The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill: Inside the True Story Behind Netflix’s Latest Crime Documentary

If you are a true crime buff, Netflix just dropped a gripping new documentary on April 21, titled ‘Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill’.

​The film examines the shocking act of violence and high-profile trial involving a retired Olympic equestrian Michael Barisone and his dressage student Lauren Kanarek he took on at his farm in New Jersey. Their journey begins with tensions between the two, multiple 911 calls, cryptic social media posts and accusations of spying.

​Their story climaxes with a fatal shooting that left the equestrian world shaken. With the documentary trending worldwide, let’s take a look at what actually transpired at Hawthorne Hill.

In August 2019, deputies were dispatched to Hawthorne Hill Farm after receiving reports of gunfire. They discovered Lauren Kanarek, the dressage student, with two gunshot wounds to her chest.

​Michael Barisone, her trainer and former Olympian, was arrested at the scene and charged with two counts of attempted murder and weapons offenses, as he also allegedly attempted to shoot Kanarek’s boyfriend, Robert Goodwin, The Irish Star reported.

Kanarek and Barisone lived on the farm and often feuded over professional dissatisfaction and a bitter landlord-tenant dispute.

​The shooting was a culmination of months of tension between the two. Firstly, Kanarek expressed dissatisfaction with her one-on-one training with Barisone, which cost $5,000 per month. She reportedly wanted his undivided attention and grew resentful when he delegated her coaching to assistants, such as Mary Haskins Gray.

Tensions further escalated when a flood led Barisone and his fiancée to move out of the farm’s main house and into a barn. The trainer then allegedly tried to evict Kanarek.

​Kanarek had been living in an apartment on the property’s grounds with her boyfriend, Goodwin. However, when the house flooded, Barisone wanted to move into the home, but the couple refused to leave.

​This led to Kanarek leveling serious allegations against Barisone, including claims of drug abuse and bullying. Barisone retaliated by running a background check on her to build a legal case to remove her from the property.

When Kanarek called a caseworker from the Division of Child Protection and Permanency to the farm to investigate potential abuse of Barisone’s fiancée’s children, the former Olympian was pushed into a “delusional” mental state.

​Both parties eventually filed complaints with SafeSport, an organization set up to reduce abuse of athletes in Olympic sports, but the tense environment at Hawthorne Hill resulted in at least six police visits in the 10 days leading up to the shooting, as per The Irish Star.

​Barisone shot Kanarek on August 7, 2019, and allegedly attempted to shoot Goodwin, too. Kanarek managed to call 911, with emergency services arriving within minutes. Barisone was then arrested at the scene and charged with attempted murder.

​Barisone was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent time in New Jersey’s Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital until 2023. He is now living on his horse farm in Loxahatchee, Florida, where he has resumed training horses and working on property maintenance.