Diksha Sundriyal
In the third season of Sundance TV’s ‘Rectify,’ shocking new details come to light about the murder of Hanna Dean. About twenty years ago, her boyfriend, Daniel Holden, was arrested for sexually assaulting and killing her. He served nineteen years in prison and would have been executed had it not been for the revelation of DNA evidence that proves that other people may have been involved in what happened to Hanna. While the show maintains the mystery of Daniel’s guilt, more information comes to light as a new prosecutor, Sondra Person, decides to get to the truth with Sheriff Daggett. And surprisingly, Daniel’s new testimony drops the most important clue. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Chris is Closely Connected to Hanna’s Case
The list of Daniel Holden’s crimes against Hanna Dean includes sexually assaulting her. He confesses to it, along with the murder, but nineteen years later, DNA evidence proves he wasn’t responsible for the sexual assault. Or at least, there is no proof that he was. This leads to his entire sentence being vacated, even though he is not entirely cleared of the murder charges. It also turns out that Daniel confessed to it because he didn’t have a clear recollection of that night, and the sheriff and prosecutor likely coerced him into it. Years later, when he sits down for a debrief with a plea deal in front of him, he reveals that while he may not remember everything clearly, he does remember that he did not sexually assault Hanna.
His recollection leads him to name some boys whom he’d seen assaulting Hanna that night. While he says there was a whole group of them, he can only remember three names. Two of them are George and Trey, but the third name is Chris. This surprises Sondra Person because she doesn’t recall encountering anyone named Chris in her study of Hanna’s case files. It turns out that Foulkes, a former prosecutor and now a senator, never even interviewed Chris. In fact, after Daniel’s confession, he and the then-sheriff didn’t bother to interview the other boys who were claimed to have been in the woods that night. With the closing of Daniel’s case, Foulkes takes a backseat, but clearly, Sondra and Daggett aren’t done with this mystery yet.
They circle back to Chris when George’s body is discovered in the river. They think he likely killed himself, but they cannot find the gun that he’d have used to do it. Moreover, Daggett’s previous visit to George’s trailer in Florida revealed that his phone and wallet were at his house. But if George died in Paulie, it means someone took those things back to his home. A look at the victim’s cellphone records once again brings up Chris’ name, as he happens to be one of the people George called before he died. Not surprisingly, the call happened after Daniel’s sentence was vacated. This means that Chris, like George and Trey, was more involved in the events surrounding Hanna’s death.
Chris’ Arrival Raises More Questions About Hanna’s Murder
As part of his due diligence, Sheriff Daggett reaches out to Chris at his home. When he starts asking questions about George and Hanna, Chris decides to answer nothing without a lawyer present. Later, he shows up at the station with a lawyer and confesses that he, along with several other boys, assaulted Hanna that night. However, he claims that they didn’t kill her. According to Chris, Hanna was still alive, though not entirely in a good mental state, when they left her. She asked them not to tell Daniel about it. The next day, before the news of Hanna’s death broke out, Chris claims Trey showed up at his house to tell him that, should Hanna decide to come forward, they must stick to the story that it was all consensual.
He also claims that Trey had earlier asked them to keep their mouth shut, “or else.” Chris confirms that both George and Trey reached out to him when Daniel was released. While Trey left a somewhat casual message, George was in a full meltdown, with guilt eating away at him. Chris’ story paints Trey as someone ready to shut anyone who would even think about talking that day. However, Daniel’s lawyer, Jon, is more interested in why George was fussing over something that he knew he wouldn’t be arrested for. The statute of limitations for Hanna’s assault was already over. This means that even as Chris comes forward with the truth, he, or anyone else involved, cannot be sent to prison for it.
Jon believes that there was more to George’s guilt, which is why his conscience bothered him so much. He thinks that George was ready to come forward with the truth, but he was silenced. Of course, Jon has no idea George killed himself, but his suspicions still stand. If they lied about the assault and let Daniel take the fall for it, who’s to say they didn’t do more and let the cops slap all the accusations on Daniel? While Chris may have come forward now, it doesn’t really mean he is telling the whole truth, particularly if it’s concerning the murder, on which there is no statute of limitations. Jon wonders if Foulkes had something to do with burying the truth, and vows to get to the bottom of it. Considering how many secrets still lurk in Paulie, it seems he might stumble onto something that provides a decisive answer to what happened to Hanna.
Read More: Rectify: Is Paulie a Real Town in Georgia?
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