of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” coming to theaters July 18, also is an executive producer on the series.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A new true-crime series spotlights 2013 murder of a Hartford teenager
Reporting by Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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