'Who Killed JonBenet?' Director Explains Why JonBenet Ramsey Narrated Lifetime Movie

With the 20th anniversary of JonBenet Ramsey‘s death coming up next month, many networks have been airing movies and specials about the mysterious crime.

In case you didn’t know, JonBenet was a six-year-old beauty pageant star who was murdered in her home back in 1996 – and the crime remains unsolved.

In a Lifetime original movie called Who Killed JonBenet?, which premiered on Saturday (November 5), the narrator’s voice (played by Payton Lepinski) is spoken from the point of view of JonBenet, causing some people to wonder if the decision was a little too bold (and eerie).

The movie’s director Jason LaPeyre recently explained why he made this choice.

“I mean, that was something that originally came from the writer, but I immediately really liked the idea,” Jason told E! News. “I liked it because I felt it was haunting, literally, but I thought it was a very unsettling device.”

“But yeah, it was this idea of this human being, JonBenet Ramsey,” he added. “Lots of people have seen video of her dancing and heard her singing, but I’m not sure anyone’s ever stopped to think of her saying something or having a conversation, or having her own ideas about what may have happened that night, so we thought dramatically that was an interesting device with which to frame the story.”