Dakota Spotlight: The House on Sweet and Seventh, is an Emmy Award-winning documentary examining an unthinkable 1998 crime in North Dakota. The hour-long film documents the heartbreaking murders of Barbara and Gordon Erickstad, who were brutally killed in their home by their son, 18-year-old Brian Erickstad, and his friend, 27-year-old Robert Lawrence in September 1998. The documentary was produced by Click Content Studios, which is part of Forum Communications.

The House on Sweet and Seventh was written and narrated by James Wolner, producer of Dakota Spotlight Podcast, and was shot and edited by Derek Fletcher. The film includes insightful current-day interviews with law enforcement investigators as Wolner attempts to untangle and understand how a tight-knit group of young people knew about the murders but did not immediately come forward to the police.

In the film, one investigator describes the crime as “Manson-esqe,” a reference to Charles Manson and the infamous ‘Mason Family’ responsible for nine murders in 1969.

A showing of the documentary will be shown April 7th at the Jamestown Arts Center with Wolner and Fletcher in attendance for a Q&A after. Free and open to the public.