Family of shooting survivor says ‘defamatory’ true-crime doc painted Olympic equestrian shooter as real victim

The family of the woman who made headlines after she was shot by her Olympic equestrian trainer is condemning the cases portrayal in a pair of true crime documentaries, alleging the coverage is biased and leans in favor of her attacker. 

Netflixs 2026 documentary titled “Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill” and a 2022 episode of CBS News “48 Hours” follows the harrowing story of Lauren Kanarek, a dressage rider who was shot twice in the chest by Olympian Michael Barisone outside his Long Valley farm in 2019. 

Kanarek survived the incident, and Barisone was later arrested on various charges, including first-degree attempted murder. 

In 2022, a Morris County jury found Barisone not guilty by reason of insanity, and he was released from a psychiatric facility one year later.

The shooting quickly became a popular topic within true crime media, with “48 Hours” and Netflix both releasing shows retelling Kanareks story. But shortly after Netflixs release earlier this year, her family began disputing filmmakers version of events, alleging both documentaries put a larger emphasis on Barisones side of the story while portraying him as the victim. 

“Its horrible. In the case of 48 Hours, we were just flabbergasted at the time,” Jonathan Kanarek, Laurens father, told Fox News Digital. “It was so defamatory about Lauren.” 

The release of both shows opened the door to a Kanarek, including endless social media comments and ostracism within the equestrian community, according to her father.

 

“CBS has a big audience of true crime fans,” Jonathan Kanarek said. “These true crime people, this is what they do. Laurens getting all this hate mail, [saying], You should be dead, you miserable b—-. He should have shot you in the head.” 

Steven Beer, the Kanarek family attorney, echoed the fathers sentiments surrounding the cases portrayal in mainstream media.

“I dont think anyone who viewed 48 Hours or Untold on Netflix could view that as a slice of victim advocacy,” Beer told Fox News Digital.

Beer added that upon watching Netflixs trailer for the show, they grew suspicious that the documentary was not giving air to Kanareks side of the story and approached Netflix and Propagate, the films production company, to request a screener ahead of its release. 

“We asked Netflix and Propagate for a copy of the screener of the film beforehand so we could help Lauren manage her anxiety,” Beer said. “And they turned us down, [which was] just shocking. So that certainly was a confirmation of what we could expect.” 

According to Beer, Kanarek and her family were especially disheartened by what they believe was an attempt by Netflix and “48 Hours” to reframe her story for the sake of profits and popularity.

“After all the things that have happened in the world of sports and in the world in general, where or intimidated young women, that in this particular environment where we feel we are shining a light on this and talking about support and holding powerful people accountable,” Beer said. “Its just a head-scratcher that Propagate and Netflix would disregard that conversation and the opportunity to do well.” 

“All they had to do was be responsible and tell a story that wasnt solely geared at giving the audience the impression that maybe [Lauren] could have driven [Barisone] to that point,” Beer continued. “As if anything Lauren could have done would have merited Michael Barisone from getting a gun and attempting to kill her.” 

Kanarek began training under Barisone in 2018 and eventually moved into an on-site apartment with her fiancé at his training farm, Hawthorne Hill. However, the pairs working relationship quickly turned sour, with the Netflix documentary revealing both individuals blamed each other for the fallout.

Posts made by Kanarek to Facebook at the time played a large role in both the criminal trial and subsequent documentary, with Bariso