The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle documentary filmmakers discuss how this crazy story came to them and their hopes for Season 2.
At some point in Investigation Discovery’s The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle, the filmmakers note that Benjaman Kyle (yes, Benjaman with an “a”), the amnesiac found naked in a Burger King dumpster in 2004, lives in Natalia Grace’s apartment—the child mistaken for a woman mistaken for a child at the epicenter of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, also from husband-and-wife showrunners Eric and Shannon Evangelista. A strange, curious coincidence!
Of course, this is years before Natalie Grace lived there.
“We moved Benjamin into that apartment on camera,” says Shannon.
“Before Natalia,” echoes Eric, who with Shannon, spent more than a decade trying figure out the identity of “Kyle,” aka William Powell.
“I’m sorry, but this is probably a mean thing to say, but that Benjamin Kyle lived there, doesn’t that give you an idea of where the Barnetts dropped her?” continues Shannon. “There was a shooting, like there’s a drive-by. The crew heard gunfire, like being shot at right up the street from us.”
The apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, obviously wasn’t a fit for a little girl living with dwarfism, but it might be a fit for a conman.
With their Benjaman Kyle documentary series, the Evangelistas hoped to solve the mystery of this man’s identity. Instead, they ended up with threats to their family and crew.
“Shannon and Eric both were involved initially with totally altruistic motives at hand,” says Ken Maxwell, former FBI agent and executive producer, “trying to help this poor guy. And I didn’t get involved until September 2015, when Shannon and Eric asked me to come in and give them a hand with the investigation. And after reviewing one of the initial interviews of Benjaman that they had on tape, I smelled the rat, you know. There’s something wrong here, that this guy’s purposely trying to obfuscate and hide his past.”
The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle Season 2
The Evangelistas and Maxwell say there’s so much more to Kyle’s story, and that they’re not done yet with untangling his web. While they haven’t received confirmation for a second season just yet, with their top 10 ratings on HBO Max, they’re hopeful.
“Here’s sneak peek,” says Shannon. “Ken literally almost gets in a fight with Benjamin. Like, I mean, face to face. It gets really crazy, you know?”
“I think Season 1 is the boring part,” says Eric.
Watch or listen to my full conversation with the Evangelistas and Maxwell below where we discuss whether Benjaman has a girlfriend or has ever taken a lie detector test.
