My Killer Father: The Green Hollow Murders is a three-part docuseries now streaming on Paramount+, directed by Aengus James, which examines the case of Don Studey. His daughter, Lucy Studey McKiddy, has accused her late father of being a prolific serial killer, and that she and her siblings helped him bury bodies in a well in an area called Green Hollow. Three of his five wives, who were thought to have committed suicide, were among his victims, according to Lucy.

MY KILLER FATHER: THE GREEN HOLLOW MURDERS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: A shot of woods, then we see an adult and some kids dragging what looks like a wrapped-up body. “The first time I remember my dad killing somebody was when we lived in Bartlett, Iowa. It was around 1973, and I was probably four years old.”

The Gist:  Despite what Lucy Studey McKiddy has said about her father, some of Lucy’s siblings, including sister Susan Studey, insist that Don Studey wasn’t anything but a loving father. This notion goes against a lot of the evidence, as the daughters of Charlotte Studey, the woman Don Studey married after Lucy and Susan’s mother’s death report how badly she was physically abused by Don. And while Don claims he found Charlotte dead, the victim of yet another suicide, Charlotte’s daughters have their doubts about that account. Another interviewee, Robert Masson, recalls helping Don bury what he later realized was a body over 50 years ago.

Lucy Studey McKiddy has been on a roller coaster with trying to prove her dad is actually the killer she remembers him being, with periods of stability for her and her family interrupted by other periods where her focus on proving her assertions bankrupted her and caused tension with her son David. In 2023, Lucy and David move from Florida to Iowa so Lucy can have Charlotte’s body exhumed and the well searched, and as the end of the first episode shows, she is very invested in being involved in the process.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? My Killer Father: The Green Hollow Murders has the same feel as other Paramount+ docuseries like Handsome Devil: Charming Killer.

Our Take: The aspect of My Killer Father that stands out to us is the idea that, while director Aengus James made attempts at making both sides of the Don Studey case seem plausible, what comes out of the first episode is that Lucy Studey seems to be the one more in the right, even if that isn’t necessarily the case, given what’s been learned so far.

While we do see the extended scene where Lucy curses out her stepsisters and various workers for starting to dig up her stepmother Charlotte before she arrived on site, it still doesn’t seem to dissuade us from thinking that Lucy is the righteous one in this dispute and people like her sister Susan are in denial about how evil Don was.

But, as news reports reveal, Lucy’s assertions about where her father’s supposed victims are buried aren’t panning out. And perhaps in the other two episodes, her supposed airtight memory of things that happened over 50 years ago, when she was a preschooler, might come into question.

On the other hand, there does seem to be a lot of evidence that Don Studey was not the world’s greatest husband and father, and that at the very least he was around a lot of death. So with all of the people who tell James that Don Studey was evil and abusive, it certainly makes the audience wonder if Lucy’s assertions, while not working out to this point, may have something behind them.

Performance Worth Watching: Lucy Studey McKiddy is definitely the centerpiece of this series, and when she loses it at the end of the episode when Charlotte is being exhumed, you can tell that this has been weighing on her psyche almost her entire life.

Sex And Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Lucy Studey McKiddy screams at everyone, “there’s fucking bodies up there!”, referring to the well where she remembers helping her father bury his supposed victims.

Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Lucy’s son David McKiddy, because he has had to follow his mother around while she went on this emotionally-wrought journey over his entire life. He also demonstrates a rudimentary magic trick on camera — yes, he’s into magic — and then admits that he needs to get more fuel for his “wallet on fire” trick.

Most Pilot-y Line: Susan Studey’s assertion that her father Don and stepmother Charlotte basically used to physically abuse each other seems to be presented with a bit of a virtual eye roll by the filmmakers. It’s definitely the moment where she seems the most deluded about who her father was.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Studey case is certainly more of an examination of how the Studey kids were raised and the psychological fallout of it than about a possible serial killer. But we’re not sure if the director and producers of My Killer Father: The Green Hollow Murders are willing to dig deep enough to really get into those nuances. Still, it’s a fascinating case to examine, even if the series doesn’t get too deep.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.