A Killing in a Small Town, also known as Evidence of Love, is a 1990 American crime drama television film directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and written by Cynthia Cidre.

The film is based on the 1984 non-fiction book Evidence of Love by John Bloom and Jim Atkinson, and stars Barbara Hershey and Brian Dennehy.

When the neighbors enter the Blankenship home, they discover blood in the bathroom and Peggy’s infant daughter crying in her crib.

Detectives notice inconsistencies in Candy’s story, as well as matching bloody prints from the crime scene, and eventually come to believe she committed the murder.

During the session, she recovers a repressed childhood memory in which she was rushed to the emergency room after an accident, where her mother forced her to be quiet as she was screaming in pain.

After recounting the events, Ed, in an effort to make Candy express emotion, deliberately produces the axe in front of her, causing her to cry and scream hysterically.