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UNT student stars as famed 1980s 'Preppie Killer' on 'Murder Made Me Famous' 

The 30th anniversary of the "Preppie Killer" murder is Aug. 26. One of the most well-known killings of the '80s, the murder of Jennifer Levin by Robert Chambers left its mark as the first highly publicized murder in New York City's Central Park.

Hunter Hart Lightner had to figure out how to embody a murderer once he was cast as Chambers in the third episode of season two of Murder Made Me Famous. The episode will air this weekend on REELZChannel at 9 p.m. central time.

Lightner's past film experience included commercials for Ford, Rooms To Go and Southwest Airlines along with a few short films. This was his first attempt at becoming a villain.

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In the process of researching Chambers, he learned that cocaine, marijuana and alcohol drove the club scene of New York in the '80s. They were all Chambers needed. They broke him long before he ever met Levin.

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Lightner was faced with the question. How do I portray a drug addicted sociopath?

In his studies on sociopathy, Lightner learned that many people don't truly understand what it means to be one. They lack conscience. They see others as obstacles, not humans. What matters to them is themselves. It often coalesces with antisocial behaviors to wither their humanity so they lack sympathy, which develops from love.

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In the case of Chambers, his father was never around to give love, and he ignored the love his mother displayed as she fought to get him into the best New York private schools.

While Chambers may not have known how to love another human, or value a life, he was able to grow attachments. Lightner said his attachments were to drugs and, in turn, clubs.

To fund his fixation, Chambers turned to theft. On the night Levin died, he tried to steal money from her purse while she left to urinate behind a tree, but she caught him.

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If Levin had gone to the police or Dorrian's Red Hand, Chambers' favorite nearby bar, after Chambers tried to steal from her, his name at the bar would have been desecrated. Many had suspected him of stealing, and that would have sealed any doubt.

Creating this episode had special meaning for director Brad Osborne because much of the media coverage at the time of the murder reported that Levin had died during rough sex that she had instigated. But he said he discovered that it was a brutal assault that had nothing to do with sex.

"It was very important to our team here to help clear this misinformation up, and portray Jennifer Levin for what she was: a totally innocent victim who crossed paths with the wrong man," Osborne said. "I love this series because, in spite of the title, it's a very victim-centric show. We try to spend as much time telling the victim's side as the killer's."

Love. That's probably all Jennifer Levin wanted. That's all any 18 year-old wants, to be pursued by another, to be wanted by someone they feel they can trust.

It was too late when Levin realized what could happen, what would happen. Safety was a short distance away, maybe 200 yards, but she would never reach it.

Reputation. That's probably all that mattered to Chambers.

A threat to his reputation meant that Levin needed to die. Estranged from his family and no path in life meant that the bars, Dorrian's in particular, were all he had left.

Osborne encouraged his actors as much as possible to research their characters before filming to ensure that they were able to meet the burden of portraying real people. To understand Chambers, Lightner would spend time throughout the day thinking like him.

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"I would present myself choices when I was Robert, 'do I want to go to the gym or do I want to do this bump of coke?'" Lightner said. "'Well, that's [expletive] easy, I want to do this bump of coke.' It's always living in the moment instead of doing anything productive in your life at all.'"

Lightner said personifying this in the moment mentality was difficult for him since it was the opposite of how he lives his life. Whenever he contemplates not working on lines, choreography or learning a character he just thinks about where he wants to be with his career and immediately gets to work.

But even until the murder scene was filmed, Lightner hadn't figured out how to express the anger that Chambers must have felt as he strangled Levin.

Then he mentioned that his co-star, Rachel Truitt, who played the victim said, "I thought about a girl who wanted so desperately to be in this relationship and that when she finally started to get that, it took her too long to see the signs that it was an awful relationship that she had to get out of. She ignored them, and now because of being too late, she was losing her life."

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Hearing those words, feeling sympathy towards this girl who paid the ultimate price because she wanted love, gave Lightner the anger he needed to recreate Chambers. He went from believing that Chambers made a mistake, to realizing the heinousness of his acts.

"This guy is [expletive] despicable; Robert Chambers is an animalistic, sociopathic monster," Lightner said. "He is the walking, spitting definition of a sociopath."

In the "Preppy Killer" episode of Murder Made Me Famous on REELZChannel, Robert Chambers...
In the "Preppy Killer" episode of Murder Made Me Famous on REELZChannel, Robert Chambers (Hunter Hart Lightner) has his face torn up by his victim Jennifer Levin (Rachel Truitt).(REELZChannel)

After filming the murder scene, Lightner felt sick for days. As a method actor, he had done his best to embrace the feelings that come with being a murderer, and that mindset left him grasping at what it means to be human.

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"The joy of being human here on earth is taken from you, to involve yourself in that kind of activity of harming another being," Lightner said. "I didn't feel good about my humanity."

Despite the effort required to shake Chambers out of his mind, Lightner said he plans to continue audition for villainous roles because it allows him to understand their mindset. But he is going to focus more on safeguarding his own state of mind.

"I'll be more prepared for the emotional and mental state that comes after because they don't yell cut, and you smile and go to the bar that night, not if you're really invested in what you're doing," Lightner said.