Hot off her best documentary Oscar nomination for What Happened, Miss Simone?, Liz Garbus is in negotiations to make her narrative feature directing debut with “Lost Girls” for Amazon Studios, THR writes.
Adapted by Michael Werwie, “the story centers on a mother searching for her missing daughter in Long Island who makes a horrifying discovery in the woods where the murdered bodies of four girls have been dumped.”
The two-time Academy Award nominee is poised to tackle the serial killer drama, which is based on investigative reporter Robert Kolker’s 2013 nonfiction book of the same name. Amazon picked up the project in turnaround from Warner Bros (announced in 2013). Kevin McCormick (Gangster Squad) and Rory Koslow are producing.
“That title is an apt description for this case, in which a murderer used the waterfront roadside on Long Island’s South Shore as the dumping ground for his murder victims, all of whom were escorts advertising on Craigslist and similar websites. It began with reports that a young woman named Shannan Gilbert was seen running through the upscale waterfront town of Oak Beach, screaming for her life before she turned up missing. When it becomes clear to Shannan’s mother, Mari Gilbert, that police weren’t trying hard to find her daughter, she raised a ruckus. A search of the wooded sandy roads in the area led to the discovery of four bodies. None of them was Gilbert, but each was a similarly pretty twentysomething escort who advertised on the web. The families demanded answers and were frustrated when evidence and potential suspects were being ignored. Eventually, Mari Gilbert’s relationship with the police chief evolved as she pressed for a recognition of the value of these troubled girls. When Gilbert’s daughter was finally located, it was a tragic ending, but it gave her mother closure. The killer is still at large.”
