The Oxygen Network was at the Grays Harbor County courthouse from Aug. 9 to Aug. 13 filming segments for an upcoming production entitled “The Price of Duty.”
The Grays Harbor County Commissioners gave the network permission to film at the courthouse at a meeting earlier in August. While the courthouse itself is an impressive piece of work it is county coroner Lane Youmans that drew Oxygen to Grays Harbor County.
“The Grays Harbor Courthouse was chosen as a location because it was central to the history of Lane’s work in regards to the murders on the Weyco Haul Road and other possibly related killings,” NBC communications associate Amanda Long said in an email.
Youmans is no stranger to TV crews being interested in his work, though he prefers to make his contributions behind the scenes.
“You like your job, you don’t necessarily like the attention,” Youmans said.
He was approached by the Oxygen Network last year for a production called “Murder Book” and said the network did a great job. An avid watcher of crime shows, Youmans said “The Price of Duty” will focus more on the effects of crimes on investigators rather than solely on the crimes themselves.
“I watch a lot of those shows on TV and they go a little into the officers’ backgrounds but not very much,” Youmans said. “They’re focused on the investigation itself.”
“The Price of Duty” will tell the stories of lawmen and women who have made sacrifices in the process of solving homicide cases.
“The show gets up close and personal with these individuals and seeks to tell the story of who these heroes are not just as law enforcement but as human beings living real lives in today’s world,” Long said.
While Youmans doesn’t like to be the center of attention he appreciates the unique approach the production team is taking in getting to know what investigations mean for the investigators.
“It sounds like they want to know what kind of effects do investigations have on the investigator,” he said.
Youmans referenced his own experiences during the investigation into the murders of Elaine McCollum and Carol Leighton on Weyco Haul Road in the 1990s.
“The David Gerard case from 1999 to 2005 — that was pretty much my life. Unless something big came up, every spare moment I worked on the Gerard case,” he said.
On more than one occasion Youmans found himself at the office at 2 a.m. going over the details of the case. He said the work can easily consume prosecutors and investigators.
“There are so many things that need to be done to put together a prosecutable case,” he said. “It’s difficult.”
Youmans said the film crew followed him around for the better part of a week. He said they even filmed him while at home brushing his teeth and during his down time as he played video games.
“A little bit of everything,” he said when asked what the crews filmed. “We went to the site where homicides occurred and talked about what I saw and what it was like. I have no idea how much will be on the screen, but it was interesting.”
Youmans hopes that aside from calling attention to the efforts and struggles of investigators the production could mean business for Grays Harbor County.
“They were impressed with the area so maybe we’ll get some more film crews here,” he said. “Maybe it’ll bring some people to the harbor.”
The air date remains undetermined.
