Why Elizabeth Vargas Loves Doing A&E's 'The Untold Story'

Over the past 14 years or so, investigative reporter Elizabeth Vargas has gone from being a news correspondent and anchor for Good Morning America and 20/20, among others, to being one of the most recognizable names and faces when it comes to covering the world of true crime. The latest example of that is A&E’s The Untold Story, a six-episode series that delves a little deeper and accesses stories you might not be that familiar with. The final installment, “Secret Life of a Gang Girl,” airs on May 23.

“They’re not topics that nobody has heard of before,” explains Elizabeth exclusively to In Touch, “but they’re the details or things that nobody’s heard before, like the two hours that we did on the whole sex business and how the Internet has completely, radically changed it, introducing people in a very intimate way to the folks who make a living in the sex industry. Or the two-hour special we did on child brides, which is definitely something that most Americans are unaware of. Talk about an untold story: A quarter of a million children were married in the United States of America between 2000 and 2010, and viewers were absolutely shocked that this was happening. When I told people I was working on a documentary on child brides, they were, like, ‘Oh, did you go to Pakistan or Afghanistan?’ I was, like, ‘No, we went to Missouri and Florida.’

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“We also cover fugue amnesia,” she continues. “A lot of folks have heard of the ‘Jason Bourne Syndrome’ because of the huge popularity of the Jason Bourne books and the movies, but I don’t think people are aware that this is a condition that actually afflicts people. And that’s certainly true in the case of Hannah Upp, a missing teacher that many people have heard of because her disappearance was so widely covered. And then her reappearance, astonishing as it was, was so widely covered as well. And now that she’s gone missing for a third time. It’s a fascinating story involving a little-known and controversial diagnosis.”

To continue reading our interview with Elizabeth Vargas, please scroll down.

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‘Secret Life of a Gang Girl’

The final episode of The Untold Story is “Secret Life of a Gang Girl,” of which Elizabeth explains, “This story revolves around a very unusual person: a gang member who was a girl ‘killer.’ She is reputed to have killed as many as 17 rival gang members. I think that’s exaggerated, but that’s her sort of legend. She’s captured a lot of attention because she is a girl and she was so prolific on social media. Many experts studying the explosion of gang violence and gun homicides on the streets of so many of our major cities, began studying her life and her posts and were actually able to come up with a way to cut back and prevent gang violence. And it’s working. So she’s become a really critical, crucial figure in the whole gang world.”

Due to the quantity of true crime shows on the air, one wonders if it’s difficult finding unique stories.

“Surprisingly not,” Elizabeth admits. “Maybe sadly not. There is a whole cottage industry about this. Think about it: Go to the local bookstore and what are all the best sellers? Half of them are murder mysteries. What makes true crime so gripping and evergreen when it comes to audience interest is the fact that these are not only murder mysteries, they’re actually true. They actually happened in towns and cities across America and the families, detectives, coroners and prosecutors and judges are all dealing with the effects and the aftermath of these crimes.

“What I do for a living is tell stories that are true,” she elaborates. “That’s what makes me different from an actress or a movie director. But I won’t lie to you: There are some times when it is emotionally wrenching to sit across from somebody who has experienced extraordinary loss and tragedy, personal tragedy. You can’t help but wonder in so many occasions how is this person even putting one foot in front of the other, given their loss? It’s really tragic and often I am moved not only by their own story, but by their own courage to go on living in the face of such a tragedy. I can’t even imagine something happening to someone I loved that would merit a true crime story. That would be the most horrific thing I could imagine. And you’re sitting across from people who have had the most horrific thing you could possibly imagine happen to them.”

The draw of a story, it turns out, is always different.

Elizabeth details, “I’ve been doing this obviously for decades. In the case of The Untold Story, I was very intrigued with the story of Hannah Upp, because you wonder did something terrible happen to her? Did somebody do something to her? Or is this another one of these frightening, mysterious episodes some people refuse to even believe exists. Fugue amnesia is a controversial diagnosis, and even the detectives in New York City who were investigating her first disappearance don’t really believe in it. To this day they think it’s something else. But they can’t explain it. They’re not psychologists, they’re detectives. They’re, like, ‘Why are we seeing her on the security footage at the Apple store, logging in with her information?’ They’re just seeing the nuts and bolts of it, but the doctor saw it as an unusual condition.

“I interviewed another woman who suffers from fugue amnesia. She didn’t make it into our special, because we wanted to focus on Hannah’s story. But it was interesting to talk to her. She didn’t forget how to do certain things. She knew how to drive. When she saw an emergency room she knew she could go there for help. It’s not like you have fugue amnesia you’re rendered robotic or infantile in your abilities to function in the world. The doctor explains that Hannah has certain muscle memory; certain parts of her brain that can remember. I don’t know about you, but I just rattle off my passwords on my desktop without even thinking about it. That sort of access of those memories, according to this expert, means you could still have no access to your essential biographical information. Who am I? Where do I live? Who are my family and friends? You can lose all of that in a nano second , an that’s actually a frightening thing to thing about.”

Despite what some may think, maintaining objectivity in the midst of a story isn’t a challenge.

“Part of my job is that when somebody sounds like they’re full of crap, to challenge them,” she points out. “That’s what my job is, to call people out when something doesn’t make sense. Like, come on, seriously? Sometimes the best interviews are when I challenged somebody and say exactly that. I ask all the questions I hope my viewers are asking and then some, and ultimately leave it up to the viewers to draw their own conclusions. I don’t ever say that he is innocent. What I will do is interview the people who say just that and show why the DNA test shows that there’s no way he could be guilty. But it’s never my job to tell the viewers what to think. My job is to lay out the case, all sides of it as exhaustively, intricately and compellingly as possible, and let the audience draw their own conclusions.”

Given the popularity of true crime, is the draw voyeuristic or part of the “car accident syndrome”?

“Well, I think you just put your finger on it,” Elizabeth replies. “There is a certain amount of voyeuristic shock and empathy and sympathy and, ‘Oh my God, how was he or she functioning and why hasn’t somebody been caught?’ And it’s so clear he’s guilty. You know what I mean? They really get drawn into not only the essential story, but the fact that it’s true. There’s a reason why, for example, people watch local news to find out what’s happening in their neighborhood, what’s happening in their city or in their town, because it might be a small inconsequential incident or crime, but it happened near me to maybe someone I know. And that makes it more interesting. And I think there’s that sort of aspect to why people are endlessly fascinated by these stories, these mysteries that happen to be true as well.”

The attraction to all of this is a personal one for Elizabeth.

“I just love telling stories,” she states matter of factly. “I’ve loved what I do since I started working in this business the day after I graduated from college, and I haven’t stopped. I know I’m very lucky. There aren’t a lot of people in the world don’t love what they do the way I do. And that’s a shame, because you spend an inordinate amount of your life doing it. I always feel very gratified when people will trust me enough to be very open and very vulnerable with their stories. That’s a real honor and I try to do my very best.”