Lifetime has won the legal right to premiere its original movie “Romeo Killer: The Chris Porco Story,” starring Emmy Award winner Eric McCormack (Will & Grace), Matt Barr (Hatfields & McCoys) and Lolita Davidovich (Gods and Monsters), this Saturday, 3/23 at 8PM ET/PT.
Lifetime won an appeal 3/21 in the New York State Appellate Division, Third Department, to premiere the film after a judge issued an injunction 3/20 to prevent its airing. The two-hour film is inspired by the true story of a handsome young college student who became the prime suspect in the shocking murder of his father.
21-year-old Chris Porco (Barr) was accused of brutally murdering his father Peter in Delmar, NY and disfiguring his mother Joan (Davidovich) in a savage axe attack, a claim made all the more shocking when the case’s lead detective Joe Sullivan (McCormack) believed Joan had identified Chris as her attacker.
Weeks after the crime, however, Joan would refute Detective Sullivan’s story, while the town of Delmar and many of Chris’ former friends and girlfriends would also rally to his defense, despite Sullivan’s fierce mission to prove his guilt. Prosecutors believed that beneath Chris’ picture-perfect façade was a devious and cunning sociopath who would stop at nothing to keep his lies hidden. In the end, he was convicted of second-degree murder of his father, but many in the town of Delmar firmly believe the jury wrongfully convicted an innocent young man.
Immediately following the movie’s premiere, Lifetime will air Beyond the Headlines: The Real Romeo Killer, which gives viewers the opportunity to meet the real-life characters involved in the headline-making, shocking true-crime tale. The one-hour special will feature exclusive interviews with Porco, his ex-girlfriend and the Police Department’s former lead investigator on the case.
