TV - Movies
Is Black Bird
Based On A
True Story?
By NIKKI MUNOZ
THIS STORY CONTAINS DISCUSSIONS OF True Crime Events, including sexual assault, that may be distressing to some readers.
Content Warning
The crime drama miniseries "Black Bird," follows Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton), a drug dealer who after being sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security prison is given a chance to get out of his sentence. All Keene has to do, is transfer to a maximum security prison and befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser) to elicit a confession.
Reluctant to participate at first, Keene ultimately agreed after his father had a stroke, motivated by the idea of getting to spend time with him. "Black Bird" is based on the 2010 autobiographical book "In with the Devil: a Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption" by James Keene and Hillel Levin, which recounts Keene's real-life experiences from that mission.
Keene was eventually able to get Hall’s confession to the sexual assault and killing of 15-year-old Jessica Roach, then, after some time, to the killing of Tricia Reitler. Keene was released from prison early in 1999, and with his criminal record erased, he was able to spend the final years of his father's life with his family and turn his life around.