How a slasher movie spawned real-life horror

After months of search warrants, grand jury subpoenas, and good old fashioned detective work, police had finally gotten their man—the person they believed killed Randi Trimble in such grisly fashion.

Among his friends, the ones who stood by him when they thought the police were simply harassing him, there was universal disgust when all became clear.

Amber Muncy, actress in the film: I was convinced that he didn’t do it, up until he was arrested. Because I just didn’t see how that was possible...

Erin Lampert, actress: It’s an indescribable feeling. That was when I realized the wool had been pulled over my eyes. I was kind of sticking up for him... and then there it was.

But it seemed Blaine Norris wasn’t giving into anything. He maintained his innocence, and had a noted Harrisburg defense attorney working his case.

But District Attorney Skip Ebert was just as prepared. After all, he had a confession from the murdered woman’s husband accusing Blaine of being the hired hit man, and the district attorney was willing to pursue the death penalty.

Skip Ebert, district attorney: This wasn’t poor kids with nowhere to go and no education.  This was like middle class young men who just said, “You know the way to solve our problem is with a knife. And that’s what we’re gonna do.” And that’s pretty cold.

And investigators, who had spent night and day working this case were looking forward to their moment in court.

And then came the phone call: In a surprise last minute move, Norris confessed to the murder of Randi Trimble. In exchange for that plea, the death penalty was off the table. There would be no trial. 

Det. Dougherty: It was a letdown.  We were ready to go.  We wanted to go to trial. And his attorney knew it and he made the best deal they could for him.

Life without parole: It was the same deal Brian Trimble had cut months earlier with the district attorney.  Yet, it still left the aching question —  why?  Det. Dougherty posed that to Brian Trimble moments after his confession.

Det. Dougherty: We asked him “Why? Why you do all this?” And “Well, we weren’t getting along well. She was controlling me. And he looked at us and he said one of the most horrific things I ever:  “I couldn’t put her through the pain of a divorce.”

Murphy: Couldn’t what?

Det. Dougherty: "Couldn’t put her through the pain of a divorce." Oh, he could have her killed, but God forbid you divorce her.

Norris, for his part, never fully explained his reasons for murdering Randi Trimble... at least not in open court.  But former friends are convinced Norris blamed Randi for forcing her husband to abandon their movie, “Through Hike.”

Norris was desperate for roughly $20,000 to cover his credit card debts rolled-up while shooting the movie. That was the same amount of money Trimble said he promised to pay Norris as a hit man fee.

But Norris’s one-time actor Sean Gaston thinks there’s still another reason.

Sean Gaston, actor: I think Blaine, deep down, liked the role of hit man. He liked putting on different hats.

Murphy: Just speculating, do you think there a thrill factor [for him] to kill another human being?

Gaston: Absolutely.

Both Trimble and Norris declined Dateline’s request for an interview.  Trimble wrote, saying he’s just a “normal man who made a terrible mistake.”  And Norris wrote “media sensationalizes violent crimes and helps perpetuate them.”

Dougherty, for one, doesn’t buy that. He’s convinced Blaine Norris was a serial killer-in-the-making. After Norris’ court appearance, Dougherty says the killer laid out the grisly details of his crime in matter-of-fact fashion.

Det. Dougherty: He had to "stab and stab and strangle and strangle, and it didn’t happen like on TV." And I remember him saying that towards the end, she started to pray. And that just sent chills down my spine to hear him say that, "that she was praying towards the end."

Murphy: He had a taste for killing?

Det. Dougherty: There’s very little doubt in my mind that Blaine would have killed again. I think he got a high off it. I think he enjoyed it. Somewhere, somehow we saved somebody from the same fate.

It's a thought which comforts Randi’s mom, Nancy Chavez a bit. 

Nancy Chavez, victim’s mother: Why Randi? She is such a good person. She tried to make the right decisions. And everything she did was for everyone else. And look what happened to her.

These days, Nancy Chavez comforts herself with what little she has left of Randi, including all those wedding photos with her daughter’s murderer staring back. She will not take them down.

Chavez says without Randi, her only child, every day is empty. But she’s given herself over to a cause—a personal campaign to talk with young women... and ask one question: Do they really know the men they call boyfriends, lovers, and husbands?

She’s even given her blessing to a new documentary about her daughter’s murder.

Todd Klick, film maker: One of the things we kept focusing on is this incredible magnetic draw that people have to the film industry, that they’ll do anything to get it. And that, to me, is a big character in this film.

Filmmaker Todd Klick and co-producer Todd Shill say they are shopping their documentary, “Rough Cut”  around to film festivals. And they’ve pledged a portion of any proceeds to help Nancy Chavez establish a center in her daughter’s memory. Chavez wants that place to be a haven for abused children. The filmmakers are convinced audiences will be drawn to the documentary— one about the irony of literally killing to make a movie— a movie that now sits in a police evidence box.

Klick: I’ve heard of filmmakers giving blood to raise money or maxing out their credit cards. But I never heard of anyone committing a murder to get some money for his film.

Has anyone so twisted the adage: Art is long, life is short?

Since he pled guilty, Brian Trimble can't appeal.  But on his own, he has filed what's called a "post conviction relief petition," which alleges he had ineffective counsel and that his guilty plea was not voluntary.

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