Amanda Barterian, American Monster: Abuse of Power, documentaries, Emma Ann Miller, Investigation Discovery, Larry Nassar, Mark Alesia, Michigan State University, Rosemarie Aquilina, Steven Karageanes, true crime, TV, USA Gymnastics
May 25, 2025
by Carla Hay
“American Monster: Abuse of Power”
Culture Representation: The true crime documentary series “American Monster: Abuse of Power” features a predominantly white group of people discussing well-known cases of authority figures who committed crimes.
Culture Clash: The stories are told from the perspectives of survivors, law enforcement and other people who are connected in some way to the perpetrators.
Culture Audience: “American Monster: Abuse of Power” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching true crime documentaries that just recycle information about high-profile cases.
“American Monster: Abuse of Power” is about as generic as you can get in how it presents true crime. This “American Monster” series spinoff has very little resemblance to the more compelling and more intimate storytelling of “American Monster.” “American Monster: Abuse of Power” is just a dull rehash of widely reported facts about corrupt authority figures.
“American Monster: Abuse of Power” is from the same production company (Arrow Media), which also produces “American Monster,” which premiered in 2016. Arrow Media is the production company for other Investigation Discovery shows “See No Evil” and “Body Cam.” “American Monster,” “See No Evil” and “Body Cam” all make good use of raw video footage from surveillance cameras (in “See No Evil” and “Body Cam”) or from family home movies (in “American Monster”).
“American Monster,” which is narrated mostly by Robert Firth, is told mainly from the perspectives of families whose lives were damaged by murder. Each episode features a different case of how the murderer was a monster who had many people fooled for a certain period of time. The interviewees and law enforcement officials involved in the case give accounts of how the murderer was able to con people until the murderer’s true nature was exposed and it led to murder.
“American Monster: Abuse of Power” (which does not have a narrator) only made its premiere episode available for review before the series premiere. The episode, titled “Bodies of Evidence,” is about convicted sex abuser Larry Nassar, the former osteopathic physician who is serving consecutive prison sentences of up to 360 years, after pleading guilty in 2017 and 2018 to sexual assault, possession of child pornography and tampering with evidence. The only “candid” footage of Nassar in this episode is widely seen archival footage of him doing a few training sessions and being in police interrogations.
Nassar was the team doctor of the United States women’s national gymnastics team, from 1996 to 2014. From 1997 to 2016, he was a team physician and assistant professor at Michican State University, where he earned his doctorate of osteopathic medicine in 1993. In 2016, Nassar was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting at least 265 young women and girls by pretending he was giving them medical treatment. In the end, he pled guilty to only 10 counts of sexual assault, but his prison sentences will ensure that he will die as a prisoner before being eligible for parole.
The Larry Nassar scandal has received an enormous amount of media coverage. “American Monster: Abuse of Scandal” reveals nothing new. Unlike “American Monster,” which has details of the featured criminal’s personal life, there is almost no information about Nassar’s personal life in “American Monster: Abuse of Power.” The show does not even mention when and where he was born (August 16, 1963, in Farmington Hills, Michigan) and the fact that he was a married father of three kids during most of his sex crimes. Nassar’s ex-wife Stefanie Anderson, whom he married in 1996, divorced him in 2017.
Three of Nassar’s former patients/sex-abuse survivors are interviewed in the documentary: Amanda Barterian, Emma Ann Miller and a woman who is only identified as Marta. They were all sexually abused by Nassar when they were underage. They all gave victim impact testmonial statements in 2017, when Nassar received the the first round of his prison sentences.
In the case of Marta and Barterian (and many other survivors), the abuse happened while their parents were in the same room. Nassar would position himself in a way to block what he was doing with his hands from the view of anyone else in the room. Miller says it took her a while to come forward with her story about Nassar abusing her because she was in denial about it and she saw how many people didn’t believe the victims at first.
Nassar fooled many people into thinking he was harmless and a little nerdy. Barterian was a child gymnast who sought weekly treatment from Nassar because of a back injury she got at 8 years old. She describes Nassar this way: “He had a ‘good guy’ persona, right off the bat.” Marta comments about Nassar’s image: “He was warm, charismatic … easy to talk to.”
It’s mentioned in the documentary that a turning point in Nassar’s career was the 1996 Summer Olympics, when he received worldwide media attention for being the doctor who helped gymnast Kerri Strug off of the gym mat when she twisted her ankle. Strug and the rest of Team USA for women’s artistic gymnastics went on to win a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Nassar used that association with Strug as a claim to fame and to boost his career and reputation.
Other people interviewed in the documentary include Nassar’s former Michigan State University colleague Steven Karageanes, a doctor of osteopathic medicine; journalist Mark Alesia; attorney David Mittleman; and Rosemarie Aquilina, judge of the 30th circuit court in Ingham County, Michigan. Aquilina was the judge who sentenced Nassar in his Michigan court cases. However, her comments in this episode are basic and provide no new insight.
This episode “American Monster: Abuse of Power” is so lazy, there is only a quick mention of how Michigan State University and the USA Gymnastics had some officials who actively covered up Nassar’s crimes and/or enabled him to continue his crimes. The episode does not mention all the people who lost their jobs and/or were sued because of their enablement and protection of Nassar. It’s very irresponsible to do a documentary series about the abuse of power and not properly acknowledge that this type of abuse is made worse by enablers who know about the abuse but do nothing to stop it and/or are accomplices to the crimes.
“American Monster: Abuse of Power” made the mistake of debuting with an episode about a criminal whose crimes have already gotten a lot of massive media exposure. Whatever is covered in this episode isn’t covered in depth and is just a repeat of what’s already well-known. For a more comprehensive overview of the Nassar scandal and perspectives of his abuse survivors, watch the documentaries “At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal” (HBO) and “Athlete A” (Netflix), or listen to Michigan Radio/NPR Radio’s podcast “Believed.” In order for “American Monster: Abuse of Power” to get a loyal fan base, the series should offer stories that true crime aficionados might not know about, instead of stories that have already been through the tabloid ringer.
Investigation Discovery premiered “American Monster: Abuse of Power” on May 18, 2025.