Tag: HBO

February 22, 2026

by Carla Hay

“Murder in Glitterball City”

Directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato

Culture Representation: The two-episode documentary series “Murder in Glitterball City” (based on the true crime book “A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City: Murder Secrets and Scandal in Old Louisville”) features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans) who talk about the Kentucky city of Louisville and the case of gay lovers/Louisville residents Joseph “Joey” Banis and Jeffrey “Jase” Mundt, who separately went on trial for the 2009 murder of 37-year-old James “Jamie” Carroll, who was the couple’s drug dealer and sex partner in a three-way sexual relationship.

Culture Clash: Banis (a repeat convicted felon) and Mundt (a technology consultant who had no prior criminal convictions) blamed each other for the murder, which happened in the couple’s house, and they both admitted the murder happened when they were in the midst of a methamphetamine binge.

Culture Audience: “Murder in Glitterball City” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in true crime documentaries that are about sex, drugs, murder and gay culture.

“Murder in Glitterball City” is a mixed-bag true crime documentary whose eagerness to have a variety of people interviewed results in some irrelevant interviews, for the sake of showing quirky personalities. The 2009 murder of Jamie Carroll almost gets overshadowed by Louisville lore. Despite the flaws in this two-part docuseries, “Murder in Glitterball City” tells a riveting story and a cautionary tale about a notorious murder case where many people believe justice was not fully served.

Directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, “Murder in Glitterball City” is based on David Dominé’s 2021 true crime book “A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City: Murder, Secrets, and Scandal in Old Louisville.” Dominé, who also works as a Louisville tour guide, is one of the people interviewed in the documentary. According to Dominé, Glitter Ball City is a little-known nickname for Louisville, which was known for being one of the top cities to make glitter balls.

It seems like Bailey and Barbato’s intent is for “Murder in Glitterball City” to be like a documentary version of Dominé’s book about this murder case. However, some elements that might work just fine in a book format don’t work as well in this documentary, such as dramatic descriptions of local members of the community who weren’t involved in the story’s central crime case, a history of the city’s real-estate developments, and tales of paranormal sightings by the local residents. It’s fine for a documentary to give some context and information about the city or community where a crime takes place, but “Murder in Glitterball City” goes overboard with this concept in several parts of the documentary.

“A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City: Murder, Secrets, and Scandal in Old Louisville” has been described as trying to imitate the style of John Berendt’s 1994 book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” which mixes true crime and fictional embellishments about the case of Savannah, Georgia-based antiques dealer Jim Williams and his multiple trials for the murder of male prostitute Danny Hansford. “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” has so many fictional additions to the story, the book is often listed as a novel. One of the characteristics of both books is how the authors tried to make the cities in which the crimes took place to be almost like another story character, with each city filled with eccentric personalities.

“Murder in Glitterball City” is so intent on emulating the storytelling style of “A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City: Murder, Secrets, and Scandal in Old Louisville,” several of the documentary’s interviewees read aloud excerpts from the book, especially if they’re reading a passage from the book that describes themselves. In addition, “Murder in Glitterball City” has a narrator (actor Mick Wingert) reading excerpts in off-camera voiceover narration.

Barbato and Bailey are not new to documentary filmmaking. Among the numerous previous documentaries that they co-directed include 2000’s “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” (about Tammy Faye Bakker), 2016’s “Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures” (about artist/photographer Robert Mapplethorpe) and 2021’s “Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes” (about Ronan Farrow’s investigation of disgraced entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein). However, Barbato and Baily (who are co-founders of the production company World of Wonder) are best known for their work in reality TV, with the Emmy-winning franchise of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” as their biggest success. At times, “Murder in Glitterball City” is filmed and edited like a reality show.

Part 1 of “Murder in Glitterball City” gives background information about the case against repeat convicted felon Joseph “Joey” Banis and technology consultant Jeffrey “Jase” Mundt, who separately went on trial for the December 2009 murder of 37-year-old James “Jamie” Carroll, who was stabbed and shot to death in the 8,000-square-foot Louisville house of gay couple Banis and Mundt. Banis and Mundt were 38 at the time of the murder. Part 2 of “Murder in Glitterball City” chronicles the high-profile 2013 trials of Banis and Mundt and each trial’s outcome. Part 2 also includes some previously unreleased recordings that Banis and Mundt did in the weeks before they were arrested.

Because this murder case received an enormous amount of media coverage, it’s already a well-known fact that Banis was found guilty of the murder of Carroll and was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole. Mundt was found not guilty of murder, but he was found guilty of evidence tampering and theft. Mundt received an eight-year prison sentence, he was released after serving four years of that sentence, and he has dropped off the public radar.

