Kimmell's mom angry over show

By GREG TUTTLE
Of The Gazette Staff
A former Billings woman whose daughter was murdered in 1988 said this week that she is disappointed and angered by a new reality television show about her family's case.

Sheila Kimmell said she is considering legal action against the producers of the TruTV cable show "Body of Evidence." The program features Dayle Hinman, an FBI-trained criminal profiler.

The season premiere of the show aired Saturday and included a 30-minute segment on the murder of Lisa Marie Kimmell, who was abducted, raped and killed while driving between Denver and Billings.

Lisa Kimmell grew up in Billings and had moved to Denver after graduating from Senior High. She was 18 years old when she was killed.

The case went unsolved for 14 years until a DNA match in 2002 led investigators to Dale Wayne Eaton, a divorced drifter who was later convicted of Lisa Kimmell's slaying and sentenced to death.

The case has long captured public interest, and it has been featured on such television shows as "Eye on America," "Unsolved Mysteries" and "Cold Case Files." In 2005, Sheila Kimmell, who now lives in Colorado, wrote a book about her family's loss and experience with the criminal justice system.

Kimmell said in a telephone interview this week that she believes the latest television version of her daughter's case is misleading because Hinman appears in the show as if she was involved from the beginning. Hinman never played a role in the investigation of her daughter's murder, Kimmell said, and she said the show is a "disservice" to the law enforcement officers who were involved.

"I'm not going to stand behind it and endorse it," Kimmell said. "I'm not going to be used, and I'm not going to let them use my daughter. This is not what Lisa's life and legacy are about, and I'm not going to prostitute my daughter. I'm not going to prostitute my family."

Kimmell said she agreed to be interviewed and filmed at her home for the program last summer. She said she agreed to participate after a producer assured her that the show would be factual.

"He described it as an educational program, reality-based, about criminal profiling," Kimmell said.

Shortly after the film crew left, Kimmell said, she grew concerned. Others close to the investigation had not agreed to participate, she said, and it appeared as if Hinman, with whom she has never spoken, was injecting herself into the closed investigation.

"There is nothing she did to contribute to the solving of this case," Kimmell said.

Similar concerns were expressed by Billings resident Don Flickinger, a retired ATF agent who spent nearly a decade investigating the Kimmell murder. Flickinger said he also agreed to be filmed for the Hinman show. After watching it, Flickinger said he disagrees with how the program presented the investigation.

"The FBI agent who did the actual (criminal) profile shortly after the murder was never even mentioned in the program," Flickinger said. "It's pretty easy to do a program like that and act like you are profiling the individual involved when that person has already been convicted and is on death row."

Bryan Ranharter, an associate producer for Story House Productions, said Thursday that the company would have no comment about the complaints by Kimmell and Flickinger. The company is currently filming another Billings crime case for the show starring Hinman. The segment is about the 1990 slayings of a coin dealer and his assistant.

Kimmell said she is most concerned that viewers will be deceived into believing that Hinman was responsible for solving her daughter's murder. She is considering legal action to halt any future broadcast of the segment, but she acknowledged that there may be little chance of winning such case.

The show aired Saturday at 11 p.m. and is scheduled to be broadcast again this Saturday.

"Anybody can write a book, and I can't stop them," Kimmell said. "But I can expose them. The same goes for a TV program."

Yes Lisa Kimmell's mother (screen name Shek) posts on here regularly and did mention she was unhappy with the show.

Well, I am sort of surprised about all this. I did see the "body of evidence" show, while I didnt think it was bad I was sort of surprised at the time Hinman was doing the show considering that she wasnt a part of the investigation. Normally she only does shows about cases that she was involved in or asked to participate in.

I like "Body of Evidence" although I didn't see the one about Lisa Marie Kimmel.

I can't even believe they did a show that Dayle Hinman didn't even do the work on. That seems like revisionist history to me.

I think Mrs. Kimmel has every right to be mad. She went a long time not knowing the fate of her daughter, and through the work of many talented people (and their own hard work and perserverance) the case was solved. Dayle Hinman doing a show that makes it look like she was involved is bull.

