A Hallmark production, True Justice: Family Ties, is a murder mystery thriller centered around a law student Casey Barlowe trying to investigate the murder of her best friend Devina, and exonerate her brother, Marcus, who was wrongfully convicted for Devina’s murder. To unravel the mystery surrounding Devina’s death, Casey embarked on her mission, accompanied by her friends, Sarah, PJ, Eli, and Liam. Let’s see if they managed to find out Devina’s murderer and bring them to justice at the end of True Justice: Family Ties.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
True Justice: Family Ties opens with Marcus finding the dead body of a woman in the middle of a street. Before running away from the scene, Marcus, who was into petty theft and shoplifting, nabbed the necklace from the dead body’s neck. An eyewitness quickly reported the crime, and the cops subsequently arrested Marcus on the accusations of killing the woman. Marcus kept on maintaining his innocence, speaking the truth that he had only stolen the necklace as she was already dead, but he was not the one who killed her. The murder victim was Marcus’ sister Casey’s best friend Devina, whose father, Frank, was devastated after the loss of his daughter. Devina’s boyfriend, Eli, who was Casey’s classmate, strongly believed that it was Marcus who had killed his girlfriend.
Subsequently, the court, without digging deeper into the investigation, announced Marcus guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment only based on some circumstantial evidence. Casey was sure that her brother was innocent, so teaming up with her two best friends, PJ and Sarah, she decided to investigate the case to find out the truth. Casey was initially suspicious of Eli, so she asked him if he had met with Devina on the day she was murdered. Eli’s answer was no, but he was curious to know what Casey and her friends were up to. Upon being asked, Eli also wanted to participate in Casey’s investigating team to find out who the actual culprit was. Meanwhile, Casey and Sarah found out that apart from Devina’s body and her necklace, nothing from her belongings was tested for fingerprints. A watch from Davina’s belongings was sent to the lab for fingerprint testing, which revealed that the fingerprints found on her watch did not match Marcus or Eli’s.
After ruling both Eli and Marcus out, Casey dug up three suspects who had been associated with similar kinds of murders. With the help of PJ’s friend, Liam, they managed to track down all three of them, but none of them was the one they were looking for.
Who Was Kurt And Rachel Teller?
Finally, with the help of DA Quinn, who covertly helped Casey’s investigation, sent her an envelope containing a newspaper clipping. This newspaper clipping contained a three-year-old murder case of Tammy Monroe, in which the suspects were property developer Kurt Teller and his wife Rachel, who was an interior designer. Casey had also contacted the eyewitness, Salim, from Devina’s murder scene, and found out that Salim had previously seen Devina with a much older guy than her age. This man seemed to be a property developer, who owned a Mercedes Benz. Connecting the dots, Casey concluded that it was Kurt Teller with whom Devina had been having a secret relationship. Eli initially pretended that he had no idea about Devina having an affair, but he later confessed that he was aware of it. Eli’s decision to keep it secret caused a misunderstanding among the group members and it also jeopardized Casey’s friendship with Eli. However, later, they reconciled when Casey learned that Eli didn’t kill Devina, but had only hidden this information because it was too personal for him to talk about it publicly.
Who Killed Kurt?
Liam and Sarah began to follow Kurt Teller, hoping to get his fingerprints. Liam did manage to get his fingerprints, but according to Sarah, they didn’t match the fingerprints found on Devina’s watch. Eli and Casey, disguised as a married couple, went to talk to Rachel, and asked her to renovate their house. While Rachel was booked by Eli and Casey, Liam tried to confront Kurt Teller. Liam followed Kurt to his trailer parked inside a property he was working on and found that Kurt’s dead body was lying on the floor. Casey, bewildered by the situation, went to talk to Devina’s father, Frank, hoping to get some information on whom Devina went out with on the night she was killed. In the meantime, Liam sent a video footage to Casey’s phone. As Casey opened the video, she was startled to find out it was Frank who had gone to Kurt’s trailer and killed him. As Casey confronted Frank, he didn’t feel guilty about his actions, instead, he said that he had recently been able to uncover the truth behind his daughter’s death. By going through Devina’s belongings, he came to know that it was Kurt Teller, whom she had been having an affair with. So, connecting the dots, Frank went to Kurt and confronted him with the truth. Frank only demanded answers from Kurt, who began to defend his actions, which enraged Frank, causing him to take the drastic decision of killing him. Frank confessed his crime and was subsequently arrested by the police. However, Casey’s heart broke for the man, as she knew that Frank had acted out of desperation. However, Frank had been able to make Kurt confess his affair with Devina, but surprisingly, in that audio recording, Kurt never mentioned that it was him who had killed Devina.
Who Killed Devina?
The suspicion shortly fell upon Kurt’s wife, Rachel, whose fingerprints matched the ones collected from Devina’s watch. Casey came up with an idea and dressed as the wife, she met Rachel in a location that was supposed to be the house Rachel knew that she would be renovating. Casey finally brought up Devina’s death, as well as Kurt’s murder case to make Rachel talk, and terrified, Rachel began to confess to murdering Devina. She also defended her action saying that Devina had been blackmailing them, which became the reason they decided to kill her. Desperate, Rachel attacked Casey in an attempt to strangle her to death. Eli, Liam, and Sarah arrived at the spot to rescue Casey.
During True Justice: Family Ties‘ ending, Rachel was arrested by the police, who were also given the recording containing Rachel’s confession of killing Devina. Marcus was finally forgiven and set free. Casey had been able to forgive Eli, and it was hinted at the concluding scene of the film that the two might be going for a romantic relationship, which ultimately marked the happy ending of the story.