The documentary includes audio clips of phone interviews that Banis did from prison with the “Murder in Glitterball City” documentarians in 2022 and 2024. Banis still maintains that he was a bystander who watched Mundt murder Carroll. In the 2024 interview, Banis adds another detail that was not brought up in either trial. Banis now says he was tied up like a captive while Mundt murdered Carroll. Because Banis can’t prove it, it’s highly unlikely this statement will help Banis get a new trial. All of Banis’ appeals for a new trial have been denied so far.

The end of the documentary says that Mundt could not be reached for comment. Mundt’s current whereabouts have been publicly unknown for years, although Ted Shouse, one of his former attorneys who’s interviewed in the documentary, seems to know where Mundt is but won’t say what he knows about Mundt’s whereabouts. The documentary includes a short archival audio interview with Mundt, although the documentary does not mention the year that this interview took place.

No one from the families of Carroll, Mundt and Banis are interviewed in the documentary. However, some of the friends and former work associates of Carroll, Mundt and Banis are interviewed. In addition, the documentary has interviews with several people who were involved in the investigation and the trials, such as Louisville police officials, the prosecutors and defense attorneys.

“Murder in Glitterball City” lays out the basic facts of the case in a roundabout way. Viewers will have to wade through a lot of extraneous stories from Louisville locals who aren’t directly related to this murder case. After a while, these stories become a little irritating and distracting, but not so distracting for “Murder in Glitterball City” to go completely off the rails.

Mundt, a Louisville native, lived for a number of years in Chicago as an adult. In 2009, after a breakup with a boyfriend who is not named in this documentary, Mundt relocated from Chicago and moved back to Louisville. He worked as a technology consultant for the University of Louisville. Mundt bought a fixer-upper 8,000-square-foot Victorian house in Louisville’s historical St. James-Belgravia District (specifcally in the Belgravia Court area), with plans to turn the house into a bed-and-breakfast inn.

And so, the documentary has lengthy descriptions of the history of Belgravia Court and how it became an attractive residential location for gay men who renovated many of the old houses there. Interviewees giving this type of commentary include residential real estate agent Deborah Stewart, architectural historian Debra Richards Harlan, Louisville tour guide Angelique X Stacy, singer Maria Eckerle, preservation architect Kurtis Hord, and openly gay Louisville residents Bill Gilbert and Dale Strange.

Carroll was openly gay and had a drag queen alter ego named Ronica Reed. And so, there are long segments about the drag queen/gay nightclub scene in Louisville. Interviewees include drag queens Mykul Valentine and Hurricane Summers; Casey Leek, a former manager of gay nightclub Starbase Q; Banis’ ex-boyfriend Kevin Asher; and Banis’ friend Daniel Cissel, who says he had a fling with Mundt.

Cissel says he always felt uneasy about Mundt and decided to no longer be his sex partner. Cissel also mentions that before Cissell knew that Carroll had been murdered, Mundt tried to give some of Carroll’s clothes to Cissell, but Cissell declined the offer because the clothes were too big for Cissell. In the documentary, Cissell says it still upsets him to think about how cold-blooded Mundt must have been to want to give Cissell the clothes of a man whom Mundt knew was murdered and buried in the basement of Mundt’s house.

Cissel and other people in the documentary describe Banis (who often wore his hair styled in a Mohawk) as heavily addicted to meth and having a “bad boy” persona. Banis had mood swings where he would be quiet and introverted, but he would become an aggressive loudmouth when under the influence of meth. He also had a charismatic side that persuaded people to enable him.

Banis was a Starbase Q bartender sometime between 2004 to 2006. Leek describes Banis as having a dual personality and being a “compulsive cleaner,” which Leek says was probably due to Banis’ meth addiction. Leek says Banis was probably the thief who “cleaned out” the club, by stealing liquor, stereo speakers, cash from the club’s ATM, valuables from a safe and other items from Starbase Q around the same time that Banis quit the job. In the documentary, Summers confirms seeing Banis stealing liquor from the club, and Banis admitted to Summers that he was stealing the liquor to use it for another club.

After quitting Starbase Q, Banis had a short-lived gay/lesbian nightclub called Glow, which opened in December 2006. Leek comments that he saw Starbase Q’s stolen speakers at Glow. Leek says his Starbase Q boss reported the theft to police, who said that police were investigating but waiting to catch Banis on drug-related crimes and other thefts. Cissel says he worked for a time at Glow and remembers Banis as a “nice boss” who was very generous with sharing drugs but wasn’t great about paying employees on time.

