The story of the fight to clear Steven Truscott’s name is now being told on the big screen – but from a different perspective.
The film "Marlene" focuses on his wife’s efforts to find the errors and evidence that ultimately lead to his acquittal, nearly 50 years after he was convicted of murder.
"It's an exciting thing for my mom to get the recognition for the work that she did because it is really quite incredible," says Ryan Truscott, the couple’s son.
In June 1959, 12-year-old Lynne Harper went missing in Clinton, Ont. Her body was found on a farm, with evidence she had been raped and strangled.
Within days, Steven Truscott, then 14-years-old, was arrested and charged with her murder.
Truscott told police he had been riding a bicycle with Lynne before her disappearance, but said after that he dropped her off at the side of the highway and saw her get into a vehicle.
After a 15-day trial in December 1959, Truscott was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to hanging. His sentence was later commuted to life in prison.
Truscott was released from jail in 1969 and quietly moved to Guelph, where he married Marlene.
Truscott always maintained his innocence and Marlene was determined to clear his name, going through all the evidence in the case.
Ryan says the film accurately portrays her fight.
"My mom really did this out of newspapers and individual documents – when they show boxes, we literally had boxes around the whole house from the case. My mother really was a statistician originally, so she took everything piece by piece by piece and sort of helped to put this whole puzzle together and it’s just amazing to sort of see that whole part of it come out."
In 2007, the Ontario Court of Appeal acquitted Truscott, calling his murder conviction a "miscarriage of justice."
"It was over 40 years that she spent fighting for this exoneration – and she got it," says Kristin Booth, who portrays Marlene in the film.
Booth, who is originally from Kitchener, met with the Truscotts in their Guelph home to prepare for the role, and remained in contact with Marlene regularly throughout filming.
"I emailed with Marlene probably almost every night. She would say: 'What scenes are you shooting, do you have any questions?' We’d talk about where her emotional state was at that point, and so I was able to take all of that info and incorporate it into my performance."
Booth says after the real Marlene saw the film, she told Booth, "I finally felt seen."
"That to me was the best gift anyone could give me as an actor, to say that I was able to encapsulate who she was and what her journey was and she felt that she had been seen," Booth says.
Wendy Hill-Tout, who co-wrote, directed and produced the film, describes Marlene as a courageous, ordinary woman who did extraordinary things.
She hopes those who watch Marlene’s story are inspired to stand up for truth and justice.
"I hope they come away with this feeling of exhilaration like, in their own lives they can do something too. Because I think it’s important that we’re all Marlenes, that we all fight for the truth, even if it as simple as a kid being bullied at school or whatever. We have to stand up, we have to fight for truth and fight for justice… every day of our lives."
"We are absolutely thrilled with the movie," Ryan Truscott says, adding it is especially meaningful because efforts to make it go back many years. He says his parents are also pleased.
"They were really glad that they got to have their family and their friends and people across Canada to get to see the back side of a story that was such a tragedy for a 14-year-old kid that we almost hung."
