The nefarious attempts to cover up a murder and protect an influential family.

Just days after the shocking and brutal stabbing death of his mother-in-law, Vibeke Rasmussen, movie maker John MacGibbon picks up his camera and begins a harrowing search for truth. How to Survive a Murder is a remarkable look at a gut-wrenching tale of a tragic crime that never should have occurred. MacGibbon and his family are desperate to find out what led to Rasmussen being slashed and stabbed more than 35 times late one night in her apartment in historic Plymouth, Massachusetts. Police would reveal only that they suspected a 24-year-old man with a violent past. Frustrated by the puzzling hostility and evasive behavior of state and local authorities, MacGibbon launches his own investigation and uncovers a web of lies and deceit spun to protect an influential Plymouth family including police cover-ups, lenient judges and prosecutors, and the dark family secrets that turned a privileged, charming and deeply disturbed young man into a killer.—Kate Kratoska