In the documentary, Leek wonders how Banis was able to get a liquor license for Glow when convicted felons aren’t allowed liquor licenses in Kentucky. The documentary doesn’t answer that question. However, it’s mentioned in the documentary that Banis’ father is a prominent surgeon, and Banis grew up in a fairly affluent family in Louisville.

Banis’ ex-boyfriend Asher says that he and Banis dated each other for a number of years, beginning in their teens, when they both still lived with their respective parents. Asher and Banis eventually moved in together. Asher mentions that Banis told him about having a criminal record, but Asher was willing to look past it because he thought Banis was willing to stay out of trouble.

Asher said he broke up with Banis after a violent incident when they took LSD together. Banis got into an argument with Asher, slashed Asher’s arm with cut glass, and said, “See what you made me do.” Banis was arrested for this assault, but the documentary doesn’t mention what the legal outcome of the arrest was. Asher gets visibly upset and emotional when he makes this comment about Banis and the aftermath of the arrest: “I get him kicked out [of their shared home], and that fucker moved in next door. It was scary.”

In October 2009, Banis met Mundt on the gay dating website Adam4Adam and moved in with Mundt within a few weeks after they met. Banis says he was surprised that Mundt wanted to get involved with Banis, who was up front in telling Mundt about Banis being HIV+ and a convicted felon. By the time this toxic couple met, Banis had several felony convictions for drug possession, theft and other crimes. By contrast, Mundt did not have a criminal record and was known to have a “preppy” clean-cut image. Mundt says in the documentary’s archival interview that he was attracted to Banis because Banis was the opposite of him.

However, Mundt wasn’t as “clean-cut” as he appeared to be. Two of his former friends whom he knew in Chicago—Linda Krauth and Megan Albritton—talk about noticing him being erratic and often sniffling, which are two telltale signs that someone might have a drug problem. Krauth and Albritton say that Mundt cut off contact with them not long after he got out of prison, and they have no idea where he is.

Becky Shaw—who worked with Mundt when he was her supervisor as a Northwestern University project director—also saw a suspicious side to Mundt. Shaw says that Mundt spoke with a fake British accent because he told her that sounding British would get him more respect. Shaw describes him as very nitpicky and someone who always thought he was the smartest person in the room.

Shaw also remembers an incident when she accidentally locked her laptop in a desk, and Mundt told her he knew how to fix the problem. He took her to a store that sold bolt cutters and told her he had experience using bolt cutters because he used to steal bicycles when he was a student at Northwestern. Later, Mundt suggested but didn’t tell Shaw directly that she should get work reimbursement for the bolt cutters by pretending it was something else on her expense report.

Mundt’s habit of dishonesty also seemed to extend to what he told Banis, who says that Mundt repeatedly told stories about being formerly employed by the National Security Agency and still having connections to U.S. intelligence services. In one of Mundt’s meth-fueled ramblings that’s heard as an audio recording in the documentary, he mentions having an injury from his government security work in Bratislava, Slovakia. There has never been any proof that Mundt used to do this type of work.

Whatever Mundt’s drug habits were before he met Banis, there’s no doubt that they were both addicted to meth when they were a couple. They also obsessively documented their relationship through video and audio recordings. One of these videos became key evidence in the murder case. According to the documentary, there are hundreds of thousands of digital files of these recordings that were not processed by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department because, at the time, the police department only had Windows PC computers, and the files were only compatible on Mac computers.

Carroll was also addicted to meth and had an addiction to crack cocaine, according to Carroll’s friends Erika Hart, Mick Bryant and Bryant’s mother Michelle Schiffer, who are all interviewed in the documentary and say that they were Carroll’s drug buddies. Bryant is the only one of these three who says in the documentary that he’s now clean and sober. They all describe Carroll as being very open and proud about being gay and a drag queen.

Hart says of Carroll: “Jamie did whatever the hell suited him. He would wear high heels to the grocery store in Pineville [a small city in Kentucky]. You just don’t do that. It’s country [rural and conservative]. Have you been? Don’t go when the banjos get louder.”

Carroll was also a drug dealer and sex partner for Mundt and Banis, who were heavily into BDSM, an acronym for bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism. The “d” in BDSM can also mean dominance, and the “s” can also mean submission. Carroll met Banis through an online website for gay male hookups and started a casual sex relationship with him. After Banis and Mundt became a couple, Carroll was invited to have three-way sex with Banis and Mundt.

The documentary includes details of Mundt placing BDSM ads for sex partners in threesomes or other group sex scenarios. In these ads, Mundt described himself as obsessed with rubber clothes and role-playing violent scenarios (including asphyxiation) as a dominant. By all accounts, the three-way sexual relationship between Banis, Mundt and Carroll was consensual.