Shek, we have your back on this one! :mad:

Well I'm not really mad, but I can see why shek would be mad. I remember wondering when I saw the "body of evidence" why is Hinman doing this? I knew that Hinman worked primarily in Florida although she had worked on cases in other states, mostly other southern states when asked. But I knew she hadnt worked on the Kimmell case at all so, I guess to someone that didnt know anything about who had worked the case it would give the impression Hinman worked the case and was the one at least in part responsible for finding a conclusion while the actual investigators received zero credit. It was just more misleading than anything else, rather irresponsible of Hinman's producers and Hinman herself if she was aware of the misleading stuff that was going on.

I applaud you, Mrs. Kimmel, for standing up to TPTB at TruTV. I've always found Body of Evidence: From the Case Files of Dayle Hinman to be a very misleading show. Dayle Hinman often has nothing to do with the actual solving of the crimes that are featured on the show. The fact that she was not even INVOLVED in the Lisa Kimmel case just adds insult to injury.

Well, Hinman was involved in a majority of those cases in that she was a profiler. However while she technically was a sworn law enforcement officer, she was a profiler more than anything else and not an actual "investigator" per se.

Hinman worked for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for many years and was a FBI trained and certified criminal profiler. However she was a profiler for these cases and wasnt a full blown detective. So the show gives the impression at times, the misleading impression that she wasnt just profiling but was actually solving the cases. While she certainly contributed to many solves she certainly wasnt solving these cases on her own.

Kimmell's case is the first case that I know for sure that Hinman was not involved in the investigation in any way, shape or form. I remember when I watched it, I didnt really understand why Hinman was doing a show on that case but I didnt give it much thought beyond that.

Well, Hinman was involved in a majority of those cases in that she was a profiler. However while she technically was a sworn law enforcement officer, she was a profiler more than anything else and not an actual "investigator" per se.

Hinman worked for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for many years and was a FBI trained and certified criminal profiler. However she was a profiler for these cases and wasnt a full blown detective. So the show gives the impression at times, the misleading impression that she wasnt just profiling but was actually solving the cases. While she certainly contributed to many solves she certainly wasnt solving these cases on her own.

Kimmell's case is the first case that I know for sure that Hinman was not involved in the investigation in any way, shape or form. I remember when I watched it, I didnt really understand why Hinman was doing a show on that case but I didnt give it much thought beyond that.

Okay - Here I go again folks. First of all, our story is not the only the case she "plagiarized." After the news article appeared, I received several calls and emails from others that had been used in this fashion. (It's amazing how and to what lengths these people go through to find me) Indeed, she once was an FBI profiler but she merely ran out "interesting stock" to produce new segments for the program. Yes, the FBI did profile our duaghter's case in November of 1988 but it was done by Ron Walker not Dayle Hinman. Was his name ever even mentioned? Nope! The list goes on and on. This is a discredit to all of those dedicated people who actually worked on our daughter's case. Merely a theif stealing the credit due to others hard work and I find that totally unacceptable. Secondly, she used our (and others) tragedy to perpetrate this sham and that is equivalent to emotional larceny in my opinion.

Of course, we understand that people are curious about our daughter's case, we have come to accept that. We have tried to be open and HONEST in all matters concerning our daughter's death. Then, we have always insisted that the public get the "straight" story and there must be productive "purpose" in sharing our story. All of which they assured me would be the case when I agreed to particpate. They tout "reality and actuality" etc. to their TV audience and it's far from either, thus misleading the public. They told it "crooked". I find that very upsetting.

Some may find "entertainment" value in this show but that is the last thing I want my daughter's tragic death to be reduced to - just entertainment value - how sad.

Forgive me for ranting on again.

RantOnGirl aka Shek or Sheila Kimmell

I am with you too, Shek. I've watched a few episodes of Dayle Hinman's show over the past few years, and I've always thought that she worked on the cases featured. It doesn't surprise me, however, to find out that they've been pulling other cases and giving her the information to repeat on the air. It's ridiculous.

Thank you for making the truth known, Mrs. Kimmell. I will not be watching Hinman's show ever again.