Victoria Ford is editor of HBO documentary

[Fuggle]

Victoria Ford is editor of HBO documentary

Jan 5, 2008


Victoria I. Ford of Redding is the editor on the upcoming HBO documentary special entitled “Autopsy — Postmortem with Dr. Michael Baden.” It is scheduled to premiere on Wednesday, Jan. 9, at 9 p.m.

This all-new edition of HBO’s Autopsy documentary series explores five historical, high-profile investigations in which forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden — known as a “detective of death” — was directly involved. The cases span nearly a century, dating to the mysterious disappearance of the royal Romanov family in Russia in 1918; the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963; the notorious deaths of Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy four months apart in 1978-79; the double-murder case involving O.J. Simpson in 1994; and the recent spate of illnesses and deaths due to exposure to toxic chemicals by first responders at ground zero in the hours and days after 9/11. The five segments are bridged by “factoids” and quotes specific to the cases and forensic pathology.
Ms. Ford, the daughter of longtime Redding residents Pag and Larry Ford, is a 1984 graduate of Greens Farms Academy in Westport. She received a bachelor of fine arts from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in 1988. Her film achievements include production of the independent documentary “Mule Skinner Blues,” which is available on DVD through the Sundance Channel. “Mule Skinner Blues” chronicles the adventures of a group of trailer park “entertainers” who join to create their own B-grade horror film.
For more information, contact Victoria Ford at [e-mail] or visit the “Autopsy” Web site at www.hbo.com/autopsy.

[Joan D]

I finally watched this show that recorded last week. It was a pretty interesting show overall. Though, specific to Sid & Nancy it didn't appear to highlight anything new to me.

The conclusion regarding Nancy was basically that she was murdered - her wounds didn't correlate to a suicide as there weren't any "hesitation" wounds - only the single stab wound with the knife withdrawn and discarded somewhere else. They did not discuss at all whether Sid killed her or if there were any other possible suspects.

Then they discussed Sid's arrest & briefly mentioned his suicide attempt. The only item that was interesting (in that I wasn't aware of it) was that Dr. Baden stated that the testing done on the "extra" heroin packets in Sid's bedroom showed it to be 80% pure compared with the typical "street" heroin being only 5%. He also emphasized that since Sid had been off the drug for the several months in prison, his tolerance would have been lower. Leading to the possibility that he did not intentionally take an overdose - it could easily have been accidental. They also mentioned other people stating that Sid rarely would inject himself as he hated giving himself a needle - leading to the question as to whether or not someone else gave him the heroin. They stated that his mother admitted to buying it for him.

Basically, the portion on Sid left things pretty open. It was generally even in the way they presented Sid. His young age was emphasized (he did look very young in the videos they showed) & mentioned his grief over the loss of Nancy who was likely his first girlfriend. If anyone came out looking really bad, it was his mother. Overall I was left with the feeling that given his mother & girlfriend, he didn't have a chance.

Joan