Carroll also had a history of several arrests (mostly for drug-related crimes), but the documentary doesn’t discuss those crimes at length, perhaps because the documentarians did not want to make it look like they are shaming the victim. Instead, the documentary has a brief flash of Carroll’s arrest rap sheet. Carroll’s friends and acquaintances describe him as a bubbly and friendly person whose life went downhill when he became addicted to drugs.

Jodi Ritchie was Carroll’s childhood friend in their hometown of Martin, Kentucky, an economically depressed small town. She says she had an adolescent crush on Caroll, and she remembers that Carroll taught her how to French kiss, even though she found out later that he was openly gay. Ritchie says that for a while, teenage Carroll lived at their high school because he was kicked out of his home for being gay. She also describes hearing about teenage Carroll being in a hospital because Carroll’s father had almost beaten him to death.

Diana Owens Shaggs was Carroll’s instructor at the Carl Perkins Beauty School in Paintsville, Kentucky, in 1995. Owens Shaggs remembers Carroll as having a passion for hairstyling and being enthusiastic about opening his own beauty salon. Carroll fulfilled that ambition and owned a beauty salon called Illusions. But by the time Carroll got involved Mundt and Banis, Carroll had already lost his business and his home because of Carroll’s drug addiction.

The story of why Mundt and Banis got arrested for Carroll’s murder is bizarre and one of the reasons why this murder case got a lot of publicity. In the early-morning hours of June 17, 2010, Mundt frantically called 911 to report that Banis (whom he described as his “ex-boyfriend”) was breaking into the house and was intent on attacking Mundt. Police quickly arrived and arrested Banis.

Banis and Mundt were taken to the Louisville Metro Police Department for questioning. Banis denied the break-in and claimed he was being set up by Mundt because Mundt wanted Banis out of the house. By sheer coincidence, this interrogation was being filmed for the reality/documentary TV series “The First 48,” a true crime show that films police investigators at work. Mundt offered to take a polygraph test, while Banis refused.

Banis then dropped a bombshell when he made this confession during the police interrogation: According to Banis, Mundt murdered Carroll in December 2009, and Carroll’s body was buried in the basement of the house. Police obtained a search warrant to dig in the basement. Later that day, police found the body of Carroll in a plastic storage bin that was buried about five feet below the basement floor. Banis and Mundt were arrested and charged with first-degree murder, theft and tampering with evidence.

From the start, Banis and Mundt blamed each other for being the “real murderer,” but both admitted to participating in covering up the crime, under threat of being killed by the “real murderer.” Banis and Mundt accused each other of being the mastermind/controller in the relationship. Banis and Mundt both claimed in their statements to law enforcement that the murder of Carroll was not pre-meditated.

When they went on trial, Banis and Mundt testified against each other. Banis (whose trial took place before Mundt’s trial) did not testify in his own defense. The documentary includes courtroom footage from the trials and does a good job of showing through split screens how this former couple’s testimony against each other is eerily similar.

However, the documentary points out one big discrepancy in the courtroom testimony: Mundt said that Banis slashed Carroll’s throat, but the medical examiner’s report showed that Carroll was actually stabbed in the neck several times, which matches Banis’ description of Mundt murdering Carroll. Even if Banis is telling the truth about the fatal neck wounds on Carroll, it still doesn’t exclude Banis from being a participant in the stabbing and/or shooting of Carroll.

The most controversial evidence in the case is a “confession” video where Banis claimed to be suicidal, Banis said he “killed someone,” and he was holding Mundt hostage. Banis turned the camera to show a seemingly unconscious Mundt on a bed behind Banis. However, a few minutes before this “confession,” Mundt is shown writing the “confession” script on a laptop and coaching Banis on what to say.

To show further proof that Mundt was the mastermind/controlling person in the relationship, the prosecution submitted a BDSM sex video as evidence during Mundt’s trial. In the self-made video (which Mundt and Banis recorded after the murder), Mundt and Banis are having sex, with Mundt being the dominant partner giving the orders. The video was considered the tawdriest part of the trial.

Prosecutors say that Banis and Mundt both participated in Carroll’s murder, and the motive for the murder was Banis and Mundt wanted to get a thrill from killing a human being. However, the jury in Mundt’s trial disagreed and found him not guilty of murder. Several people in the documentary say they believe that Mundt got away with murder.

The editing for “Murder in Glitterball City” jumps around a lot in the story’s timeline. It isn’t until toward the end of the Part 2 episode, after the trial outcomes are discussed, that the documentary mentions that two months before Banis and Mundt were arrested for murder in Louisville, they had been arrested in Chicago for other crimes. Mundt had lost his job, and the couple had been counterfeiting money and were arrested for it. This information should’ve been mentioned earlier in the documentary.

