Sartaj Singh
Directed by Sam Coyle, ‘Deadly Estate’ revolves around a hotel manager who begins to uncover a string of murders taking place and being covered up by someone in the management. Zakiya Carter is the manager of The Magnate, a lush hotel that draws in the rich and the powerful from around town. When wealthy hotel owner Ron Brant buys The Magnate accompanied by his new wife, Valeria, Zakiya is caught unawares. As operations resume under the new management, Ron’s son, Astor, appears to be abusing his partner. When Zakiya enters their room, Astor is pointing his gun at the woman.
The situation is diffused, but Astor is later found dead, with Zakiya accused of his murder. Furthermore, no one seems to know the woman who was with her until her body is discovered as well. Someone is running an escort service at the hotel whose girls are being murdered, and so is anyone who strays too close to the truth. The Lifetime murder mystery is a gripping tale of deceit, manipulation, and corruption that leads to questions regarding its relation to true crime.
Deadly Estate: A Series of Murders Hidden at a Hotel
The murders taking place around The Magnate Hotel are central to the story of ‘Deadly Estate’ and draw parallels to real-world killings taking place at an infamous hotel in Los Angeles and in a Louisiana parish. Written by Cate Holahan, the Lifetime movie is a complete work of fiction, but there has been a true crime case of multiple murders taking place at the Cecil Hotel. Over the decades since its opening, the establishment has been the grounds for at least 16 deaths. Many of the deaths were attributed to suicide, but there is a case of an unsolved murder as well as records of two serial killers having stayed at the property.
Goldie Osgood was a hotel worker who was found stabbed and raped in one of the rooms in 1964. Jacques B. Ehlinger was seen walking through Pershing Square with a bloody shirt just hours after her murder and was arrested. However, he was acquitted, and the crime remains unsolved. The hotel itself has undergone several attempted rebrandings and is known more for being haunted than for serial killers Richard Ramirez and Jack Unterweger having stayed on the premises. Writer Cate Holahan revealed that she researched the hotel business prior to writing the script for the film, which helped her create a believable setting and staff dynamic within it. While the backdrop and murder of hotel staff in the case is common with ‘Deadly Estate,’ this next true crime story has call girl murders and a conspiracy angle similar to the one seen in the film.
Deadly Estate and Its Parallels With the Jeff Davis 8
Between 2005 and 2009, eight women were murdered in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, with their bodies being found in surrounding swamps and canals. The case became more complicated when evidence suggested that there were different suspects for each murder and that it wasn’t the case of a serial killer. Furthermore, all the victims were escorts who had a history of drug use and had allegedly snitched to local law enforcement about the drug trade. Investigative reporter Ethan Brown uncovered a trail of evidence that seemed to suggest the deliberate mismanagement by law enforcement in the case.
Like in the Lifetime film, women who seemed to get close to the case and provided information about the first few murders became victims themselves. Another parallel was that Brown came across allegations of a high-level individual’s involvement in the murders who seemed to be the one pulling the strings to keep their drug business a secret. A similar scenario can be seen with Valeria – an affluent individual – covering up her killings to maintain the secrecy of her lucrative but illegal operation. While investigating, Brown was threatened and released a book titled ‘Murder in the Bayou: Who Killed the Women Known as the Jeff Davis 8.’ The case remains unsolved and was covered in a 2013 episode of ‘Dark Minds.’
Read More: Secrets in the Woods: Is the Lifetime Movie Based on a True Story?
