The Letter (25 Jan. 2004)

A 25-year-old woman was found raped and suffocated in a boarding house for "colored women" in 1939. Written off as a prostitute murdered by a john, Sadie's death made her daughter ashamed ... See full summary »

Director:

Tim Hunter

Writers:

Meredith Stiehm (creator), Veena Sud

Stars:

Kathryn Morris, Danny Pino, John Finn

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Kathryn Morris	...	Lilly Rush
Danny Pino	...	Scotty Valens
John Finn	...	John Stillman
Jeremy Ratchford	...	Nick Vera
Thom Barry	...	Will Jeffries
Josh Hopkins	...	ADA Jason Kite
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Nathan 'Jonesy' Jones (2004)
Meta Golding	...	Sadie Douglas (1939)
Ryan Alosio	...	Pierce McClintock
Lou Beatty Jr.	...	Manross Delaney (2004)
Sven Holmberg	...	Frankie (2004)
Lillian Lehman	...	Blanche Debbins (2004)
Leslie Silva	...	Sarah Tucker
Adam Weiner	...	Nathan 'Jonesy' Jones (1939)
Ryan Francis	...	Frankie (2004)

Storyline

A 25-year-old woman was found raped and suffocated in a boarding house for "colored women" in 1939. Written off as a prostitute murdered by a john, Sadie's death made her daughter ashamed of her heritage. After her mother's death, the granddaughter asks Detective Rush to find the truth. Few contemporaries survive, and the crucial DNA evidence must be obtained from Sadie's exhumed body's fingernails.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 January 2004 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jerry Bruckheimer Television, CBS Productions, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When the milkman drops the milk every bottle shatters. When he walks away you can see three bottles on their side intact. When Blanche walks toward them they are shattered. When she leans down you see three milk bottles and one cream fully intact standing upright with spilled milk on the steps.

User Reviews

A Time We Regret

An intriguing idea: solve a case from 1939 that has been written off as a "colored" prostitute being killed by a john. Liitle had been done to find the perpetrator. When the granddaughter asks Detective Lilly Rush to help her discover the facts (and perhaps clear the stigma she and her deceased mother have felt), the search is on.

Old employment records, pictures, news stories, diaries, and letters and notes treasured for all those years provide Rush and her team with intriguing clues, but the final conclusive evidence must come from the victim herself: fingernail scrapings from her exhumed body provide DNA which leads to the culprit, still haunted by the event after all those years.

I despise ignorance! Racism, of course, is ignorance personified, but how could anyone writing this script approve the hate group's being called "The Fifth Day" and say it was the day Genesis tells of man's creation?! That was the SIXTH day!!! Animals AND man.

Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the episode, the poignant look back at a time when people were not able to look past the color of a person's skin to the content of their character. I especially was touched by the two love stories that unfolded as the story progressed: one tragic and one enduring.