This Chicago arrest occurred in April 2010, when Mundt and Banis were caught leaving a counterfeit $100 bill as a tip for a hotel employee. Chicago police soon found Mundt and Banis in possession of $50,000 in counterfeit American cash, as well as weapons and fake IDs. In a prison interview, Banis says that he and Mundt were desperate for money and had planned to use the counterfeit cash to “get real money.” They chose Chicago for this scam because of Mundt’s familiarity with the city.

In one of his interviews from prison, Banis says that he and Mundt decided that Banis would take the blame for all these arrest charges in Chicago, because Mundt would be the more likely person to get the $20,000 that was needed to bail Banis out of jail. The plan worked, because the charges were dropped against Mundt, who got the bail money for Banis. Banis was out on bail for these Chicago arrest charges when he and Mundt were arrested in Louisville for Carroll’s murder.

The most time-wasting parts of the documentary are when certain Louisville residents are shown doing shameless self-promotion that has nothing to do with this murder case. A flamboyant married couple named John Tan and Missy Tan, who own a Louisville jewelry store called Little John’s Derby Jewelry (or Little John’s for short), are featured for too much screen time in this documentary, as they talk about their jewelry business, show the guns they keep in the shop, and brag about how popular their TV ads are. The spouses are also shown filming one of these commercials, with Missy as the director. Even the security guard for Little John’s (an off-duty police officer named Greg Terry) is interviewed in the documentary.

Why are the Tans and their jewelry store business in so much of this documentary? Because “A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City” author Dominé says that he was watching a Little John’s ad on TV when he saw the breaking news about Banis and Mundt being arrested. Dominé also claims that he had a brief non-verbal encounter with Mundt about 18 months before the arrest, when Mundt abruptly brushed past him during a realtor tour of the house that Mundt ended up buying. Dominé says he remembers that Mundt didn’t say, “Excuse me,” after making this unwanted body contact. It’s certainly debatable if those stories are true.

“Murder in Glitterball City” also goes on a tacky tangent when the documentary shows people babbling on about what they believe are haunted houses in Louisville, including the house where Carroll was murdered. Louisville paranormal tour guide Stacy is shown doing one of her tours with customers. It leads to another segment showing Stacy, who lives across the street from this house, talking about being certain that she’s seen the ghost of Carroll walking in the house several times from her bathroom window. Another segment in “Murder in Glitterball City” shows Dominé participating in his annual Victorian Ghost Walk event in Louisville. “Murder in Glitterball City” viewers might be wondering at this point: “Is this a true crime documentary or a paranormal reality show?”

Fortunately, “Murder in Glitterball City” comes back to the facts of this case in the documentary’s interviews with the law enforcement officials who were involved in this case. These interviewees include Louisville Metro Police Department head of homicide Donny Burbrink, Louisville Metro Police Department detective Collin King and Jefferson County sheriff deputy Michael Brown. Louisville Metro Police Department detective Jon Lesher, who died in 2018, can be heard in an archival audio interview.

Also interviewed are prosecutors Ryane Conroy and Josh Schneider; Banis’ defense attorneys Justin Brown and Darren Wolff; and Mundt’s defense attorneys Steve Romines and Shouse. In the documentary, Wolff does a lot more talking than Brown, while Romines is more talkative than Shouse. Other people interviewed in the documentary are Staci Huber, who was a juror in Banis’ murder trial; WLKY-TV reporter Marissa Alter; Courier Journal reporter Jason Riley; writer Kim Crum; mitigation specialist LeTonia Jones, who testified for the defense in Mundt’s trial; and contractor Kenny Robertson.

Robertson says Banis that contacted him sometime before June 2010 to get an estimate on what it would cost to cover the house’s first floor with concrete. Robertson he got a weird feeling about this consultation because the basement smelled horrible, and Banis refused to go in the room. Ultimately, Robertson decided not to do the job. Banis and Mundt were arrested not long after this consultation.

“Murder in Glitterball City” has some unanswered questions about Mundt and why he was acquitted of murder. But without insights from any jurors from that trial, the documentary does not answer those questions. Banis’ murder trial juror Huber describes herself as a “true crime junkie” who followed this case closely, and she says she’s still shocked and outraged that Mundt was acquitted of murder. If another documentary is made about this case, maybe it will focus more on getting answers to unanswered questions about the case instead of cluttering up the documentary with off-topic commentary from people who weren’t involved in the case.

HBO premiered “Murder in Glitterball City” on February 19, 2026.