SPD Blotter, Seattle’s publicly funded filmmaking collective, is out with a new short film, We Need Your Help to Solve a Murder, which was released on YouTube on Wednesday.
The film stars Deanna Nollette, Assistant Chief of the Criminal Investigations Bureau, as herself. Best known for her prior role as “Captain,” Nollette is an emerging talent among SPD’s roster of leads. Hands on hips and staring directly into the camera with an expression that just screams, “Sir, please pull up your pants and exit the vehicle,” Nollette fully occupies her role as an authority figure, and she seems like the type of cop who’d never let you out of a speeding ticket even if you said you had diarrhea and were just trying to get to a toilet before you shit yourself. One critic pointed out that she looks a bit like Stewart from Mad TV, but I think it’s more early 2000s Ellen. She is, however, more serious than the much beloved/hated lesbian comic—and for good reason: “We Need Your Help to Solve a Murder,” is, indeed, about one.
From her perch in the middle of Elliot Bay, or, perhaps in front of a green screen in Queen Anne, Nollette tells the viewer about a stabbing that occurred in West Seattle in June. While the SPD has a DNA sample from the alleged perpetrator, what they don’t know is who the perpetrator actually is. (Apparently 23andMe has yet to fully corner the market on murderers.)
Then comes the meat of the drama: a reenactment. “On the night of June 2, 2018, the victim, Jonathan Pecina, and his friend were walking on the Alki Trail near Luna Park,” Nollette says over blurry black and white first-person footage of Alki Trail. “According to numerous witness statements, they were acting aggressively confrontational and belligerent towards other community members,” she continues. It’s an interesting editorial choice, pointing out that the victim was himself being belligerent. Is it victim-shaming or commentary on cycles of violence? Maybe both. As the camera scans past a crowd, you get a sense of what this night may have looked like from the victim’s perspective… at least if the victim was both colorblind and had a blood-alcohol level of over 2.
Still in black and white (how else is the viewer supposed to understand this is a flashback?), the reenactment takes us into the crowd as the fight starts and punches are thrown back and forth. Pecina, Nollette tells us, was stabbed in the neck during this brawl, and just minutes later, Seattle Police officers were on the scene, tracking the suspect into West Seattle neighborhoods. At the point, the reenactment ends and is replaced by body cam footage from officer approaching the victim’s body. Pecina’s face is blurred out, but you can see how blood has soaked through his shirt. Above him, a woman in sandals, her toenails painted red, smokes a cigarette, staring.
“Unfortunately,” Nollette says, “Pecina died from the stab wounds,” and the camera pans back to show the body, now shrouded in a white sheet, still and quiet. It is, perhaps, the most powerful moment of SPD’s recent films, which include Bus Lanes Are for Buses, Don’t Block the Box, and with 619 views, their biggest recent hit, Package Theft Prevention.
Finally, we get to the twist: This drama is actually a documentary. “We believe we have a reasonable idea of what occurred,” Nollette says. “The Seattle Police Department is appealing to the perpetrator to contact detectives as soon as possible. This case will never go away. We have your DNA. It is in your best interest to contact us immediately.”
It’s a chilling message, one that should evoke a deep fear in anyone who happens to have murdered someone on Alki Beach last June. But Nollette doesn’t let the viewer off the hook either. She wants our help too. “We also request contact from anyone who may have information on the whereabouts of the perpetrator,” she says over a shot of a memorial to the victim. “Please help the Seattle Police Department bring closure to the Pecina family.”
SPD Blotter’s dramatic shorts tend to be hit and miss. And while most of their films have less than a few dozen views—which may lead one to ask why the hell SPD is spending their money to make a less fun version of Cops—We Need Your Help to Solve a Murder seems to be resonating: A day after the film’s debut, it’s up to 15,500 views and counting. Will this short film break the case? Who knows, but for all Nollette lacks in on-screen experience, she makes up for in confidence. When she says, “This case will never go away,” you almost, for a second, believe it.
